To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
psu_vovan – :
Authoritarian.
Medicinal.
This is the cedar lined desk drawer of a very strict headmaster.
Mevwn668Negeltzex – :
Holy Moly. MANIMAL. Seriously butch yet surprisingly mellow. For good and bad, it’s like being locked inside an exceptionally steamy humidor with a few dozen of Havana’s finest cigars, so lush and thick your nose and head throb a little as your brain anticipates the nicotine hit … I know what those things smell like, and this is it. Masque have captured the heady, almost overwhelming complexity of really well-cured, high-grade fresh tobacco with a truly earthy, animalic undertow. Almost dizzyingly rich, dark, deep-brown, sometimes-herby, sometimes-chocolatey, sometimes-furry scent.
The opening is, yes, “challenging”, with a slightly sour/acrid edge to the funk, and that almost-medicinal sting of rum, but it mellows fast from there and stays astonishing. Benzoin sweetens things up a lot later, without going pissy as honey might do. Firm, lovely, natural cedar boxes it all in and gives an illusion of freshening the top a bit, letting you breathe again, before the next thick wave of sweet spicy muddy joy pops you in the nose.
Interestingly it’s an exercise in anticipation – because the one note you *don’t* get, the gratification that’s not just delayed but deliberately cancelled, is any sense of smoke or ashtray. Not a single wisp. This is all just that moment of passing your nose over a freshly opened box of cigars and inhaling, deep, of that magic smell. You don’t get to the actual smoking.
Also weirdly – it seems to be a GIANT on me at first, but the sheer speed of how fast it shrinks and calms down is notable. Maybe it had just crushed my nose so hard I grew anosmic fast – and it would probably be unbearable if the first phase lasted much longer – but the volume gets turned down pretty quickly, which is surprising for such an insanely extrovert scent.
So – wild thing, I think I love you? But …. even as a female wearer of some very masculine-to-unisex scents, this one is a few shades too manly for my taste – it’s only a few notches less butch than Knize Ten, imho. Precisely because it stays almost relentlessly in that mellow basso-profundo, rumbly Barry White sort of territory, it’s just a little too much for me (and I wear Phaedon Tabac Rouge and PG Coze plenty, so that shows you how assertive this one is.) But classy tobacco completists of any gender who love strong, niche treatments can probably deal. It is a heck of a creature – strong as an ox in its presence and solidity – but not a crazed savage hellbeast.
Really daring, complex, beautiful stuff, but it will polarise – people who find anything reminiscent of cigars repugnant will be nauseated. Cigar fans will be bewitched. Unarguably worth trying, even once, to see what rich associations it conjures up for you.
hurik – :
So I’m a crazy person and can’t try any samples until I transfer them into tiny spray bottles and somehow managed to run out between the arrival of a bundle of to-trys and my sampling supplies. That means I’m obsessively reading reviews on the batch of samples sitting on my desk but I haven’t actually smelled any of them yet.
I don’t know why I picked this one. Maybe it’s because I fell in love with L’Attesa and wanted to see how Masque Milano does masculine scents, but I genuinely don’t remember putting this in the cart. It is on the invoice, so clearly it was deliberate.
Now I’m scared.
Will report back.
Next day – I gave in an dabbed a tiny bit on to my wrist. Maybe it’s body chemistry, maybe it was the amount I used, but omg. This smelled amazing. A deep, sharp floral tobacco. I had a coworker smell my wrist around five hours later and was told “I really, really like that” and he picked out the patchouli, which I still don’t smell. It isn’t overtly masculine on me, nicely unisex, but we’ll see how this goes when I get my proper spray bottles in and try it again.
dssss – :
Disgusting, and I actually tried it twice. I could pretty much just copy FragLuvR’s review because it mirrors my own feelings.
Kudos to you if you happen to make it to the dry down, which is no better!
If you’re having a party and you’re tired and want everybody to leave, just pipe this through the vents and you’ll have the place to yourself in no time! Voilà
_DATEK_ – :
Montecristo is a musky aromatic. The theme here appears to take root from the legendary Count of Montecristo, with the aromatics painting the portrait of a dungeon-like environment.
