Myrrhe Ardente

What an addictive fragrance! At first I found my edp too sweet. A strong honey accord made it too cloying for my taste. Then the second time I wore it I began to find it more appealing. On first application, a blast of intoxicating booziness (reminiscent of rum + pepper) makes up for its woodsy dryness, concealing the sharp bitterness of myrrh. Then it begins to smell more like smoky, spicy, ambery frankincense than like myrrh. As it develops for some more minutes, I get a less tangy (but intense) ashy-woody accord, a sort of smoky bittersweet woodsiness, almost chocolatey in its dark sweetness (as Missk pointed out in her great review). Sillage is moderate, but lasting power is incredible: more than 12 hours on my skin, and more than a week on fabrics. I wish other AG scents lasted half as much! MA is not exactly a mood enhancer like other fragrances in my wardrobe, but it certainly has an effect on my spirits. Even if it doesn’t exactly smell like myrrh during most of its development, it still has some of this resin’s soothing properties. On evenings of very stressful days I spritz some on my wrists and the result is instant serenity. I find its honeyed woodsiness very relaxing, but maybe it's just my memory that makes me perceive it that way, for the scent reminds me of my granny's cozy beeswax candles, under the spell of which I felt so blissfully at ease and untroubled as a child (yes, Kasozo, isn't it wonderful how some scents can transport us to childhood? I can even visualise my granny's house!). MA also takes you back to primitive liturgies of healing from the time when medicine, religion and perfume were closely linked. Indeed, this scent seems to evoke a mystique, not to speak of the religious association with the Magi from the Bible in the Les Orientalistes collection. This ritualistic vibe combines with its sensuality to make the fragrance even more enticing. About the Orientalistes series paying homage to paintings depicting “beauty rituals in harems”, I don't like the idea that I'm wearing a fragrance with any possible link with sexual slavery, remote as it might be. The times of poor odalisques and concubines seen only as exotic, lascivious beauty myths must end at once! MA is incandescence in a bottle, another scent brimming with passion (or with the mystique of passion) that can be related to gems like Opium (also including incense and myrrh, by the way. And wasn't Saint Laurent a true "orientalist" himself?). I’d love to smell this masterpiece on a man, but sadly most of the men I know are more into aromatic fragrances.

Where is the myrrh, and why does this smell like root beer?! That was my first reaction. But I have to admit, I like this creamy root beer scent. It smells like somebody singed some dried herbs, made root beer with them, and then added some vanilla ice cream. I have always loved root beer floats. I used to buy a particular brand of root beer that tasted especially dark and herbal, and this reminds me of it. Again, I ask: Where is the myrrh? Upon close inspection and numerous attempts to scrutinize, I do detect it. Myrrhe Ardente features the most common myrrh, the kind burned in a Catholic church, the sacred C. myrrha, which has a dry, slightly bitter, astringent woody scent. I think they blended it with sweet myrrh, also called opoponax (C. guidotti), which is sweeter and more balsamic. It's as though the perfumer wanted to take the resins and play up some other things that compliment its scent (i.e. herbs and spices) in lieu of building a myrrh "soliflore". In Myrrh Ardente, myrrh seems like the keystone, not the bridge. Root beer is a mix of many different herbs and spices. I have scoured the internet, and I can't find one single note pyramid for this fragrance that includes herbs, spices, nor root beer. Regardless I detect nutmeg, licorice, star anise and fennel at the very least. One component of root beer is honey, and it's easy to detect creamy beeswax in the base. I also thought Myrrh Ardente was as much an immortelle fragrance as it is a myrrh fragrance because of its sweet, syrupy, herbal profile. Perhaps it was discontinued because it doesn't connect with its audience. We expected myrrh, but we got root beer instead. Either this is a myrrh masterpiece, or it's just an oddball that is rightfully discontinued. In any case, I absolutely love Myrrhe Ardente. It's warm without being stuffy. It's creamy and comforting like a root beer float on summer evening. I have never smelled anything even remotely similar to it. It works well in either warm or cold weather. Sillage is average to low, and it lasts several hours. It's an absolute keeper. I feel lucky I found a bottle. (My bottle is from 2008)

One of the stronger creations from the post Annick period, belonging to the Les Orientalistes collection. This series represents Goutal, a very traditionally French perfume house, interpreting oriental materials through its own aesthetic language. The four fragrances each focus on a different theme: amber, myrrh, incense, and musk. Here, the central material is myrrh. What makes this fragrance distinctive is its dark, old fashioned sweetness. At first spray, it can evoke herbal soda, black cherry liqueur, or licorice syrup. The sweetness feels shadowed and resinous rather than bright. As the fragrance develops, woods and myrrh gradually pull the sweetness downward into something drier and more restrained. Beeswax becomes increasingly noticeable. It adds warmth close to the skin, creating a soft waxy texture between the myrrh and benzoin without turning syrupy like honey. Guaiac wood contributes a dry wooden nuance. Later on, the skin is left with a warm balsamic glow. It feels especially suited to colder weather. The most impressive aspect is the treatment of the myrrh itself. It is not pushed into an overtly religious direction, nor turned into a dense sugary resin scent. Instead, the composition preserves the difficult aspects of myrrh: the medicinal tone, the bitterness, the herbal quality, and the waxy sweetness. The structure is intricate yet highly layered, allowing the sweet, bitter, waxy, and woody facets to remain distinct. At the same time, it still carries the restrained and refined French sensibility closely associated with Annick’s style.

Beautiful reviews before mine and well deserved for this magic potion. The ingredients and different facets are well described already. Regarding that I will only add that what amazes me the most is the use of beeswax in the beginning of the scent... it is a great complement to the myrrh and I think it's deeply captivating. I got shocked. The "ardente" part is immediately evident... you feel something is burning in front of you... it is truly fascinating and well composed. I may disagree I don't find the beginning sickly sweet but instead buttery, waxy, tremendously compelling and sexy. Myrrh tends to be sweet but at the beginning is somehow dark here, like a ceremony of incense where something important is happening. Think of Avignon to give you an idea. Myrrhe ardente is not an easy scent for everyone. It's more likely to be "respected" than actually "worn" by most people imo. It falls more into the "weird" scents we all like to have from time to time. Unique, forbidden, unexpected for those around. It creates a certain distance, a very refined experience indeed. After several samplings of Les Orientalistes I must say this is the one I prefer for its subtlety and harmonious development. The others have eventually fatigued my nose unfortunately. Very unisex and loooong lasting. My new precious ceremonial scent (this is not to say I won't be wearing it everywhere anyways lol).

So what does Myrrhe Ardente smell like? To my nose it smells a lot like an especially spicy, artisan crafted root beer when first sprayed. In this first blast of scent I clearly smell unlisted notes of black pepper, star anise and cinnamon. As the opening notes fade on my skin, I briefly catch hints of raspy dark woods and tar before the whole composition takes a completely unexpected U turn back toward the familiar root beer accords of the opening. The dry down is more overtly vanillic and the myrhhe of the title finally comes into focus. To summarize my experience: the top notes are dry spicy, the heart notes are bitter tar covered woods, and the dry down is a warm and satisfying, resinous vanilla. Sillage: close to non-existent, this wears close to the skin. Longevity: 5 hours An interesting and nuanced interplay of spicy, bitter and sweet elements. The dry down of this scent could be packaged by Demeter and sold as "Root beer Float" and no one would bat an eyelash. That being said, if you love root beer or are looking for a warm resinous vanilla look no further. Update April 2014: I've gone through two bottles of this and have just repurchased my third.