Spiky Muse

Spiky Muse smells amazing. It is much better in person than when reading the notes and trying to picture smelling it. It is definitely unisex. I am a guy, and I love it. The dominant scent to me is a beautiful, realistic and non-synthetic tart citrus accord. I get a grapefruit/yuzu aroma intermingled with an ever so slightly sweet light strawberry accord. The rose comes through in the mid. I don't really ever get the base notes ... just citruses, strawberry and rose. It reminds me of the style (not the exact scent) of several of my favorite Xerjoff citrus fragrances. It is also one of those "pick me up" mood scents. I was having a stressful day today. I sprayed this on in the afternoon and it absolutely helped refocus me and improve my overall mood, as I repeatedly sniffed my wrists. This will be one of my primary spring and summer fragrances this year. And my wife likes it on me. She likes less than 5% of my fragrances ... so if you have a picky partner/spouse, maybe this is for you. My wife also says that it projects like a mofo ... I wore it the other day and we went out to a shop and a restaurant for lunch, and she said I blew the places up lmao. I highly recommend getting a sample and trying it out. 9/10 and a Fragrantica score of 4.5 from me.

Received a sizable sample of this when I purchased Dries Van Noten "Soie Malaquais" x 100ml. I am always excited and appreciative to receive nice perfume samples when I make an online purchase EVEN if I know the samples are not my style. Ex Nihilo is not a house I'm very familiar with, so I was excited to try Spiky Muse. Surprisingly, I really really LOVE this stuff! I originally wore it and dismissed it. But I find myself going back for more of the inviting citrus opening, the glorious rose and "whatever other notes make it this way" middle. And to my nose, there is an incredibly smooth, creamy, woody, slightly bitter (thank you tonka and ambroxan) and musky base, or dry down that adds depth, some warmth and complexity to the fragrance. As others have said, the fragrance opens as an extremely cool, crisp, aldehydic, floral, fruity, light and airy rose fragrance. There is something in the mid-notes that adds interest to what is otherwise a linear development. The base is predictably lovely based on the notes listed. Super-duper, uber femininity in a bottle. Unfortunately, the longevity seems poor. Pleasant, appealing to the masses. Exceptionally safe blind buy for anyone who loves rose fragrances.

I've tried quite a few Ex Nihilo fragrances over the years, and while I appreciated some of them, none ever made me think, "I need a bottle immediately." Spiky Muse changed that immediately. The opening is all about red berries, but not in the way I usually expect. They're not syrupy, candy-like, or overly sweet. Instead, they're airy, bright, and incredibly elegant. It's the kind of fruity opening that makes you keep going back for another sniff. The real magic happens in the drydown. The berries slowly melt into the most beautiful sweet woody scent. It smells smooth, luxurious, and expensive without trying too hard. There's something so refined about it that it just feels effortless. This is one of those fragrances where I found myself enjoying every stage, but the drydown is what completely won me over. If someone asked me what "quiet luxury" smells like with a modern fruity twist, I'd happily point them to Spiky Muse. This perfume has the same DNA as J'adoube by mind games so if you like one the other will appeal to you as well.

Spiky Muse is a dreamy creation around the queen of flowers, the rose. From the initial spray you can detect they amazing fresh and romantic smell of the roses surrounded by bitter tart bergamot, slightly spicy pink pepper which elevates the smells of the roses and a lot of fresh, slightly sweet, slightly green, extremely natural strawberries 🍓 The strawberries feel so realistic fresh cut like I can almost smell the strawberry stalk. In the heart is where the roses are blooming combined with green nutty savory pistachios. This unexpected and unique combination of rose and pistachio literally blew me away. An ambery woody base harmoniously complements this fragrance. If you are searching for a unique fragrance to make you feel special and unique, perfect for a signature scent, elegant, with high quality, then don't look any further! The perfumer of Spiky Muse, Louise Turner, has also created Lust in Paradise, Magnetize and Musc infini.

This is so pretty! Spring is in the air and this fragrance is perfect for it! I love the opening, it’s fresh and vibrant with a burst of citrus, strawberry and green accords (to my nose). It’s not screechy or sharp but just very effervescent! As it dries down, I get a mix of rose and peonies (though that’s not a note, my nose gets peonies), very feminine and floral. It’s beautiful! The dry down has a slight touch of woods but it is slight. The florals are still there and there’s a bit of warmth, maybe from the tonka beans? I didn’t detect any pistachio but then again, this is my first wear so maybe as time goes, that pistachio note will make an appearance? 6 hours of good projection. After that, it’s more of a skin scent but I love it!! Springtime, here I come 🤍🌿🍓🌹🪵☁️🤍