Created by Shelley Waddington in 2016, this fragrance is inspired by the forested terroir and Bohemian lifestyle of the Pacific Northwest, perfumer Shelley Waddington wanted to “interpret and decode the distinctive elements of this region, and to distill them into a fragrance that celebrates their story”. The Pacific Northwest, a place of Native American origins, is also famed for its edgy, unconventional artistic and urban culture. Rainmaking originally referred to a cultural ritual that induced rainfall. In popular culture, a rainmaker refers to a creator of something valued. “In expanding my creative work, I wanted to provide a mist of beauty and attraction that would become a ‘Rainmaker’ for the wearer,” continues Waddington, “Plus I like the quirky reference to the clouds above Portland, some of the best rainmakers in the world.” Rainmaker has a contemporary signature that exalts and infuses the native mossy forest, rainy weather and fragrant earth with modern perspectives and light. With notes of rose leaf, silver pine tips, wild citrus, incense, patchouli, iris, rhododendron, mossy rain forest notes of cedar, fir, redwood needles, petrichor, oakmoss and amber. Dave Kern, American Perfumer: Cascadian woods, patchouli, wet-earth, warm ambered moss. Shelley's tribute to her adopted hometown of Portland, Oregon. Rainmaker is an eau de parfum, edp.
CaFleureBon: "I lived in the Pacific Northwest for 10 years. I know the feel of that country intuitively, like being able to navigate an old house in the dark. Washington State is like putting Northern California, New Orleans, and London in a blender, and then tie-dye-ing the result in every shade of grey imaginable. It’s a difficult place to capture in scent – so many competing olfactory images: do you go for the dry timber feel of the forests, the endless rain, or the mossy spookiness? Shelley Waddington of En Voyage Parfums captures that elusive Northwest vibe in her latest from the Odyssey series of perfumes, entitled Rainmaker. A perfume that embodies a dense labyrinth of brooding wet sidewalks and mossy moodiness. Rainmaker is listed as “a woody amber chypre” scent, and woodiness is definitely on display in Rainmaker, but there’s some undergrowth here too: a dank, dark greenery undulates through it. The top notes are listed as rose leaf, silver pine tips and wild citrus. This is an unexpected opening trio, but it sets the table perfectly. There’s a near baroque undertone to the opening of Rainmaker. The rose and wild citrus combine into olfactory calliope music, with the silver pine tips providing an airy, almost spiked counterpoint. If this perfume were a movie, the opening would be a camera moving slowly through an old wooden house, with dust motes and muted sunlight being swallowed whole by lengthening shadow. The heart of Rainmaker turns this odd, minor-key opening into a more peaceful key, but still one punctured in several places by iris and patchouli, so the dreamy, heavy-lidded feel continues on. There’s also a very finely-etched filament of incense somewhere here, but the heart is about the dolorous iris and dusty, boarded-up attic patchouli notes. You can almost hear the castors on creaking, faded chairs squeaking throughout the house as you wear Rainmaker. The drydown is where the true heart of the Northwest resides in this scent: amber, oakmoss and dry, dry redwood and cedar come to the fore and this is where the bright, newly-married couple take up residence in that old house. Fresh new planks of flooring are laid down, and the leftover wood is made into cedar chests to house their newlywed keepsakes. There is age, and silence and then hope embedded in this scent, and fans who know Shelley Waddington’s style will recognize the shift immediately. No one in today’s indie scene can shift moods so quickly and wryly as Shelley. There is always a plot to follow in En Voyage perfumes, and Rainmaker is no exception. Rainmaker beguiles with hints of ancient logs buried half in the earth, and its final message that in daylight comes a warm and radiant new dawn, dappled in raindrops."
