If your new year’s resolution is to just do a little bit better, then you might want to consider taking a look at the new fragrance from ånd which aims to help local communities and preserve habitats. Start the new year off as you mean to go on…

Listed notes

Patchouli, oudh, osmanthus, leather, spices.

Top notes

Påtch is a new release from renegade brand ånd Fragrance and it starts with that rawness that we have come to expect from them. Sharp, medicinal and unrefined but also bright, earthy and leathery is how Påtch begins. At first it feels almost like some sort of antiseptic found at the back of a cupboard where it has been brewing for years, but it quickly softens and calms and a lovely sherbet lemony quality comes through. It’s part sweet, juicy but also a little leathery as well.

There is a woody, oudy vein also apparent here, which ties the more medicinal aspects with the earthier, sweeter tones. The oud isn’t very dirty smelling, but just here and there it is a little, especially at the start, before reducing to a low pitched rumble and losing that more challenging aspect quickly.

Of the ånd range, Påtch has to be the most complex and nuanced of the set and this is apparent right from the start. It is distinctly an ånd fragrance, but it feels like the perfumer has taken his craft up a notch in complexity.

Heart notes

Påtch retains a sharper front end into the heart of the scent. Inhale and you will feel that focussed, citrussy vibe adding liveliness and an edge to the first molecules to tickle your olfactory receptors. Under that, a warm woody leather begins to build. It is detectable right from the start but it builds and solidifies as the scent goes on.

Patchouli can often fall into one of two camps. It can either smell like the hippie shops of the 1990s, or it can smell of chocolate. The nice thing about Påtch is that it does neither of these things here, but instead it is warm, robust, sweet, a little earthy, and really approachable. The oud gives it an edge so it doesn’t become too warm and fuzzy, but the patchouli element itself is really huggable and cosy without tipping into the overly sweet. It’s a tight line to walk, but it is done perfectly here.

Base notes

The base of Påtch shifts a little sweeter again and a dry, mossiness joins the fray. At times it feels reminiscent of a black tea accord; dry but with sweetness, a little woody, a little leathery. There is a plumpness to the lingering facets of the scent too which continue to give that cosy feeling – that sharp front end we observed earlier has been worn away.

Påtch is the sort of fragrance which it is possible to spend rather a long time finding different nuances within, and as such it is a pleasant novelty – and that is aside from any good that purchasing a bottle will do for the local communities supported. There’s enough interest here to make it worth a sniff, without it being a charitable, conscious purchase alone. Bright yet earthy, rich yet sharp, Påtch is a scent with contradictions as well as concurrences but those tensions are interesting and drive the scent forward.

The other stuff

Påtch lasts really well on skin – it’s one of those that will take you through a full day and sometimes you’ll even be able to smell it the next morning.

The projection of the fragrance is also good, but not obnoxious. It goes to handshake distance and possibly even further. If you sprayed loads on you could probably make it become a bit of a problem (or delight) for your co-workers, but as many of us are working from home again now, who cares?!

We’ve previously reviewed Sånd by ånd Fragrance.

The brand

ånd Fragrance are fresh, funky and firmly in the camp of more modern fragrances. It’s unsurprising, given that their founder and perfumer – Simon Constantine – used to be the in-house perfumer for Lush, that their scents have that raw, unprocessed feel that Lush fragrances sometimes have as well. They’re bold, vibrant and unapologetic. The sort of scents you can overdose on when you find one you love.

ånd fragrances showcase a hero ingredient in each scent. In this case it’s patchouli from Sumatra, highlighted by supporting ingredients to really shine to their full advantage. ånd also aims for a greater degree of social responsibility, sourcing ingredients ethically and ensuring that local communities are enhanced, rather than exploited, by the production of patchouli and other natural products. You can read more about this on the Påtch webpage.

If you’re looking for a scent which is modern, bold and a bit disruptive, eschewing the traditional feel of older perfume houses, then you may certainly benefit from taking a look at this young house.

If you’d like to know more, we interviewed Simon Constantine over on The Sniff Perfume Podcast.

Buy it

Påtch is available from the ånd Fragrance web boutique, where it is priced at £35 for 10ml or £129 for 50ml of EdP. ånd also have a physical store in Poole, Dorset to visit now too.

We were kindly gifted a sample of the fragrance by the brand – our thanks to them.

Banner image of Orang Utan by Pixel-mixer on Pixabay. Other images by The Sniff.