Orca

Composed of honey and ambergris, House of Matriarch Orca seems to aspire to embody amber in all of its greatness, and in that respect, I find that it succeeds, showing the creamy and sweet sides of amber as well as the dull animalic side of it that makes the accord so alluring. Orca is certainly slightly saltier at the opening, but quickly dries down into the rich amber / honey combination that constitutes the listed notes of the fragrance according to the HOM website. Comparing to other fragrances that feature amber/resins, it's not as woody as Le Labo Benzoin 19 nor is it really that animalic along the lines of Parfum d'Empire Ambre Russe nor as dark AND animalic as Profumum Ambra Aurea. Like most amber-centric fragrances, it's functionally unisex and cold-weather leaning, despite having a bit more versatility due to its more modest projection than say, the heartily animalic Ambra Aurea or sweetly boastful Tom Ford Amber Absolute. Orca is nevertheless bold and long-lasting but not loud in terms of projection a sign of a high concentration of natural ingredients. As seemingly with a lot of other House of Matriach fragrances, Orca does not come cheap, at $330 for 50ml / $120 for 15ml per the house's website. It's a tough sell per volume but the fragrance is a wonderful expression of amber, and I'm happy to have a decant of it, if nothing else. A recommended try for amber lovers. 8 out of 10

Though some appear to consider this similar to Tauer desert frags such as LDDM and CDD, I do not agree for the most part. I wore both CDD and Orca today... and found yet again that Tauer has strong synthetic elements that tend to make me queasy after a short time, whereas Orca does not make me ill after wearing it all day. That is, after a full day on my dry skin I can still smell it, but as in the beginning, it is always very close to the skin. The only resemblance between the desert Tauer frags and this is that they are both spicy. However, there are many spicy fragrances out there, especially when it comes to naturals. In the end, Orca and similar natural frags are still natural over the passage of time, whereas synthetic-heavy houses such as Tauer make me nauseated after the more natural top notes burn off. The choice to make fragrances project and long-lasting by using dominant synthetics therefore doesn't work for me in the case of Tauer. In the end I have a FB of Orca and only samples of Tauer.

Beautiful amber scent! I take cinnamon, labdanum, pepper, resins, honey, leather, flowery indols, ambergris, and that salty steaming incense of choya loban. All sweet, balanced harmonious, soft. An orange and warm mixture with that attitude of Maroccain airs, Fumerie dusts, Obsessions, Opium ... It is oriental but with the retro Frenchism of powdery and clean Caron-style drydowns. A sweet, fun, enjoyable, satisfying smoke for about 5 hours, before disappearing completely without a trace. A "toccata e fuga". .... Played well!

This similar to LADDM by Andy tauer, took me a few wearings to truly appreciate. They share some similarities but are not at all the same. If I had to describe to someone who hasn’t smelt orca, I would make this reference due to the leathery, incense vibe of both. I love this fragrance. The amber, the way it interacts with everything is to die for. I will always have this in my collection.

ORCA held me helplessly spellbound with its magical leathery embrace of the Amber of the Sea. The resinous medicinal benzoin and woody notes then emerged, lending a hand that took me to a tropical realm Far East. Calm and grounded, I reached a blissful meditative state of serenity as the salty musky drydown left me awash with its refined incensy finale. ▓▓ ▒ ░ ░ ░

Spicy sweet ambergris with a touch of amber A beautiful balanced spicy ambergris with doses of olibanum, chili, cloves, and touched by honey to eliminate the overly spiced up notes. Laudanum, & benzoin are there. A beautiful combination made perfection. Sweet spicy ambergris. Charming beauty.

This is one of my favourite ambergris perfumes, it smells so good, sweet, marine, stunning. Such a shame the performance/projection is quite poor

Definitely not worth the price now...wish I'd snatched it on one of their sales before it's turned "vintage" 😩

So good. A zesty, salty, slightly soapy sea scent. But insultingly expensive.

Orca is a great sweet amber and ambergris scent. The opening is very strong with ambergris, but once it dries down you get loads of sweet amber and honey with a hint of spices. Interestingly enough, when smelled up close I smell semolina porridge, reminds me of childhood. As for longevity and projection, well... it does last a moderate amount of time, 5-6h, but the projection is close to the skin, a bit too modest for me. In any case, this is a definite must-try, I really do enjoy this one. Wish price was a bit more reduced though. EDIT: There is some resemblance to Cuir Mandarine by David Jourquin. That one has prominent earthy patchouli. Don't know where that is coming from in this one, but for me there is some similarity, especially in the drydown.