There are a few tiny facets of sweetness in this fragrance, but they’re heavily cloaked in this dingy, sweaty, concrete-ish essence that makes up the oversoul of this fragrance. It literally does smell like mossy dungeon walls—old, damp wood that’s wearing away—and a smoky, musky nuance something like the company of a bandit ring that’s all come together to gamble.
From any artistic perspective, this might make something neat to smell in what’s like a fragrant museum that has a whole set built around it. But otherwise, I can’t say that this fragrance has any stylish potential to it whatsoever.
The concept of “Montecristo” is a bit too strongly rooted in Spanish heritage, and a bit far too distant from Italian culture to think that this is actually an Italian creation. The style doesn’t seems Italian in the least either (Parfums de Marley counts for nothing). But in any regards, strongly recommended acquiring the smallest sample possible if you absolutely have to cure your itch.
djalex_19111994 – :
HELL.bottled….my worst blind buy ever.
I was craving animalic frags a while back and this really appealed to me. A few days before I got this, I’d got hard leather which is beautiful but this… No. I found it extremely sharp and almost astringent, I guess this was due to the hyrax.
I gave it two full wearings which pretty much turned my stomach for the duration and then got shot of it a few days later.
It’s certainly a challenging fragrance which is fine with me…however it’s not one I consider pleasant in any way. If I was stuck next to someone on a bus who was rocking this stuff I’d be jumping out the nearest window!
denka – :
بسیار حیوانی و با مشک بسیار سنگین
بسیار بسیار با کیفیت و مقتدر
کاری فوق العاده برای طرفداران روایح چرک و حیوانی و مشکی
———–
Scent & Qualiy: 10/10
Longevity: 9/10
Sillage: 8/10
Creativity & Uniqueness: 9/10
Affordability: 4/10
———–
Overall: 8/10
rekmrjv – :
Nice musky, smokey fragrance. Sillage is lower than I prefer. Received as a free sample, I’ll not be getting a full bottle as I have others that are similar with better sillage.
adjedan – :
Give it half an hour and this will blow your mind..Sexy animal woody musk. similar to Musc Ravageur..Ive become a great admirer of miss Thierry already.
ygz695intitytek – :
This is my second review on this fragrance. In the first review I happened to have a headache that day and so I needed to give this one another wearing.
Wow! This is still a VERY interesting scent to me. I LOVE it and I HATE it, all wrapped into one.
Why do I love it? This is the image I get from this scent…
I am taking a night stroll in the middle of a hot and dry desert. I stumble across an old wooden shack constructed with charred wood. Opening the charred wooden door I am stuck by the intense animalic scent. I scan the shack looking for movement. Exploring the dirt floor and the dry tobacco leaves hanging from the ceiling, until I see glowing eyes looking back at me.. watching me.. dark, dangerous and confident…
Why do I hate it?
While I do like animalic scents, this one can be VERY intense, especially as you open the wooden door. As it mellows and you begin to grow accustom to it, the intensity begins to subside.
Overall, this is a VERY well made fragrance with a complex mixture of scents.
While I normally classify scents in a “causal vs business vs both” setting, this one is VERY hard for me to classify. The biggest question in my mind is can you pull it off? If you can, I don’t think dress will matter.
I get good projection and great longevity on my skin. Oh… and I did NOT get a headache this time. YAY!
Bottom line, if you like animalics or just scents that are different than the mass market / designer fragrances you find in every store that sells fragrances, you should try a sample of this stuff. Then hold on for the ride.
belekus – :
Wow. This stuff is excellent. It really reminds me of Peruvian Ambrette from Zegna. They handle the ambrette topnote in a similar way. This one is slightly more complex with the animalic accents. I also get some similarities to LM’s Hard Leather.
ulead72 – :
It is a beautiful animalic and excellent scent.
This cologne surprised me really.
It’s character resembles that of a strong ,patient ,bitter ,impervious and contender man.
I love it so much.
