Brand: Solstice Scents
Scent Description:
Guardian is a natural botanical unisex talismanic perfume. It features botanical elements associated with protection which are further enhanced with rowan flower essence and black tourmaline gemstone essence. The fragrance is a forest chypre with a full-bodied glowing amber core. Top notes of sacred white sage, wild desert sage, clary sage, spruce and bergamot lead to a rich pinyon pine and a dense shadowed forest aroma of fir balsam absolute. The base consists of a radiating and pervasive golden amber accord, sandalwood, oakmoss, Haitian vetiver, aged patchouli, Alaskan cypress, alligator juniper wood, green spikenard, muhuhu, oud and a hint of mushroom absolute. A very subtle addition of shiso leaf provides a crisp, spicy green nuance. Guardian features the amber accord in the foreground with the comforting cloak of thick forest, sticky tree resin and conifer needles delicately encircling it. The dry woods, earth and oakmoss surround the amber on the dry down. This is an amber focused perfume, enhanced with lots of woods (namely sandalwood) and coniferous and herbal sage top notes.
Cooly atmospheric thanks to dominant notes of crisp fir, aromatic juniper, and mentholic sage, Guardian resembles Night Watcher’s opening with its green and mildly sweet top notes on a base of dry woods and herbs; the mildly bitter shiso and vetiver notes, in particular, help keep the syrupy quality in check. Bergamot brief dominates the drydown, melding into oakmoss and clary sage to create lavender-like facets, before the scent returns to sweet, green, and aromatic again. Angela’s description of a golden glowing core of amber is particularly apt; the other notes seem to pivot around it, evoking tree sap in a lushly green forest.
The amber in this was way richer and more syrupy than I anticipated. The whole scent is very ‘golden green’ with the amber predominating and all the green notes just sortof floating around it. Sage manages to make itself known from time to time as a musky quality when you smell Guardian up close, but otherwise the whole thing is so well-blended I struggle to discern individual notes. I don’t actually know how I feel about the scent overall.
Guardian is a stunning unisex perfume. It’s warm and rich and wild. There is a sharp edge to it (possibly the shiso leaf?) that ties everything together beautifully. My husband and I both love this one.