Playing with woods: Wonderwood and 2 (Comme des Garcons)

Again in a perfume shop in the other day, I found a scent that I had always seen the box but never the tester so I was never able to try it: Wonderwood, by Antoine Lie for Comme des Garcons.
Although still young, Antoine Lie has already created for Kenzo, Gucci, Givenchy, and especially for Etat Libre d'Orange (Secretions Magnifiques is his creation, as well as Je Suis Un Homme, Rossy de Palma, Tom of Finland and Vierges et Toreros); for CDG he managed to render the idea of the forest in a lush and magnificent way: the fragrance just feels wood, wood and more wood.
When I got home, I thought to make a little comparison with another fragrance CDG I like, and which is characterized by a strongly woody feeling: "2", composed by Mark Buxton in 1999, developing the concept of “ink”. I have both in edp.
The pyramid of Wonderwood says: bergamot, black pepper, nutmeg, coriander, frankincense, guaiac wood, cedarwood, sandalwood, patchouli, vetiver, oud, cashmeran (synthetic molecule with a warm-woody aroma, very charming, you use it to sew and round up the woody accord), javanol (synthetic sandalwood) cristalon (other synthetic molecule, delicately flowery that probably here provides a minimum of balance to woods).

The pyramid of 2: ink notes (headspaced), aldehydes (synthetic molecules adding shine and "enamel" effect), coriander, cinnamon, cumin, nutmeg, juniper, angelica, frankincense, magnolia, patchouli, cedarwood, cistus labdanum, vetiver.


Two fantastic pyramids, where spices and woods work together and in combination with synthesis to achieve an outcome that transcends the individual notes, but  feelings couldn’t be more different, yet both are interpretations of the term "woody"!
Of the two, Wonderwood is the fresher, the drop resin on the bark is still liquid, the wood is rough, wet and expresses exactly the darkest green of a forest at night. Majestic, sometimes smooth and sometimes disturbing, like a soft dark coat under which flows a mysterious life.
2 instead expresses a strong, golden afternoon light, spicy atmosphere, warm, exotic woods are dry and they seem to crack loud when walked on.


Both of them are remarkable works, which grow and develop with the passing of the hours remaining always interesting and wearable in all stages, although not everybody would wear them with pleasure. They give quite intense woody and dry feel with some roughness, and someone could feel scared, or need to stay away. In any case, the persistence is very good ("2" is better). My advice is to try them both, possibly side by side, to meditate on the opposite meanings of the word “woody”.