Bonkers About Perfume: "As regular readers know, I am the world's worst deconstructor of perfumes, able only to articulate the vaguest of impressions - which reminds me, I still have to do that set of "tiny 'unreviews' of unprecedented vacuousness" that I promised Portia in my review of Papillon's Salome. But eyeballing those notes, it is not hard to imagine that Rainmaker was inspired by the "forested terroir" of the Pacific Northwest, as well as its "Bohemian lifestyle". 'Imagine' is the operative word, mind you, for despite having spent a week in the state (on a mission to do with a fairly niche kind of plastic), I didn't encounter any Bohemians, and the terroir I stayed in - a suburb of Portland called Beaverton - was forested largely by the signs of nail bars, used car lots, and branches of Taco Bell. That was where I first came across the fast food chain's masterly slogan of "Think outside the bun", a mantra I have been trying to live up to ever since. So what do I make of Rainmaker? Well, I was drawn to it right off the bat: it felt obviously 'niche' in quality terms, and seamlessly blended. I note that Rainmaker has a "high percentage of pure extraits, natural materials, and proprietary blends", which are perfectly well behaved here, the epitome of suave urbanity indeed. In truth, the scent doesn't feel particularly Bohemian or 'indie' in the sense of quirky to me. I could picture the wearer as a go-getting professional, who likes to kick back at the weekends, don some high end walking gear by The North Face or its Pacific Northwest equivalent (Trew?, Poler?, Holden?), and get amongst nature. Which is not to say that I don't feel I could wear Rainmaker too, even though I don't exactly fit that profile(!) - I like the scent for its own sake and because of my own memories of that region - and further down the Pacific coast (of which more anon). The dominant aspect is fairly full-on woodiness, as you would expect from that quintet of tree species, but as its creator intended, to my nose Rainmaker stays bang on the gender divide, This is no Marc Jacobs Bang or whichever Comme des Garcons scents are particularly woody - you know the ones I mean(!). Its glowing amber core and rich earthy/patchouli base lend a warmth and softness to Rainmaker that tone down the woodiness, and also ensure that the delicate inflection of damp forest foliage never tips into anything remotely resembling strident janitorial pine. Also, foresty scents can sometimes skew plangent and austere - arguably Ormonde Jayne Man and Woman lean that way, ditto FM Angeliques sous la Pluie. Of the latter I once wrote that it reminded me of "rolling fog in Northern California on a November morning". But I'd say Rainmaker captures the spirit of this general neck of the woods more comprehensively - and without being at all bleak! And Shelley Waddington has also pulled off quite a coup in making Rainmaker authentically foresty, whilst incorporating more feminine facets, thanks to the iris and rose leaf. Carner Barcelona's D600 walks a similar line with its inclusion of jasmine and iris in an otherwise resolutely woody composition, so if you like that scent, I'm willing to bet you will like Rainmaker too. They are very much in the same vein / 'register', albeit D600 is possibly a little sweeter. So would I wear Rainmaker? Sure! Would I like to smell it on a man? Oh, yes.... Has it displaced my current top three from the En Voyage Perfumes stable - Zelda (review here), Captured in Amber and Fiore di Bellagio? Well, noooo, but that is because genre-wise I happen to be more drawn to florals and orientals - I do think Rainmaker is very well done. It is polished, smooth and naturalistic, and thanks to the addition of incense, verging on meditative and cosy too. Not so much your well worn 'cashmere wrap' kind of cosy, as that afforded by donning a bolero of sphagnum moss maybe - a short garment which obviously I can't resist shortening further to 'sphag bol'. So yes, back to memories of the region... First off, when I see redwood trees mentioned anywhere I am immediately transported back to my childhood, to afternoons spent reading Look & Learn magazine and gawping at images of (what would now be vintage!) cars driving through the lofty pines' humongously thick trunks. I also remember more recent visits to my Swiss cabinet maker friend Ron and his wife Nina, who lived in the middle of a redwood forest in a Hansel & Gretel-style house they built themselves(!) out of local timber (see above). Strictly speaking, this was NorCal rather than the Pacific Northwest, but I imagine that the general ambience - and scent - of the forest might have been similar to the more northerly 'terroir' Shelley had in mind."
Australian Perfume Junkies: "Shelley’s perfumes are an extraordinary example of olfactory storytelling that take you on a scent journey, conjuring up memories and images, and Rainmaker is no exception! Rainmaker is a gorgeous incense/wood/floral and green scent. For all you incense and chypre lovers, this is right up your ally! Now I must say that I struggle with incense-heavy notes, but Rainmaker is one of the few I would happily add to my collection! For me this is a camping trip to the Northwest rain forest in the Autumn. Rain is dripping from the low-hanging evergreen boughs. Night is falling along with the temperature, cold and crystal clear. The glittering stars are so close through the tree tops, you feel like you could touch them. Lighting your campfire, the smell of burning wood drifts towards the sky, and someone starts telling stories of the First People. You feel the weight of myth and history all around you. It is no wonder that these woods are sacred to the North Coast Native tribes. The mystery is palpable."
Fragrantica: "Love! Just an immense earthy vibe that brings me deep into a lush forest after a summer rain."
Fragrantica: "Ok, here me again...This is a beauty, it should be much more hyped...All the notes are coming just as they are listed. Until my next wearing, when i will be probably prompted again to express my awe for this..."
Fragrantica: "Lovely juicy fir that slowly warms and dries up to something that says "hay" to me. An amazingly pleasant blend."