9.5/10
lordihe16 – :
Imagine a biker bar, out in the middle of an arid desert. It’s around 6 PM, the sun hitting the bar with its dry heat; inside it’s alive with heavy smoke from cigarettes lingering in the air. Stale and fresh, this cigarette smell is mixed with their shots of whisky laying around and leather from their jackets. Refusing to take their jackets off leads to a smell of sweat.
This is Montecristo– Sweat, heat, leather, cigarettes and whisky. An incredibly unique fragrance that is at once striking, yet addictive in an odd way.
wrf437speagoessenda – :
I could never have known that such a fragrance can exist, hadn’t I been lucky to try (and subsequently buy) Montecristo by Masque.
Provocatively erotic opening reminiscent of passionate private encounters, primitively animalic at first before quickly receding into a more relaxed & tamed carnal sensation.
Top quality ingredients soon enrich this daring composition with notes of dry tobacco, aged woods, worn leather, aromatic spices, light florals and a discreet liquorish vibe to enhance the glowing coziness.
As hours pass, Montecristo mellows down to an even warmer & muskier aroma that envelops my skin creating an illusion of heat being emitted off my chest. The feral animalic notes now reside discreetely on the background of a long lasting masculine & erotic veil of tobacco, dusty leather and resinous woods.
Montecristo can be a challenging (even unbearable) composition for many and may require a receptive attitude as well as several testings. To my nose, it’s a respectful & controversial piece of art, flowing against the stream, elevating my senses to new levels of uncharted perceptions.
Fearless, adventurous, dramatic & strong.
8/10
Teetidemn – :
Fantastic fragrance. The opening is a little challenging, but after 10 minutes it morphs into something beautiful. Very original.
dgaz777 – :
I have tried various ‘animalistic’ fragrances, and found this to be the best. Peau de Bete is a bit ‘plastic’ like and synthetic, and Salome appears too powdery for me. Montecristo though has none of these annoying other notes that may draw the attention away from the core, an animalistic scent presented in a sophisticated manner.
It has spicy notes and musky notes that feel real and not like white clean musk. On my skin the fragrance is not too ‘challenging’ but just right. The projection is quite good and so is its longetivity.
Lagegoappexia – :
Wow. That’s all. It goes right to memories the warmth and expressiveness of this essence. It starts with musk waking your nose up and then a mix of animal, nature and stone. It really taste like gentleman should, gentleman who travelled the world, opening doors to charming ladies thanking with a “darling” at the end. It reminds me of dark and intense nights, waling on the seaside. I cannot express the fragrances, because this perfume always takes me somewhere.
rooncealo – :
I recently bought a sample of this one to try. It is a very interesting scent. I don’t know how to describe it other that very raw, animalistic and furry.
This one is not for the faint of heart. If you like clean / fresh scents this one is not for you.
Overall it is not a bad scent, but I had a headache all day after putting this one on me. So I will have to try this one again.
zaotex – :
The opening is a real nose-wrinkler (in the best possible way): a funky, sour anatomical blast lifted on a highly aromatic herbal note. I’m getting mint and clary sage, and there’s a lime effect as well, which reminds me of Czech & Speake’s Cuba (which is far less subtle). The Cuba stench dissipates (too early for me) into something a lot like MKK for a while. I don’t find MKK particularly challenging – I find it – and L’Air de Rien – comforting, and I suppose I’m a bit disappointed that on me, this one isn’t the gross animalic freak-out I’d been promised.
Instead it’s something much more compelling. The musks melt into some lovely gummy resins and unsmoked tobacco leaf, but there’s always a herbal, slightly sugary undercurrent which baffled me until I realised what it reminded me of: some sort of complicated Italian amaro liqueur, something dark, dense and filled with rare mountain herbs, which in turn reminds me of Memoir Man. Every so often the musks surface and threaten to turn the whole thing into a 70s aftershave cliché, but that never quite happens and this push and pull makes this scent more interesting.
Multi-layered, complex and quirky. I like it a lot.
Дмитрий2222 – :
Jean Valjean
;jhf – :
Montecristo is a fragrance that needs to mature in the bottle before showing its true colors.
When I first tried it after buying my bottle, it felt somewhat flat, with less sillage and longevity than the tester bottle. So I quickly set it aside, hidden in my wardrobe.
