Oliban

Chic, urban incense. Oliban is a very elegant and understated fragrance. It's not at all a heavy church-incense, nor is it overtly aldehydic or a sweetened vanillic amber. It is a much more abstract concept. More perfumey than other niche incenses but nothing designer-like either. Balanced, lightweight, airy and versatile. The star player in Oliban is frankincense, but it is rendered in a way which is not as straight forward as one would think. The incense here is 60% waxy and 40% aromatic. It's rests on a base of an abstract and airy tobacco, outlined by an almost invisible ambergris. The bottle in the store had a prominent raspberry-rose side note which was lovely, but somhow not present in my bottle, or on my skin. The waxy feel of the incense is a bit unusual to me, it is sort of honeyed but without sweetness, it "reminds me of" - "without smelling like" beeswax. Oliban feels gentle and effortless. it never shouts, it's never a demanding wear. Perfect for those winter days when you put a nice coat on but you dont want to dress up too much, but you do want to smell sophisticated and elegant. Oliban references the sacred resin of Frankincense without taking you to church. It's an easy reach for the holidays when you need something inbetween those grand scents for the more important days. I really enjoy this little charmer!

I’m a sucker for anything with incense in it, regardless of its setting. Put incense together with the sensual, soft, rosy, plummy, honeyed woody base that Keiko Mecheri uses and the result is magic, at least for a little while. Oliban starts off with a strong, almost smoky olibanum, aka frankincense, accompanied by a sweet plum note. The first half hour had me convinced that I need a large decant of this perfume. As the drydown progresses, the scent starts to stick close to the skin. The incense notes fuse into the whole so that it becomes a skin scent in the best possible sense of the term. Somehow, many of Keiko Mecheri’s perfumes have a drydown that is exactly the way I would like my skin to smell - velvety soft suede, dewy rose petals, Japanese plums, musk that hovers just between clean and animalic, and just a touch of incense. This drydown phase lasts for a few hours, but at the end it transforms into a dry, soapy note, the dregs of the tobacco accord, and what I could swear is sandalwood. The sillage is moderate in the beginning and low toward the end. The whole progression from start to finish takes about 5-7 hours. I do like this perfume, but I would like it better if the opening lasted longer and if the drydown at the end were not so stark. I'll stick with my sample for now.

This may be my favorite incense fragrance ever. Perfectly unisex, slightly sweet, smoky and spicy, with great longevity and silage. Most importantly, it's not too "churchy", quite the feat given the heavy oliban. You can grasp something sacred,, but I don't feel like I'm sitting in mass! Nope - too sensuous for that! I definitely oversprayed but my husband isn't complaining. He said he could smell it on his shirt from when I hugged him and he loved it. Now my 6th Keiko, it has knocked Myrrhe et Merveilles out of the #1 position out of the ones I own from her collection. Never been so happy to see the cool weather coming!! EDIT 9/23/2023 - While still at the top of my favorite incense scents, it's been knocked off the top stop by Ford's cruelly discontinued "Sahara Noir". "Oliban" is a not so distant second.

Very much a rose-focused incense fragrance: half Russian Orthodox church; half Japanese tea house. Gorgeous opening and a very subtle, slow drydown, sending out waves of rose and woodsy scent with a soapy rather than cloying sweetness. Unfortunately this fragrance is overpriced and I had problems with Keiko Mecheri's US website. Having sent me a link to purchase a full bottle they repeatedly ignored my subsequent requests for a sample. Then I stumbled across the excellent KlipShop site (based I think in Lithuania) which offered a decant at a great price. Mmmmm ... this is very much a new Love.

Fantastic masculine/unisex woody and smoky rose. Warm, balanced, and attractive smell. Yum. Very smooth, soft, without any sharp edges. Perfect composition, simple but right to the point. The rose isn't obvious here, anyone can pull it off. Soft insence, woods (slightly sandalwood-y), a touch of tonka (for a warm fluffy feel), a touch of slightly salty ambergris. There's a considerable amount of cedarwood, which creates a masculine edge, however, Oliban might bloom on women's skin as well. I'd love if my significant other would wear it as his evening perfume. It's irresistible

Oliban opens with a warm, peppery note typical of olibanum--not the sticky, smoky incense that some might expect. Cedar infuses to deliver a dry, camphorous clarity, bonding with olibanum to create a wonderful, clean, sweet woody accord. I don't pick up a lot of tobacco, but a little smoky, honeyed hay. The rose in this composition is velvety and waxy which contributes to the soapy, spiced drydown. Exotic and unusual with a light, balmy and piquant personality that I find appealing. Oliban is my third encounter with Keiko Mecheri which so far is consistently compelling.

