Temple of Echoes

I like Temple of Echoes. The opening really grabs you with this cold metallic damp almost cave-like vibe. I love the artwork for this fragrance and the fragrance does feel very gothic just like the artwork is. Cold metallic spices meet warm leather and oud and creamy soap. This is definitely masculine I can't see a woman wanting to wear this at all. My husband really likes this, and I like it for him. There is something of an old school male leather aftershave vibe to this as it dries down. I wish the opening stayed around longer that is what really grabs you with this fragrance this cold dark metallic spicy Dracula's lair type of vibe is my favorite part of the fragrance. The dry down is also nice it's just soapier than the opening. New and postmodern in the opening more classic and vintage in the dry down. Overall, a very good male fragrance date night fragrance for sure. Winter and fall evenings are best for this perfume. The more I smell this on my husband the more I love it. Upgrade to a love. Cold in the beginning, warm in the dry down. It smells likes a very confident man.

Sebastian "The Perfume Guy" did a review on Cafe Avellana by Elysian Perfumes, in which he raved about the fragrance. Several months back, I blind-bought a 50 ml bottle. Cafe Avellana completely transformed me; I was awestruck by just about EVERYTHING regarding the fragrance. The Elysian Website allows customers to place together sample sets. So, I chose six fragrances that spoke to me and ordered my sample set! I purchased six fragrances, each in a 3ml vial with atomizer: Blackwood & Bourbon, LaBelle Vanille, Charmante, Temple of Echos, Sombre Douceur and Black Gardenia. So, after initially deciding I didn't fancy Temple of Echoes, I would say over time, the fragrance drew me in! I was really looking forward to this fragrance based on the listed notes. From the notes, I expected this fragrance to be a deep, dark, mysterious, spicy, resinous beast mode type of perfume. But it is not. Frankly, NONE of the fragrances I sampled are thick, dense, dark, syrupy, or what I'd consider mysterious. I think part of this house's culture is to make ethereal, ephemeral, unisex fragrances that are peculiar and transformative but at the same time, airy & light. It's hard for me to describe this fragrance because after an exciting and attractive opening of cardamom, saffron and citrus, Temple of Echoes fell a bit flat. Initially, I detect some promising neroli (orange blossom) notes, perhaps a bit of coconut (?) and definitely ginger. But the opening fades quickly and the fragrance gives way to a balanced medley of ginger, spicy black pepper and vanilla. Then the VERY spicy-wood base that seems to finish many Elysian Perfume emerges. The base notes DO add a wee-bit of complexity to this fragrance. Once again, the dry-down develops with spicy black pepper, sandalwood, amber oud, cashmere wood, tonka, vetiver and musk. The sandalwood and musk are most prominent in the base; both are quite nice. But overall, this fragrance performs rather weakly. At times, it is almost impossible to smell anything, let alone identify present and/or emergent notes. And to my nose, Temple of Echoes smelled very soapy. Temple of Echoes is likely the freshest fragrance I sampled from my chosen six; however I wouldn't identify this fragrance as green, or aquatic. It's not fresh and it's certainly not gourmand. Temple of Echoes is another dry, woody, green, unisex fragrance. Leans very masculine. Smells like clean men's aftershave. Overall likable but just not my jam.