Fast forward to this autumn. I began using my Musc Tonkin again and noticed that the scent was much deeper with an even more pronounced animalic vibe. I also started using Salome more often and it also felt more rich than when I got my bottle this last summer.
So I added 1+1 and the common note in all three? Hyrax!
After some Google and blog search, it turns out that Hyrax needs some time to mature when bottled. As the aging process begins, the note comes alive and starts infusing its animalic qualities, warming the fragrance and making the complementary facets surface. So I dug my bottle of Montecristo and sprayed a couple of times on my chest and neck.
Wow! The opening bang was more or less like the first encounter. A sudden rush of alcohol, animal notes, wood and leather fighting for dominance.
Notes aren’t different, but instead of muted they appear in technicolor. The rum is boozy and the ambrette shows that warm skin sensation of a lover licking its loved ones nape. I don’t detect cumin, but I do detect the facets of civet and castoreum that Hyrax has in its DNA. The woods are dry, but the patchouli lends an earthiness that makes the whole image seem less arid and much more lived in.
As a whole, the fragrance is animalic, boozy, sweet and woody.
It gives me the same feeling of dusty rooms that L’air de Rien does. Only difference is that L’air de Rien takes place among the dusty shelves of the library, while Montecristo happens in the living room; half lit candles, a bottle of rum, worn leather sofa, a wooden floor full of memories and the warmth given of by the people in the room.
No idea what they’re doing. But when the animalics start to rise and growl, up until the very last minute, it’s pretty obvious that the aforementioned sofa is gonna get a lot more torn!
Excellent longevity with above average sillage.
270389 – :
The opening is a bit frightening, but things get better after a few minutes. Powerful, animals, woody, smokey. I could not figure out what this smelled like, and then it hit me.
It smells like railroad tracks. It reminds me of walking down the railroad tracks: creosote, wood, a bit of rot, dusty coal, sweat, and old cigar, some dog poo 🙂
This is challenging but very warm and wearable. This is unlike Musc Tonkin, which makes me dry heave a little bit.
NeraStim – :
This is a challenging fragrance for me to wear. On paper, it’s pyramid looks to be a home run for me, but on my skin. it is overshadowed by a B.O. stink. I like a fragrance that dares to be dirty, but this is a persistent note that to me that is hard to overlook, which isn’t cool because I can tell there’s wonderful work underneath.
Trance_formator – :
Good lord… that opening. Imagine the sweatiest, pissiest, furriest animal in existence, shooting some sort of skank-juice out of a gland and straight into your nasal cavity. Almost everyone I’ve showed this to has been utterly repulsed by the opening. A friend said it smelled like his cat’s litterbox.
All is forgiven when Montecristo dries down however, as it becomes fantastically rich and complex. It’s decidedly animalic from the top to the bottom, but theres an implied sweetness with the booze and tobacco that shows up after about 5 minutes that takes the edge off of things. As it progresses the animalia of the opening begins to ease up and give the fragrance a sort of musty, old, antiqued vibe, like a closet full of vintage leather jackets, bathed in the cigarette smoke and sweat of past nights-out. The far drydown goes into a smooth, lightly-sweetened woodsy/incensey/balsamic blend that retains just enough of the skank to smell assertive and unique, completely eschewing generic oriental territory.
Very nice well made stuff. Undeniably challenging and difficult to wear but rewarding. 7/10
rashid.abitaev – :
The opening is woody, amber, rum and smoke, the logfire kind of smoke. Very robust. Then about half an hour later, the hyrax hits you. Holy molly is that strong! Everything then settles, calms down a bit. Montecristo reminds me of Arquiste architects club but with a whole lot more unwashed bodies skank (a la MKK). Do not wear to the gym. A man or woman who wears Montecristo definitely wants to be noticed, but not necessarily in a likeable way.
москва – :
The opening is sweet and very leathery. Even though it has the strong leather note it reminds me very much of Mazzolari Lei but less gourmand and cozy and more masculine in feel.
