Guilty Story

This smells like the tail-end of a really good date, like sliding into the back of someone's car for a long goodnight followed by the sharp heel-click of a decisive but still sultry and promising exit: you're not going home with them tonight, but maybe next time. Right off the top there is a bold and persistent waft of rubber and squeaky black leather seats—"like luxury new car smell," my friend said when I walked over to him. Something about this chemical smell persists even through the base notes and the dry down, which kept my nose glued to my wrist. Then the saffron, the cinnamon, and the tobacco come through surprisingly clean, but deep, like a rustling, unlit cigarette. Somehow, despite approaching status as the scent soundtrack to Julia Ducournau’s Titane (it would need a lot more sweat and blood for that) this somehow manages to be surprisingly wearable, the plastic curling up at the corners consistently enough to keep some of the other notes interesting. Here is where I find that the linearity of Mihan Aromatics’ scents becomes an asset: I wouldn’t love this in the way I do if it dramatically evolved—and lost—some of its quirks through the wear. That’s the other half of the mystery of this scent for me: it reintroduced me to aspects of notes that I would usually avoid in perfume, especially sweetness. The dry down becomes a soft, woody vanilla tempered by a real kind of desert and sand dryness, the cashmere and sandalwood connect in an utterly novel formulation that I am in love with. The woods that are in here are brittle, desiccated by the sun, powdery only in that they feel ready to break apart at the slightest touch, or as if they might ignite—the tobacco note is fantastic here, just a little curl of smoke. It’s warm heat radiating from the pavement at night, it’s a smoldering gaze, it’s a bit of a mirage, and it’s very flirty and evasive. I could imagine chasing this scent across someone's collar and up into their hair.

Stumbled upon the brand while I was living in Western Australia for a year. It started with a bottle of Petrichor Plains - something reminiscing of Santal 33 that I mostly decided to get so I can be annoying and tell people that I smell like fresh drops of rain after hot long summer days. Nearing the end of my visa, I ventured east and one day, I find myself in the hip area of Fitzroy in Melbourne at Lore Perfumery. Almost dying from the heat in January, needing shelter, solace, and a new scent. After smelling half of the shop, I came to the Mihan Aromatics lineup. I was told by the shopkeeper that the brand is based in Melbourne and that every fragrance is inspired by different areas of the city. I picked up Guilty Story, intrigued by its name. Not to be super cheesy and Carrie Bradshaw-esque but it was a love at first sniff. It's soft and cozy like an overpriced cashmere sweater but somehow also super sexy like Italian leather boots. It's a chic and confident woman --it is who I strive to be. Spending $60 for a 10 ml vial is rather painful, but the things you'd do for love, right?! The small bottle accompanies me to fan over bin chickens in Sydney, solo hikes in the Blue Mountain, crying while reading Michelle Zauner's book at main beach in Byron Bay. As my trip ends, retreat I have to, to cold and grey Germany. Sniffing the little of what remains in the bottle brings me back to Australia, to happier times. That being said, I finally pulled the trigger and purchased the full 100ml perfume. They said marketing is the best sales tool, but they're wrong. It's nostalgia.

This smells like being in a forest in Victoria in the summer. The sun is shining, the eucalyptus trees are swaying sweetly in the breeze, butterflies are fluttering softly amongst delicate bush flowers. There are lots of dry leaves crunching under your feet. Something smokey... maybe some of the trees have charred bark from a previous bushfire, but they have a lot of new growth. It also smells like honey to me, especially on the dry down. But then there's also a scent of dusty earth that is reminiscent of how my childhood smelt - I grew up in a decade long drought and the ground would be deprived of moisture. Something about it is sexy too???? I got a little tester of this the other day for free and at first I wasn't sure about it but it's growing on me and I might have to get a full bottle because I'm a bit addicted to this.

If you’ve taken a walk in the Australian bush surrounded by twisted trees with strapping, peeling bark deepened by the moisture after a rain during a spring/summer day in high humidity with grey clouds where you can smell damp bark and petrichor - this is evocative of that landscape. The warmth of the cinnamon bark is blended so beautifully with the other notes; the rubber rounds it out in an amusing way, a sensation of velvety smoke from the tobacco and saffron, and smoothness of sandalwood and cashmere. Creamy, sweet, comforting, sensual, sultry, and natural. I enjoy catching whiffs of the scent throughout the day. Perfect scent for anyone who likes being outdoors and likes woody fragrances. It’s in my top favourites, I just adore it!

Note: I’m not an experienced user of fragrances so I won’t be able to provide the detail of others. I used the discovery set to sample this. Very similar to By the Fireplace in the opening. Maybe a touch less sweet. Within a minute it transitions to a sweet, distinctly rubbery smell. I couldn’t put my finger on what it reminded me of but one of my guesses was condoms (seriously!). Within half an hour it transitioned to a more powdery vanilla, slight caramel smell, with little projection. Maybe 10cm. Smell was gone from my skin within three hours but lasted on my clothes for five or six.

makes me think of my mum telling me when she was growing up in templestowe in the 60s-70s, they would gather all the fallen leaves in the gutter and then burn them in small piles so the autumn evenings would be filled with the smell of burning oak leaves. i imagine it would smell just like this.

