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PPKS – :
Deep deep green forest romp. Juicy woodsy cos of the cedar – its uplifting and literally expanding my lungs. Gorgeous and like all of HoM so evocative of specific moods. I am a fan of the whole ethos behind the line and love smelling natural fragrances extracted and blended so lovingly.
I am a woman – who cares about gender divides in perfume. Let alone life. I can wear this no problem.
Dimayopta – :
Alpha is the earthy soil of a deep forest mixed with leafy greenness and incense (with a small edition of some nuttiness). To me it has a certain camphorous nuance to it, making it a bit medicinal. At first I really did not like it because of this medicinal quality, but after a few wearings I can see this as being a really good masculine scent. The name Alpha fits the fragrance very well. Nice scent to test (I got it with my HoM sample set), however I would not spend $250 for it.
Aerohopleneribik – :
Alpha, in its deep forest green bottle, captures in the olfactory the essence of masculinity. Constructed of notes and blends that correspond to the attributes that define an “alpha male”: nobility, strength, courage, vigor and honor; this scent is a true green woody incense lover’s dream.
Choosing not to follow the classic “eau de cologne” formula, this cuts right to the chase with an opening of cedar, sativa (herbal and green with hints of flowers and spice) and the most beautiful cypress note I, personally, have ever experienced in a perfume. (And I adore cypress!!) The body of this perfume is composed of incense. Not sweetly burning smoking cheap cones made of sandalwood and amber available everywhere in head shops…but a stunning blend of Egyptian frankincense resin and Christi’s own blend of exotic incense powders.
Down to earth yet strong in a tender way, this scent reads as possibly overbearing or at least brusque. It is neither of these things, but is instead an idyllic blend of cool forest greens paired with genuine woodsy notes fused with incense. Its finish of brown and white copal (natural resins) with creamy subdued sandalwood and heavenly oak moss paints, from start to finish, a perfumed picture of strength and beauty as big as all outdoors…but intimate enough to be cuddled right up next to.
Sillage: good
Longevity: above average
Overall: 4.5/5
The notes mentioned in the above review were given to me by the perfumer herself. It is important to note that many of Christi’s creations contain close to one hundred (some as many as 350!) ingredients and a note list does not a formula/recipe make.
I have smelled many natural perfumes and ALL of House of Matriarch’s (to date) and I keep coming back to this one in particular. Its intense but gentle masculinity is perfect for a nature loving man, but also for women to get in touch with their more projective yang energies.
Though this perfumer is concentrating more on her Haute Perfumery line (the cobalt and copper bottles) the Ultra-Natural line is still available on the HoM website in 3.3 ml sprayers, 15 ml bottles and the original dark green frosted hand-painted flacon pictured above. When I want to get out to the woods to meditate and commune with Nature but can’t; I spray on Alpha and it is the next best thing!
FlaseCape – :
Alpha smells like a dense and yet quite tame, concoction of assorted green notes, dry sandalwood and incense. It has an overall head-shop / *all-natural* vibe that ruins it for me but if you’re ok with that and you’re up for a solid aromatic-woody, this might be worth checking out. So, it’s basically a high-end headshop where rich hippies buy their swarowski pipes.
The drydown gets better when sandalwood and incense become the main players yet, somehow, it still reeks of bongs…fancy bongs though.
Rating: 6/10
iceuuku – :
I’ve only had one wearing of this so far but I’m impressed. I expected this to be more green and foresty but it’s actually more like tam dao’s evil basement dwelling twin. I mean that in a good way. It’s an extremely dry sandalwood cedar combo (are those “exotic”?) with some greens and incense swirling around in the darkness. There is a peppery punch that cuts straight through the blend that kind of makes me think of Guerlain’s Songe d’un Boise but this is more idiosyncratic and blunt (once again, in a good way). The incense is extremely subtle at first but over time the sandalwood moves over and this dry, natural smelling burned incense-ash note becomes much more prominent. I totally love this for its masculinity and power. I get more of a chopped-wood vibe than a fresh-coniferous-tree vibe as there is nothing rooty or airy to imply a forest floor or a breeze through the trees. If you found tam dao a bit too simple but you still want something that conjures up images of freshly chopped logs at night time this is definitely worth checking out. Longevity is above average sillage is quiet. 7.5/10
rfj509Negeltzex – :
This is very real interpretation of smokey woods. I think most of people of the Northern West Coast will appreciate understand this forest interpretation in scent. It is calming to me, smells like the smokey woods of a fall day in a forest. There is a mild almost nutty sweetness that appears and then fades in background the entire time. Aromatic green note evolve then into earthy deep coniferous forest. It is transforming on skin as time goes on making for very interesting scent. Overall is calming great scent, more masculine. Blackbird is my favorite from this house, but Alpha and Epiphany are close second.