An hour into the wearing it gets weaker and the leather note is no longer detectable. A unwashed hair note creeps in. I cannot say I am fond of that. Altogether a very interesting scent to try but not something I want to wear myself.
jmurik81 – :
this have to be worn while listening to Pink Floyd’s Animals… this is pure 100 % animalic.. takes no prisoners Mazzolari Lui meets YSL Kouros
tobacco animalic blast in the opening and then animalic leather drydown…
SStrangeRR – :
In pixel form, the notes of this fragrance sounded irresistible to me. The oud is its usual beasting self, but the slight outpacing by the animalic accords in this fragrance make the oud smell less burning-plastic than they usually do to my nose, and this is therefore more pleasant than most oud fragrances. There is an overriding smokiness to this that never goes away, and makes this feel far more masculine in polarity. I’ll keep my decant for further exploration, but this is not really in my wheelhouse. I’d prefer smelling this on a male friend than a female, but your mileage may vary. For something with a high degree of skank/pong, this is a handsome formulation.
gyk – :
Patchouli and intergluteal animality. Smells like dirty sexual abandon. Brilliant.
furunka – :
So Montecristo is as funky as James Brown or Bootsy Collins… but not in a good way. Don’t be fooled by how small and cute that Hyrax thing looks the musk from it is potent!
The opening of Montecristo is especially potent with animal vibes which turn me (and my stomach) off straight away.
Well, after some research I have discovered that Hyrax is not only cute but is a sustainable source of fragrance ingredient. The reason being, the note is derived from it’s fecal matter…that’s right… shit!
It’s not surprising either as this perfume has a really off fecal note combined with musk mallow another of my least favourite notes and you have a recipe for diaster.
The saving grace of this fragrance is that as it dries down the animal qualities become a little bit warmer, cuddlier and more mild. This is the opposite of my experience of civet/castoreaum etc… which normally develop more and more after the top/heart notes have long faded away.
That doesn’t however make up for the intrusive harsh opening.
It’s complex I’ll give it that and definitely has interesting depth underneath the unpleasantness which keeps it interesting, and personally kept me sniffing. Tobacco is there that kind of fecal cuban cigar note, a bit of sharpness from resin, warmth and deep woody notes.
Not my thing at all but worth checking out if you enjoy animalic scents.
Infinity420 – :
Well… the top note is a major drawback as it is like the smell of a thick fur of a rat that has been rolling through sands and been through dusty weather, and it died 3 days ago!!!
honestly i was about to threw up sniffing the top note.
This lasts between 15 to 20 minutes, then it develops to a fair strong masculine essence of tobacco, some spicy seeds, I guess ill go for Hyrax & Musk Mallow. not interesting!!!
No sweetish note at all in this one if you are seeking some, actually i even smell incense in it, an Arabic incense, but that on a later stage (middle or base note).
It is too overpriced, and honestly now after re-sampling it again, if it were for free i wouldn’t wear it 🙂
Furthermore, i disagree with some reviewers who says that only regular people wouldn’t find this suitable, or who says step out of your comfort zone and try this! im not bringing it down but let me put it straight, this perfume is quite different, it’s not a human skunk, it’s not a drunk homeless, nope… this perfume is like a 2+ days dead animal, a sniff of a fur rat that runs over pillars in sewers, or to be specific, it’s the breath of the undead creature that Bette Midler revives in Hocus Pocus movie. so if people would wear something like this then truly they are different… but i wonder in which way! 🙂
Oh and to be more clear, this is not a smell of sex which some people find intriguing, it is a smell of something dead.
Edit (6th April 2016) after talking with Alessandro in Esxence 2016 and his description to this fragrance! Man i can’t tolerate with it as it is over animalic or deathly animalic. I’m sorry but i almost vomited sniffing it again in his booth :p
nep8blu – :
It is very hard for me to say anything positive about this fragrance, other than it is definitely original. Some adjectives which come to mind when smelling this fragrance: bitter, pungent, smokey, animalic, fetid, feculent …. A total disappointment after smelling the lovely “Terralba”. (123)
igo1136 – :
A little rough and challenging for the first 30 minutes or so but mellows out and becomes a great scent. A must try. I truly believe it becomes a SOMEWHAT easy wear after it settles down. Glad there continues to be some brands willing to take risks. While not for everyone, it’s hard not to at least appreciate the juice.