A spectacular cult worthy composition. A sweet yet natural smelling rose blended in the most superb fashion with frankincense, slightly smokey ceder, honey, sweet tabacco, and rosewood while the tonka and amber seem to sit in the back and keep everything in order. I must sample the rest of this line. Back up bottle worthy! An absolute must have for female and male incense fanatics alike. Keiko Mecheri deserves a standing ovation for this masterpiece! Scent: 10/10 Longevity 7/10 Sillage 7/10

Keiko Mecheri's Oliban is so perfect to me, I wish I could pen an ode to profess my love. Oliban is a point on a line between SL Ambre Sultan and TF Plum Japonais, and yet it is so much more. Oliban skips the indolic butt-crack note of Ambre Sultan which is sometimes a little too edgy. And while the incense of Plum Japonais can veer toward smoked rubber tires - not necessarily a bad thing - the namesake olibanum in Mecheri's masterpiece is rich and alluring. This is true love for me.

This is the first time when I don't like the 50% of fragrance notes (cedar, amber, rose), but I LOVE the final composition. It's really great perfume: mysterious, long lasting and attractive.

Rose and frankincense. Be still, my heart! Too beautiful for words.

I'd like to say this is an Oriental Spicy, because that's where itś at in this scent, lots of long lasting kick. I really like the tobacco here, itś herbal and spicy. The amber is creamy and resinous at the same time. I can't accurately describe the notes because of the linear construction, and because the whole composition all together is just fantastic. Definetely a nice linear. This IS a great scent, but, it lacks something for me. It lacks a bit more depth, a bit more fullness. It stops making my mind swirl with awe...after about...hhhmmm....a half an hour. It really loses it's charm and force after a short while. It is however longer lasting than a Serge Lutens scent or an Annick Goutal scent. The longevity was 3 to 5 hours. It softened quite a bit at 3 hours but lasted a good 5 hours, and I could smell it in the shower washing away the next morning, and even that smelled good! Also, the sillage is excellent after application for one hour. It reminds me of a stronger and drier, simpler Coco Chanel and a much better Kenzo Power (minus the typical aftershave / masculine notes).

Oliban starts off w/ a blast of powerful frankincense after it sits on the skin for a minute or 2 a hay like quality, probably from the tobacco comes in. This perfume reminds me of the Redman chewing tobacco my father used to use until he after many, many tries finally gave it up. A dry dusty tonka bean is here as well w/ a distant rose, the rose is somewhere far away. The woody notes here for me are very nicely done and do not overpower the composition. This perfume is really about the holy smoke of incense. It actually reminds me of the smell of a Catholic church during mass. The priest is filling the church w/ holy smoke, there is the smell of tobacco on the men's suits from the smoking of a past cigar, the women there dusted themselves w/ rose powder to smell pretty, and demure for the service. All of that combines w/ a very powerful incense. Oliban would be a great perfume for the holidays. It reminds of church services that we have attended during that time. Peaceful, reverent, contemplative. Perfectly unisex. Best in cold weather.

In contrast to the notes listed, this is a very light perfume. I didn't get much out of it when I wore it in colder weather, but in the warm summer temperatures, when my skin is heated up, it works a lot better. The rose here is really fruity and only slightly waxy. It's not a deep smouldering rose at all. The tobacco aspect is light--maybe a hint of fresh, cold, aromatic pipe tobacco. The incense and woods are well blended and wear pretty lightly too. Now for the Olibanum--I only detect it after I've had it on my skin for over an hour, it is a deep grounding base note. It's one of those things that stop you--What smells so good? So resinous and a little sweet--oh it's me, it's my perfume. So it's not a super obvious, churchy frankincense note, but it anchors all the other notes down. Don't shoot me but I find a lot in common with Chanel Coco Noir--the sweet rose, incense, olibanum, and woody notes working nicely together with nothing wearing too loud at all. If you want a subtle rose, tobacco, and resin/wood perfume this is beautiful.