Sweet spicy cinnamon and round tobacco. The other notes weave around effortlessly, lending lightness and elegance. It is warm and delightful. The quality is noticeable. It becomes a part of your skin, sitting close.

it's just a sexy little guy. I want to get this and their untitled fragrance for summer, or wearing to a date or the club.

Notes from the house’s website: Neroli Saffron, Cinnamon Vanilla, Musk, Amber, Cedarwood, Sandalwood I don’t get any leather from this, so I’m not sure why people do. If you’ve been in the Australian coastal wilderness before, it is quite reminiscent of that. There’s a specific mix of smells this emulates. Not realistically at all, but it clearly emulates some aspect of that. This is a quintessentially Australian-style fragrance, made for extreme weather conditions. If you spray Guilty Story on and smell it directly within the first 30m, the woods are so screechy that you’ll smell nothing else. From a few feet away, it’s wonderful. By the first hour (Australian weather), everything mellows out; you don’t really lose anything except the screechiness. Beyond that point, it’s a lovely woody scent whose notes are so interwoven that other people won’t be able to pick it apart. Even in the dry down, isolating the vanilla, amber, cinnamon, saffron, and wood notes with your nose seems to have been made intentionally difficult by design, which I love. I can still do that easily, but unlike other fragrances, I don’t want to. It’s like they’re all just one note called Guilty Story. Rather than being used as a designer-style top note, the neroli has evidently been expertly bonded to the vanilla absolute and wood resins, so you get the faintest of citrus notes that lasts all day as a skin scent (6+ hours hot; 10+ hours cold) instead of a short-lived burst of freshness. For me, it’s a great to smell on my wrist throughout the day as a palate cleanser, like sniffing coffee at a perfume store. I enjoy wearing this as a smart-casual unisex fragrance to work, because it’s bold and mature yet inoffensive. No rating, just try it.

A warm, sexy, spicy tobacco scent. The opening is wet tobacco leaves with saffron, cinnamon spice and sandalwood. There's a tiny bit of smokiness in the opening that reminds me of By The Fireplace but without the sweetness. The tobacco feels so deep and smooth; imagine if tobacco could be melted down in a pot the way chocolate can. Smooth and sexy. Guilty Story feels rich and comforting, like a soft weighted blanket, but there's also a deep and sensual element to it. This would be an amazing date night fragrance, or for those nights and cooler days when you want to add a little extra suave to your step.

A big hit of saffron and woods at first, reminiscent of the discontinued Jo Malone Saffron but without the iris, until the tobacco becomes more prominent. A little rubbery on the opening but quickly becomes a soft, warm skin scent. Disappointing performance for an extrait concentration. Nice but not fb worthy

Another avant-garde scent with lots of herbaceous notes mixed with some animalic flowers and honey-like sweetness. Dusty and slightly sour spices.

You need to have grown up around the Australian bush to appreciate this fragrance the most.

Saffron and woods with a light cinnamon note and tobacco forward in the dry down. A lovely cool weather fragrance that is truely unisex. A more subtle spice bomb alternative that lasts quite some time and projects reasonably well, becoming a skin scent after 30mins or so. Undoubtedly high quality and understated.

Woody, a little smoky. I noticed a strange note that I thought was almost plastic-y. However, I have since read the brand's description of it and they mention rubber, so that definitely checks out! I don’t hate it. It’s an interesting fragrance for the right person but not something I’d personally wear.

Cloying and headache inducing sandalwood/cashmeran fragrance. I'll pass.

Nice but nothing screams beautiful. A lot of these fragrances remind of more affordable TF versions. This is a way is similar to Fcking Fabulous. It’s sweeter and lacks the depth. It falls short of likeable for me but I appreciate it and could tell on someone else it would be nice.

I'm not drawn to these notes at all (except for sandalwood which I LOVE) but a friend gave me her sample of this, and I'm surprised that I quickly ran through the sample. At first it's a little flat and I'm put off by the tobacco and cinnamon, which are both notes I run away from. But on the skin it's really nice and warm and sweet, but not at all sugary or edible. I love the rubbery note, which keeps it from being flat and I think is what makes me keep sniffing my wrist. My friend gave it to me because she found it too leathery/smokey and masculine. It leans masc but I think it smells sexy on me and would on other women. It doesn't make me go crazy or anything and Nirvana Black fills the spicy/warm sandalwood spot in my life already, but it would smell good on anyone.

I just got right now a discovery set of Mihan Aromatics and the sample of Guilty Story was leaking a bit. I could smell it while trying to open the box. Gosh it smells so comforting and warm. It's my favourite out of all of them... But I must wear them to see which one is matching the best with my personal chemistry. There's something in this perfume that smells like medicine or slightly off... Still love it.

Reminded me of by the fireplace. It’s not super close but close enough that it brought back memories of the time in my life when I was wearing it a lot. It’s a less sweet but more gourmand take on by the fireplace