Description
Eau de Parfum
Wode is available in two versions – Scent and Paint. Scent is a more concentrated Eau de Parfum, and it’s made without any blue paint.
The History:
Wode, the revolutionary Art Fragrance from BOUDICCA, explores further the myth around Queen Boudicca (aka Boadicea).
Legend has it she and her tribe wore a cobalt blue war “paint” on their skin that gave them a ferocious and mythical look when
advancing into battle. When finally defeated by the Romans Queen Boadicea killed herself by swallowing hemlock, an extract of
which is included in Wode.
The Magic:
When Wode is sprayed a vibrant cobalt blue mist appears and settles on the skin or clothing . Whether touched or not the “paint”
begins to fade and within seconds or minutes disappears completely leaving simply the scent behind.
The Notes:
The fragrance opens with herbal spicy notes of juniper berry, cardamon, nutmeg absolute, clary sage, coriander seed and
angelica root. A touch of fresh hesperidic and lighter floral notes add airiness.
Through rare elements like black hemlock extract and the smell of raw opium, you will enter an olfactive space where saffron,
tuberose absolute, tonka bean, styrax resin, and tree moss slowly unfold round a musky leather heart.
Amber and animalic notes like synthetic castoreum and cistus labdanum deepen the lingering impression of warm and radiant
flesh.
The Word:
The name Wode is taken from the word “Woad”, a deep blue plant extract, which was used in paste form by the ancient Britons
as a tribal marking. Woad would have seemed magical to the Ancient Britons, as in its raw state it is a muddy hue and only
when exposed to oxygen did it turn blue.
The Packaging:
Wode is packaged ina classic spray paint can. Graffiti is the modern war paint, the most public of all art forms, while steeped in
rebellion and anti establishment values. Wrapped around the can is an engraved steel label tied with black braided ribbon
tipped in metal; a detail synonymous with BOUDICCA team’s highly refined finishing details on their garments. Wode (Scent) was launched in 2008. The nose behind this fragrance is Geza Schoen.
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ivitas6 – :
I like it intellectually – it’s genuinely interesting and very unique – but personally the nutmeg note becomes too overwhelming.
Could just be me, though re: the nutmeg. Definitely worth a sniff.
kat-ka46 – :
Opens with oakmoss tinged with musk, accompanied twenty minutes later by a subtle spicy ambered note I couldn’t quite place that took over and eventually turned acidic in a lovely pleasant, bitter way- dried blood oranges lit on fire and slowly smoking away. Reading the notes and the reviews of others, I can see dissecting this as leather, musk, and juniper– but I’m still getting smoke and bitter oranges.
I’m not sure how I feel about this one yet- it’s certainly not dull! Revisiting this one on a less rainy day for sure.
decanata – :
Wode (a version in a dark blue square glass bottle; a new collaboration between Boudicca and Escentric Molecules) is modern, contemporary, sophisticated, changing all the time. Really beautiful on my skin. Great.
deys – :
Seeing as my last review of this banged on about the paint aspect far too much rather than what a great scent this is. It’s even overly musky for my tastes to begin with and I have to go through a barrier, a threshold of appreciation if you like?
It settles down and I have to say still very musky but now sharp and earthy with a strong, herbal saffron.
Bitter Juniper, Labdanum and saffron is a personal wet dream of mine so the continuation of this fragrance just gets better for me, and at the same time I totally understand why someone would despise Wode..I almost do myself. My girlfriend hates it and made it clear I should never buy it.
What I can add to this review is how much it turns into Versace Man in the drydown, something I had neglected to notice the first time I sampled Wode. It really does though the saffron becomes soft, the resin and amber give a kind of similar base and a hint something that reminds me of those liquorice Blackcurrant sweets?
The difference being here that Versace Man smells great from the offset and you don’t have to go through the musky blast and the completely different vibe created in the first few hours. To me at least I can smell the quality of ingredients in here it’s not just loud for the sake of it.
Olochi – :
Geza Schoen is hit or miss with me, and this one’s quite a miss—largely based on personal preference though as Wode contains accords that I rarely enjoy. This scent mixes green, vegetal notes with spices and a rubbery leather over a musky amber-ish base. If I had my way, juniper, cardamom, coriander, nutmeg, and sage would all be banned from perfumery, and that’s much of what Wode contains. It’s a convoluted melange of cooking spices and herbs over vaguely synthetic components (some kind of floral-ish accord, “leather” etc.) It’s all funneled into a relatively cohesive and compact scent, but the end result is quite removed from the kind of thing I dig. If you’re into smelling like something that strolled out of a country kitchen via an S&M club, then this could work for you. To me, it’s very close to “scrubber.”
