Beaufort London Fathom V: A Maritime Miracle
Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes;
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange. – Ariel’s Song
From the archives: I am bewitched and enchanted. I have been turned into a mermaid. Beaufort London is a currently small outfit, based in London, as you have probably guessed. My previous knowledge of them consisted only of my experience of Beaufort 1805, a sample of which had been provided in a previous Perfume Society Discovery Box. Beaufort London 1805 was a powerful scent that blew my head off like a gunship’s cannon. I admired it, but respectfully left it for others to enjoy. Fathom V on the other hand, blew me away in quite a different manner altogether.
From the very first sniff of this, whilst it was still wet, I thought of salty London docks , mossy with age and rusty with decay. It was a deliciously uplifting and evocative scent, bursting with green notes as well as the green flanks of a boat on an earthy mudbank.
Lurking in there somewhere is an almost unsettlingly sexy note of thigh and pheromone. It’s like a pirate’s breeches, but so, so alluring. It’s hypnotic, evocative and utterly bewitching. It makes my head feel like it’s stuck in a poem about crashing waves and damsels and incredibly attractive pirates. Oh and did I mention the lilies? The greenest of lily notes ever created is in here, giving this a botanic saltiness and adding to the hypnotic effect.
So what’s in? Not that it matters, really, it’s already made its mark on me, but here’s a list of notes:
Top notes: earth, green notes, aqutic notes
Middle notes: cumin, lily, black pepper
Base: Vetiver, moss, salt
If Beaufort Fathom V is sniffed with your eyes closed before sleep, you will have seafaring, swashbuckling dreams. I wholeheartedly recommend it. I shall resist adding “me hearties” on the end. Oh, whoops!
Stockists
Beaufort Fathom V is available from Beaufort London. They also do moustache wax, which makes me love them even more, despite not having a moustache. Shipping is free within the UK. My sample was from The Perfume Society Precious Perfumes Discovery Box, sadly out of stock, but a good reason to keep trying discovery boxes.
Acknowledgements:
Painting by John William Waterhouse. Sample and opinions are my own.