Soft Tension

I have been looking for a soft, cool floral for months with no luck. I think this officially ends that search! Florals can often feel really cloying for me, but this one strikes a nice balance. The freesia is very present throughout with a backdrop of the woody notes, which lend a fresh & cool quality to the fragrance but are never in the forefront. The mate is both earthy and herbal in this fragrance, which I think is perfect. As the fragrance wears, its projection becomes more intimate after about 3-4 hours. At that point, the main notes I got were musk & florals, but the woody notes were just present enough to keep that coolness & balance. It's meant to give you a sense of mystery, as if you're walking through morning fog, and I do get that vibe. I love how light & delicate it is without smelling of nothing. I don't get the powder, but I do get the earthiness and green that someone below mentioned. Perfect for spring!

I have a different interpretation of this fragrance: when I smell it, it makes me feel confident, powerful, professional, and sexy at the same time. I'd imagine a boss woman or man wearing it to the office. It's appropriate for casual occasions as well, when you're dressed nicely. It smells soft, clean with a touch of warmth. Unisex. It's unique - I can't recall any fragrance that smells similar to this one. It's very versatile: it could be worn during the day and at night, any season, maybe except for hot weather. I discovered it at Twisted Lily store in New York. I've smelt dozens of perfumes at the store and ultimately this was my favorite one I fell in love with. I am happy to own a full bottle.

This fragrance specifically transports me to childhood being wrapped in a towel after a summer shower at my grandparents house in Mexico. Conjures a memory of johnson & johnson lotion and white florals with a touch of that “fog” for sure. I can almost feel the cool tin of Nivea cream in the lotion cabinet alongside my grandma’s powder puff. Definitely lies close to the skin. I love wearing this scent before bed as well. It’s comforting but also kind of cool and easy for everyday wear. I love the chemistry in Andrea Maack’s fragrances. I keep coming back to this one. It’s beautiful to me.

Edit: this is slowly becoming one of my all time favorite fragrances I've ever owned. It was one of the first mate fragrances I've ever smelled that sent me into orbit. I love this so much. This is GORGEOUS... I didn't expect to smell what I smelled based off the notes. Its a satiny smooth floral with the creamiest musk. Not sharp whatsoever, I was anticipating more of a "bite" - but this is so SO smooth. Like... I feel like I need to be wearing my nicest lingerie while wearing this. Instant sex appeal. Have had this on less than an hour and I'm already contemplating a full bottle.

Wow, I normally don’t get “images” or anything poetic come to mind when I smell perfume, however this one honestly makes me a little emotional. It sounds so weird, but it's true: this perfume is almost romantic to me. I can best describe this scent as: going on a date with your partner and afterwards cuddling and sleeping together under fresh sheets. This smells like your skin and the sheets the morning after, a combination of skin musk, your perfume, and his cologne. I love this so much, it is so pretty, totally unisex and I actually get compliments wearing this one.

holy moly this is so so beautiful!!! i feel like a weeeee little fairy wearing this, hopping off moss and flowers in a strange garden at dusk with the moon shining bright. i like how green it is from the maté without bordering on chypre, i'm not familiar with freesia but i'll have to lean into it some more because the sweetness in there is so wonderful!!! i make it sound silly but it's really stunning in person, like a sweet, cold, floral potion in the most delicate cup of china. this could be a magnificient signature 10/10

Soft Tension feels like a secret. It’s a delicate, cool floral that doesn’t try to impress, but somehow completely captivates. There’s a quiet sensuality here, like bare skin under silk sheets or the pause just before a kiss. It’s not easy to describe, and maybe that’s what makes it so beautiful. It brings out this soft, feminine part of me that feels powerful in its own calm way. I’m genuinely thrilled to own a full bottle. It’s a scent that stays with you long after it fades.

One of the most beautiful fragrances I've come across lately, and it's incredibly unique as well. I don't own anything else that smells like this, which is quite rare these days since so many perfume brands seem to copy each other. The white notes, such as musk and freesia, blend beautifully with the earthy notes of moss and mate, creating a fragrance that feels both cool and soft at the same time. It's a very distinctive perfume, yet thankfully still very wearable.

OMG i have over 500 perfumes and tried many more but I think I found the perfect one ♥️ i am in love it is more floral than i excepted i thought that I may not like it through the day but it keeps getting better and better and it lasts a good 5 hours. Even though the price is a bit high but I think I will keep buying it for the rest of my life. Ps if you like this try the musc essential parfums or the other way around 🙏

I really like this! It was a blind buy for me, and I am pretty thrilled with the outcome. This is my first Andrea Maack experience. I would definitely try another one after this one. My first whiff was almost animalic. It was certainly musky. My second and third whiffs, seemed almost like a cypress note atop the musk. Towards the end, it smells a bit more floral. The Freesia comes through. I like it! Thumbs up!

