Montecristo

Monte Cristo is my first introduction to this house, and I find myself thoroughly impressed. At first, the scent felt familiar, though elusive in its precise nature. It vaguely reminded me of Initio Rehab with a hint of that distinct tobacco note, though only slightly. On my skin, it’s a chameleon of a fragrance, evolving in ways that both intrigue and captivate. While initially difficult to describe, it's exactly what I expect from a niche fragrance: unique, elusive, and filled with character. The fragrance presents a subtle contradiction that I find compelling. While I do wish it had more projection, it’s undeniably an art piece in a bottle. For its current price point, it offers an accessible journey into perfumery that feels like stepping into a forgotten attic—an old space, but not dusty or dry. There’s an element of nostalgia: a leather jacket, a high-end tobacco pouch, perhaps the scent of well-kept cigars. Interestingly, though, it’s not smoky. The tobacco comes across as moist, almost juicy, with a touch of freshness that feels out of place in this sealed room. As the fragrance develops, it takes on a subtle sensuality that's hard to pinpoint but incredibly alluring. There's a balance between the scent of freshly laid wood floors and something simultaneously aged. Then, honey appears. It's as though someone spilled honey in this forgotten attic, while a faint ghost lingers, enjoying the sweet remnants. I finally recognized the familiar note: Palo Santo. It brings me back to my days of handling it in bulk, with that unmistakable scent filling the space. While many detect a boozy, spiced rum note, I don’t pick that up on my skin. For me, Monte Cristo is masculine, but in a refined way. It exudes strength, control, and sensuality without being overbearing. It conveys a sense of security and assurance, while remaining sensitive, never veering into aggression. It’s a magical elixir, one that gives off a golden aura. It reminds me of the early morning sun gently warming the dew-covered grass—there’s no scent of grass or dew, but the fragrance evokes the feeling of gentle yet inevitable control. It’s delicate at first, considerate even, before fully asserting itself. Monte Cristo is a fragrance that I find hard to stop smelling—it's captivating, complex, and truly a work of art.

Being familiar with and having in my possession some hyraceum (aka 'African stone') tincture, I can guarantee that Delphine Thierry has used it here, and to great effect, might I add. Hyraceum, from semi-fossilized waste of the endearing rock hyrax (Procavia capensis), whose habitat is the arid lands of the African continent, is quite complex. The most obvious assumption is that it is musky, animalic, even pissy or fecal given its origins, however, much like ambergris, there are some surprising qualities here. Most noteworthy is its similarity to that of dried tobacco leaves, earthy, hay-like and smoky. It's also reminiscent of the more raw qualities of castoreum, old wood, barnyards, goat fur, and even, dare I say, the very distant odor of skunk. In spite of such a bold material, Thierry has dosed in Montecristo in such a way that brings out the best qualities of not only hyraceum, but all that accompanies it here. I am dazzled by the way it fuses with the velvety, nutty muskiness of ambrette and the accompaniment of celery seed oil (another material I love to pieces), seedy, leafy, "crunchy" in profile, adds even more interest. What results as the top notes settle into the heart is a nuanced tobacco and agrestic "weeds and seeds" effect, with an added layer of vanillic-benzoin booziness further underneath the layers. I am even reminded of a certain Laphroaig peatiness here, a malt, a bitter smoke, a tanning leather finish (presumably courtesy of styrax). It is dusty, rustic, even pastoral, yet it carries with it an animal warmth that only seems at first defiant but is rather cuddly and discreet. That's what is remarkable about Montecristo: it isn't loud, yet is still robust. It has a certain good nature and come-hither intimacy that belies its seeming skank and feculence. It's not so challenging after all, and smells quite beautiful in the same way as classics such as Yatagan, Phileas, or Portos, treading the precipice of indecency while showing enough restraint to be read as a perfume rather than malodor. A skilled perfumer such as Thierry can achieve such a balance using animalics in a way less formally trained creatives may not (see Tsvga, Areej la Dore, Prin Lomros). Montecristo is magnificent!

