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FabijLonari – :
Orca is a top quality Ambergris fragrance. The fact that it is 100% natural makes it that much better. All the other notes bring out the different facets of the beautiful Ambergris. It smells leathery, sweet and salty all at once. HoM designed this fragrance to be subtle and to create a feeling of “ocean kissed skin.”It does exactly that. This is a your skin but MUCH better kind of scent!
mex43 – :
This one is exceptionally subtle fast fading fragrance. Longevity is perhaps an hour or so. It changes beautifully though. Comparison to the smell of amber, salty ocean and leather is just.
Virutexsit – :
For me this was a subtle fragrance.
I found this to have 4 hour longevity and poor projection, but that being said it is another fragrance for business, travel or wherever you might be around strangers. It is safe enough, but yet unique.
I get a mellow ambergris ,nothing loud or even bright.I get cool water without any freshness. I get driftwood, with its mellow almost calming smell.
Overall very artistic and a pleasure, but Personally I think 2 times the concentration would have still been safe.
I do not know if I would purchase this one for the price personally.
Maverik – :
it’s salty at the beginning due to the ambergris, then in come amber, labdanum and benzoin i believe. it’s resiny and ambery-quite warm and inviting. after a few minutes i get something almost woodsy. a beautiful mix of resins, amber and ambergris. perfect for chilly evenings.
Gileexisk – :
ORCA held me helplessly spellbound with its magical leathery embrace of the Amber of the Sea. The resinous medicinal benzoin and woody notes then emerged, lending a hand that took me to a tropical realm Far East. Calm and grounded, I reached a blissful meditative state of serenity as the salty musky drydown left me awash with its refined incensy finale.
▓▓ ▒ ░ ░ ░
Mefoa604bedyWelty – :
Composed of honey and ambergris, House of Matriarch Orca seems to aspire to embody amber in all of its greatness, and in that respect, I find that it succeeds, showing the creamy and sweet sides of amber as well as the dull animalic side of it that makes the accord so alluring.
Orca is certainly slightly saltier at the opening, but quickly dries down into the rich amber / honey combination that constitutes the listed notes of the fragrance according to the HOM website. Comparing to other fragrances that feature amber/resins, it’s not as woody as Le Labo Benzoin 19 nor is it really that animalic along the lines of Parfum d’Empire Ambre Russe nor as dark AND animalic as Profumum Ambra Aurea.
Like most amber-centric fragrances, it’s functionally unisex and cold-weather leaning, despite having a bit more versatility due to its more modest projection than say, the heartily animalic Ambra Aurea or sweetly boastful Tom Ford Amber Absolute. Orca is nevertheless bold and long-lasting but not loud in terms of projection a sign of a high concentration of natural ingredients.
As seemingly with a lot of other House of Matriach fragrances, Orca does not come cheap, at $330 for 50ml / $120 for 15ml per the house’s website.
It’s a tough sell per volume but the fragrance is a wonderful expression of amber, and I’m happy to have a decant of it, if nothing else. A recommended try for amber lovers.
8 out of 10
jac638speagoessenda – :
Orca is a lovely ambergris based perfume from HOM. The central ambergris note is surrounded by labdanum, honey, a hints of pepper, woody notes and olibanum. The resulting juice is unisex with moderate sillage and projection and good longevity. This is a light and sweet amber blend composition and does not overpower. Again, like all HOM offerings, the retail price is a bit questionable. At the half off I received, it seems somewhat reasonable. Beautiful blending and very natural smelling, with salty animalic ambergris overtones, this is indeed high quality perfumery. Enjoy!
XACAH – :
I just received my bottle. It is very reminiscent of Andy Tauer perfumes. It practically has his DNA in it. As a matter of fact, to date I have smelled Orca, Epiphany, and Madrona, and I can’t help but feel that it is something that he would have created, with the exception of Epiphany.
I immediately thought of L’air du desert Marocain. Beautiful fragrance but Epiphany is my favorite so far.
Anyways, I love this house. Incredible scents!
apollo3311 – :
Orca is a great sweet amber and ambergris scent. The opening is very strong with ambergris, but once it dries down you get loads of sweet amber and honey with a hint of spices. Interestingly enough, when smelled up close I smell semolina porridge, reminds me of childhood. As for longevity and projection, well… it does last a moderate amount of time, 5-6h, but the projection is close to the skin, a bit too modest for me. In any case, this is a definite must-try, I really do enjoy this one. Wish price was a bit more reduced though.