It smells very good. I like the incense and get ambergris and woods and amber-y warmth and it's lovely. I can tell it's made with quality ingredients and it's well blended, but unfortunately I don't get the performance necessary to justify the price point. Projection is pretty much nothing after about an hour, which isn't always something I look for, but the longevity is an issue too. Even thoroughly sprayed, I have to really bury my nose in my wrist to get anything and it fades quickly. I know this is a common issue with natural perfumery. Sad because I love the smell and the aesthetic of this house. I also love a good incense and a drier amber, and I like that the perfumer is a fellow Seattlite! Too bad. If it lasted and projected I'd be hooked!

It would be hard to write a better description of Orca than the one that came with the sample! It's a very beautiful fragrance - not too simple or complex, light, virtually perfect for any occasion. Initially right away I get an amber, ambergris, labdanum, woods, and some benzoin. Some spices overlay this. It's warm but not overbearing. And it's a very soft fragrance. A couple of hours in I smell honey and wood. The wood notes are heavy in this and the benzoin too - especially in the opening. But these go soft very fast and leave you with a very soft and pleasant scent. The only downside to this is the price - super expensive if I'm not mistaken.

Orca is a lovely ambergris based perfume from HOM. The central ambergris note is surrounded by labdanum, honey, a hints of pepper, woody notes and olibanum. The resulting juice is unisex with moderate sillage and projection and good longevity. This is a light and sweet amber blend composition and does not overpower. Again, like all HOM offerings, the retail price is a bit questionable. At the half off I received, it seems somewhat reasonable. Beautiful blending and very natural smelling, with salty animalic ambergris overtones, this is indeed high quality perfumery. Enjoy!

This smells like amber, ambergris, frankincense and labdanum in it's best phase, the topnotes. Warm and cool at the same time. It quickly dries down to a soft and sweet comfort fragrance with an earthy, natural vibe. The strongest, longest-lasting note in this is amber so avoid Orca if you can't deal with that. If dynamic, unusual and inventive fragrances are your thing, look elsewhere in this line (Black No.1, Sex Magic). But it makes a great practical, everyday-wearable fragrance. Much better than anything on a Macy's counter but also twice as expensive. 3 out of 5.

This perfume is nice if you can afford the price. I can’t really compare it to vintage parfum because it doesn’t have the complexity, longevity, or sillage. It’s nice for what it is. However, I don’t believe the $660 price is justifiable. I’ve seen it compared to Tauer LDDM. I only see a slight similarity. LDDM has more projection, sillage, and lasts longer in general. As far as the scent, they are close cousins, but not alike. I recommend trying a sample before purchasing.

My favorite from House of Matriarch, a salty ambergris and amber, musky, lightly sweetened with honey, touches of leather. It isn’t overly woody or smoky like some others from HOM, which are kinda difficult for me, it’s smoother and easier to wear. This and Amber Vie are my favorites from HOM so I clearly must lean toward her amber scents. Orca is really super soft on me after an hour but I don’t need beast mode, I prefer beauty more than the beast and Orca is a beauty.

As others have already said, really poor performance/projection. I mean, I need to really squish my nose up into the spray point to get the scent... It smells quite pleasant, reminds me a little of Blamage by Nasomatto with added resins -- benzoin, amber and myrrh. Slight traces of spices and a little bit of floral (very mild), but all in all, nowhere near the price it is. Sub $100, possibly, but 600-whatever? NO WAY.

it's salty at the beginning due to the ambergris, then in come amber, labdanum and benzoin i believe. it's resiny and ambery-quite warm and inviting. after a few minutes i get something almost woodsy. a beautiful mix of resins, amber and ambergris. perfect for chilly evenings.

Gorgeous, musky, and resinous, but with very little throw. Possets Howl and Mistress of Power have ambergris accords that are incredibly similar and a fraction of the cost.

This actually takes me back to my childhood, attending Easter Mass at my church – I get a very strong frankincense hit from this (I guess from the choya loban). A tad sharper and a bit spicier than I’m used to, but that said, I like this a lot. We had an independent perfume store (can’t think of the name) here back in the mid to late eighties – they made all of their own scents and they had a fabulous range, and this reminds me very much of one of their fragrances that I had, and which I loved and missed terribly when they shut down. It’s a lovely warm scent, especially after a couple of hours when the honey and amber show up. I’m also getting a touch of vanilla, even though it’s not listed in the notes. Eight hours in, it was still there, but more of a soft amber scent, and sitting closer to the skin. I’ve got to say that although I’ve only tried three of Christi Meshell’s scents, I’ve liked them all – the girl’s got talent!