Two Westeners

[zankoku_zen]

Salt-crusted mahogany, crimson musk, sea moss, bourbon vanilla, parchment, beeswax, tonka bean, and leather.

[VetchVesper]

I'm not much for salty aquatics, but this one is interesting.  Though there's an undercurrent of the standard soapiness I get from most sea blends, there's an intriguing darkness and depth to it that makes me want to keep sniffing.  It's very well blended and it's hard for me to pick apart the separate notes.  Definitely salty, and I think I'm catching hints of sweetness from the bourbon vanilla.  Maybe a hint of crimson musk as it dries down?  The soapiness also becomes less pronounced.  Everything runs together.  This makes me think of deep, murky, night waters.

 

I'm guessing if you like dark aquatics, this is win.  I'd enjoy smelling this on a guy, though I think anyone could wear it. 

[starbrow]

Two Westerners jumped into my cart from the moment the Shungas went live. I mean, look at all those notes! Now that it's here, I'm slightly puzzled. The first whiff is very salty aquatic - and I like salt notes, but aquatics usually not a total winner - yet I can tell this is a murkier kind of water, like it's brackish or something, with the mahogany peeking through like water-logged ship beams falling apart from a long-ago shipwreck. Interesting.

 

Then the other and even more puzzling note is the beeswax, which is high-pitched waxy honey, somehow still salty (??), and adding to the strange mystery of this blend. Together, they form a sharp and rather aggressive blend that bullies the other notes (parchment, bourbon vanilla, tonka bean, leather) into the shadows. Crimson musk is brave enough to come play in the drydown, something not quite red musk but a deep dark red like blood that warms and slightly softens the edges of the salty wet wood and beeswax.

I think the true beauty of Two Westerners has yet to emerge in the aging process. It's spiky right now, I'd like to see this shipwreck in a year.

[supreme_c0rt]

This is the one I was most excited about. It's a who's-who of win notes (honey being the wildcard). It did not disappoint.

 

Take Books, add dark honeyed wood, a touch more worn leather and wax, and a big heap of sea salt. That's Westerners. This is a chest of old maps tucked away in the cargo hold of a ship, dotted with the oils of raw beeswax candles. The scent of ocean air, the cozy simplicity of old paper, and a spreading warmth of sunlight and gentle sweetness. Westerners is unlike any aquatic I've had from the lab, as it's a warm honey-gold color and not soapy cold-blue, with a big hit of salt that is divine. If you're put off by red musk, no worries, it's barely there. 

 

Like a lot of Shungas the throw is very delicate on me and takes some slathering to get it to open up, but once it does it's absolutely gorgeous. It keeps on giving, each gentle waft revealing more of itself. It lasts, too. 

 

If you are a fan of Ancient Junk (this is very similar), Books, Wax Cylinders but not as aquatic, Storyteller but not smoky, Bright Red Dildo but less red --- try this one. And if you want to love aquatics but can't do the Blue Water type of aquatic, definitely try this one.

 

[Aged 8 Months]:

This has aged magnificently. The salt is not as shouty; still there, but where it really should have been all along. Red musk has matured into the scent a bit more. It's not prominent, but I can pick it out more than when it was new. The leather really sings in this now. There's familial resemblance to both Bright Red Dildo and Loviatar. Like those two joined their pirate captain sister and are out adventuring on the sea. 🛳️

 

 

Edited December 3, 2020 by supreme_c0rt

[zankoku_zen]

Salty aquatic overlay on honey, leather, and wax. I find this to be a gender-neutral, slightly masculine blend. It's like if the Light of Men's Lives went to sea and lived the pirate life for a while. Medium throw and wear length.

[Kelthara]

This is an ocean breeze, sharp and salty, sweetened by the vanilla, beeswax, and tonka. I smell like a sexy pirate lady (but this is definitely a gender-neutral scent), and I'm not mad about that. This pirate lady is deceptively sweet, she is kind of flirty, but will most certainly cut you if you get too close. 

 

I really love this scent, so far this is my favorite of my luper decants. I'm excited to see how it ages, and I may need a bottle down the line.

[feyofthefellwood]

I'm pretty picky about aquatics, but the reviews for this one intrigued me enough that I found myself a decant. And this one is good! The beeswax reminds me of Lights of Men's Lives, the salty wood and crimson musk of Anne Bonny, and the sea salt of Mary Read. But where Mary Reads goes too sweet on me for me to enjoy the leather and more grounded notes, this one maintains a good balance on my skin. Sexy pirate lady is an accurate vibe! ⚔️ I definitely want to try this layered with Anne Bonny.

[Casablanca]

And I continue to amp the hell out of most salt notes.

 

Two Westerners is all crusty salt on me, like waves upon waves of sea salt without a drop of the ocean's water. I can find a hint of fresh (and welcome) sea moss, but everything else is lost and drowned in this unwatered salt sea.

[sunreon]

i need to try this again and slather more, i was very very sparing in this first try.

 

unlike the others, i get almost no salt notes

 

the musk and mahogany are very backgroundy, and the moss is almost not there at all. it's providing the faintest hint of background dusty dryness to what is otherwise soft almost sweet, gentle, the bourbon vanilla, parchment, beeswax, tonka, leather, etc.

 

it's like soft, soft, supple, thicccckkkkkk buffalo hide. soft dark brown. THICC. but so, so supple. and almost velvety soft. with vanilla wafting around it. and the scent of beeswax nearby cause you're using it to condition other leather. the musk blends with the leather. there are faint honey notes blending with the vanilla bourbon. it's like a sweet honeyed bourbon, but not boozy. a good woodsy note bourbon. not too smoky, not too oaky. and smooth. a very high quality, well aged drink.

[Lucchesa]

I generally can't do aquatics, but I have realized over the past few months how much I love the sea salt note, and that's the note that's uppermost when Two Westerners hits my skin.  And it's glorious -- salt and wood and beeswax, vanilla and old books.  I'm getting no red musk out of this, a note that usually dominates on me.  Unisex and not too sweet.  

 

This was almost an instant bottle, except that it faded away in about two hours.  I'm hanging onto my decant in case age improves the wear length -- I like it so much I almost don't care.  I love zanzoku_zen's description as Lights of Men's Lives (probably my favorite GC) taking up a pirate's life.  

Edited May 19, 2020 by Lucchesa

[Jenjin]

Salty, sweaty leathered hides, i'm picturing pirates working the deck of a creaky ship tied to ocean shores. Barnacle crusted trunks down below and burnt candlesticks stubbed out. This smells like a classic BPAL to me, another one from "A Picnic in Arkham" mashed with the lab's beeswax note. Editing to add the drydown is luscious, shaggy leather, really nice. 

Edited May 24, 2020 by Jenjin

[doomsday_disco]

In the decant: Red musk, salt-crusted mahogany, a bit of smooth leather.

 

On me: Salt! Followed by some beeswax tinged with red musk. It doesn't take long for the salt to calm down to allow the smooth leather to appear. But the red musk amps with wear, as it is wont to do on me, so that it is mostly red musk-splashed beeswax with hints of salt, leather, mahogany, parchment, and moss in the background.

 

Verdict: I'm going to retest this one in a few weeks and see how it fares. I amp red musk and wish I got less of it here, but I also tend to amp salt and moss, and those notes were pretty well-behaved. Aside from the red musk, I'm really enjoying the prominence of the bookish notes that I was hoping for, and I appreciate the scent journey of beeswax out at sea.