Rednofs – :
Well the first thing I picked up with this one was a strong note of cannabis.
Not sweet green, herbal, sensi type cannabis either more of a dark, afghan black type resinous hashish vibe. In fact just to be specific (I only know this due to a misspent youth) it smells like a hashish that I only came across once called ‘manali’ it was a spiced Thai stick kinda hash and came in triangular sticks like a toblerone.
Anyway It starts out really strong… earthy and woody but once that top note mellows it’s very much a straight sandalwood dry down, pretty lack lustre frankly but as I’ve worn it now and changed my mind about it…and I don’t hate it.
It’s similar to ‘Devotion’ from the Achtung collection in that its very heavy smelling but the difference is as I’ve mentioned, it gets better as it matures.
Just not for me…I can’t understand wanting to smell like a sandalwood incense stick…give us some more notes please!!! Anything different this fragrance had to give is gone very quickly after 30 mins or so.
Ambre Vie is much more wearable for a man to me.
Apallmot – :
This is an odd one for me, as I find it to be relatively tame given the insinuation of its moniker. It sits somewhere between woody oriental and green aromatic, but I mainly get sandalwood from it with some incense that arrives in the dry down.
There’s a subtle nuttiness that’s detectable in the opening, which is a standard attribute of natural sandalwood, but it’s surprising to pick up on this aspect so early in the evolution as it tends to be reserved for use more as a base than as a central feature. And when faced with notes of cedarwood and cypress, I usually expect an astringent sharpness, but here the greenery is oddly dialed back. A subtle smokiness suggests that amyris might be the material of choice, but the creamy, nutty quality of mysore is also prevalent. Either way, the volume of the wood and the relative reticence of the greenery conjures an impression of a sawmill or a lumber yard rather than a coniferous forest. Although there are no animalics listed in the notes, there is a slight muskiness that perhaps comes from the cannabis (sativa) as it draws parallels to Blackbird’s prominent weed note. So upfront, it’s a rich, nutty sandalwood with subtle glimpses of the green notes sprouting through.
And this is what threw me a little with this scent. For a walk-in-the-woods type of fragrance, Alpha seems to be missing some key coniferous components. Yet once the sandalwood settles, the greens emerge a little more through the use of oakmoss which wafts in and out throughout the scent’s lifespan. This had me thinking about other all-natural forest floor perfumes, and it occurred to me that while the full recreation of a headspace would make more sense, it’s been done by others so many times that what Matriarch offers is something quite out of the blue. And as the scent settles further and some of the initial creaminess begins to disperse, the incense and copal appear—the inverse of the way you might expect such notes to evolve in perfumery. This stage works very well indeed, with the slightly peanut-y, sandalwood merged with a fantastic, airy layer of bone dry, smoky incense that crackles and hangs as if suspended above the balmy base. Alpha settles into a skin scent, projecting only at close range, and, as with others from the line, makes itself known through occasional wafts and glimpses of the greens. Like other natural perfumes, the scent hugs the wearer rather than bounding off into the world—it’s quite subtle and reserved in this respect, which is hardly alpha male type behavior.
Although I’m not sure this one’s for me, it would certainly appeal to those who enjoy natural sandalwood-centric fragrances. Richwood springs to mind as a possible analog, but that scent is hinged upon its prominent rose note, and Matriarch’s offering is generally more expressionistic in its structure compared to Xerjoff’s clinical precision. This would be a scent well suited for someone who wants a more free-wheeling twist on the woody aromatic genre, and its most striking feature is when the sandalwood and the incense converge. If you happen to enjoy creamy sandalwood scents, then Alpha would be a good consideration. But if you’re truly an aplha male and you’re after some über-powerhouse ’70s masculine forest scent, you might look elsewhere as this particular Alpha is far more sensitive than it initially appears.
kastet29 – :
A wonderful woodsy fragrance and one I wear regularly. The scent makes me think of walking through the woods in the Pacific Northwest and carrying some freshly split cedar. I would call it the quintessential “man” smell.