Mystra

Mystra or Μυστρά as it is spelled in Greek, is a well crafted incensy perfume. I am proud this creation comes from a Greek Australian company, as I have linked incense with spirituality, and would like to trace it in my Greek origin. The ingredients are simple, but lovely. Very natural, as if you picked them up from nature, with your hands. The mastic tone is reminiscent of the Greek ground and flavours blended with the incense, which is lingering softly; the perfume finishes with a beautiful subtle ambery drydown. It feels like you are in a Greek orchard with a little chapel in the middle, overlooking the sea... It is very ethereal, and stays close to the skin. It's not a spray, and actually I respect this attitude to nature and ecology. Mystra is a sacred place, and the perfume a genuine representative- humble, deep, evocative. As Yeats would suggest, let's sail to Byzantium! 24/09/11 A few extra notes: this is Not a sweet cuddly perfume; it's natural and soft but austere and dark. You will not find florals, or any muskiness, but it's special just for this feature, as it fills a gap in the "pretty and sexy flowery" market.

With a name borrowed from an ancient Byzantine stronghold in the deep South of Greece, 'Mystra' by Aesop has enchanted my senses with odeurs of the Motherland. My Greek family has its ancestral roots in Argos, a city nestled in the lap of the Peloponnese, not far from this famed ancient citadel, so when I first encountered the name of this fragrance, I felt it had much to live up to. I was not disappointed; it trains its focus on 3 notes, the first being frankincense - the perfume billowing from ecclesiastical censers on Greek feast days; the second, labdanum - a sticky resin secreted from flowering cistus bushes, often fed upon by wild goats on rocky outcrops (their beards often matted and imbued with this hallowed substance); and mastic - the hardened tears of sap from a tree found only in the Mediterranean basin, whose scent profile is citrus / herbaceous and is used in everything from toiletry preparations to baked bread to chewing gum. 'Mystra' is the embodiment of the Peloponnese... its slightly animalic opening and warm, sun-soaked scent profile pays hommage to the land I love.

Stunning and contemplative. Mystra is like walking through the empty halls of an ancient artifacts museum. It's reminiscent of incense-infused antique furniture and religious stonework; very ethereal and sublime. Of course all of Aesop's fragrances in their skincare lines smell very natural and their perfumes are no different. Mystra is simple but not simplistic and can be easily layered. I've tried all three versions: the parfum rollerball is definitely the darkest and one dot on my wrist was extremely potent, the balme is velvety, sheer and less dry, and the eau de toilette splash seems to just be a lighter version of the parfum oil. Aesop are always great for giving loads of free samples, too.

This fragrance reminds me of deep, dark, earthy rainforest with Araucaria and Eucalyptus trees and rich, loamy soil. My father told me it reminded him of Koala pee.

This is a unique scent with eccentric undertones. Straight from the bottle it smells a little like pine sap syrup. Mmmm but how I love that sugary pine stuff! This is a very natural scent - one that develops over time into a promising dry down. On the skin it hits me with a strong alcoholic boom to settle into an odd fleshy smell with hints of frankincense and a faint green note (cannot decipher what this is). There are slight fungual elements that are reminiscent of a wet forest during autumn when all the leaves start to rot. This is a philosophical fragrance that requires thought to cut through with a complexity that unravels over time. Unlike anything I've smelled before and much lighter to behold - despite the intense curiosity, I am not suffocating in some heady incense blend. The only negative is that the longevity is nearly nil. At most, an hour on my skin. Beautiful nonetheless.