Montecristo is a fragrance that needs to mature in the bottle before showing its true colors. When I first tried it after buying my bottle, it felt somewhat flat, with less sillage and longevity than the tester bottle. So I quickly set it aside, hidden in my wardrobe. Fast forward to this autumn. I began using my Musc Tonkin again and noticed that the scent was much deeper with an even more pronounced animalic vibe. I also started using Salome more often and it also felt more rich than when I got my bottle this last summer. So I added 1+1 and the common note in all three? Hyrax! After some Google and blog search, it turns out that Hyrax needs some time to mature when bottled. As the aging process begins, the note comes alive and starts infusing its animalic qualities, warming the fragrance and making the complementary facets surface. So I dug my bottle of Montecristo and sprayed a couple of times on my chest and neck. Wow! The opening bang was more or less like the first encounter. A sudden rush of alcohol, animal notes, wood and leather fighting for dominance. Notes aren't different, but instead of muted they appear in technicolor. The rum is boozy and the ambrette shows that warm skin sensation of a lover licking its loved ones nape. I don't detect cumin, but I do detect the facets of civet and castoreum that Hyrax has in its DNA. The woods are dry, but the patchouli lends an earthiness that makes the whole image seem less arid and much more lived in. As a whole, the fragrance is animalic, boozy, sweet and woody. It gives me the same feeling of dusty rooms that L'air de Rien does. Only difference is that L'air de Rien takes place among the dusty shelves of the library, while Montecristo happens in the living room; half lit candles, a bottle of rum, worn leather sofa, a wooden floor full of memories and the warmth given of by the people in the room. No idea what they're doing. But when the animalics start to rise and growl, up until the very last minute, it's pretty obvious that the aforementioned sofa is gonna get a lot more torn! Excellent longevity with above average sillage.

Montecristo is the second release in the story of Masque Milano: Act I, Perfume II (stylized as I:II on the bottle and cap). The inspiration behind Montecristo is the interior of a villa wherein the different elements fairly seamlessly blend together. It’s not a loud announcement of any of the pleasures (tobacco, rum, benzoin) or environmental features (patchouli, guaiac, cedar, cistus, etc.) but rather a balanced rendition that doesn’t lean too heavily on any one note in particular. It has the booze and woods of many fragrances, and these notes are featured first for me, with the earthy basement feeling following and proportionally being a bit bigger of a part of the experience in the dry down. The earthiness reminds me a bit of Tom Ford Patchouli Absolu—dense, green, mossy, dank, and quite interesting. It’s usually not my cup of tea, genre-wise, but in harmony with the tobacco and rum, it’s a very interesting. I frankly get more whiffs of the patchouli and tobacco on and off during the dry down, alternating which aspect of the fragrance seems more dominant. The bite of the rum subsides after a few hours, in my estimation. Overall, I dig it. Usually, the earthiness might be objectionable but it’s done so well in Montecristo that I want to keep smelling, like a curiosity, a kaleidoscope where I get different colors with each sniff. Very well done, and on the cheaper side of the line, at $125 for 35ml. As with Terralba, the performance isn’t extraordinary on my skin but its nuances and complexity make it a fun wear, and frankly, more versatile since it’s not loud. It’s one that I’m going to try further but will likely be a full bottle pick up. Like Terralba, I had an instant connection when smelling Montecristo for the first time, my other favorite being the resinous Tango of Act III. 8 out of 10

I came across Montecristo while researching animalic musks to try after discovering that I’m quite drawn to this genre. Montecristo has been a revelation for me, but not for the reasons I was expecting. It’s often brought up as one of the more challenging animalic musks out there, but I find that assessment somewhat misleading. While it definitely has a sharply animalic, almost urinous note when smelled up close, in the air it reads as more of a boozy, woody scent with an animalic undertone. Cabreuva is one of the listed notes here, and if you’ve ever encountered it, you’ll immediately get it. It smells a bit like cedar. The animalics aren’t the main focus, they’re there to support that accord, adding depth, a leathery quality, and that faint sourness you sometimes get from that type of wood. Imagine walking into a room with a varnished, red wooden floor. You’re wearing a fur coat, sitting on a leather couch, chewing on an unlit cigar while pouring yourself a glass of liqueur. Take that mental image and dial it up to 100. That’s it, that’s what it smells like. I think Montecristo is a bit of a unicorn, I rarely come across something that smells this convincing, matching the house’s description to a T, and it does so in a way that feels unsettlingly unembellished and devoid of conventional perfumery clichés. No vanilla, no tonka, no blaring aldehydes, no dihydromyrcenol, no floral bouquet, nothing to soften the blow. It’s brutal. Oh, and it’s absolutely gorgeous.

~several global wearings/old bottle decant + bought bottle later Sweaty, warm, animalic, sweetened by ambrette, rum and benzoin but with solid portion of tobacco; exquisite blending. Despite reviews below it's quite linear and does not change much from initial application in my opinion. It's one of coziest scent I've ever tried and I'd recommend it as daily fall/winter scent. Can get sweaty/urine-like/naughty - depends on your body chemistry. I like to wear it just for myself but it came up it's not offensive in my workplace too. I can see why somebody can dislike it, because it can be challenging to wear. For me it's easier take on animalic note. Suitable for 30y+ men and I think most ladies will not like it on themselves. Considering longevity and sillage - both are perfect in case of older bottle I was testing. Longevity is crazy good, 8-10h+; creates consistent scent bubble around you for good hours. I wore it 3-4 times and I will probably look for older 100ml bottle. //edit 03.02.23 - got my bottle, managed to find older, 100ml bottle and it even joined my TOP5 list. //edit 17.03.23 - I just realized that it reminds me a lot of older, 2010 version of Leather Oud Dior (Dior The Collection Couturier Parfumeur Leather Oud) - there are not clones of each other by any means tho, Dior is much more animalic (civet territory), Montecristo is super balanced.

