Description
The ultimate incense perfume: massive and timeless. Revered across cultures. The primeval depths are almost inexplicable and volumes have been written praising this classic arrangement of two key notes: frankincense and myrrh. Resinous, dry and cold with alternating warm and spicy nuances, it’s a whole universe encapsulated in each waft of scented breeze.
An all natural fragrance, Devotion‘s notes include myrrh, incense, leather, oud, amber, ambrette, African gaia, teas, vintage French opoponax, exotic spices and Hawaiian vanilla.
House of Matriarch recommends allowing a full 24 hours to experience the complete dry down of this fragrance. Devotion was launched in 2013. The nose behind this fragrance is Christi Meshell.
гимнастка – :
A perplexing fragrance.
I get a sense or smell of earth, that seems bright along with a deep intoxicating green smell, and the whisper of leather.
I find this fragrance rather alluring and interesting, but am not sure how the masses feel. I think I will wear this in the future for my own enjoyment and around old friends.
Fair projection and 4 to 6 hours longevity for me.
I suggest you get a sample of this !
dante-macho – :
This is what incense in a perfume is suppose to smell like. Dark, smokey, intriguing. Incense perfumes usually make me nauseous after wearing them a full day. But Devotion is almost “emotional” in the overall feeling it creates. It’s a resin heavy foundation that’s very dark and intense, coupled with a good dose of incense that isn’t smokey or headache inducing. I actually get a “frankincense” note more than anything. Well crafted and probably suited more towards special occasions and formal wearing. The price point is a little scary but understandable with the raw ingredients used.
zigi – :
Like Orca, Devotion is another (yet earlier) great resinous creation from House of Matriach, seemingly very apt at putting out balsamic offerings.
Devotion is resin-dominant, for sure, the note listing including amber, incense, myrrh, and opoponax, with touches of leather, spices, and vanilla.
So it leans toward the sweet rather than animalic side of resinous but there are still animalic hints amidst what is generally a dark, smoky, ambery mix. There’s also a vaguely floral characteristic to it that I can’t quite put my finger on, but I sometimes get that out of opoponax specifically.
Devotion is overall excellent, but the downside is the price, which, for HOM, can sometimes be quite high–in this case, $330 for 50ml, $120 for 15ml, or even $13 for a 1ml sample. Still, I’d recommend fans of resinous fragrances track this one down to at least try it.
8 out of 10
mexanic_2 – :
I was very curious about this house but their prices seemed a bit on the truly extravagant side. I finally bit the bullet with a coupon and purchased a bottle of this one recently. First, off it is a beautiful composition. Very natural incense expertly blended with myrrh, amber, opoponax, tea, and slight oud, leather, and vanilla. The resulting juice is a bright, mystical potion that has a moderate and luxurious projection and sillage. It smells beautiful, natural and never overpowers, much like Armani Bois D’Encens or Bulgari Gyan. But I cannot conclude this review without the mention that it does seem like an overpriced luxury and it is a bit tough to get my head around the pricing of the scent. Its nice enough that when I am feeling a bit overindulgent, I will treat myself to another House of Matriarch.
EmubsAlalabut – :
To my nose, Devotion is oud, opoponax and ambergris heavy fragrance. The resins are very faint on my skin. The oud is most prominent and it is quite medicinal (reminds me of sterilized bandages). I like it, but there is nothing so special about it. There are better balsamic, smokey, oud fragrances out there. Would not recommend as it is faint and does not project at all, like all Matriarch fragrances. Now I know that it may go down to skin chemistry, but seriously, D&G The One EDP lasts and projects better than this (and it is known for terrible performance). This house is way over-hyped in the FragComm. I feel like only true fans can praise HoM. Their fragrances smell good, but the price is way too high for what the customers are getting.
найтимен – :
Beautiful balance of Frankincense and Myrrh, hints of spice, hints of other resins, sometimes I sense a herbal edge to the opening, which is lovely!
I get some of the Ambergris too, it’s warm, dry, spiced, and aromatic. This is to me one of the best incense fragrances out there, it manages to stay easy to wear, un like something like Interlude Man which can be extremely polarising.
The longevity is 16+ hours on my skin but the projection is modest.