Andrea Maack Soft Tension smells like tea leaves steeped in an aquatic freesia waterbath. Not bothersome at all. A little earthy with a touchy more wateriness from the oakmoss and not bitter at all. The tea is a little sweet but not sugary. Very nice and clean. Pretty good projection for a tea scent, moderate performance in crisp air, hot humid air, and everything in between.

You're waking up in the afternoon after sleeping in, snuggled up in a white sheet--crisp percale, freshly-cleaned and softened the day before. The bed couldn't be any more comfortable.. and the windows are open, and it's the first day of spring.. and there just isn't any reason to move. Soft Tension by Andrea Maack.

This is soft and coconut/gorse forward with a floral aspect. I love it but it is a quiet fragrance. Not everything does have to shout so it’s lovely to find something like this. I won’t repurchase as I’ve stocked up on the Olivia Giacobetti, Blanc Ensoleille for Zara.

Soft Tension is not my typical scent profile, but I am obsessed. This is mysterious, cold, and ethereal, like a forest nymph or some other mythical creature. Musky, softly floral, earthy. Absolutely stunning.

waking up from a nap in an oversized vintage wood chest filled with expensive lingerie

If anyone is selling a used bottle of Soft Tension please pm me!

Andrea Maack Soft Tension is the scent of a freshly made bed in an unlit room. Cold cotton sheets, air just a few degrees cooler than your skin, still humming from the static of being stretched tight. That “white sheet” cleanness is real. Not soapy, not aldehydic, just soft, starchless fabric air. Thread your fingers along the edge of that cotton, and it leads you somewhere stranger—a pale wooden box in a fogged-out alpine cabin. In it: something faintly humid, like condensation sliding down cold pine walls. A bundle of moss wrapped in tissue paper too. Not earthy or that damp-musty few at all. Dewy. Like lichen in high altitude air, not so much captured as coaxed into the box. There’s a touch of synthetic ozone in there too in the way of a delicate laundry musk blend. Like air freshener pearls tucked somewhere discreetly under the moss. It’s musky, yes. White musk, clean and fine-grained, nothing dense or gritty. Freesia lends a translucent floral tone, slippery and immediately reminding me of a soft violet bloom. You can feel the powder but not grab onto it, like someone dispersed puff of talc into faint sunlight. Less Chanel No 5 baby-powder-vanity-drawer, more cloud, mist, frosted mirror. Honestly more ambient than perfume, I can see this making a good laundry-veil room scent. Not so much perfume as haze. Soft Tension is less about tension and more about soft, more about suspension. A moment stretched so thin it becomes silk.

I really love this. It reminds me so much of a Clean Reserve scent...I can’t quite put my finger on which one, but it’s instantly taking me back to when I sampled a bunch of them. I’ll definitely have to dig through and figure out which one it is because it’s driving me wild! If anyone else has an idea, please share. Either way, this is such a gorgeous musky floral. I get why people describe it as “cool”; it doesn’t feel warm to me either, but it’s not exactly cold. More of a neutral, airy vibe. Perfect for spring and summer, but I could easily see it transitioning into fall or even winter, depending on how it wears. I really do like it, but part of me keeps thinking I already own something nearly identical from Clean, so I’m still undecided on how unique it truly is. I do, however, want to get my nose on more of Andrea Maack's perfumes because I have enjoyed the ones I've smelled.

Lovely, and I really would enjoy adding this to my collection. Reminds me somehwat of Maack's Ceramic, but that's probably only because I'm not very familiar with musks so they all smell similar to me still. I like this one more than Ceramic because it doesn't have a sharp drydown. I love the earthy twist with the mate and oakmoss! I used to think I didn't like musks, but I think the issue was that I had only tried the ambroxan-heavy ones that dominate Sephora shelves. Soft Tension has ignited my interest in the scent category. Yay!

Mossy, musky, damp, cold, clean, powdery. A vintage powder puff on a cedar armoire. Like being wrapped in a crisp white blanket on a still, chilly, foggy morning. Andrea Maack saying the inspiration was a thick dense fog over the mossy icelandic countryside really makes sense. it feels cold and contemplative in a way. Wouldn't get again, but I think it's beautiful. probably just too cold for me. But very atmospheric and evocative.