Spiced smoke, velvet depth, Hidden in the winter’s coat, Quiet, earthy soul. There is a profound intimacy to Montecristo that only truly reveals itself in the biting cold. It begins with a veil of spiced smoke—not the harshness of a bonfire, but the sophisticated, lingering aroma of high-grade tobacco and resins. As the fragrance develops, it settles into a "velvet depth," where the animalic hyrax and ambrette create a texture that feels almost physical, like the weight of a vintage fur overcoat. (I detected no fecal nastiness) While many winter scents shout with sweetness, Montecristo remains for the most part, a "quiet, earthy soul." It stays close to the skin, radiating a primal, mineral warmth that feels like a shared secret between the wearer and the scent. It is the smell of old stones, damp earth, and human presence, providing a grounding, sophisticated comfort. Definitely unisex as it dries down soft & powdery. Medium projection and a long lasting scent. I sprayed 2 spritzes in front of me and walked into the mist. I would not actually spray directly on my skin due to the fragrances potency and the atomizers fabulous spray pattern. It’s quite generous. Office friendly if not over sprayed.

If Tom of Finland and Yatagan were a gay couple, THIS scent would be the troubled young boy they adopted and helped to raise to adulthood. It has the leathery woody strength of ToF, but is much quieter and introverted than Tom. He has also picked up some of the wildly feral yet rugged woodsy beauty of Yatagan without seeming as "old school". Where the older scents are more "butch" and unabashedly masculine, Montecristo maintains that same vibe, but has more continental elegance throughout even its most intense spicy and musky outbursts. This is superb!! One friend said, upon testing this, that Montecristo was "a stinking dirty drunken yak who rolled in an ashtray". Needless to say, after a description like THAT, I was on the phone to LuckyScent minutes later getting multiple samples of all three! The trio (Montecristo, Terralba & Luci ed Ombre) was released last year *2013* and, to my great shock, no one has been raving about these scents or this house. Step out of your comfort zone, and get a little wild this year-give Montecristo a try. Great projection and superb longevity. Boozy, earthy, woody, resinous, sexy sweaty musky...I ask you, what's not to love?!!

I could never have known that such a fragrance can exist, hadn't I been lucky to try (and subsequently buy) Montecristo by Masque. Provocatively erotic opening reminiscent of passionate private encounters, primitively animalic at first before quickly receding into a more relaxed & tamed carnal sensation. Top quality ingredients soon enrich this daring composition with notes of dry tobacco, aged woods, worn leather, aromatic spices, light florals and a discreet liquorish vibe to enhance the glowing coziness. As hours pass, Montecristo mellows down to an even warmer & muskier aroma that envelops my skin creating an illusion of heat being emitted off my chest. The feral animalic notes now reside discreetely on the background of a long lasting masculine & erotic veil of tobacco, dusty leather and resinous woods. Montecristo can be a challenging (even unbearable) composition for many and may require a receptive attitude as well as several testings. To my nose, it's a respectful & controversial piece of art, flowing against the stream, elevating my senses to new levels of uncharted perceptions. Fearless, adventurous, dramatic & strong. 8/10

Good lord... that opening. Imagine the sweatiest, pissiest, furriest animal in existence, shooting some sort of skank-juice out of a gland and straight into your nasal cavity. Almost everyone I've showed this to has been utterly repulsed by the opening. A friend said it smelled like his cat's litterbox. All is forgiven when Montecristo dries down however, as it becomes fantastically rich and complex. It's decidedly animalic from the top to the bottom, but theres an implied sweetness with the booze and tobacco that shows up after about 5 minutes that takes the edge off of things. As it progresses the animalia of the opening begins to ease up and give the fragrance a sort of musty, old, antiqued vibe, like a closet full of vintage leather jackets, bathed in the cigarette smoke and sweat of past nights-out. The far drydown goes into a smooth, lightly-sweetened woodsy/incensey/balsamic blend that retains just enough of the skank to smell assertive and unique, completely eschewing generic oriental territory. Very nice well made stuff. Undeniably challenging and difficult to wear but rewarding. 7/10

On my skin, it opens with a boozy vegetal musk note (ambrette seeds) supported by a strongmhyrax note. Then the hyrax calms down a bit, and leave a shy (but beautiful) damp tobacco note appear. In the drydown, the impession of tobacco fades out, to leave the stage back to the spicy (cumin?) hyrax note, supported by (very) subtle patchouli and woody notes. This is basically an animalic spicy musk fragrance, with vibes similar to Lutens MKK, but more wearable imo. Not that beast that some describe, and the late drydown is actually quite soft and round. Despite I paid half the retail price (that is: still expensive), I still expected a better performance. I love it. Would I recommend it? Well, at full retail, MKK is cheaper per ml (~$250 at discounter for 100ml vs $`125/35ml here) and performs better. So, I'd suggest grouping for purchasing MKK and make splits instead. Still, at discounted prices, Masque Montecristo is a strong love for me, and the very nice presentation doesn't hurt. Fall/Winter evenings, 30+

