Binxcat's Purrfect Fragrance

House of Matriarch – Woo Released in 2012, Woo is an oriental floral fragrance from the House of Matriarch. Woo opens with a floral-suede accord.   There is a salty marine vibe to the opening without actually being salty.   For me, it’s as if the essence of beachy skin has been captured and layered in with tropical flowers.   About an hour into wear, the initial notes settle a bit and a leafy, dried tobacco joins in.   There is a semi-sweet and smoky earthiness.   That nudges the scent into a dirty-sexy place.   A touch of vanilla bean seems to help round out and soften the tobacco and suede without coming near to being cloying. Woo wears on me with moderate projection for roughly 10 hours. Featured notes: exotic floral notes, sea notes, tobacco, leather, vanilla, ambergris Perfumer: Christi Meshell CRUELTY FREE VEGAN Photo Credit: House of Matriarch

House of Matriarch - Coco Blanc I was gifted a sample of this oriental vanilla fragrance from a very good friend of mine.   I had been interested in testing it for some time and had simply not gotten around to it.   Sometimes, you need that little push from a friend!   In this case, I’m so happy I got that push. While on the surface, the main notes in this fragrance read as gourmand, let me stop you there – this fragrance does not wear as a traditional sweet gourmand.   Instead, like all of the House of Matriarch fragrances I’ve had the chance to try, this one is intensely complex.   Coco Blanc opens on me as a creamy white chocolate, chai spiced, walk in the woods.   There is almost a warm floral quality to it.   The fragrance does not feel weighted down but instead has a lightness to it.   Hints of coconut peek through enveloped in an accord that reads on me as a smoky leather.   I get a lightly resinous warmth.   Coming ...

House of Matriarch – Ambre Vie Ambre Vie is an oriental amber-based offering from the House of Matriarch.  Initially created in 2012, vintage bottles will begin shipping on February 20, 2018.  Before I get into the nuts and bolts of this review, I want to touch briefly on my thoughts about the perfumer, Christi Meshell and her approach to perfumery in general.  Meshell is one of those perfumers that in my opinion has a unique knack of taking multiple, complex notes and seamlessly blending them into a fragrance where the sum is even greater than all the multiple parts.  In the instance of Ambre Vie, it is said that, “More than one hundred different aromatics comprise this silky amber perfume.”  Often combining certain notes and certainly in the numerical quantity Meshell does them in can go terribly, horribly wrong.  I don’t know what her secret is, magic perhaps, but experiencing her fragrances is truly a joy. On me, Ambre Vie feels like a flor...

House of Matriarch - Sacre Noir Sacre Noir is the second collaboration between perfumer Christi Meshell and Joseph Sagona, my dear friend and fellow fragrance blogger.  (Sacre Noir comes on the heels of their previous collaboration, The Longing.  You can read my review of The Longing at: http://bit.ly/2k9H4im ).  I was anxious to try this fragrance as I knew, based on pre-release information, that this fragrance would contain many unique notes and was curious to see how the perfumer would create this Winter tribute to The Holly King.  Ms. Meshell has the rare talent of being able to blend complex, multiple, and unique notes seamlessly so I was extremely hopeful I would enjoy the result.  Sacre Noir opens with a chilly walk into the forest in the heart of Winter.  It is here in the first moments of wear that the perfumer is hinting at where our journey will be taking us.  There is a slightly sweetened citrus laying at the base of snowy evergree...

House of Matriarch: The Longing ( Christi Meshell  and  Joseph Sagona ) Anyone who knows me, even in passing, knows I am rarely at a loss for words. I have always had the good fortune of being able to muster up words for any situation whether it be personal or professional; in fact, I have been a sort of a wordsmith for most of my professional life. So finding myself in this situation, well, you will have to bear with me as a stumble reaching for just the right phrases. How can I accurately describe this fragrance which for me evokes a reaction; one that became part of the human condition thousands of years ago? In the beginning of recorded time and even before, humans sought answers for things they didn’t understand. They created rituals and symbols and later organized religions. We sought to define what was holy, what was sacred. And with the notion of that which was sacred came a counterpoint of that which was profane. Neither the brand description “The Longing is an...