Citizen X

I received Citizen X as a tester bottle when I purchased FM’s The Night, & what a pleasant surprise it turned out to be. Imagine a crisp white shirt infused with frankincense, the scent of freshly printed brochures in Paris, & the atmosphere of a modern art museum with a smoke machine softly veiling the air. It’s airy, clean, & creative, a minimalist incense perfume painted in soft, refined tones. It is one of the most realistic portrayals of unburned frankincense I’ve smelled. Forget church incense or smoldering resin. This smells like a cool piece of frankincense resin resting in the palm of your hand, almost as if it had just been taken out of a freezer. It reveals every facet of the material: lemony, piney, slightly peppery, mineral, & quietly balsamic, all without the smoke. The composition feels crystalline & modern, with the iris softening the resin just enough to keep it elegant, never austere. It has an immaculate, freshly laundered cleanliness & the quiet confidence of contemporary architecture. If you’ve ever wanted to experience frankincense in its purest, rawest state before fire transforms it, Citizen X comes remarkably close. It’s one of the finest studies of fresh olibanum I’ve encountered. It’s the kind of scent that represents the modern world I wish I lived in: thoughtful, elegant, & quietly optimistic. What a beauty. And yes, it’s absolutely summer-friendly.

Enjoying my Luckyscent decant, Citizen X is an unusual spicy, woody aromatic that smells light and fresh, in fact this is a scent that does not project. Instead it’s softly persistent, enveloping the wearer. (This could be that I didn’t spray it, I’m testing from the dauber vial.) Anyway, this is impressive and though they don’t share any notes, and they behave completely different, this reminds me of Beach Hut Man by Amouage in that the scent reminds me of being in the woods — a dry, hot area with an ocean breeze. Would love to sample a spray. There’s something special about Citizen X and I’m having a hard time figuring out why.

I have no clue why this fragrance is getting hated on. Citizen X, Amber Sky and Atlas Fever are my favorites from the brand, CX being number one. I agree that the price is too high since this cologne doesnt last a long time, but doesnt change the fact that it smells amazing! You can wear this year round and smell fantastic. Worth getting at discounted price. 8/10

Mm, I'm getting a futuristic vibe from this one, clean and pristine, but still kind of a body scent. The iris combines really well with the resins, and though the pepper and musk are practically invisible, I think they work to keep this from being too powdery. It's improving with every sniff I take.

Взяла пробник парфюма, чтобы познакомиться с ароматом. Мне очень понравился-свежий, дерзкий, холодный, не удушливый, брутальный. Я бы сказала так- Citizen X пахнет как шикарный горячий мужчина, который только что вышел из душа. Очень возбуждающе, хочется вдыхать и вдыхать этот аромат)

I'm glad that this gets so many negative votes. More for me!! Gorgeous.

I've had a 10ml decant of this that I revisit from time over the last five or six months and I enjoy it. It's got tons of mastic resin and if you're sensitive to that, this will smell like tree sap. They try to balance it out with iris, incense and musk, but it's still prominent. Overall this is a classy fragrance is in the "frozen amber" category. Frozen is a good word because although it has the scent of tree resin, I find it has a cold and stoicism charm about it. I picture a captain of industry or a high powered professional.The incense starts to amp up giving a liturgical feeling later on like maybe this ruthless businessperson is in church later on asking for forgiveness lol. Anyway, this is cold, astute, and could be a signature office scent for someone, and it's pretty versatile in different climates. Performance is about average. Scent 7.5/10 Performance 6/10

I've tested all of the Ex Nihilo range, and for such an abundance of perfumes, there's basically nothing that pushes the limits. They like to take a tried and tested idea, and make it with a fine precision, no rough edges. All of their perfumes are strong, and this is no exception. They all also have prominent synthetic woody amber bases, which I guess is challenging, but not in a way I find interesting, rather they bum me out and start to grate on me over the long course of the drydown. This here is a competent, polished spin on a very hackneyed men's designer formula. It's fine, but that's it, just fine. I'd probably have thought more highly of it ten to fifteen years ago just before this scent profile became so prolific.