Montecristo is a VERY good perfume. First, I was not convinced. I got an original sample from the brand along with my bottle of Tango. My reaction was “ok, it’s on those lines drawn by Kouros and followed by some brands like Beaufort”. I mean, heavy accords resulting in a fairly rough blend - or a heavy masculine blend, as people used to say until 2019. But Montecristo is mainly smoky and sweet and mildly musky. Like Kouros, it has a smoky facet (something like castoreum, but it has no castoreum in the pyramid, so I figure it comes from the civet... or not). Here, I would guess it’s a characteristic of the hyraceum, if there’s any. Well, “theories” aside, what I want to say is that it is more smoky than animalic, but it’s like this smoke came from the same place/accord as this mildly animalic facet. But this is something I’ve just experienced with castoreum. And this smoky/animalic aspect with that boozy sweet accord gives us a brilliant result. 10/10.

I had sampled Montecristo a few years back when I pulled the cord on a full bottle of Tango (which is killer!), then recently I found a sweet deal on Montecristo from Fragrancebuy ( they have great deals) and bought a full bottle. I was a bit hesitant since it had been a few years since I sampled this, but voila!, this was as great as I remembered. Not as harsh as I was expecting, with a really nice opening and drydown. Upon spraying, my wife said it smelled like a health food store, lol. She went on to explain that she smelled celery seed (she missed her calling as a perfumer). Nonetheless, she loved it and I do too. To my nose, it’s not a strong fragrance, but I am wearing this in brutal heat and humidity, so will gauge this again when the weather cools here in the Midwest USA. A couple sprays today and was office bound and received no objections. I’m digging Montecristo. Keep trying new things my fragrant friends. ✌️

WOW! BEAST! FERAL! URINE GALORE! .... Is what every one else seems say... I say - I don't honestly understand the fear. I spritzed two shots on the neck, one on the chest and one on the wrists and waited for the onslaught of filth. What I actually got was a really pleasant mildly musky spiced opening with a shimmer of sourness, and as it dries down damp tobacco leaf and patchouli. Between the opening and base there is a hint to something a little warm and ambery but not in a powdered sense. No dirt. No pi$$-stained fur. Smooth, masculine and modern/retro in style, Montecristo is a cosy aura of golden hued goodness. I love the fact that it gives me the 'feels' of an old favourite if mine ( that I happily still have half a bottle of) Valentino Vendetta. Don't be afraid. Montecristo is about as scary, in my opinion, as the current version of Musc Ravageur. Batch code 138116. Not sure the year this relates to at the moment.

Composed by Delphine Thierry (who also worked on Galaad and Akkad by Lubin and a couple of the Cloon Keen Atelier stuff), Montecristo is definitely a wower for anyone who like skanky /musky / spicy / woody things. The opening is literally arresting. A skank overload provided by a thick amount of hirax and other animalic musks. It immediately brings to mind of the fecal opening of MKK but whereas the Lutens morphes into a floral rosey thing, Montecristo gets all dark and moody with tobacco, resins and some of the darkest patchouli ever. Boozy / balmy notes lurk in the back providing some smoothness to an otherwise extremely challenging fragrance. The result is fascinating to say the least. The fragrance is pervaded by a warm animalic vibe throughout. Sort of a mash up between Lubin's most oriental offerings and heavy animalic musks fragrances a-la Musk Tonkin and MKK. MANDATORY! Seriously. Rating: 8/10

Tried this in cool spring weather and I got harsh, masculine, boozy, spices. Regretted blind-buying a bottle of it. Tried it again in hot summer weather and the same notes were there except this time I thought I could smell celery in the background, making this fragrance more enjoyable for me. Half an hour in and I was glad to own a bottle of this. The harshness softened, turning sweet and almost creamy with the celery becoming more prominent but not overpowering. It reminds me of men's shirts fresh off our back after a workout or a long day, with our musk, cologne or deodorant, and sweat (but not bad B.O.) combined to make a heady concoction. I do not get the urine others have described. Your coworkers are not likely to appreciate this, don't waste it on them. This is something for personal enjoyment and intimate occasions for sure. A little goes a long way.

This one arrived today, it was a blindbuy. But lo and behold, a sample was attached to the bottle so I could try before committing to keep. All online perfumeries should work like that. What can I say: welcome to my collection, Montecristo! What a wonderful, creamy woodperfume and I love the touch of animalics in the form of hyraceum. Don't take my word for it and try for yourself if this beauty is for you. Your skin and chemistry are unique, so everyone's experience with a perfume is unique as well. No this isn't masculine to me, I've always loved classy woods. I'm happy I didn't get scared off reading some of the reviews. I'd love to try more by Masque Milano now as this one certainly ticks all my boxes, Enjoying this scent immensely! It's classy, singular, different... Everything a perfume should be.

