Bonsai

Subdued green Japanese pine incense, but not how you would expect. There is definitely an array of ingredients in here giving a strong impression of natural materials and unexpected off notes (fig and kerosene for instance). As is usually the case with House of Matriarch, unique and a little crunchy. After wearing a few times, I'm reluctant to order a full bottle (although it smells fantastic) because it fails on performance. If I spray heavily in the morning, by lunchtime it's completely gone. Otherwise an awesome, rich, dark green scent. Edit: I was revisiting this recently and I have to give it big complements for what amounts to a very original, very intriguing green accord in the first half hour of Bonsai. I mention offnotes like fig and kerosene above but I also get a strong blast of cold frankincense in the multi-dimensional accord, similar to that used in Devotion. Whatever the materials, the layered, textured green is akin to smelling a whole bonsai tree at once, bark, sap, needles, and wet stone.

The House of Matriarch knows how to impress. Opening the box, there was a fresh cut piece of Japanese cyprus. Like all the other scents I have either purchased or sampled from this House, this one smells as if no expense was spared. The cyprus is the strongest I have smelled from any fragrance, ever, so if you love cyprus this scent is made for you. The crysthanamum also comes across are lush and deep. I have just put this on a couple of hours ago so I can't say with an authority how long it will last, but nothing stays on my skin all that long (a few exceptions to this). It seems a scent that can be worn almost any time of year. A day scent that will not overwhelm others with its sillage. I picture this more of standing on a mountain surrounded by cyprus holding crysthanimums than a zen garden,(or at least my favorite one), that is filled with almost every kind of rose in the world. Unique, and that is hard to say in a time with so many are trying come up with something new in fragrance.

High quality and clever. Like the damp insides of a shrub branch. There's really nothing like it. A burst of cypress and damp earth. I can't decide whether it is something I'd wear (I will but it's really a matter of when) but it does smell great. It actually dried down to a resinous skin scent. It came as a sample with another order. Not much projection or duration but that's ok to me. It seems suited for a sort of personal smell.

This absolutely knocked my socks off. It is similar to Fille en Aiguilles by Serge Lutens, but different enough that you could justify having both. This is a glorious clean green piney fragrance that doesn't smell like a cleaning product and is heavenly on anyone regardless of gender. I had ordered several of the 3 ml sprays from House of Matriarch, and they put Bonsai in as a free sample. They knew what they were doing! *swoon*

Bonsai starts with a rush of cut wildflower stems and develops into ancient forest temple— dusty, humid corridors, layers of snuffed incense sinking into dry wood, and strange flowers being more of a memory of a place or time than a strictly good scent (although it is). Sweet copal balances the darker resins. A big incense fragrance I feel comfortable wearing in 86F weather. Dry, woody, and bright.

I LOVE THIS!!! The cypress smells beautiful. Smells like Christmas. It's a beautiful fall fragrance, but it cost TOO MUCH MONEY!!! If I could buy a bottle, I would but the cost is just over my price range.

Nothing in the world smells more like a summer stroll through the woods in the Midwest USA than this stuff. Wildflowers. Green stems. Trees. Leaves. The breeze. Tall wild grasses. All of it.

Witchcraft in a bottle. Perfect for a halloween party and when You close the deal with the devil xd Wet, green leaves that are on the verge of rotting bring the user and everyone around into the deep forest but in a scary way. I like it very much!

Absolutely relentless: a bare, brut, bitter, brutally radical green. Even the most committed cone-head will be challenged. No doubting its hardcore agenda: if you want to overdose on pure chlorophyll, this is right up there. All-out true-to-life prickles of conifer needles drag you harshly over the forest floor and dare you to resist. I had hoped that the resin elements might mellow it out a little, and add up to a more mystic-green space like CDG Hinoki or Yoyogi (both personal loves) - but it just stayed extremely (extremist-ly?) in that astringent, pure cypress space forever. It's just not willing to compromise on smelling like trees AT ALL, and I simply couldn't follow it that far into the woods. Worse, the stinky-flower-water reek that chrysanthemum can bring was strong on me, overpowering the airier feel of the top foliage. Doesn't morph or mellow, and its footprint is surprisingly small - staying very close to skin. No doubt it has integrity - all natural, super ecological, smell of nature - but its ascetic purism doesn't leave much room in the tent for those who want wider appeal. I just get plant juice, pure and a bit one-dimensional - a militant vegan all the way through.

On the first spray, I have memories of ... Aramis. Then green stems, cypresses, raw, bathed in chrysanthemums, with a background of bitter woods, trunks and enveloping lianas. After the wild, sour and astringent departure it explodes spicy and spicy. Strong, tonic, cold, a summer thirst quencher for the nose. This manifests spirituality, charged with green incense, is copal. Between a Gershwin and a De profundis, greener, spicy, macho and decisive. On my skin it enjoys bittersweet pollen-like puffs, but most of the time this remains bitter and harsh. Damn green.

A unique and interesting aromatic green fragrance centered around green grassy notes, this is a nice summer scent for the more adventurous minded. The scent opens with slight notes of juniper, pepper and cypress. The heart has the green grassy accord surrounded by slight chrysanthemum and aglaia. The perfume as it dries off gives hints of cedar and incense. Like being in a grass strewn field on a foggy morning. Unisex, moderate sillage and projection and moderate longevity. If you love scents like Philosykos you have to check this one out. Enjoy!

this starts super green and woody-it's like standing in a forest wet with rain, twigs snapping underfoot. very, very green, like pine boughs and damp leaves around. later on i get spices and incense, and the greenness has calmed down a bit. leans traditionally masculine.

As I enjoyed producing bonsai in my twenties before moving across the world I purchased this as a blind buy. My bottle was not well blended, and none of the magic or beauty I associate with bonsai could be found in my bottle.

Styrax green, & sweet junipers The first thing it hits me was the greeny styrax (mostly fertile soil) with something sweet that resembled by the vanilla juniper. The colder it goes the more smokey cypress it becomes with some sweetness here and there. It has also some woody notes with a touch of floral. It wasn't pleasant when i first applied it because of the styrax mingled with the cloying vanilla junipers beside the greeny grass as i am not into fresh dewy natural green grass, but it wasn't bad when it calmed down! it went mild sweet with mild greeny fertile soil grass. This blend made it to "The Art & Olfaction Awards Finalists 2020", and i believe it's because the theme of that awards this year is the greeny styrax! i have witnessed as well other blends that was nominated this year and they have also the styrax greeny theme. Fair.

This is the type of fragrance that could very well stop your search for the perfect green scent. matriarch uses natural ingredients and you can truly smell it here. Opens with the smell of truly realistic damp wet grass. It's linear with not much progress going on other than it getting slightly dryer after an hour. It doesn't get anything better than this when it comes to photorealistic smell of grass. Sample it, you'll thank me later.

I’m not impressed with this. What is the point of a fragrance that smells identical to pine needles? You can smell the chlorophyll and terpenes mixed with dirt. A fragrance should not merely copy nature but ennoble it. This is mimesis but not expression. It smells similar to some of the offerings by Rook. Overly literal.

A beautiful evergreen forest in Washington after a raining Spring Day. Best unisex green fragrance I’ve ever smelled in my life. Full bottle worthy.