P.S. I was trying to recall what this reminds me of and I just noticed someone else mentioned Bois’ D’Ombrie. That’s it! Bag of rotten veggies, pretty much.
timoss13 – :
What a potion this is. A fabulous basis in leather but herbal and sweet too with notes of labnanum and saffron.
Wode is super indulgent and strangely the opening has a lot of musk for me despite the note votes on here. After about 10 mins it goes down to wonderful spices of cardamom and nutmeg. What starts out fairly sweet and complex soon becomes earthier and more spiced as it dries down. Boudicca wode is a very accomplished fragrance indeed smells incredible and speaks for itself…however longevity leaves something to be desired. I mean it really doesn’t need the paint gimmick which don’t get me wrong is a really cool idea but maybe detracts a little from what is a very good fragrance.
I never got the paint version to sample incidentally so the child in me may have been whistling an entirely different tune if I had.
Konfeta.81 – :
When first I first applied this it was a straight up spice with a touch of something sweet like honey even though that isn’t listed .Within ten minutes the spice faded and the leather became quite noticeable ,though not strong. This is leather-lite :). The sweetness was still there but also a very faint touch of rubber . This actually made it more interesting to me so that was a plus. I never smelled Amber. What this most reminded me of was Bvlgari Black without the formers cloying sweetness . Sillage was good and longevity was about 1 1/2 -2 hours .
Denis185 – :
Starts out with oakmoss lending an inky touch to what smells like full grain leather. Minutes after I wade in the wode, musk swallows the dense cloud of leather hence illuminating the aromatic properties. After the leather/saffron settles, the composition gets a little lighter making this a summertime leather alternative. On my skin, I’m not getting too much balsamic action nor have I encountered anything resembling amber. Not as challenging as the reviews led me to believe. Puredistance Black fans will enjoy this one for sure.
Metallurg-AAK – :
If you’re into experimental fragrances this is something worth checking out. An interesting rendition of leather which takes the distance from other fragrances in the same vein by achieving a luxury vibe via non-conventional languages. In this context, Wode is similar to what Comme Des Garcons or, let’s say, Martin Margiela have done with their clothes collections. High-end luxury goods with a remarkable avant-garde/punk attitude.
Wode it’s just lie that. It’s a punk leather jacket wore on a chiffon white shirt or, if you prefer, it’s like going to an S&M party wearing a Rick Owens’ leather courset.
How it smells like? Non-animalic yet incredibly realistic raw leather, dark green vegetals and spices blended together in a petrol-like magma that’s overall crude yet quite compelling. Both projection and lasting power are average.
The fragrance is available in two different editions: Scent and Paint (both of them coming in a aluminum paint-like can). The former it’s stronger and comes as a traditionally transparent liquid while the latter is an actual cobalt-blue paint that when sprayed on clothes and/or body, magically disappears after a few minutes…Scary.
Caution: The typical fragrance that makes perfume purists horrifying.
Rating: 7.5/10
benq10 – :
I was looking forward to trying this & just got a sample yesterday. I’m not the best at picking out notes & whatnot but here goes:
It started out aggressively green which was a little worrisome but I am patient.
I am rewarded for my patience as the greenness mellows out a bit, though I am getting an almost menthol thing which I figure is the juniper? I should really know that due to the amount of gin I drink but anyway….
We’re moving into leather. This is not your expensive handbag leather. This is biker leather, starting with the chaps, which is actually not bad. The I get a cold, wet stone element which cleans up the leather — we’re at the jacket now.
The leather is mellowing out and everything is blending together nicely in a calm, dare I say Zen, manner. Quite pleasant. No particular note is standing out.
It fades, gets a little dusty and then just when I think it’s pretty much gone it comes back. It’s spicy and just a little sweet, but not at all gourmand. Niiiiice.
Overall, a very interesting fragrance and definitely worth a sample if you like scents that are a little edgy/different/non-mainstream/whatever.
maslovskiy – :
This scent was so spicy and complex on me, it had somewhat of a rubber scent mixed in somewhere in there, but overall it wore really on me. Complex yet special, with just enough sillage. I think I might have to sample this one more time before I make a decision on purchasing the full bottle though.
….October 16, 2010, so I’m adding onto this review. Today I recieved my full bottle….I am in heaven. This scent is so amazing. The sample I received did not give this scent any justice. I think it has something to do with the way the scent disperses onto the wearer with the spray can that adds to the scent. I feel like I am wrapped in it, but it is so beautiful. I love that I get to smell like this all the time. The sillage is great and I have already received a few compliments.