WHISTLER by Wild Coast Perfumery

The world of natural fragrances is one that increases every year as more companies try to carve out a little piece of the market. With quantity comes choice, but it doesn’t always equate to quality. Natural fragrances can easily veer into heavy and overbearing territory due to the complexity and richness of the ingredients, with the result being a dense fragrance that lacks a feeling of space. However, there are perfumers that have managed to combine both the natural and expansive aspects. One such perfumer is Laurie Arbuthnot of Wild Coast Perfumery, and her tuberose-focused Whistler is a springtime delight.

The perfume industry was always historically based in France, with Grasse being its spiritual home, but the eventual expansion into Britain and America saw the French begin to lose this monopoly. Nearly every country in the world now has a fragrance house and an army of niche perfumers, and one of these is Canada. This territory was a little slow to start but, in recent years, they have really taken the niche market by storm. With companies including Zoologist, Meleg and Momento, the choice is incredibly varied and these indie perfumers are offering their customers exciting scents that are missing from the mainstream companies.

Laurie Arbuthnot founded Wild Coast Perfumery in 2017, and the company was launched from a very strong love of fragrance. Laurie told me that she had first become fascinated with scent on a trip to Italy, but it would be almost ten years before she took this interest any further. After an online introduction to perfumery, Laurie took face to face tuition in San Francisco. Armed with this knowledge, and a will to succeed, she opened her company on Vancouver Island. Surrounded by magical flora and fauna, a natural brand seemed the obvious choice.

There are currently thirteen fragrances in the Wild Coast Perfumery collection, and I’ve spoken about the fantastic Genoa Bay in the past, but it’s Whistler that I want to focus on this time. It’s described as being inspired by “the boldness and the raw beauty of British Columbia’s coastal mountains and the brisk, fresh, forest and mountain air”. Now, Laurie’s fragrances are not categorised by gender, so you are free to pick as you see fit, and I say this because tuberose is used in this scent to create a very specific effect. So please don’t just think floral, think mysteriously intriguing, and be prepared for something very special.

Whistler opens with an earthy floral quality, thanks to the gardenia-like tuberose, but is accompanied by a neroli enhanced bergamot and black pepper. It’s this combination that first conveys the boldness of the landscape along with the mountain air. You’re then introduced to a sandalwood and leathery styrax that accentuates the original tuberose, drawing out the darker side of this narcotic flower, but a note of cedarwood adds a feeling of space. The final development sees the earthiness continue thanks to vetiver and patchouli but, in a reverse of positions, you also get a touch of mandarin and Douglas fir to add the effect of a dew-touched landscape. Whistler is as stunning as the landscape that inspired it.

Whistler is available from the Wild Coast Perfumery website at wildcoastperfumes.com priced at $55CAD for 15ml and $98CAD for 50ml. [Sample provided by Laurie Arbuthnot]

* Wild Coast Perfumery fragrances are formulated to comply with Canada’s allergen restrictions rather than EU allergen restrictions.

Posted by Stephan Matthews at 07:00:00

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Labels: Canada, Genoa Bay, Independent, Laurie Arbuthnot, Niche, Vancouver Island, Whistler, Wild Coast Perfumery