We Wanted to Smell Like a Tree

Tiziana Terenzi’s Orion comes in a bottle that’s tailor made for its own display on the cosmetics floor of a department store: it’s a calming ivory cylinder with a generous gold cap inscribed with the constellation of Orion. Launched in 2015 and created by perfumer Paolo Terenzi, this is supposedly a unisex fragrance but it smells like a cedar tree (we’re all about de-gendering products but that’s like trying to sell a vanilla cupcake-scented fragrance to men - not sure how many it would appeal to but you should absolutely wear it if that’s your jam because there’s nothing cooler than people being unapologetically themselves). We digress. Yes it has notes of bergamot, patchouli, thyme, agar wood, and cedar but when we applied it it just smelled like, well, like cedar, which isn’t a bad thing! If you’ve ever snapped the fresh branch of a cedar tree, that’s exactly what this smells like. It immediately puts you in a Christmas tree tent. Too often wanting to smell ‘woodsy’ is difficult because the cologne is layered with so many notes and the fragrance changes throughout the day. No such thing happened here. This is pure cedar. We wouldn’t say it was all that strong either - it would be best appreciated through a hug or cuddling. If you’re someone who likes a strong scent (just something just short of Ace Body Spray intensity), you’d have to reapply this throughout the day or skip it altogether. Either way, based off of its ability to capture the essence of cedar, completely uncomplicated, we like it.

Tiziana Terenzi’s Orion, $216.24

Price point: High