The House of Oud Cypress Shade

More shade than cypress, Cypress Shade is so astonishingly good at capturing the cool, herbal dampness of the ground under a cypress tree that you might want to curl up and take a little nap. Take a good book with you, and a glass of ice-cold Pastis. The mastic woodiness of the cypress does not dominate, forming instead a softly green, balsamic curtain through which the other notes shine. Fresh mint, vetiver, and coriander form a cooling mat of aromatic grasses that is as welcome on a hot day as a cool cloth on the forehead. The unmistakable licorice snap of anise darts and weaves through the damp green notes, turning the mind most pleasurably to the midday aperitif. But what elevates this scent beyond the standard woody aromatic is the mimosa, a powdery yellow flower that smells like almond flour, glue, cucumber, and innocence itself. The mimosa sparkles before folding itself into a vigorous base of Madagascaran cedar and Haitian vetiver. It ends, as all things should, in the milky, anise-tinted blur of Pastis.