Wood Sage and Sea Salt is the 2014 hit from Jo Malone that pushed the brand into the new world of perfume. Away from the natural essences that the brand was down for this concoction uses more modern materials. The saltines comes from and Ambroxan, and the Ambrette seed in the dry down, feels pretty and fresh reminiscent of the skin scents that were popular at that time such as Glossier You and Diptyque Fleur de Peau. Does it smell salty? Kind of.
I remember the first time I smelled this, I was overwhelmed by the ambroxan and that’s all I got. Now I get a faint saline quality. It’s not quite like the sea. The sea has a bit of dirtiness and this is quite clean, but it’s likeable and I can see why it’s still around. I also have the English Pear and Freesia room diffuser which is a bit too strong for me. I see it up and then had to pack it away a few hours later. It was more of a shampoo-like peony, not unlike the scent of a drugstore rose shampoo.