"Olibanum" is another name for frankincense, and Keiko Mecheri OLIBAN is a seductive frankincense perfume. Not that there was any need to go out on a fact-finding mission to be able to report that incense is by far the central note of OLIBAN... Tobacco and rose mingle playfully with the deep amber smokiness, but this perfume is mostly about incense embellished. Upon application, I thought that this was going to be one of a handful of pretty good incense compositions (two of which I already own). However, OLIBAN becomes deeper and more ambery as it dries down, offering a much more sensual and addictive elixir in the end. Oriental lovers should definitely give OLIBAN a big sniff! This is my favorite so far of the Keiko Mecheri collection, the perfumes of which I'm finding use notes of extremely high quality. It is also quite clear that this house (unlike some unnamed niche houses...) takes sillage and longevity seriously--as well they should! I heartily recommend OLIBAN to men and women alike for wintertime wear.

Is this supposed to be just pure Olibanum (frankincense)? At first I'm surprised how floral and yet not super-feminine it is, almost like a spiced Gendarme scent. I really like the combination of spices, but then if this is just a single note, that means I like frankincense, and have liked it all along as part of my "just right" spice / resin mix. The middle is a bit too rootbeery for me after the florals fade, but also has an intriguing orange peel aspect that redeems it. As I smell the basenotes on the fingers I used to open the vial, it seems so familiar. It reminds me more of Santa Fe for Men than anything else (very sweet spiced wood), but most of my spicy wood scents obviously owe a lot of their character to this stuff. By itself, it's quiet and delicate, but I'm still not sure I'd call it feminine because it's too pointed for that. I also don't know what to make of it in terms of treating it like a soliflore or a composition. Fairly nice though.

I don’t have much to say about this gorgeous fragrance. It’s very straightforward, well balanced, as-advertised. Rose, frankincense, tobacco, and ambergris are the main players here and are all detectable virtually the whole time, although they give the impression of a merry-go-round or twirling dancers at a ball, with each coming to the fore and then making way for another. I never really detect the woods but they may have the subtle effect of drying things down and keeping this fragrance from becoming too cloying at its most tobacco-forward moments. The ambergris on my skin offers a little bit of titillating skank to what could otherwise have read as clean or even soapy. To me, a perfect, versatile fragrance for our mild California winters.

I ordered a decant on the internet, and it's nice. I really liked the initial spritz, but it's been on for about ten minutes and it went from love to "meh" in that time. I don't think it's supposed to smell like pure olibanum, but more of an impression of it. I don't get any of the bright notes people have mentioned, just more of a dusty rose at this point. Tonka is my favorite note, so I was hoping for some of that, but no. I think I would like it better on a man, it leans masculine on me. Update: after a couple of hours this goes kind of "old lady" on me...so it's become a definite no. Glad I got to try it because it was on my want list at one point.

Oh what a surprise, a skilled and stable and technically good composition by Keiko Mecheri? Oh ok... in fact it's by M. Vasnier , I suppose it's why it's not a bland base sprinkelled with a bit of taste like the other ones. The contrast of skill is astonishing. Sour rose and incense on a delicat base of charming rosewood and salty skin-like ambergris. It's mouth wathering and also elevating...a simple composition but with a great result, from a sparkling opening like a spiritual revelation evolving to a more carnal resolution. I like it, it's enchanting. PS: the dry down is very similar to the beautiful Ambre Noir by Sonoma Scent

Nice take on frankincense--not what I expected at all. There is this waxy scent, like the thick air of candles burning in church, and it wafts all the way up from my forearm to my nose. Sillage is big. But the waxy and slightly smoky scent is mixed with honey and velvety red roses, making this perfume quite sweet and aromatic in comparison to other frankincentric (a word I think I made up) perfumes I have encountered. The effect is heavy and thick, like a black hooded cloak, a night-time perfume with a similar mood/ambiance to Tom Ford's Tobacco Vanille. I really like this one!

incense, a touch powdery, quite sweet. a rose, layered with tart, fizzy woodiness? the last stage is so honeyed, it's my favourite. images: a dimly lit second-hand bookstore, shadow play, a red leather couch. intelligent seduction.

Very heavy on the tobacco, sweet and rich scent. But somehow doesn’t feel rich and warm enough to me. It’s pretty, but also doesn’t stay very long on my skin. Pity that it just misses the mark slightly.

A log cabin in the woods, covered with climbing roses... a witch lives inside burning incense and mixing potions. Perfect, if that’s your vibe.

