A Brief History of SILVER
I was asked recently about how many batches of SILVER there have been so far. Like many things Clandestine the answer is murky and my memory was also, so I did some digging and came up with a pretty good timeline. TLDR: the current batch is now the fifth publicly released batch but I wore previous versions for years.
The original version of Silver was done back in 2010. I’d just discovered perfumery and become completely obsessed with buying every fragrance material I could get my hands on. The original accord: fossil amber, styrax resin, lavender and mint, gave me the mental image of walking down a hot, dusty dirt road with a refreshing breeze. The original attempt was called Hot, in fact (many of my initial names are pretty lame, tbh - they’re mostly notations intended to trigger some recollection of the original concept). I tried several times to make it into a wearable fragrance but tbh I didn’t really have the knowledge or materials at the time. It didn’t last and several early versions had a harsh midnote. Still, in probably 2011 I stopped by Sephora on 86th Street on my way home from work to smell the latest mainstream offerings (and the occasional decent one like Terre d’Hermes). I had a bunch of strips I’d sprayed in my bag and when I got home and was smelling them, I smelled something I really liked, something different yet familiar - which turned out to be Silver, which had spilled in my bag. Not recognizing it at first but liking it and then realizing I’d made it was one of the first inklings that I might be onto something really good.
As usual, I eventually put it aside. Finally, in 2017 I had a major insight and made a really good version that retained the original character but lasts fairly well and evolves but is cohesive throughout. I called this the final version lol - and I then scaled it up to a batch of 200g of concentrate. Because I didn’t really go public until late 2021, this batch lasted until early 2022. Yet it caused a splash among a small number of people on Basenotes.
In January 2022 I mixed a new batch of 375g concentrate. This one was slightly improved by the addition of amyris eo for the first time, which really adds something. It proved increasingly popular and that December I mixed a larger 800g batch which lasted until 2024
In 2024 I did several substitutions of natural materials and added one aromachemical, resulting in a darker overall profile and better longevity.
Which brings us to the current, fifth batch. This one has several major materials substitutions that were intended to improve it and bring the topnote back more in line with the earlier versions. It has been really difficult to asses because, despite some obvious improvements, it seemed something was missing. Long story short, I finally figured it out and when I smelled the change everything just snapped into place.