Megalium

Ever have one of those "holy smokes, this stuff smells amazing" moments upon trying that new blind bought bottle you just got in the mail? For me, Megalium delivered one of those rare moments. I bought this figuring how bad could it be if I like every one of its constituent notes and also have and love it's #1 "smells like." And you know what, Carner really knocked this one out of the park. It's familiar in many ways, but also unique and special. Be aware -- let there be no doubt what the feature note is in Megalium -- cinnamon. If you don't like cinnamon, then you probably won't like this. But I will say that Megalium features as full and rounded a cinnamon/calamus accord as you will find. Blended with what seems like a shade of honey sweetness and just enough nutmeg and pimento to almost convince me there's some cardamom and anise in there as well. It's bold, warm and inviting, while also maintaining a sense of clean. As if that weren't enough, its dry down is met with a chorus of balsamic resins that bring a certain solemnity and the slightest green, soapy edge to Megalium. Clean, warm confidence -- and balance in every phase. Longevity is better than average on me, as I got a good 9 hours strong in my first wearing. Not sure yet about projection/sillage, but honestly, this should be for you and those who venture close enough to take in its radiant aura. Less is more. Those who would say this is similar to Potion are not too far off in terms of overall composition, though this one brings more spicy heat by comparison, whereas Potion favors a fairly prominent sandalwood and angelica base. I also pick up a similar spicy/resinous balance to Franck Boclet Incense as well, though more pronounced in Megalium. There is also that spicy chai heat of Gucci Pour Homme II (minus the cooling violet/bergamot brightness) and that familiar myrrh of Prada Amber Intense. As I love all of the others mentioned, it's no surprise that I love this one too. I think this stuff is magnificent, but you really have to appreciate that whole cinnamon/spicy/resin theme to love this. But if that's you, then Megalium should qualify as a safe buy. Really happy I rolled the dice on this one. Looking forward to trying more of Carner's creations.

Cinnamon is the opening star. a rare, elegant cinnamon. Dry, crisp, actual cinnamon stick. the perfume is comforting. A modern, refined take on the classic amber-wood perfume genre. a beautifully dry, resinous amber that evokes the spirit of a Youth Dew and Cinnabar (but it's more now/contemporary/less 80s) church incense, softened with woods. (I discovered Megalium while searching for a modern take on Youth Dew, a request from a friend whose grandma adored the original, so she wanted something similar but maybe less grandma vibes.) It's supposed to be based on ancient Roman classic incense recipes. I've read that it's a "natural" perfume, meant to improve significantly with time, needing up to a year of maceration to fully mature(!). I haven’t had the chance to experience this as aged/complex (I am impatient), but I’m enamoured with the straight-from-the-bottle version. If you are keen on dry woods, resinous amber, warm churchy incense and a nuanced, beautiful cinnamon (that steers clear of sweetness), i reckon it is worth exploring (and you haven't got many/any other options anyhow). Note: I usually use this as a warm fancy base for a gourmand pastry perfume, Lush's chelsea bun or Andromeda's Moon All Hallows Veil or Odette's Pain au Chocolat

This is incredible. Right up my alley. If you like cinnamon send it. Max Aroma has it cheap. Its very cinnamon. But it's not an overpowering cinnamon. Its there forsure and it's prominent, but it's a creamy amber cinnamon. It is spicy so you gotta like that too, and it is vaguely incensy. Sillage is fairly low and it sits close to the skin. Projects pretty well for about 2 hours max then sits pretty intimate within your scent bubble. Noones gonna smell you from afar but if they are up close and personal they will get a whiff. On my skin it works perfect and its slightly sweet. I cant get enough of this smell. Blind buy was a success. Evening and fall/winter wear is where its at. Because of the amount of cinnamon id never wear this on any day warmer than 75 lol. Wouldn't make sense. Date night forsure. Good lounge / bed time scent cause its super comforting. Could be a great formal wear but i have better stuff for that. Ill be abusing this all fall and winter long no doubt about it. Dry down reminds of of that photo of Leonardo Dicaprio in the great Gatsby holding that glass of champagne all dressed up. Idk why but thats what the scent does to me. For 52 bucks its worth a try if you are into this style.