Wore this the 1st time to a rock concert and it fit perfectly!
9/10 with great longevity and projection
blummaguaks – :
OK Gypsy Parfumista, I read your review and I have indeed took the Pepsi challenge and copped a sample of the much talked about fragrance of Montecristo. The partnership of hyrax and rum is a weird one. Some may refer to this Montecristo creature as repulsive. Most “regular” people will not be on board with this particular concoction as it interferes with your olfactory’s normalcy. No doubt, this is Niche to the 9th power. After applying i can definitely empathize with the earned emotion from my fellow reviewers. Im just afraid that someone will blurt out, “Hey, get your skanky ass away from me!” As im sniffing my arm, Dev#2 by Olympic Orchids Artisan comes to mind. It’s not a projection bomb, so therefore the only person you will offend is yourself(that’s only if you consider this offensive). The perfume doesn’t go through metamorphosis until late in the 4th quarter. Does it smell great? I’m not sure. It’s interesting. If anything, kudos for going left.
Dhzim – :
I am very glad to see that somebody gets back in making serious solidly constructed fragrances and are generous on the notes. Wood, smoke, incense, in large quantities. It is like entering an orthodox church that was hit by a fire some time ago and was not fully repainted. Makes me be curious about the rest of the house fragrances.
Temka_Dark – :
If Tom of Finland and Yatagan were a gay couple, THIS scent would be the troubled young boy they adopted and helped to raise to adulthood. It has the leathery woody strength of ToF, but is much quieter and introverted than Tom. He has also picked up some of the wildly feral yet rugged woodsy beauty of Yatagan without seeming as “old school”.
Where the older scents are more “butch” and unabashedly masculine, Montecristo maintains that same vibe, but has more continental elegance throughout even its most intense spicy and musky outbursts.
This is superb!! One friend said, upon testing this, that Montecristo was “a stinking dirty drunken yak who rolled in an ashtray”. Needless to say, after a description like THAT, I was on the phone to LuckyScent minutes later getting multiple samples of all three!
The trio (Montecristo, Terralba & Luci ed Ombre) was released last year *2013* and, to my great shock, no one has been raving about these scents or this house.
Step out of your comfort zone, and get a little wild this year-give Montecristo a try. Great projection and superb longevity. Boozy, earthy, woody, resinous, sexy sweaty musky…I ask you, what’s not to love?!!
Verlioka – :
I get the spice, wood, rum and pipe tobacco and a dark sweetness behind it all. But to me there is also a tar-like note like that of tared rope.
When I was a child, my parents had a shop with supplies for sailors, also tared rope/string. I loved that smell, and I often went and sniffed it, when I was in the shop.
All toghether I get a vibe that takes me way back to a cosy inn at a harbour in a small village in the 19th century. Dark wooden furniture, kerosene lamps, sailors drinking rum smoking pipe tobacco with a prune-like sweetness to it and then the tared rope of course, wooden ships, a rather strong wind bringing wiffs of wild herbs from the hills nearby…
I seldom get that amount of pictures, but this one just got to me 🙂
I just read the sales describtion now. Seems that they have awakened just the feeling in me, that they were going for except for the harbour 🙂
It seems to last forever, It is at least 6 hours since I it put it on, and it is there 🙂 I really like it
senya-russ – :
Being a newbie to the world of niche perfumery, I´m still fascinated by background stories and inspirations that lead to the creation of niche scents. This is the reason Masque Fragranze initially caught my eye. More specifically, it was their claim that the inspiration behind their fragrances is opera. As I happen to be an opera fan, too, I felt thrilled at the prospect of experiencing the fusion of the worlds of perfume and opera. I began my exploration of their line with Delphine Thierry´s “Montecristo”.
