TEGENWIND - 50ML Eau de Parfum
Imagine cycling across a flat, open landscape. Fields stretching out on both sides. No hills nor trees to hide behind, and yet every single pedal stroke feels like climbing a mountain. That is what the Dutch know as TEGENWIND.
It literally means “headwind” in Dutch, but that translation doesn’t quite capture the full weight of it. In the Netherlands, tegenwind isn’t just weather; it’s a national condition. It’s the invisible force that turns a five-minute ride into an odyssey. It’s the cold air that seeps through your coat, the gusts that slap your face, the resistance that makes you question why you ever left the house.
There’s a sort of modest pride in it, too. Every Dutch person knows that peculiar satisfaction of arriving somewhere soaked, hair in chaos, legs burning, wet jeans, sweaty back, and saying, with quiet heroism, “Ik had tegenwind.” ("I had headwind.").
To a foreigner, it might sound like a complaint. To a Dutchman, it’s almost a badge of honour. A reminder that even on a flat landscape, life can still feel like a struggle, but it can be overcome with perseverance.
Tegenwind has shaped this country. And it has shaped the Dutch. It made us strong and resilient. I tried to capture the feeling of tegenwind in this perfume. The icy wind on your cheeks and chin. The heat that arises after eventually arriving at your destination. The sweat on your back. With a strengthened resilience.
TEGENWIND Eau de Parfum opens icy and fresh with notes of pink pepper, juniper berry, geosmin (petrichor) and wet mint. It then slowly warms up with notes of elemi, geranium, eucalyptus and patchouli. To eventually dry down to a warm base of ambergris, earthy vetiver, leather and sandalwood.
Unisex
Our perfumes are not specifically made for men or women. Marketing helps create the concept of 'male' or 'female' fragrances. But the fact is they act differently on anyone's skin. So all of our perfumes are unisex.
Eau de Parfum is a very strong form of perfume, containing about 20% of pure perfume essence. Just one to two sprays on each wrist in the morning will keep you smelling amazing for the entire day.
Concept: Joeri Hottentot
100% made in the Netherlands.
Scent story
Most people aren't fans of tegenwind while cycling. It's uncomfortable and it requires extra energy to get to your destination. But thinking back to the old days, to the days of cycling to school (non-electric!) with a heavy backpack full of books, and always facing that tegenwind... every Dutchman has experienced this while riding their bike to school. And everyone gets melancholic thinking about it. It even makes you miss the tegenwind.
TEGENWIND is my tribute to this national, melancholic feeling. I translated the feeling of tegenwind into a scent, which hopefully makes you long back for those bike rides battling tegenwind.
The readers of the Van De Zotte newsletter have yet again been a true inspiration for this perfume. When asked for input there always is a lot of response, which is inspiring in the development process of a new perfume. When I asked my readers what scents come to mind when thinking about tegenwind, many people mentioned the smell of rain, but also of jenever (Dutch gin) and tea, which warm you up after a windy bike ride.
You can now smell these scents in TEGENWIND.