Best suited for the cooler months, day or night.. I am really enjoying wearing this a lot! It’s soothing and calming to wear, it’s beautifully balanced.
archi_37 – :
I won a 1 ml sample of devotion by house of matriarch from cafleurebon.com This is an amazing high quality fragrance with only the highest quality ingredients. it has great sillage and longevity. as for the notes in this wonderful fragrance it starts out with a strong smokey quality and dries down to a strong incense based fragrance. I highly recommend you sample this fragrance you will really enjoy it.
elantra – :
I was lucky enough to win a vial of this at CaFleureBon. It is not a fragrance for the faint of heart! This is truly an incense perfume, and a unique addition to my collection. Dry, spicy, and aromatic, the notes in this fragrance cover my skin in a shifting haze of scent. It also has a strong leathery undertone that makes me feel like this scent is closer to masculine than unisex, but I will definitely still be wearing it. Thanks House of Matriarch for the sample!
vladires – :
tried it today. Weird, really weird. I can appreciate a weird and different fragrance but not when it smells like soup.
This smells just like a mixed vegetable soup from leek and celery or something like that. Some potatoes were added and finished with a HUGE amount of bouillon cubes..
Not good
yurniks – :
i dont understand in what setting/situation would one wear this
cesseMeewsvof – :
Woah!!!! This is not for that faint hearted…a MASSIVE incense fragrance that is dominant, pungent and just insane!
It completely overwhelmed the other sample vials I got and the bag they came in all smell of this fragrance.
Honestly, I understand the appeal of these ancient, opulent spiced frankincense & myrrh perfumes but this is frankly unbearable when first applied, no wonder they recommend 24 hours (yes!! 24 hours!!!!) to let it dry down!!
Well I applied the tiniest amount and I do mean tiny and I can’t believe how potent it is…I really understand the comparisons to some of the Amouage fragrances as they are very heavy with things like incense, myyrrh and ambergris too.
At first it seemed clumsy and harsh despite the fact this one (and sexmagic) was the one I really couldn’t wait to try. I love this kind of scent but without the complexity of other juxtaposing notes you get from the likes of Amouage Interlude for example, it’s just a bit to linear.
The dry down is special and plain epic…but unfortunately not that much evolution you get the same thing throughout but it definitely gets better as it ages on your skin.
You can’t help but marvel at devotion, it definitely achieves what it sets out to do, a blend of classic notes to create something that would’ve been revered throughout history.
416195855 – :
This is the ultimate incense perfume, the kind you may want to sit down for or get knocked off your feet. The longevity on this is also an impressive day long.
What you have here is potent incense, myrrh, earthy-soil like ambrette. It is course and rough for the first while, the leather note making more of an appearance as the others calm down a little. Hours later once the smokiness and incense settle (slightly) as another layer is revealed of woods, tea and vanilla which is quite nice and makes for a fun contrast. Very interesting, unique and excellent experience, quality, even if its not my style, I think men and lovers of original works of art including incense notes would adore this.
Sanya_home – :
This is an authentic, smoky incense that’s powered by an ambrette seed which comes off as quite cumin-esque and dirty. There are parallels with Sexmagic in that there’s leather and bunch of spices going on, but this is the kind of rough-hewn and biting incense that feels more copal-heavy and challenging than “nice”. After ten minutes on the skin, it gets quite aggressive, and a dusty accord begins to emerge. Twenty minutes later, everything drops down to a lower level, which seems to be Meshell’s signature move. For much of the remainder of the scent’s long lifespan, it sits close, but becomes a deliciously dry vanilla with notable tea-like quality to it.
If dirty, difficult cumin-centric scents are your thing, or you’re perhaps looking for a new approach to the incense genre, this might be of interest.
Dzhok – :
I bought Gateways on friday………this will be on my next to buy list.then sexmagic after that.this composition looks great though
43Sergey55 – :
I got to try this at the Achtung launch party. This was one of my 3 favorites from the line. It is a very intense incense fragrance and it comes on very strong! It tones down quickly but remains true to itself with heavy notes of oud and incense (probably the frankincense and myrrh). I wore Devotion on my skin and could not get enough of it! This fragrance is not for the faint of heart but is a must have for anyone who enjoys traditional incense, period! Unfortunately for me, I only had the financial wherewithal to take home one bottle that day, and Sexmagic won the battle..