Modern unique incense scent that has a charm to it. The scent opens with the rarely used mastic resin and white pepper leading to a brief orris heart before it starts quickly settling into a powdery base highlighted by olibanum, musk and synthetic amberwood. This type of cool elegance is also seen in scents like Eau Froide by Serge Lutens. The masculine leaning scent has moderate projection and good longevity. Recommended for suave, cool and icy personalities. Enjoy!

Citizen X by Ex Nihilo is luxury in a bottle. The opening hits with clean incense. It's cool, smooth, and slightly mysterious. It immediately reminds me of stepping into an opulent Arab home: polished marble, fine wood, and silent wealth in the air. The musk and amberwood are blended well. But the dry down is where it really surprises me. It turns into this elegant, soft fabric like scent. This isn’t a loud scent, but it speaks volumes. I rate it 7/10.

Definitely a crisp, clean, masculine fragrance. This smells like someone who just left the barbershop on a spring day. I swore I got some citruses or maybe some pear in there, but it's not listed, so I guess not. It's a little more mature, I'd say for guy in their 30's and up, but this can still be appreciated by anyone in their 20s as well. I just don't think teenagers would care for this one when they have JPG, Hawas, etc.

In the vibe of a men's designer iris, but with an extra dose of quality. It's not generic, nor totally unique, but highly wearable and great performance. Ill be giving it a couple extra wears to see if it's FB worthy. I love the atomiser, one of the best I've tried. It is relatively pricey, but would get use, so it is what it is.

I love how it smells exactly like frankincense [B. papyrifera], which is much sweeter and milkier than B. carteri (the most common frankincense oil), once it settles on the skin!

Nice, masculine and clean. Not a beast performance wise, projects for 3-4 hours within arms reach then settles a bit for a further few hours. Class.

Feels like white pepper, clean musk, and a crisp breeze in a bottle. Fresh, powdery, and oddly comforting.

The opening is a classic cologne but dries down to something very different. I'm shocked there isn't a soapy accord listed.

I'm sampling this for the first time tonight, and it smells like a rather bland but sharp spicy scent on my skin. I'm not a fan. Unfortunately, it seems to have nuclear performance on my skin. I've washed my forearm 4 times (about 3 hours after application), and it's still going strong.

I wish I would like this fragrance, because I like the brand and especially the more male-oriented fragrances. But the floral, soapy scent it has, reminds me a bit of my grandparents: a bit old-fashioned, but to me personally, unpleasing as well. :(

Really wanted to like this one based on the notes. However, once I got my nose on it, I was very disappointed, because it smells like so many cheap drugstore/designer fragrances. Nothing niche about this fragrance.

Instant hit for me. Modern man, clean, but unique for Spring and Summer. 10/10... except for the price. Great signature scent for all occasions.

I love ex nihilo but Citizen X is a big disappointment. It’s like 80s cheap perfumes.

I tested it and it is absolutely pathetic! I was at a store and sniffed it, it was so so generic and with no artistic nuances, I do not know how Ex Nihilo is a Niche house? It was like a sweet syrup. I can make it on a stove. I tried other perfumes as well, like French affair and Amber Sky, all were awful! Thankfully did not blind buy anything online. Worst Niche house I have ever encountered. I have smelled quite a few perfumes and this one takes the cake

if you want to smell like putty well it's a big deal for you at this price no but seriously they take people for idiots at this point, I tested three fragrances from the brand it's just a big deal 280€ the bottle it's just a joke