I first tested “Montecristo” on a blotter. The moment I smelled it, I reflexively wrinkled my nose. ´This is way too much´, I thought to myself as the scent unveiled its incredibly strong and animalic character. However, rather than being deterred, it was this quality that fuelled my further interest in “Montecristo”. A few days later I dared to apply it on my wrist. The intense animalic opening was still present, but this time, perhaps thanks to its combination with my skin chemistry, it was more subdued and bearable. No more nose wrinkling! “Montecristo” finally managed to reveal its true nature. It´s a (super)dry scent, starting off with what I believe must be ambrette and a couple of drops of alcohol (supposedly rum). Also, its animalic note, which is alleged to be hyrax, dominates the head and never entirely disappears from the fragrance. Later on, it blends with a tobacco note as well as with styrax, cedar and patchouli in the base.
The more I test “Montecristo”, the more I adore it. It´s a superb example of a true niche perfume, capable of satisfying the tastes of even more demanding perfume connoisseurs. I find “Montecristo” intriguing and, owing to its operatic roots, complex and dramatic. Masque Fragranze is certainly a brand worth watching out for in the future. Bravissimo, Delphine Thierry!
SNIPER32 – :
232) Encore une bonne surprise, boisé sec,musque,liqueur et épices. Je le trouve très semblable à Voice Of Reason de Lush fortement adouci par les muscs et mélangé aux bois cuirés de Bois d’Ombrie.
Je garde une forte préférence pour Voice Of Reason (et en plus c’est beaucoup moins cher).
Another good surprise. Dry woody, musky, spices and liquor. I find it very similar to Voice Of Reason by Lush strongly softened by musk and mixed with leathery woods exactly like Bois d’Ombrie.
I keep a strong preference for Voice Of Reason (plus it’s much cheaper) .
jua924Bessinepome – :
This has a super dirty opening of hyraceum and ambrette seed that could give MKK a run for its money. But whereas MKK is very civet-based, this leans more toward the sweatier side of things and will certainly challenge those who don’t fair well with hard-core musks. However, within ten minutes, it takes a massive detour into an unconventionality that’s wildly evocative and decidedly convincing in the associations it brings up.
There’s a booze note (rum), but it’s more like the smell of booze that’s oozing from the pores of someone who downed the bottled a few hours ago—it’s got an unnerving filtered feeling to it. From what I can assess, this effect is structured upon the extension of hyraceum note from the opening, but it’s also merged with tobacco and what appears to be a touch of leather to pull it all together. There are some relatively undefined wood notes, but combined they smell more like old bookshelves and furniture; and there’s something here that gives the impression of an extinguished fire as well. Imagine a poorly ventilated space that’s been coated with a layer of sticky, smoky, charcoal-type residue—a slightly sweet ashy scent, but mixed with dust that’s sat for days to produce a not unpleasant staleness that’s completely comforting. Frankly, it’s quite hard to perform a technical dissection of Montecristo as it’s evoking space more than individual notes, and it’s doing so phenomenally well.
So, this is a dusty, rustic, vaguely reminiscent scent that feels as though you’re looking into its world through an opaque piece of glass. Everything in it seems peculiarly distanced, yet it all comes together in a sublime way. I don’t know how wearable this would be for most people as it almost smells stagnant, but it’s hugely compelling and surprisingly cozy. If you’ve ever been drawn to parchment type scents (or perhaps the smell of old bookstores), or you like the challenge of a good ambrette seed musk, this is absolutely sui generis, and for me, it’s the best scent of 2013 hands-down.
i0207510 – :
Very animalic, extra dry. Real – Living on the edge! The Yatagan’s brother.
My second skin.
xwp527InsuffBooni – :
Composed by Delphine Thierry (who also worked on Galaad and Akkad by Lubin and a couple of the Cloon Keen Atelier stuff), Montecristo is definitely a wower for anyone who like skanky /musky / spicy / woody things.
The opening is literally arresting. A skank overload provided by a thick amount of hirax and other animalic musks. It immediately brings to mind of the fecal opening of MKK but whereas the Lutens morphes into a floral rosey thing, Montecristo gets all dark and moody with tobacco, resins and some of the darkest patchouli ever. Boozy / balmy notes lurk in the back providing some smoothness to an otherwise extremely challenging fragrance. The result is fascinating to say the least. Th