Men's Fragrances

[Law]

I don't think I've ever seen House of Matriarch mentioned here. Can any of you fragrance heads recommend any of the particular scents? I've experienced coco blanc and like it but don't want to wear it. I may buy the high perfumery sample set but am thinking it may be better to pick a few particular fragrances to sample that will likely work best for me. Any suggestions?

Their flagship scent if you will is Black No.1 (Formerly known as Blackbird). I have a bottle in it's original format, it's very potent woody, with a strong green resinous pine and weed smell. It's quite unusual, but I don't reach for it that often. Definitely worth trying, as it's the best in the line in my opinion.

[Faust]

What's the general consensus on Kilian?

[byhand]

What's the general consensus on Kilian?

I love Amber Oud. It's one of my favorite cold weather scents, and it is a compliment magnet. I like that Kilian sells 50ml refills - I have no need for the extravagant (and expensive) packaging.

[Law]

What's the general consensus on Kilian?

All flash, little substance in my humble opinion, about best sums them up as a whole. A small step up from a Tom Ford say, for example. I say this as somebody who's been playing the niche game for 12 years and have sampled everything in their line numerous times. You're essentially paying top whack for the kitsch and superfluous packaging and presentation lock boxes. Whilst some of the scents are quite nice, they no way warrant their price tag. Much better fair to be had in the same ballpark. Which ones are you interested in, if any?

[Faust]

All flash, little substance in my humble opinion, about best sums them up as a whole. A small step up from a Tom Ford say, for example. I say this as somebody who's been playing the niche game for 12 years and have sampled everything in their line numerous times. You're essentially paying top whack for the kitsch and superfluous packaging and presentation lock boxes. Whilst some of the scents are quite nice, they no way warrant their price tag. Much better fair to be had in the same ballpark. Which ones are you interested in, if any?

To be completely honest, I've only walked into a Kilian shop since I stumbled upon one last weekend and had some time to kill. The whole thing you describe has never sat well with me and explains his popularity in the Middle East. I did like the Oud series best and Back to Black. But I loved none of them. I thought that the best packaging was the travel lipstick kind with the black Achilles shield.

[darkbydesign]

^Yeah, I live by the Killian store here in Meatpacking / Village and every time I walk by it I hate Killian even more for no reason except presentation and marketing alone... But of course some would argue that's what they're looking for. I mean, it is basically next door to the Christian Louboutin store so I'd say it's par for the course. Which leads me totally down a different path to living near the Chrome Hearts space which is HUGE and super flashy too, but in a much more well done way (even though I'm not a fan of CH since I don't wear jewelry or expensive bedazzling either, but the space is majestic). :)

[Sufi]

What do you guys usually wear during the winter? I prefer CDG Black, but wouldn't mind a change.

[Faust]

What do you guys usually wear during the winter? I prefer CDG Black, but wouldn't mind a change.

That's also my go to for winter. I'll mix it up with Quatrana Parfums Wolfsbane (one of the most unique scents I've experienced this past year), Mad et Len Graphite, Helmut Lang Curion, and Yohji Yamamoto pour Homme.

[monster]

Beaufort London Vi et armis anyone?

[mamooon]

What do you guys usually wear during the winter? I prefer CDG Black, but wouldn't mind a change.

I'm going to open my 2nd bottle of 'nu_be Helium' as i even prefer during the dark and cold autumn some citric notes with woody and spicy nuances, the 'Helium' overall feels a bit psychedelic and unusual:

http://www.nubeperfume.com/eng/helium.html

I already did fall in love with Zarko's new 'Cloud collection', peachy/apricot-notes with some dark wooden notes. I love about Zarkoperfume that he's refusing to create perfumes based on the classic top/heart/base-concept and the 'cloud collection' is also beautiful to look at as the 'dilution' changes based on the weather, i.e. on rainy days it becomes cloudy, on sunny days it's clear. Before applying you'll need to shake the bottle, so the two ingrediends mix to a cloudy apricot-coloured one, a few moments later the two components slowly separate, reminds me a bit on the lavalamps. For sure it's pricey but every day it's a short moment of pleasure and joy to have a look at the flacon:

https://zarkoperfume.de/products/cloud-collection-100ml-edp-spray-molekulduft

I usually spice all other perfumes up with the Zarko's "ménage á trois", a synthetic and so for pretty decent and smooth musk-note:

https://zarkoperfume.de/products/menage-a-trois

And recently bought and still in love with Geza Schön's "Escentric 04', a sandalwood-a-like molecule called 'Javanol' with citric notes reminding me on fresh cut grapefruit:

https://www.escentric.com/collections/escentric-molecules-04/products/escentric-04-100ml

Also that one refuses to work like a classic perfume, i.e. no classic top/heart/base-notes.

Basically all of the mentioned can get layered very nicely.

[Law]

What do you guys usually wear during the winter? I prefer CDG Black, but wouldn't mind a change.

You should definitely try Olivier Durbano Black Tourmaline, either in the EDP or Extrait formualtion (https://www.luckyscent.com/product/3...livier-durbano).

I personally prefer the Extrait, as it's smoother and more refined. But ultimately if you like the "black" concept of Black, you'll love Black Tourmaline. You may also want to sample Naomi Goodsir- Bois d'Acese (https://www.luckyscent.com/product/5...-naomi-goodsir). They both do the dark, charred, smoke effect perfectly. Both have infinitely better longevity than Black too to boot.

I believe it's discontinued now unfortunately, but Tom Ford- Sahara Noir, was another you may enjoy.

[Faust]

Beaufort London Vi et armis anyone?

Yes! I have Lignum Vitae, love it, cookies and all...

[darkbydesign]

I really enjoy Heeley - Vetiver Veritas, Profumum - Thundra and even Victrix though some like these for Spring, as well as Slumberhouse Norne and Zahd on occasion (I mean, these two are touch and go because Norne literally smells like crushed up Christmas trees and Zahd smells like cranberries so some might consider very literal)

[vah]

Heeley's Vetiver Veritas is one of my favourites, and find it works quite well all year round. Never really been big on swapping perfumes per season - mostly change depending on mood.
Inclined to try Cardinal from Heeley as well, need to order some samples.

[darkbydesign]

^^Just got my second bottle of Cardinal. (used up the first). It's very light and can be worn pretty much anytime. Definitely compare it to CdG Avignon first. I debate between the two at different times.