Gorgeous fresh spicy oriental - wow. Not as per the notes but for me it starts with a bright sweet airy candied orange feel blanketing a linear dusty (nutmeg in overdrive) cinnamon bark/leaf. After a few minutes this “Orange” morphs completely to the linear scent and the orange moves to the background backing up the scent. It then has a bright kick at the top with white pepper reminding you that it’s full of dried crushed spices. The nutmeg still giving a body of rusty and dusty spices. Though not listed I feel as though there is smooth cloves hovering through the layers though this likely the balsamic reference. The other notes complimentary giving a feel of a beautiful sweet orange, red and brown oriental spice. The balsamic connotations mislead the description for me as for me this is a fresh dusty somewhat dry unusual oriental. A gourmand at that... This together with Volcano has turned me into a Caner Barcelona fan. Out of five hundred or so perfumes that has crossed my path I do not believe I have yet come across one like this. 7/10 for quality 9/10 for originality 7/10 for value

I love this scent because it has some structural similarities with The Spirit of Dubai Majalis and it has the same beautiful & strong calamus note as the Carner Barcelona Black Calamus . Megalium is a beautiful spicy oriental scent for fall, spring and cool summer evenings. It feels totally unisex and safe for all. Dominant notes are strong calamus, well-balanced cinnamon, stunning myrrh, very-very strong olibanum and strong opoponax which feels the same as in Amouage Jubilation for Men. The olibanum is the second strongest note after the cinnamon, intensive nutmeg, mild mandarin, noticeable rose and strong white pepper. I do not get styrax at all. It a long lasting scent with moderate sillage and moderate projection. Its performance is western but its smell is totally oriental. If you like cinnamon with spices and resins give it a try.

An amazing fragrance from Carner Barcelona. This is only my second from the house and I am very interested in getting more. One reason being the affordability of the fragrances (78 for a hundred ml of this) at discounters. I would wear this any time where it is not hot or humid. To me this starts of as raw cinnamon with woody smokiness, dry with a hint of sweetness. On me either the styrax or opponox (not too much experience with these) comes out to play heavily in the drydown with the faintest hint of the rose, it feels more of a slight floral note than rose, the cinnamon live through all of the scent and lasts about 9 hours with moderate projection but becoming a skin scent after the first hour. I get whiffs of it throughout the day and think it is perfect where it is at, love.

Taliasmellofsense though I have not smelled Ambre Narguile or Angel's Share, I can confirm that, to my nose, there is nothing about this perfume that translates as "sweet". I'd describe it in a few words as smoky, spicy & bitterly (even medicinally) resinous. The cinnamon is there, undeniably, but it comes off more "spicy" than "sweet". As it dries down and about 3-4 hours later when all the strong resin is blending with the skin and all the peppers are fading, there is an ambery "skin-like" sweetness. The cinnamon, olibanum and myrrh are most prominent and it comes off as a strong, intensely resinous scent imo. It has been described as macho masculine, though I completely disagree. It's a polarizing, odd scent, I find it quite magical.

Nothing new under the sun. I love this Megalium. Yes, it's good on me, like Potion DSQUARED2 and Isabey L'ambre de Carthage. I know nothing about perfume, but I do have a few shelves, and most of what's been released in the past two years is linear synthetic junk that I want to wash off after half a day—tiring culprits. These are a different story, thankfully. - Niks nieuws onder de zon. Ik hou van deze Megalium. Ja fijn op mij, zoals Potion DSQUARED2 en Isabey L'ambre de Carthage. Ik weet niets van parfum, heb wel wat planken en het meeste van wat de afgelopen 2 jaar is verschenen is gore lineaire synthetische troep, die ik na een halve dag van mij wil wassen, vermoeiende hoofdpijnveroorzakers. Deze zijn van een andere orde, gelukkig.

I tried this for the first time in my house, I looked out the window and saw blowing snow, it's -28. I experienced love at first inhale. At first strong cinnamon with spices, like when you have pre-packaged mulled wine spices. And then it softens and dries down to a cinnamon floral blanket. I received this just after Christmas, but agree that it's a great Christmas or Valentine's day smell. The cinnamon smells like real cinnamon, like the sticks, but melds into a light harmony with floral and spices. Cinnamon comfort city. I am 2 hours into this and my husband walked by and smelt it on me, "Oh, I like that," he said. It's cozy on me, feels unique and special. This was a blind-buy on a boxing day and I have no regrets.

