Imaginary Authors A City on Fire Eau de Parfum

From the first seconds of application, City on Fire will make it clear what you have committed to for the rest of the day. This is a strong, long lasting perfume, with a wide sillage. This is a scent which one never quite stops noticing on themselves, which is perhaps ideal from an unusual boutique perfume with a lot of character.

The main accord, as is no surprise, is smoke, and it comes out of the bottle loud and without any subtly. Rather than 'bonfire' or 'bushfire' this reminds me much more of the smell of a handful of smoked peat, or the inside of a freshly charred bourbon barrel. There is a cleanness to the smoke that I just don't associate with standing near an active fire. Only the pleasant aspects of smoke are here - nothing about it is ashy, stale, or unwashed from a camping trip.

As the perfume top notes mellow, the wood characters become far more pronounced, changing the flavour of the smoke to something that reminds me of an aromatic wood fueled meat smoker (sans the meat. A spiced sweetness also becomes noticeable.

Before the end of the day when you are left with the base notes, the smoke is certainly still there, but has made room for a suede leather, amber, dark vanilla, and cardamon pod sweetness, making it a very comforting, but complex scent.

I think this is an obvious scent for the colder months, being that it is quite cozy once the intensity dissipates. However, I could also see this working really well as an attention grabbing choice for a summers night out for drinks at a bar.

I was not sure what to expect when trying this, given some of the more over the top reviews left for it, but I was pleased to find this was far from a one note novelty, or especially challenging. It is a very well balanced and sophisticated (albeit strong) perfume that I really enjoyed.

Apply with restraint. A little goes a long way with City on Fire.