EDIT: There is some resemblance to Cuir Mandarine by David Jourquin. That one has prominent earthy patchouli. Don’t know where that is coming from in this one, but for me there is some similarity, especially in the drydown.
pilotartek – :
I’d love to try this, the notes sound wonderful! Besides, I kinda look like an Orca, anyway!
chudishe – :
This actually takes me back to my childhood, attending Easter Mass at my church – I get a very strong frankincense hit from this (I guess from the choya loban). A tad sharper and a bit spicier than I’m used to, but that said, I like this a lot. We had an independent perfume store (can’t think of the name) here back in the mid to late eighties – they made all of their own scents and they had a fabulous range, and this reminds me very much of one of their fragrances that I had, and which I loved and missed terribly when they shut down. It’s a lovely warm scent, especially after a couple of hours when the honey and amber show up. I’m also getting a touch of vanilla, even though it’s not listed in the notes. Eight hours in, it was still there, but more of a soft amber scent, and sitting closer to the skin. I’ve got to say that although I’ve only tried three of Christi Meshell’s scents, I’ve liked them all – the girl’s got talent!
Woody240 – :
It would be hard to write a better description of Orca than the one that came with the sample! It’s a very beautiful fragrance – not too simple or complex, light, virtually perfect for any occasion.
Initially right away I get an amber, ambergris, labdanum, woods, and some benzoin. Some spices overlay this. It’s warm but not overbearing. And it’s a very soft fragrance. A couple of hours in I smell honey and wood. The wood notes are heavy in this and the benzoin too – especially in the opening. But these go soft very fast and leave you with a very soft and pleasant scent.
The only downside to this is the price – super expensive if I’m not mistaken.
Vasil60 – :
This smells like amber, ambergris, frankincense and labdanum in it’s best phase, the topnotes. Warm and cool at the same time. It quickly dries down to a soft and sweet comfort fragrance with an earthy, natural vibe. The strongest, longest-lasting note in this is amber so avoid Orca if you can’t deal with that. If dynamic, unusual and inventive fragrances are your thing, look elsewhere in this line (Black No.1, Sex Magic). But it makes a great practical, everyday-wearable fragrance. Much better than anything on a Macy’s counter but also twice as expensive.
Sanyaiwlev – :
Review coming from a sample.
This is one of the best fragrances I have ever smelled. It’s an ambery, smokey, vanillic, and a little spicy all at once. Quite linear on me but that is completely fine. If I had to compare it to anything I think Calling All Angels by April Aromatics would be the only thing I could think of. The quality is so much better with this one.
Prices are
1ml-$13
15ml-$120
50ml-$330
Steep but well worth it. This is super sexy and I believe would smell just as good on a woman as it does on me. Projection and longevity are excellent as well. I think this may be my favorite from the line so far. Absolutely amazing and even at its price point I would recommend any/all of these fragrances.
Uniqueness-8.5/10
Performance-10/10
Smell-10/10
Quality-10/10.
dishim – :
Orca.
Perhaps because this treasure is subtle, personal and is to be dismissed as fluff.
It’s structure is of CDR Exclusif. The effervescence Adelehydic assaults like frosting that tops a wavecrest. I am drawn into the centre of the structure, Birch is replaced with an Amber Frankincense rhythmnic waltz, moves with the Moon.
Whispers of Ambergris, the Sea, flow in and out as a dream. I am drawn to the transcendent silence and awed.
Aromatherapy at it’s best.
Easily dismissed as “Hogwash” by those cynical of Meshell’s fuzzy, feel good slick and yet folksy Advert of her product,all reminiscent of the motions of a Martha Stewart Empire.
Orca is a wonderful, personal, cleansing perfume for me.
It certainly adds that Christi Meshell, is definitive “Eye Pastry” Full Organic Cream.
voloday – :
Testing this was a joy for me.. One of the most beautiful fragrances I’ve tried this year. Very impressed, I get a rich authentic Ambergris note for most of the longevity of the scent, with soft warming spices, hints of spikenard, with just a dab of honey, not enough to make it particular sweet, and most definitely never sickly. It adds a richness and fullness to the amber accord with an almost soft leathery quality at certain times, with a dry spiced feeling through out, blended perfectly with the salty Ambergris.. it has a cooling freshness that feels to me like Frankincense. Rich beautiful, elegant and subtle, Perfectly uni-sex, between 8 to 12 hours on my skin.