Mycelium

The being was here long before the village.

For decades it has terrorized the village. It sits terrifyingly still on a natural rock formation that resembles some strange altar, one no human hands made, as if the forest itself raised it to honor the being. Its twisted branches of nails look as if they could slice a person to pieces. Every cell seems to scream to get away, and still the offering goes into the small mossy bowl at its feet.

Then comes a sickly cracking, like twigs snapping but wrong. The sound sinks into the bones like the cold of a rainy winter day. Twisted, bony fingers begin to unravel as more of its limbs come to life, and the run back to the village is all fear and one hope, that the elders were right and the offering was enough. It will ask more of them soon enough.

Hinoki wood and patchouli make it a shockingly wearable walk in the woods after the rain, with black currant among them. Fresh mushrooms burst from the damp forest floor underneath.

Hayden Grossman formulates every fragrance in the line, illustrates it, designs it and labels it, working out of a studio in an Oregon apartment. The route in was visual art and illustration. Each batch is mixed, bottled, labeled and assembled by hand, and the operation is exactly as small as that sounds. The illustration on the bottle and the liquid inside it are the same person's work.

Releases come with writing of their own. The strength is decided per release rather than set to a house standard. Limited editions come in small batches. The full ingredient list is published, down to the trade names of the synthetics, and a material that is not vegan is declared on the page it belongs to.