@fishwife...I second your comments. This has strong cinnamon, but not a foodie cinnamon, and I too get incense although it is not one of the listed notes. I guess the combination of myrrh and other resins gives the incense vibe. It’s hard for me to pick out other individual notes. It’s as if they all blend together to provide a rich background for the cinnamon incense to play against. This is everything I hoped it would be, when I blind bought it. Based on a couple of wearings, I’d say the sillage is moderate and longevity is slightly better than moderate on a cool fall day. I might need to re-assess this after more wears in different conditions. All in all a big thumbs up from me.

Very nice cinnamon scent! The cinnamon is the most importante notes here, very natural and realistic, mixed with other spices like nutmeg. Un the background a rich balsámic and warm mix of notes: myrh, opoponax, incense... The performance is moderate . I have tried It now on summer and the longevity is not too high but i think un winter It would perform much better. Scent: 8.5 Longevity: 7.5 Sillage: 6 Quality/price: 5 Versatility: 6 Originality: 8.5 Global: 8.5

Just received a sample of this from Bloom Perfumery. I’ve been searching hi and low for something as close as possible to Dsquared Potion for many years and I’ve finally found it. Thank you Carner! This has the herbal/coca cola vibe, I would describe it as somewhat dark, medicinal, spicy and sweet. I’ve only sprayed it onto card so far so cannot comment on silage/performance but on first testing, a full bottle will be a must.

This is my third Carner fragrance (Botafumeiro and Ambar del Sur being the other two). This is my most favorite one so far. It is so reach, resinous, cinnamony, incensy, so well blended, absolute perfection! I’m very impressed with the house and have a feeling I’ll be getting more :)

Deep incense with warming and balsamic base. Beautiful spices are balanced with deep and rich olibanum and woods. I would describe it as scent of a nun who spends her daytime in the praying in a chapel, and nighttime dancing in a club :) Follow me on IG: scent.guide

This smells so much like an actual cinnamon stick, the ones you make tea with or cook with not the ones for decorating 😂. I’ve had my bottle for five years now and it has only gotten better with time 😍

CINNAMON INCENSE!...the cinnamon adds a comforting, earthy quality to the scent, but it is not foodie at all...I get no citrus (which I'm not sold on as part of incense scents anyway)...good stuff...

Rich cinnamon and incense with a touch of nutmeg. It does smell natural. Quite unique in my opinion. great cold weather scent/ wear any time of day. 8/10

Note table aside - Beautiful sweet caramelised, wood shavings and cedar. Super yummy.

An overdose of cinnamon morphing into a velvety spicy smoky myrrh based amber I am a bit biased against Carner Barcelona, I must admit, perhaps a bit excessively after a few absolute duds I smelt from them in the past .. Megalium is however the poster-boy that never came to be, heavily inspired by preexisting formulas, but very well executed and pleasing to the nose, much better compared to other big releases, Palo Santo, D600 etc. There is absolutely nothing new here, nothing you havent smelled before, the brutalist cinnamon leaf opening is straight from the decade old Serge Lutens Rousse (discontinued) and the evolution is very close to something like Baum du Doge (discontinued), more distantly AdP Note di Colonia III but sweeter and darker. Diptyque Eau Lente is quite different, classical and Shalimar inspired, and so is Potion, which is deeply unpalatable in its synthetic undertone. What I love about Megalium is the way it is all wrapped up. Heaps of cinnamon fade within a few minutes (as they are volatile in nature) into the clove-y and nutmeg like warmth of myrrh with its velvety almost cola-like constellation (probably my favorite natural in full display) sweetened and rounded out finely by rose-y and vanillic touches. No amberwood sticks out to my nose, which is reflected in its rather average tenacity (in my opinion a positive rather than negative). A sweet warm glow or cola myrrh and slightly smoky woods remains on the skin. It's a bit of a one-course meal, once it has unfolded into its woody spicy cola myrrh/amber stage, it pretty much stays unchanged. However sometimes this is all it takes. Good stuff. Pretty cheap on discounters (got my 50ml for around 70 euro).

A linear scent of sweet spices and tamed resins. Megalium opens with a multi-faceted, aromatic cinnamon which is softened by calamus and fleeting, deep zest. The opening reminds me of sarsaparilla! Sweet tree resins and incense notes are immediate also, growing continuously as the opening fades. Aromatic spices and gentle florals support the cinnamon. The scent is dominated by cinnamon and resins, leading to a sweet and slightly spiced dry down, which is more approachable than the notes would suggest. Longevity and projection are moderate. An enjoyable, natural smelling scent that is approachable but maybe too polite in the dry down. The cinnamon is complete and well defined, and thus Megalium will be well loved by cinnamon fans.