Masque Milano's Montecristo is a carefully-crafted, well-made, beautiful fragrance, though for very specific situations. I don't imagine wearing this on a daily basis, or even as part of a rotation. Instead, this fragrance is for: 1. Coming home after a long, difficult day. Thankfully, you have a quiet night ahead of you with nothing to do. You're in a dark, brooding mood and simply need to sit with the silence, accompanied by a complex book, a puzzle, or something to move your mind away from the day. 2. You are meeting up with someone, either in public or at a party, to have a very serious conversation. You do not have any interest whatsoever in meaningless, shallow small talk with anyone, and you need to express this quite clearly. That's Montecristo. I love it.

Absolutely fantastic! This blend took me a while to get into, but it’s really good! I wore it again yesterday for the first time in a while and rather than typical frags where in catching the odd whiff and thinking “that smells nice”, I just kept finding myself really interested in the smell - thinking about it and appreciating it. And I’ve found myself thinking about it all day today rather than the fragrance I’m wearing! It’s definitely captivating and consuming. To me it’s a very dark tobacco and resin fragrance. Quite old school and masculine, but interesting enough to be versatile. Not a crowd pleaser by any means, but it’s one I wear to really enjoy fragrance rather than make people think I smell good. Not huge silage but lasts all day. 10/10

The thing with hyraceum, if I've understood correctly, is that unlike with other animalic skanky notes, they use the real deal, the dried droppings, giving the faecal, urine-tinged realness. And I can honestly smell that in this perfume. At first sniff I was like HELL no, but then as is often the case, I went back in, and have now purchased a decant. It's right on the precipice of being unacceptably toilety, and it does remind me of the urine-damp, poo-strewn straw I used to clear out of my hamster's cage when I was wee, but it goes to show what skillful perfumery is capable of. Update after a few more wears... Nope, the everlasting stale urine soaked hamster hay is gag inducing. Horrible.

In pixel form, the notes of this fragrance sounded irresistible to me. The oud is its usual beasting self, but the slight outpacing by the animalic accords in this fragrance make the oud smell less burning-plastic than they usually do to my nose, and this is therefore more pleasant than most oud fragrances. There is an overriding smokiness to this that never goes away, and makes this feel far more masculine in polarity. I'll keep my decant for further exploration, but this is not really in my wheelhouse. I'd prefer smelling this on a male friend than a female, but your mileage may vary. For something with a high degree of skank/pong, this is a handsome formulation.

Yeah, it's me, the guy who clearly likes woody scents and, certainly, this is one. But this beauty also has other notes in there that shift it way beyond the expected. The celery seeds give it a kind of gourmand aspect, but not necessarily one that involves cooking. Similarly, the rum brings in a welcome warmth- but gourmand or simply ethereal?. And of course there is the tobacco, one of my favourite aromas. Is it here the stuff of the cigar, from which this fragrance might reasonably take its name? Or does the name refer rather to the 19th-century novel by Dumas (père)? Either way, it all works in the end.

Imagine a biker bar, out in the middle of an arid desert. It's around 6 PM, the sun hitting the bar with its dry heat; inside it's alive with heavy smoke from cigarettes lingering in the air. Stale and fresh, this cigarette smell is mixed with their shots of whisky laying around and leather from their jackets. Refusing to take their jackets off leads to a smell of sweat. This is Montecristo-- Sweat, heat, leather, cigarettes and whisky. An incredibly unique fragrance that is at once striking, yet addictive in an odd way.

Again, Montecristo is a perfect blend. It’s almost all about ambrette and its musky side. And its musky side is very skin-like. It goes full leather (maybe) because of the hyraceum and/or the birch tar. The opening is kinda frightening because of the booze and the huge amount of clove, but it settles fairly quickly. And, in a minute, the perfume shows itself in its entirety. Because of the sweetness, it smells more adequate to the cool or cold weather. But I wear it all year round, nevertheless. Modern classic.

I believe it to be a masterpiece. All the good things you’ve read are true. Possibly the bad too. There’s a trick to wearing it though. The masque Milano sprayers can spray slow. Do a half slow spray INSIDE your collar. It will stay there all night and the clothing will mask the weird stuff and leave you with smelling like a rich sophisticated tan, Cuban gentleman. But a manly gentleman. However I don’t look this part so even though I believe it to be a masterpiece it wasn’t for me.

