I got a sample of this from Sainte Cellier when I purchased a bottle of Marlou. ( Great place to purchase frags btw, the curator (Brooke?) is an absolute pleasure. )
I've been tenderly nursing it for many months for fear of using it up as its so expensive to replace.
This is a warm, comforting, enveloping scent. Gourmand but not too much so.
It is spicy, resinous and incensey.
It is smooth and creamy and consuming. The cacao isn't too bitter and adds just enough sweetness.
The ambergris is just stunning. Salty, smooth waxy perfection. From reading a post from the founder on Reddit, it's a tincture of 7% natural and ethically sourced ambergris. No synthetics here. I believe the Hyraceum is also authentic and ethically sourced.
The animalics are very well balanced considering the mix of ambergris, hyraceum and castoreum.
The opening is just incredible with a blast of warm creamy spices and ambergris.
Once settled, it is smokey, smooth and creamy, with spices dancing in and out through warm skin, fur, and vanilla.
Typing this review has reminded me how much I love this.
Would it be wrong to start a go fund me? 🤣
From Sainte Cellier's Listing;
Composition:
Please Note: No animals were harmed in collecting the rare animal derived, naturally expelled ingredients in Mxxx., and as always, ERIS PARFUMS never tests its fragrances on animals. Both the Ambergris and Pierre d’Afrique in Mxxx. were provided by Stéphane Piquart of Behave, an organization founded on principles of transparent and sustainable sourcing, fair trade, and the empowerment of local populations.
Eris Perfumes Mx is the slithering, unsettling echo of an intrusive thought, a fixation, a compulsion that thrums beneath your skin and stirs unease and intrigue in equal measure. Hypnotizing tendrils of saffron, a musky murmur of something primal, something unnerving. Velvety sandalwood, a plushness of warmth, of comfort, but something's not quite right. A shivery nip of ginger, a prick of pepper, sharp, sudden, jolting you awake, reminding you that you’re not yourself. The mirror wavers, reflects the eyes of a stranger you don't recognize, a smile playing on lips that aren't yours. Secretive, intimate, and sheer, this is the perfume of a whisper that clings to you, the memory of actions you can't explain, of choices you didn't make. Are they yours, these yearnings, or have you become a fascination, a vessel for the uninvited, a maddening allure let loose from the dark?
EDIT: After I'd written all of this based on a very strong recollection that it brought up for me, I realized I wrote all of this slithery gorgeous malevolence about a perfume that celebrates freeing oneself from gender binaries... and that if one didn't know me, this review could be taken as me as someone who is freaked out or grossed out about that. Or something equally as unfortunate that I would hate to have ascribed to me. Nooooooo! Please don't think that it's not that at all. I love the concept, the execution, and the inspiration for this perfume! This particular review was prompted by how the fragrance reminded me of what was happening in Lois Duncan's YA thriller Stranger With My Face, wherein a teenager realizes that her jealous twin sister has been astral projecting into her body at night and making her do terrible things!