It's a close skin scent for me, with almost no projection. I get a lovely fresh fluffy musk and something sort of liquoricey. Sort of like a combo of 'Not a Perfume' and 'Another 13' to me both of which I really enjoy. I really like this for work as it's just like I smell nice rather than like perfume and doesn't bother anyone around me. Totally unisex.

I feel like Andrea Maack really likes her musks! This is the third I've tried with musk as a featured note, and similar to how I feel about the other ones, I find it pleasant and enjoy it but it isnt something I'd necessarily buy. Its an easy pleaser. Another laundry-esque scent, this one is a bit more floral.

Lovely, soft skin scent. Skews feminine but is wearable for men. Intimate sillage, but intentionally so, I believe. Decent longevity. Try this if you want something sophisticated and restrained but not too formal.

i like this one way more than i expected. it smells clean. musk paired with a soft floral. very subtle, i wish it were a bit stronger. reminds me a bit of blanche bete

Soft, sweet, creamy, powdery veil. Tender, fragile flower, straining for light beneath a bed of moss. I am sure this could be a magic cloak on the right person.

Very close to Marc Jacobs Men minus the coconut note. Not bad but not very interesting either.

The first time I smelled this, I had a visceral scent memory of a violet-scented bath powder puff I had when I was a teenager. This fragrance is very powdery to me and a little mature, but not in a bad way if you don't mind either of those profiles. It's a well-done powder that's not too chalky or dense, with a white musk undertone. Smells like a nice after-bath body powder, if a bit generic. I get mostly fluffy powder, what I would call violet but I think others are saying is freesia, and musk. I don't get any mate or cedar, though it is a bit "fresh spicy" in a way I can't pinpoint. Performance isn't amazing like most perfumes that aren't spice or candy bombs, but not horrible for how soft it is. There isn't much development, at least on me - it smells the same all the way through. 6.5/10

I think the comparison to fog is legit because the first words that came to my mind upon spraying Soft Tension on myself were "ghostly" and "transparent". This scent is something ephemeral, hard to catch. Soft and musky indeed but a little too simplistic to my taste. It reminds me of English Pear & Freesia by Jo Malone and makes me think that freesia perfumes smell a little the same to each other. They also disappear very quickly, Soft Tension doesn't hold on me longer than an hour. Like I said... "hard to catch". Overall a pleasant experience but just not the right fit for me. P.S. The picture for this perfume is not right.

Soft Tension presents itself as a delicate, soft, and romantically inclined musky floral creation. I am particularly drawn to the unique and sophisticated development of the freesia notes within this composition. The overall impression is one of ethereal beauty, evoking the feeling of a crisp, cool, and enchanting spring morning where the world awakens with a gentle, otherworldly grace. It's an easy pleaser with gentle, clean musk. Unisex. Good longevity, moderate close to the skin to sillage.

At first, I was completely in love with this fragrence. Soft tension reminded me of that thrilling, electrifying feeling in the air when you’re about to kiss someone for the first time. It also makes me picture a delicate light pink silk slip dress. However, I wish the sillage and projection were as powerful as Le Labo Another 13, which I think shares a similar vibe. I really enjoyed it as a sample, but I won’t be purchasing a full bottle

If you want a perfume that stays really close to the skin, has no chance in hell to cause you headaches because it is very weak and smells like fresh bed clothing (I have a laundry balsam that smells pretty similar), go for it. I finished my sample in 4 days and don't even think about purchasing a full bottle.

It's a very hard scent to put your finger on. It's musky, floral, like clean skin wrapped in white linen. Not my personal taste but there's clearly a good deal of quality here. Low sillage but long lasting and pleasantly complex.

Soft Tension is pure abstraction: clean, off-white, slightly sweet, soapy-powdery laundry musk. It’s very, very simple, but I kind of like it. Long-lasting, steady, a bit chemical but not too unpleasant.

starchy like how baking powder fizzes on your tongue or like clothes coming off the line a bit too stiff. white and grey and almost cooling. intriguing despite the simplicity

One moment this is the softest lightly floral skin musk, the next I get the tiniest whiff of fishiness. It feels intentional.

This has a metallic note to it. It does remind me of White Tea.