A little rough and challenging for the first 30 minutes or so but mellows out and becomes a great scent. A must try. I truly believe it becomes a SOMEWHAT easy wear after it settles down. Glad there continues to be some brands willing to take risks. While not for everyone, it's hard not to at least appreciate the juice. Wore this the 1st time to a rock concert and it fit perfectly! 9/10 with great longevity and projection

What you get here is a Hyrax heavy opening w rum and ambrett, this is what makes most ppl dismiss this as bad smelling, Its not imo, it has a brash spicy boose animal smell that is just the components that starts a bit rowdy to later transform this into a smooth nutty creamy Sao palao woody scent. After about 30 min this is transformed from a tad punk to classical music, and what a melody it is ❤️

My first from this house and iam happy with it It’s a crazy masculine scent Very heavy on my nose that hyrax note is insane It’s not manly in a fougere kind of way but manly in an animalic sense it’s very hard for me imagining a lady wearing it The performance was very good so is the projection I really enjoyed the artistry in this one and iam looking forward to try other fragrances for this brand

Similar to TheSniffer, everything I read about Montecristo made me think it was going to be this snarling animalic beast unfit for "polite" society. It's utterly fantastic. A single spritz and you'll just be smelling the coziest, warmest, tobacco and booze aura around you, and you might even mistake yourself for a dashing archaeologist like one Dr Henry Jones.

This scent is truly unique. I don't dare wear perfume on my body, but I spray it on my wrist every day and it's addictive. Yes, it smells a bit like urine, but it's a masterful blend; the perfumer knows exactly what they want. It's a somewhat sensual scent, like the arousing crotch smell of someone very ready for mating

My favorite in the Masque Milano line. Not a blind buy as this is very unique. A nonlinear composition, changing, that is exceptionally long lasting on my skin. Scent leans masculine in my opinion. Profile is as described by the other reviews. Cannot compare this to anything else hence why I love it so much.

Spicy, boozy and smoky, the opening of Montecristo is a sexy bomb. Wood notes soften everything in the dry down. No one else has mentioned this but I also feel an incense note which must be the resins, styrax and patchouli. No matter I love it even though it leans masculine. A gorgeous head turner.

بسیار حیوانی و با مشک بسیار سنگین بسیار بسیار با کیفیت و مقتدر کاری فوق العاده برای طرفداران روایح چرک و حیوانی و مشکی ----------- Scent & Qualiy: 10/10 Longevity: 9/10 Sillage: 8/10 Creativity & Uniqueness: 9/10 Affordability: 4/10 ----------- Overall: 8 +0.5= 8.5/10

Definitely a tobacco scent, but more on the animalic side. . Smells a bit like old Nevada casinos that, while clean, still show signs of years of foot traffic and tobacco smoke. I don't dislike it... But I doubt I would get a FB given the high asking price.

Pure butthole, fine. But if that's what you're looking for, then Montecristo is a sweet, animalic masterpiece. And if it's not what you're looking for, then maybe you need to refine your predictable and uninspired taste.

This one is vintage perfumery with a slight modern twist. Smells great and not really animalic to me. Only challenge for me is the weak performance. Needs ~10 sprays just to be relevant. Shukran Habibi!

Nice animalic scent on boozy tobbaco. If you don't like animalic fragrances dont fool around this one cuz its intensely animalic it is a quality frag though.

a master piece anyway but not too strong as the beginning.. very oriental but alot of urine (hyraceum) i love it and i appreciate it thank you masque milano

Instead of ambrette, you can choose amouage overture for the leather version. It's also stronger and cheaper. Why is this perfume so expensive?

Fantastic fragrance. The opening is a little challenging, but after 10 minutes it morphs into something beautiful. Very original.

Very animalic, extra dry. Real - Living on the edge! The Yatagan's brother. My second skin.

Patchouli and intergluteal animality. Smells like dirty sexual abandon. Brilliant.