Perfume relatively new but already a classic for the undoubted originality of giving the olibanum a touch of prestigious importance. Great.

To me, this is one of those perfumes that smells nice but is not necessarily something that *you* want to smell like. I find it a bit too harsh and green, almost dirty. I think it’s that the olibanum, woods and tobacco are too strong and there’s not enough rose or tonka bean to sweeten/warm it up. Glad I only got a sample.

Resins with a faint hint of rose. The haylike frankincense note lingered for a long time on my skin. I sampled this specifically because I heard once that Trent Reznor likes it. I don't like smelling like it, but I do not mind imagining him smelling like it, if that makes sense. ;)

Rose and tobacco are some of my favorite notes and I thought I would love this, after several wears: I just can't. First off, when it is applied, on my skin it smells skanky and fecal with a hint of air freshener...a "lovely" recently used bathroom aroma of "shitrus" if you will. It takes a good 30 minutes for the true scent to develop where the rose peeks out at all. When it does, it is not a light tea rose or a spicy-sweet masculine rose like Amouage's Lyric Man, but rather a deep dark damp black baccarra rose that is beautiful, but has a mildewed tobacco note hovering there that is the complete antithesis of Herod by Parfums De Marly or the syrupy rich note from Tom Ford's Tobacco Oud. This still has a hint of the fecal and medicinal that doesn't agree with me. That dark black rose scent makes me weak in the knees in real life but here it falls just shy of "multi-bottle purchasing" worthy because of that dark musty soiled note hovering not like Terre De Hermes but like a weird bathroom attendant at a members only club, that stand in the bathroom as you do your business and offers you a spritz of cologne on your way out, muttering "good show" in praise of your bowel movement...and expecting a $5 bill for being your own fan section. It's weird and not in a good way like Amouage's Fate Man. It's a 10% less oudy or musty, and more sweet pipe tobacco reformulation away from being a masterpiece. What a shame. Scent: 4/10 as is. Reformulate with less poo and more pipe tobacco and it would be a 9/10 for me on my skin-and multi-bottle worthy. Longevity: 7/10 easily gets 8 hours total, half of which is a skin scent at hugging range. Projection: 7/10 for the first 30 minutes and then drops to a 4/10 from hour 1-2.5, then a 2/10 afterwards. Sillage: 9/10 for the first 30 minutes. Huge train. After that it drops sharply to a 5/10 and after hour 3 it's gone. Would I buy a full bottle: sadly no. Make a new blend with this kind of performance, and less aroma-de-dueces and I would buy bottles in dueces.

This reminds me of Nu by Yves Saint Laurent, but softer. It smells quite like you would expect it to based upon the notes. A nice tabacco-rose-amber scent. A bit smoky, a touch dry, and almost mysterious.

Gradations of olibanum and antique rose tumble gracefully through the nose with a brooding and beautiful undercurrent of ambergris melded with hay-like tobacco: this is Keiko Mecheri Oliban, and then some. I first learned of Oliban through Katie Puckrik and her Youtube videos ("Katie Puckrik Smells") where she did a series showcasing her collection. Her description and enthusiasm for it, cooing and swooning, piqued my interest immediately. I had held on to sample after sample for quite some time, until I finally broke down and gave myself a generous quantity to enjoy with abandon. This is a charmer, as it has presence, but not dominance, as it fades in and out of your minute-by-minute conscience like a whirling dervish. I have grown weary of the fragrances that pummel for the sake of stratospheric projection. Honestly, its sillage that is more magical for me, and this has sillage for days. The olibanum (frankincense resin) imparts that smoky incense sensation without any phenolic or meaty qualities of "smoky" in the usual sense (think cade, birch tar, ashes, so forth). No, this is that singular plume that emanates from the ignited resin tear, concentrated and redolent with the complex scent profile that can only come from the sacred frankincense. This, woven into the tapestry of garnet red rose is hypnotic to my nose. The dry down highlights the saline, almost algoid qualities of ambergris, a mysterious and elevating sensation. The base is woodier, with a sheer cedarwood and nuances of plum and stewed fruit. Captivating and sensual, Oliban is a sensual incense fragrance, which is uncommon in a realm that is often associated with liturgical associations, coldness and spiritual solitude (those can be wonderful too in the right context). It's really what sets Oliban apart as one to wear to meditate or to seduce...