Reviewing a sample from 2023. Soft Tension was launched in 2016. Soft Tension is a synthetic cold floral woody musk. Sharp light floral opening not clearly freesia. Slightly bitter from the mate. Musk and subtle moss/cedar in the drydown. The musk is very clean with no natural or animalic notes. No sweetness. Slightly powdery. Quality- average Unisex Performance- very good Overall I don't find this to be a soft, cozy or foggy scent as the imagery used for it's promotion suggests. It is cold, clean and somewhat synthetic reminiscent of Perles de Lalique. Perfect for those who love super clean scents. Excellent to freshen bed linen. 6/10

Got a decant of this after owning a small vial sample for a while and unfortunately it just didn't evolve into something that interesting. I don't know why I convinced myself it would turn mossier, more frigid, or more abstract if I got a chance to actually apply a decent spray, but the aroma is reminiscent of a familiar starchy, fluffy musk material. The initial moments are more textured and the florals have more of a bite. I do get a sense of fresh linens, and the fine texture goes a long way in reinforcing that, but the experience kind of stops there. It delivers something almost too neutral. It doesn't dip into the oddball headspace that earlier scents in the line did. I think the tea note comes through a bit and has that very light, dried tannic, earthy element that's often in fresh clean scents and reinforces that clean cotton texture, but even there it's just a murmur. A light sweetness also pervades which i can't untie from the musk- but it's there I wanted and inky, bitter, cooler juxstaposition to the fuzzy comfort. Honestly not a lot of tension in my mind, but I will give it some more time.

Soft Tension is a soft fragrance but there is no tension. It is really just two notes, Freesia and a touch of musk. Unisex for sure, it does not ooze masculinity or femininity, it just makes you smell like a gentle, cuddly person. I have worn this for a month trying to figure it out, and honestly, I would rather wear a complex frag. A bouquet of different flowers. If Freesia, and just Freesia is your thing, then buy this. Spray it on your linens. It stays on fabric for a long time. Soft Tension smells like a bed should on a wedding night when two people are about to make passionate love. But the two people are wearing their own fragrances as well.

*Soft Tension* was my favorite from the COSMIC LIGHTS - Discovery Set - and the one I bought a full bottle. The listed notes - Freesia, Musk, Mate Absolut, Cedar, Moss - don't tell the full story to me. There's something magical happening in that black bottle; it might be the magic of the perfumer - Alienor Massenet. I agree with those who've commented about a clean laundry/linen type smell but it's more than that. I'm happy the season is (finally) changing here; it's been a long brutally cold winter here in the northeast. I'll be happy to put *Soft Tension* into heavy rotation.

This is a very pretty but also very light scent on me. I have to sniff really hard to try and discover the fragrance notes! But I definitely get a powdery muskiness. But a comfortable, clean leaning musk. This frag tuns a bit greener and more earthy as time goes by on me. I could find myself wearing this as more of a going to bed or lounging around scent. I don't think I would buy a full bottle but it's certainly beautiful. And for what it's worth, my 5 year old says it smells like pollen and flowers ;)

Smooth like velvet and soft like cashmere. Much more floral than I expected, which I find very pleasant. I think of intricate doilies made out of the thinnest threads, ready to disintegrate at the slightest touch. Grazing fingertips over the skin of a lover, featherlight kisses and anticipation of what's to come. Sticks close to the skin, I can't get the image of silk robes out of my head when I wear it. I personally don't find it very woody or even mossy, instead it's very clean and powdery.

An enigmatic floral. Sultry, tender, like the brush of fingertips. A scent to sink into. Personally I do not find it cold or clean. Humid perhaps, in a dreamy way. To me it borders on NSFW. Good longevity, moderate to intimate sillage. I'm not usually one for a musk note, as they tend to sour on my skin, but this one doesn't at all. Doesn't cloy in hot weather either. I can see how this might be a love-it-or-hate-it fragrance, but I'm kind of astonished each time I wear it how good it is.

Soft fluffy musky tea scent, a gentle earthy sweetness... Somewhere between Elizabeth Arden White Tea and Dedcool Taunt. Longevity is fair, but it is very close wearing and quiet. It is definitely a sister to Maack's Ceramic, they will likely appeal to the same people (me), ceramic being the "clean girl" sister and soft tension being the artsy cottage core sister.

This is not a fragrance that shouts. Soft Tension murmurs close to the skin, close to the senses. It’s restrained, but deeply suggestive. A scent to lean into. A tension never quite released.

I like Soft Tension! I'm shocked there isn't an orris note or iris note listed! It comes across very clean, musky with the powdery element of orris/iris. Nice scent

Ah, such a soft scent—gently green, floral, and airy. It leans toward a skin-scent style without any chemical harshness.

To my nose, this smells very reminiscent of black licorice. Not great, not horrible.

This smells like if Dear Polly and The Musc had a baby.