Pursuit. The Wooden Fox

Sep 2

2 min read

Updated: Oct 16

Chilini Special

On the shelf by the till in Illarion's shop stood a small wooden fox with one paw raised. Illarion could not remember which lot of old things it had come with, and he had never put a price on it.

Illarion kept an antique shop on the boulevard. In winter there were fewer customers, and he spent long hours sorting through boxes of things people brought in to sell.

In January it snowed all night. In the morning Illarion put Pursuit on his wrists, and rosemary and tea tree sounded fresh and sharp, while grape, apricot and cardamom added juiciness and warmth.

By noon honey, tuberose, lily and heliotrope opened on his skin, warm and lush, with the herbal bitterness of sage and wormwood. Illarion sorted a box of old books and caught himself feeling that every object was familiar.

Melania, a regular customer, came in to warm up and look at the new arrivals.

"Illarion, it smells of honey and flowers in here, like a house I stayed in as a child, only I can't remember where it was. Wait, this fox stood there on the bookshelf!" said Melania, and took the figurine from the shelf.

By evening mahogany, leather, tonka bean, amber and oakmoss remained, deep and warm. Melania remembered the town, the street and the house with the carved porch.

Illarion wrapped the fox in paper and gave it to Melania without ever naming a price.

How it sounds

The opening is fresh and sharp: rosemary and tea tree give herbal greenery, cardamom warms briefly, and grape and apricot add juice.

The heart is a large warm bouquet: tuberose, lily, narcissus, ylang-ylang and violet sound lush, and heliotrope and honey sweeten them. Wormwood, galbanum, sage and geranium keep the honey from turning cloying, and cinnamon and clove add a brief spice.

In the base mahogany and oakmoss hold the woody foundation, benzoin, labdanum and tonka bean give warmth, and leather, musk and amber leave a deep trail with a retro touch.

What makes it special

Pursuit belongs to the Chilini Special collection. Its name means "striving". The brand calls it a protest fragrance against manipulation and writes of it: "It seems to smell of somewhere you have already been, some place you cannot remember." It is a chypre leather unisex fragrance for autumn and winter.

Oelun on Fragrantica writes: "Wow! What power! What an unfolding! I'd say it is unisex and very beautiful!"

Tatyana Pervushina in the VK group "Parfposidelki" notes: "Beautiful, a little retro." @medlennaya_zvezda on Instagram writes: "The fragrance enters quite actively with citrus and rosemary, gradually rounding out and growing warmer."

People wear it for thoughtful calm: on a snowy winter day and on a long evening among old things.