Ectoplasm

Received a free oil dabber sample of this in my last order and I'm very glad because it's not something I would have picked out myself based on the notes alone, but it has quickly grown on me and I now have a full size bottle on the way! Fantôme is becoming one of my favourite indie houses because of how multifaceted yet well-blended their scents are, and this one is a standout. It's definitely marshmallow, but not of the sticky, sugary sweet, cloying kind that I tend to steer well away from. It's a 'hollow' sort of marshmallow, its pale ghostly aura cloaked over a decidedly non-sweet central base of dry myrrh and some vague dark green plant. Ectoplasm is such a fitting name in this sense. I picture white fog creeping over dark grasses and settling over smooth stone statues in a churchyard on a cool night. Yet it's not kitschy or Halloween-y, but elegant and refined, like how wearing a dark velvet slip feels. It's very different from everything else in my collection while still being approachable and likeable, and I really enjoy how this wears on skin. The oil has intimate to moderate sillage, with the initial scent remaining fully present and linear for the first 3-4 hours before the top marshmallow note starts to subside, fading to just the remnants of the underlying myrrh by hour 6-8. I find myself reapplying every few hours just to experience that uniquely beautiful opening all over again; it's definitely addictive in that sense! I've not tried the spray version, but I'm more than happy with how the oil performs so far. An unusual and unexpected personal win from Fantôme.

THE ONLY MARSHMALLOW THAT EXISTS IN MY HEART 🤍 I’ve finally been able to try three Fantome samples and am so impressed by their quality! This scent is so unique, I can’t think of anything similar I’ve tried! This is an astonishingly realistic marshmallow, it somehow smells like it has a soft, gooey, powdery texture, like the residue on your fingers after digging in a bag of marshmallows and the way a melted marshmallow stretches and is all squishy. What makes it so intriguing is the green accord! It smells like crushing stems or grass between your fingers and the residue it leaves behind, or creeping vines overtaking marble walls. Silky sugar and a translucent sweet powdery musk. It’s a delicious gourmand but also light and airy, but in a spectral way. It’s this lovely pale green in a way I’ve never smelled in a fragrance before that is so natural it takes me back to childhood memories playing in the grass. The best way I can describe this scent is that it SMELLS like the word “gossamer” I swear scents do not last on me but I’m starting to think oils are the way for me, or maybe it’s just the incredible work this house does. Either way, I want to try them all ASAP!!

Gooey marshmallow. Reminds me of a ghost-themed marshmallow scented hand sanitizer I had from b&bw about ten years ago. There is also a sweet starchy vegetable note under all the sweet. Like fresh corn. Harvest festival corn maze trick or treat nostalgia type scent. Kind of addicted to it.

This is the perfume that finally got me onto gourmand scents. The musk and amber notes ground the marshmallow and spun sugar. Reminiscent of a pillowcase full of Halloween candy. I got this in a roller, which is perhaps why it doesn't last so long on me.

I love this one. It smells perfobalanced between that gooey sweetness, and the dampness of dirt and petrichor. Like a rainstorm that's just put ruined your campfire marshmallow. It's great to sleep with as its soothing and not aggressive on your nose.

Got this as a free sample and instantly loved it. It starts very sweet, and settles in with lovely amber and musk.

A delicious realistic marshmallow. Like opening the bag and breathing in a bit of the conrstarch-y sugar.

The scent is very much what it promises: a goopy marshmallow and a little something extra. I would say this is a great scent for those who want autumnal gourmand. To me, this perfume is kind of the olfactory representation of white-girl autumn? If that makes sense. That's not meant to be a negative, it just really invokes an "American autumn" to me.

I really wanted to like this, but like someone said below, there's a discordant green cutting through the marshmallow. It is almost there when it mellows, but that bit just makes the whole thing jangle. It's just an okay from me.

this one isn't for me. it's a beautiful, realistic marshmallow accord with a greenness that i can't get past.

I am very impressed with how everything smells exactly as what is in the notes but even when a weird note is in it, it is still somehow wearable with just enough *weirdness* for the wearer to notice but maybe not a passer-by so you can mostly wear these out and about and not worry about a weird side-eye. Ectoplasm is a really lovely subtle sweet scent. The icing of marshmallows with a little bit of that sugary gooey marshmallow inside (particularly the scent/taste of the giant Costco marshmallows) but these are fresh-from-the-bag marshmallows and NOT roasted camp fire marshmallows so it is pretty and delicate and in the air around you it really mostly is powdery sugar icing. Now there is a tiny green grassy/earthy nuance which I actually wish was more pronounced because it would make it more ghastly/spooky and work a bit better for the ectoplasm idea but unfortunately is quite subtle to me (maybe I don't pick it up as much because I have much wilder perfume tastes). I feel as though this is a safe blibnd-buy as a pretty/girly scent as long as you like light, sugary, powdery, sweet gourmand perfumes.

Ectoplasm is a gorgeous, ultra sweet, marshmallow scent. It's a blast of gooey sugar right off the bat, drying down to a beautiful candy / spun sugar. The amber and myrrh give it warmth and depth, though it's not terribly complex. Is there something green in the mix? Perhaps if you're looking for it, but I don't find it prominent. I think some will find this entirely too sweet and perhaps juvenile, but I love a gourmand and this is just so fun to smell.