Megaleion

After purchasing the "Secrets of Egypt" discovery set, this was the one I decided to buy in full bottle. I couldn't resist this robust, smoky, dense, spicy incense that isn’t overwhelming, reminiscent of Sahara Noir. From the DSH website: "A universal balsamic scent with rich black agarwood, fossil amber and woody incense notes.” When this is sprayed on the cinnamon is considerably more intense than when I dabbed my sample. That and the dry sweet red wine is what separates this from Sahara Noir. I have one on each wrist right now and the Megaleoion is definitely warmer while SN has more of a dusty quality. Overall I prefer the DSH and added bonus of supporting a female independent perfumer. This is very long-lasting on my skin, making it 8 hours easy, though the sillage is light.

Three-and-a-half-years-ago me was more-or-less right -- but, having had all that time to sit with this and to get a little closer with it, I feel like I understand this better... Dry cinnamon, resins (frank and myrrh), and an amber-musk that makes this smell like a dry cookie, with slight herbal-green elements. My sample has unfortunately split -- 10 mls has evaporated into 6 or so, with about 1.5 mls of oil and the rest alcohol -- I had to shake the bottle to get it mixed, but other than that, there is NO sign of spoilage or anything like that. I might need to try this one out again, I feel, but the gourmand cookie element is quite prevalent, I feel. Might not reach for this one more than once every year or so. Still pleasant, but nothing I could wear frequently...

I'm in two minds with this scent. It's dry, it's resiney, it's spicy, but it's also quite boozy, too. I mean, I like it, but I don't know how much I'd wear it... In two minds, seriously... It reminds me of a few other DSH scents, and to tell you the truth, I do think I want it, but I'm not at all sure. It comes in smaller sizes, so I might go for one of those, but, I'm not sure what I think of it!

From start to finish, this features a huge quantity of dry spicy cinnamon/cassia. There is a lot of complexity underneath that, and it's difficult to pinpoint but I mostly notice myrrh, balsam, and castoreum. Around an hour, the undercurrent is more a dark musky herbal scent that I believe is the spikenard. Almost a bit sour. Very dry, and overwhelmed by cinnamon. A bit of ambery sweetness emerges over the next hour, but by 7 hours, all I get is dry, dusty, woody cinnamon. Sillage is terrible to start but it warms up to just fairly low sillage. Longevity is good at around 10 hours. I kind of like this, but by the end I felt like I was huffing a jar of ground cinnamon, and my sinuses were not happy.

It's a shame this has such poor performance for me, as the notes themselves are truly, very beautiful. The combination of lemony frankincense, smoky resins, sweet-dry red wine and warm-spicy cinnamon is truly a wonderful mix. The whole things vanishes into my skin at lightning speed however, leaving nothing more than a vague impression. It's kind of like someone said the word 'perfume' in another room. The resulting skin scent is still lovely though, I get quite a bit of rose, which when combined with the smoky incense and red wine becomes a fantastic dusty/smoky floral that I wish I could smell without shoving my whole wrist up my nose. It's also very well blended and balanced, with only a few of the many notes listed really standing out by themselves. Namely the resinous incense, smoky notes and that dry floral I mentioned. In a stronger concentration this would have been a love for me, as it is I can only recommend it for those who like their frags whisper-quiet. Longevity is poor. A skin scent within minutes and all but vanishes after an hour or two for me. Sillage is very, very soft.