Holy Moly. MANIMAL. Seriously butch yet surprisingly mellow. For good and bad, it's like being locked inside an exceptionally steamy humidor with a few dozen of Havana's finest cigars, so lush and thick your nose and head throb a little as your brain anticipates the nicotine hit ... I know what those things smell like, and this is it. Masque have captured the heady, almost overwhelming complexity of really well-cured, high-grade fresh tobacco with a truly earthy, animalic undertow. Almost dizzyingly rich, dark, deep-brown, sometimes-herby, sometimes-chocolatey, sometimes-furry scent. The opening is, yes, "challenging", with a slightly sour/acrid edge to the funk, and that almost-medicinal sting of rum, but it mellows fast from there and stays astonishing. Benzoin sweetens things up a lot later, without going pissy as honey might do. Firm, lovely, natural cedar boxes it all in and gives an illusion of freshening the top a bit, letting you breathe again, before the next thick wave of sweet spicy muddy joy pops you in the nose. Interestingly it's an exercise in anticipation - because the one note you *don't* get, the gratification that's not just delayed but deliberately cancelled, is any sense of smoke or ashtray. Not a single wisp. This is all just that moment of passing your nose over a freshly opened box of cigars and inhaling, deep, of that magic smell. You don't get to the actual smoking. Also weirdly - it seems to be a GIANT on me at first, but the sheer speed of how fast it shrinks and calms down is notable. Maybe it had just crushed my nose so hard I grew anosmic fast - and it would probably be unbearable if the first phase lasted much longer - but the volume gets turned down pretty quickly, which is surprising for such an insanely extrovert scent. So - wild thing, I think I love you? But .... even as a female wearer of some very masculine-to-unisex scents, this one is a few shades too manly for my taste - it's only a few notches less butch than Knize Ten, imho. Precisely because it stays almost relentlessly in that mellow basso-profundo, rumbly Barry White sort of territory, it's just a little too much for me (and I wear Phaedon Tabac Rouge and PG Coze plenty, so that shows you how assertive this one is.) But classy tobacco completists of any gender who love strong, niche treatments can probably deal. It is a heck of a creature - strong as an ox in its presence and solidity - but not a crazed savage hellbeast. Really daring, complex, beautiful stuff, but it will polarise - people who find anything reminiscent of cigars repugnant will be nauseated. Cigar fans will be bewitched. Unarguably worth trying, even once, to see what rich associations it conjures up for you.

Trying my sample of this - first cautiously on the sample card, then on the back of my hand - and then looking at this page, I realized yet again just how bad I am at properly identifying and describing masculine fragrances as far as notes are concerned. They speak to me, but it's on such an emotional level, I can't really pick apart how. My first lose association with this is the time I worked at my brother's store, which is a horse supply store specialized on western saddles. He trades not only in brand new but also in used and even vintage saddles - some of them more than a 100 years old. Now in western saddles you don't only smell the leather, you also smell the grease used to care for the leather, the metal of the stirrups, the wood worked into the stirrups and the horn, old horse hair and sweat that seeped into the leather over time. The people who walk into his store also add to the scentscape of the place. They tend to carry part of the stable their horses are at on their boots and on their long unwashed all weather jackets. And not all too rarely they have wet dogs with them who in turn add another note to the place. Smelling my wrist right now I remember sitting in that atmosphere busy rubbing grease onto a brittle rein. However, there is definitely also a smokey and slightly boozy vibe to it. And by that I mean stale smoke and booze. All over it gives me a strong hard working, salt of the earth kind of vibe. As a second - possibly stronger - association I imagine a little girl running to hug her Dad, who just came home from his shift, breathing in this scent as she's burying her face into his leather jacket. He is a man who smokes a whole lot, who may drink a glass or two on his way home, who very possibly often is too tired to take a bath after work, but who also loves his little girl to bits and would do anything to protect her. And she'll remember this scent of his for the rest of her life... At least I do... These are just the two pictures that came to mind for me. Not necessarily a fragrance to be worn with formals, most likely not too fitting for a very young man - but if you feel it fits you like a glove, by all means! - definitely not a blind buy, but absolutely interesting, well blended and evocative!

Being a newbie to the world of niche perfumery, I ́m still fascinated by background stories and inspirations that lead to the creation of niche scents. This is the reason Masque Fragranze initially caught my eye. More specifically, it was their claim that the inspiration behind their fragrances is opera. As I happen to be an opera fan, too, I felt thrilled at the prospect of experiencing the fusion of the worlds of perfume and opera. I began my exploration of their line with Delphine Thierry ́s “Montecristo”. I first tested “Montecristo” on a blotter. The moment I smelled it, I reflexively wrinkled my nose. ́This is way too much ́, I thought to myself as the scent unveiled its incredibly strong and animalic character. However, rather than being deterred, it was this quality that fuelled my further interest in “Montecristo”. A few days later I dared to apply it on my wrist. The intense animalic opening was still present, but this time, perhaps thanks to its combination with my skin chemistry, it was more subdued and bearable. No more nose wrinkling! “Montecristo” finally managed to reveal its true nature. It ́s a (super)dry scent, starting off with what I believe must be ambrette and a couple of drops of alcohol (supposedly rum). Also, its animalic note, which is alleged to be hyrax, dominates the head and never entirely disappears from the fragrance. Later on, it blends with a tobacco note as well as with styrax, cedar and patchouli in the base. The more I test “Montecristo”, the more I adore it. It ́s a superb example of a true niche perfume, capable of satisfying the tastes of even more demanding perfume connoisseurs. I find “Montecristo” intriguing and, owing to its operatic roots, complex and dramatic. Masque Fragranze is certainly a brand worth watching out for in the future. Bravissimo, Delphine Thierry!

