Blackbird was first an award winning menswear store that opened in 2004 in Seattle. Nicole Miller, its founder and creative director, brought Blackbird to new heights in 2013 when she decided to focus on distributing the Blackbird brand internationally and closed her stores. Today Blackbird is known worldwide for its unconventional and remarkable fragrances and grooming products.
Aaron Way, lead perfumer at Blackbird, described the process of creating these unique scents as coming up with an abstract concept before any notes are discussed. Using a few rare or unusual ingredients ensures that their creations are both beautiful and distinct.
Triton, named after the moon of Neptune that was in turn named after the son of Poseidon, is a cold fragrance. Its scent carries the nose to the icy surface of its namesake moon, but it is not unrelenting. It’s like being able to experience the harsh terrain from the relative comfort of a warm enclosure. It’s about finding and relishing the beauty of a frozen landscape. When you put it on, it's like smelling a magnificent, incomprehensible ice world. Unisex floral notes blend seamlessly with bright aldehydes and minerals to create a remarkably crisp, cool scent contrasted by a hint of sweetness. Below the surface, dry amber, cold incense, and brisk woods keep the top notes from escaping and give structure to the unique, icy accord. Triton features notes of violet leaf, orris, cedar, aldehyde, incense, mimosa, carrot seed, dry amber, vetiver, styrax and black pepper. It is an eau de parfum, edp.
Colognoisseur: Triton is named after the moon of Neptune and inspired by the icy orb. It has a frozen surface populated with cryovolcanoes which erupt in jets of frozen nitrogen. The fragrance inspired by this harsh landscape is a study in the cooler notes on the perfumer’s palette. Throughout its development it carries a metaphorical frost with aldehydes and violet providing the initial chill. It stays extremely delineated through a dry heart before having its own cryovolcano which shoots out a stream of incense. Triton immediately goes frigid as the more metallic aldehydes are combined with violet leaf. There is also just a pinch of black pepper to simulate the tickle in one’s nose when breathing in very cold air. This has an almost sci-fi kind of metallic gleam to it, which seems appropriate. With the violet leaf continuing the icy vibe; an extremely dry cedar and very astringent vetiver form an austere heart. This is a barren set of perfume notes it almost echoes it is so punctuated. I think that this is where some will have difficulty with Triton. If you want your perfumes luscious and warm Triton is not your perfume. I really like the choice to keep it so locked into a minimalist attitude. The base allows an eruption of incense, styrax, and amber. These add a bit of contextual heat but not enough and fairly rapidly the incense recaptures the coolness. Triton has 6-8 hour longevity and modest sillage. I was very surprised at how assuredly Triton went through its paces. Triton really impressed me more each successive time I wore it. For something so cold it has found a warm place in my perfumed heart.
Now Smell This: Triton is the latest release from Blackbird, and I've been happily wearing my sample for the past few days. Triton includes notes of violet leaf, iris root, cedar, aldehyde, incense, mimosa, carrot seed, dry amber, vetiver, styrax and black pepper. It's a tricky fragrance to classify: I'd call it a unisex mineral-earthy-woody scent. I've been wearing Triton in hot-and-humid weather, and it does make me feel cooler (mentally, at least) while taking me on a voyage. It balances chilly aldehydes with warmer, more textured base notes. The aspects that feel most prominent to me are a dry, sheer incense in the opening, a moist, root-y iris and a cedar note reminiscent of pencil shavings. (I particularly enjoy the iris.) I can imagine the smoke and dirt and colder notes as part of a moonscape experience. Yet Triton also reminds me, in a weirdly soothing way, of a cellar: slightly clammy air, damp earth, chilly stone and the musty smell of wood furniture that has been stored in the dark for a while. Triton is reportedly about half-and-half natural extracts, which adds to its convincing "elemental" sensation. Its longevity is on the light side as a result, but I still got a respectable few hours from it on my skin. It could easily be worn by women who like light earthy fragrances as well as men.
Fragrantica: This is a perennial favorite of mine during colder, drier weather. Interestingly, this scent consistently reads way different to others smelling me, versus me smelling myself. Comments from others mention fresh and very clean. That's not what I get on myself at all. While it is certainly sparkling, Triton has a sinister vibe, a remote, off-putting undercurrent. There is rooty iris and carrot, yes, and of course flowers. But these ingredients don't tell the story. The scent hologram is space-dust, shards of lunar glass, and blue-green noble gases. I think what makes it indispensable is that it's the closest modern fragrance I have found to my mother's Worth Je Reviens, the original science-fiction floral. Ideally I would live in a climate (or planet) where this could be worn year round. Everyone should smell this.
