A friend recently showed me her new scarf. “Look at it,” she said. “It cost a fortune.” The friend is no slouch in the style department, but she’s hardly rich, and, at first glance, the scarf seemed to be merely a big, soft red wrap. Nice, but nothing worth spending in the triple digits for.
Then I paid closer attention. The scarf was handwoven to produce a textured pattern in wool as fine as a spider’s web. Even the fabric’s selvedge edge was artfully finished. What looked at first to be a solid tomato red actually graduated barely perceptibly to cherry. The scarf, seemingly so simple, was a work of art.
Eris Parfums Mxxx. rewards similar attention. At first, it’s a rich, chocolatey sandalwood without much else going on. Keep sniffing, and the complexity shows itself from beneath the fragrance’s calm surface.
Perfumer Antoine Lie developed Mxxx. Extrait de Parfum. Its notes include Madagascan blue ginger, mace, saffron, Ethiopian olibanum, pink peppercorn, Trinidad cacao, Virginia cedarwood, sandalwood, Haitian vetiver, Indonesian patchouli, benzoin, castoreum, 7% natural ambergris, pierre d’Afrique and Madagascan green vanilla.
The aspects of the fragrance Eris’s website and press materials focus on are Mxxx.’s generous helping of real ambergris and cacao from Trinidad, including the cocoa butter. (They also make the point that all of the fragrance’s materials were harvested sustainably and ethically.)
The result is a dense, somewhat linear fragrance with a warm, woody, velvet-edged feel. At first, its wood has an almost mineral sheen, earthy, a little bit animalic, but not skanky. No body odor or draft from the porta-potty here.
Then Mxxx. picks up hints of nuts and sweetens, but it’s not not sharp-sweet, but sweet like sandalwood. Every once in a while I think I smell cinnamon or old fur coat, then it vanishes. The fragrance keeps a tight harmony of wood, amber, cocoa and a little bit of wet rock until it fades to nose-against-forearm level, about six hours later on my skin. It has moderate sillage.
To me, Mxxx. isn’t about flash and show. It’s not the cleverly cut Japanese dress with the reverse bustle. It’s the simple rectangle of a generous scarf intricately crafted from the best wool, woven by skilled hands. Its surprises and rewards are for you, not the crowd.
Eris Parfums Mxxx. Extrait is $225 for 50 ml and is a limited edition. See the Eris Parfums website to find where the line is carried.
Note: top image via Eris Parfums at Instagram.
More about this scarf ?!
I ordered a sample of Mxxx.
The scarf is fabulous! It’s made by a company called Indiri, and the founder works with craftspeople throughout India to capture indigenous weaving and dying techniques.
Would you mind sending a link? I was looking for it online (I am in the market for a fancy scarf! especially one that is glorious for me and not the world; I like my scarves to look simple from a distance) but I can’t find Indiri scarves.
I’ll email you!
Yeah, can I just have the scarf?
I want the scarf, too! *sigh* I love textiles. Once you’ve felt something finely handwoven, there’s no going back.
How fortuitous that you reviewed this today! I try had it on skin yesterday at a boutique in Dallas and had to go back today for a bottle. I was treating myself for my birthday, in my defense.
That salty warm opening is just lovely, and that show long melt into a warm chocolately wood is gorgeous as well. Different on fabric as well, smelling more like a place than a person. In the 5th or 6th hour, it definitely reminded ne of the cinnamon warmth of my 40s Fougere Royale extrait.
It is working extraordinarily with my 70s olive green leather coat lined with brown lamb. 😉
Oh! That coat! It sounds terrific. (I have a little bit of a vintage coat addiction.) And Happy Birthday!
Thank you! I’ll email you a picture when I have a moment. It’s quite a piece.
I’d love to see it!
I received a freebie dabber sample of Mxxx with a recent order. I love the opening but did not pick up the nuances that you mentioned in the dry down. I quite liked it. The cocoa note in the opening was really special as I never smelled anything quite like it. Thanks for the review Angela!
I bet it really makes a difference if you spray it. My sample was a tiny atomizer, and I went wild with it a few days.