This is my second review on this fragrance. In the first review I happened to have a headache that day and so I needed to give this one another wearing. Wow! This is still a VERY interesting scent to me. I LOVE it and I HATE it, all wrapped into one. Why do I love it? This is the image I get from this scent... I am taking a night stroll in the middle of a hot and dry desert. I stumble across an old wooden shack constructed with charred wood. Opening the charred wooden door I am stuck by the intense animalic scent. I scan the shack looking for movement. Exploring the dirt floor and the dry tobacco leaves hanging from the ceiling, until I see glowing eyes looking back at me.. watching me.. dark, dangerous and confident... Why do I hate it? While I do like animalic scents, this one can be VERY intense, especially as you open the wooden door. As it mellows and you begin to grow accustom to it, the intensity begins to subside. Overall, this is a VERY well made fragrance with a complex mixture of scents. While I normally classify scents in a "causal vs business vs both" setting, this one is VERY hard for me to classify. The biggest question in my mind is can you pull it off? If you can, I don't think dress will matter. I get good projection and great longevity on my skin. Oh... and I did NOT get a headache this time. YAY! Bottom line, if you like animalics or just scents that are different than the mass market / designer fragrances you find in every store that sells fragrances, you should try a sample of this stuff. Then hold on for the ride.

Just a few notes as I finish my sample. I never thought this was very “me” and thus never opted for a bottle, but it is lovely. In its way. After a brief and sharp whiff of cedar/hyrax (cedar is always SO prominent to my nose), this becomes very much a tobacco scent on my skin, with something (probably the guaiac but I would have guessed birch tar?) making it a smoky tobacco... very reminiscent of the inside of a smoker’s house, although not in a bad way. The guaiac is almost certainly giving me the “house” vibe here, since I live in California where Palo santo is a ubiquitous air freshener. The effect is actually softened by the animalic notes, which come as a relief! And make everything more personal. But this is a far cry to many of the animalic powerhouses to which it is sometimes compared. The hyrax is there... giving it that certain je ne sais quois... but much more pronounced to my nose is the ambrette, which takes the aggressive tobacco smoke to a much more pillowy place. The rum might be doing some work here, too, but it’s far from boozy. In the background a slightly green zing of celery seed in this GOLDEN WEST Fantasia. Benzoin follows, deepening the experience with its quasi-edible resinous sweetness and then a pretty linear drydown from there. It’s giving cowboy hat at the cocktail bar. Buy this for your favorite vintage playboy reader.

I've been testing this one from a sample for the past few days. I DO NOT find this to be animalic at all really—I guess people might be very sensitive to animalic notes? There might be a dash of an animal note buried somewhere deep but it's really nothing to be of note. By comparison, I have Zoologist Hyrax on my other hand simultaneously and it is undoubtedly animalic. They aren't even in the same ballpark of each other if talking about how animalic they are. Montecristo to me is a nice and refined tobacco, spicy, oud affair. To my nose, the rum, tobacco and oud notes are by far the most prominent. Even though the note breakdown doesn't point to it being spicy, it is. In the same vein that Tabac Rouge is spicy, but not quite as spicy as that. It almost opens with a Christmas vibe. The cedar is laying low and the pathchouli gives the whole thing a brighter earthy feel that I like. To me, Montecristo isn't anything interesting enough to buy a full bottle over. If you don't have any darker tobacco/spice/oud fragrances, this might be a great addition becuase it does that style really well and with a beautiful balance. But if you do? This feels somewhat redundant.

I get the spice, wood, rum and pipe tobacco and a dark sweetness behind it all. But to me there is also a tar-like note like that of tared rope. When I was a child, my parents had a shop with supplies for sailors, also tared rope/string. I loved that smell, and I often went and sniffed it, when I was in the shop. All toghether I get a vibe that takes me way back to a cosy inn at a harbour in a small village in the 19th century. Dark wooden furniture, kerosene lamps, sailors drinking rum smoking pipe tobacco with a prune-like sweetness to it and then the tared rope of course, wooden ships, a rather strong wind bringing wiffs of wild herbs from the hills nearby... I seldom get that amount of pictures, but this one just got to me :-) I just read the sales describtion now. Seems that they have awakened just the feeling in me, that they were going for except for the harbour :-) It seems to last forever, It is at least 6 hours since I it put it on, and it is there :-) I really like it

My partner says Montecristo “smells like eating vanilla ice cream while a dog shits a few feet away from you.” 🤣 That being said, I like this fragrance and am going to continue wearing my sample. Personally, I don’t detect anything fecal. It’s definitely musky and animalic, but according to my nose there is nothing unpleasant going on at all. The scent bubble is intimate, which is good when it comes to a fragrance as divisive as this. I’m glad to know that I won’t offend anyone while enjoying this scent for myself. The opening is pungent and intense: booze, unabashed animalic funk, and a hint of nondescript fruit (must be the cabrueva; this is my first time smelling that note). After about ~15 minutes, Montecristo settles down gorgeously. It develops an alluring sweetness over time while still maintaining its stankiness. The scent sticks around on my skin for about 6-8 hours.