Cool spicy notes over transparent frankincense and clean musk Although not a very unique scent, Diptyque Eau Trois comes to mind as a distant progenitor, CdG Avignon, a much more exciting and bold tale on a similar idea, it feels like an attempt to ’detach‘ frankincense/olibanum from its filthy and fuzzy facets. As explored in countless other offerings, there is a certain cleansing, sterile quality of incense, ‘Profumum‘/through smoke.. we have heard the story a million times. Powdery slightly soapy Iris-y ionones in the opening, heaps of ambroxan and dry linen like musks in the base and slightly peppery citrusy in the opening, to my nose do an effective job of giving you the effect of ’white‘ purified frankincense smoke in a test tube. I personally gravitate heavily towards this concept/genre and have enjoyed wearing it since Artisan‘s Timbuktu etc. in comparison Citizen X feels quite anemic and insubstantial. Not unpleasant by any means, rather a bit pedantic after the first few hours of wearing it. What I appreciate however is the lack of the faux-Arabian Harrods/department store smell of synthetic ambers and frankincense, probably because of the lack of the typical vanillic benzoin base.

Just a citrus-y, lemon-ish, very slight powder freshy. I get nothing else, and certainly not any frankincense whatsoever, as another review is claiming (a scent I'm highly attuned to; not even a hint of it), and absolutely nothing new or intriguing. I hate having to write reviews like this while the devil on my shoulder loves to, because I'm so dang sick and tired of the same damn jam being done over and over again incessantly, BUT, while CLAIMING to be something new and interesting. For the minor hype-up on this, AND the cost, and for it to smell literally like the cheapest endless line-up of predictable men's frags at the local deep-discount store...another in the morbidly pedantic mass-appeal citrus freshies...is extremely disappointing. Three hours with it, no change. SO disappointed that I won't even bother with the rest of their line. Sample decant quickly put in the box full of samples stinking up the wicked witch of the west corner of my fragrant basement.

-Pepper, Iris, Amberwood? Sign me up! -This is rather unique to me in the sense that it adopts bits and pieces of what i perceive 'unique' to other houses. -Pepper from Comme des Garcons, Iris from Atelier, Amberwood from some middle eastern perfumery house. -Dries down soapy. Like you chucked a shirt with this fragrance into a tub of soapy water. -Definitely one to check out. (-)

Without exaggerating, this is one of the cheapest and worst smelling fragrances i smelt, it's basically Rexona deodorant for men. Sharp and very unpleasant aftershave smell. I am trying to wash it off but it keeps projecting off my arm. Out of all the Niche houses that i tested, and i ordered like 6 decants from them, Ex Nihilo is the worst one without any doubt.

I wouldn't have guessed this has mastic, olibanum or musk, as all I can smell is synthetic peppery citrus ambroxan combo. It reminds me of sauvage with all that rough piercing ambroxan. Not bad to use for everyday wear, but certainly not deserving a niche tag.

It is quite Fougere to me. It doesn't have Lavender note but to me, It smells like a male fougere at the first sniff. the pepper and herbal(dihydromyrcenol) is too strong for me. the dried down is quite iris powdery and ambery.

This is the scent Patrick Bateman spritzes on after his fuck ass morning routine. It's cold, masculine, oddly metallic to my nose, and overpriced. Smells like you paid for it with an amex platinum card (derogatory).

Im not impressed. Cheap smelling citrus, mixed with pencil shaving type incense...which I usually love. But no big deal here. Nothing super unique. Not interesting enough for me to ever wear it even if it was $25.

Meh... kinda just giving basic dad Cologne. I like the mastic note though... I wish more perfumers would play with this note. Beyond that it’s a soapy, fresh, date night freshness. Masculine leaning for sure.

AIRY . good . On first sniff nice airy scent. But later..hmm.. like ,like my grandmother's washed curtains lol or fresh air room with soap combination. Nice smell but weird associations...:/

Lemon-citrus accord with some hints of frankincense and a peppery note. Citizen X is a great name for a perfume, but the composition does not match the audacity of its name.

A fresh Incense bomb of a fragrance. The incense reminds me of an orthodox church and the priest is swinging incense In the air while your uncle is wearing aqua di gio.

This is a dream for me , instant love . Refined . Balsamic . Soapy. Freezing cold and sparkly. Your skin will smell cleaner than clean.

Smells of starched collars and money being printed. Like a satire of what a rich, successful, masculine person should be wearing.

Ozonic, as in L'eau D'Issey, sans melon tone, with transparent Iris.