Oliban as the name tells is a kind of incense. But there is much more : sweetness of honey, rose and incense undertones. Underneath the first notes we can smell woody accents (cedre and first of all Brazilian rosewood) and some tobacco swirl .For me they are rather tobacco leaves ,dried in warm, late summer wind. The scent represents sweetness of honey, richness and majesty of rose as well as coolness of incense. Main accent is created by intersection of white smoke accompanying church rituals and depth of rose and woodsy tones. Sometimes it`s not very easy to put some borders between them and it` s not the thing .Keiko Mecheri, Japanese painter not for the first time proves that in a perfumery world nothing is obvious .Oliban is a bit dirty scent, very sensual, with clear body element. A bit animal in its nature. All is changing, with the head evolving from rose and incense, through domination of tobacco and honey sweetness in the heart it goes towards woody –vanilla and smoky base. Balsamic and mesmerizing beauty!There is light and shadow .Warmth and coolness. Oliban is somewhat close to Lutens` Chergui, but not so sweet, placed somewhere between Kingdom and YSL`s Nu sensuality.There is also something common with Avignon (CDG).On the other side we can find some light from Rock Crystal and smokes covered with orange flowers and myrrh known from Olibanum by Profvmvm. Moderate sillage, some hours of longevity. Also a bottle, dark –made of violet glass attracts our attention. Rose and honey incense, perfectly, softly finished.

From 'archivist' This is a divine potion - it's the perfect incense for me, and I think I've tried most of them at least once (and most of those quite a few times). Sahara Noir is the ultimate mass incense, pure and simple - great for reminiscing about distant cathedrals, but not super wearable. Avignon is a louder cousin of Sahara Noir. Messe de Minuit is too lemony for me, but I like its warmth. Mitzah is a glory, but after a few hours it dries down to a fairly strong cat pee note on me (civet?) and it distresses me to think it was there all along, and perhaps painfully so for nearby people who may be sensitive to that note. I could go on and on with my incense test notes! But then one day there was Oliban - in the daytime it is fresh and airy, very feminine with amber and rose and the incense wafting around it like a halo. The opening is brisk and bright, the drydown is well-balanced, and if I apply it before bed, I always wake up with the most delicious ambery incense wafting from my sleep-warm skin

If you like frankincense but you're not into "church-y" kind of fragrances, Oliban is a fantastic option. The incense here is very similar to the one in both Eldo's Like This and Divine's L'Homme Sage. It's definitely remarkable and playing a main role but it's so well blended with all the other elements to never give the idea of a midnight mass or a gothic cathedral. Oliban opens incredibly beautiful and catchy with pungent resinous notes enriched by a slight peppery vibe. Rose, amber and tobacco make their appearance adding depth and some sweetness. An intrigant composition that despite its name, offers much more than simply incense. Warm, consistent and extremely charming. My only complain, if I can call it so, is that while the drydown is absolutely comfortable and pleasant, is still nowhere close to the outstanding and intoxicating opening. Quality stuff, anyway! Rating: 7.5-8/10

This was my first niche purchase! I don’t wear it much now, but I pulled it out today because winter is in the air. I used to be reminded of berries from this scent. Now the rose is obvious and I really wish it was toned down. This is like a subtler cleaner Oud Palao by Diptyque. The latter is super strong. This is an incense rose- the incense being more frankincense, not headshop. It’s an intelligent fragrance.

To me, this smells just like Feminité du Bois. Woody and a little smoky and a little warm. Nearly androgynous. But a scent to be worn when you want to feel commanding and confident.

Smoky and dry like freshly ground coffee, not charcoal. Clear as a bell and crisp in feeling with a steady and fairly linear dry down. I never tire of this.

nice and long lasting on my dry skin. first spray wasnt too great but dry down fastastic. dry down similar to michael kors men

Gli amanti orientali dovrebbero definitivamente dare a OLIBAN una grande annusata! Ciò è finora il mio favorito della raccolta

A dusty, musty, smoky rosinsence with that Mecheri ambergris foundation that I love. Portrait of What Lady?

This goes quite soapy on my skin, and I get more cedar than I was hoping for, so it’s a hard pass for me.

An air of paper. Smells like the avoid plus a spoon of dark woods. Diluition of cuir cordoba.

warm spicy, ambery, sweet, powdery woods & rose noticeable in the dry down medium projection

Oliban in the new clear bottle with the black cap is available on Lucky Scent.