Madar

Day 3 - Madar - Poesie So let me get some quick notes out of the way. Yes, I’m still grabbing a random perfume sample out of my stash every morning, wearing it and rating it. Yes, objectively, this is the safest scent yet. I was going into the office this morning so frankly it was for the best. And yes, it is a light and warm gourmand. BUT I am going to stop right there. This is the BEST light gourmand perfume I own. Lets break it down, There is nothing I hate more than a Yankee Candle Vanilla Cupcake smelling ass light gourmand. If you can smell like anything in the world I don't understand picking straight up cake batter. While vanilla has a purpose and is a great note I find most instances are just too crowd pleasing to the point of being forgettable. I personally don’t love sweet notes for sweet’s notes sake. Like all things in life moderation and balance are paramount. The thing about this scent is, there are so many like it, but this formulation is the one that has perfected the category in my opinion. Anyway, Madar. The Farsi word for mother (mādar (مادر ). I love this title and I think it is incredibly fitting. The lactonic notes are devine! When navigating a sea of creamy and milk notes in the fragrance world, this formulation has a distinct rice pudding feeling. These rice based lactonic notes are somewhat a motif for the brand as the stripped back “Soft” fragrance by Poesie is the same rice formula without the aromatic additions like pistachio and orange blossom. I at one point had a vial of soft but cannot locate it, so I made sure to add a vial to my latest order to reevaluate as it is a crowd favorite. That being said, I love the warmth that the aromatics in Madar deliver. My all time favorite note cardamom really shines in this blend, but is supported by saffron, cinnamon and pistachio. The result is inoffensive but interesting. The warmth really cuts through the sweetness and it smells like an Adeni chai with condensed milk. Like most warm, cozy scents it wears very close to the skin. It is a very intimate scent that I find works amazing well for a day time scent, or layering. In the morning I wore it on its own, and by the evening I layered a bit of Orebella - Nightcap on top and I smelled so yummy I kept smelling myself as I went for my evening walk. That being said, sillage is light and longevity is weak. Regardless,I think it is perfect for what it is. I am going to leave this in the bathroom and dab it on before bed for the remainder of my vial.

I’ve got so many expensive bottles of perfume, but I wear this oil more frequently than I wear anything else really. I love it! However I rarely wear it alone. It’s a bit to cloying solo, but mixes so well with bitter scents. I often layer it with Poesie’s Twice to Tea (so good!!!) or today I’ve layered it with Mizu’s Palo Santo oil (also great!). All the notes listed are present. It’s a base of rice pudding, and within that base you can distinctly pull out the cardamom, the saffron, the cinnamon, the rose, the orange flower. It’s so good. But the overall impression is warm thick milky rice pudding. When layered with other oils it just becomes: warm and milky base layer. Side note, I’m very particular about how my actual bottles of fragrance look together on my vanity. They’re all rather minimal and monochromatic and well design-y. So I keep my Poesie oils in a drawer out of sight because the packaging looks amateurish. And even the scents themselves (I’ve got samples of dozens of Poesie oils) all smell very naive and almost juvenile. Especially Madar. But I think that’s really the appeal!! I would’ve loved wearing Madar in middle school, as much as I love wearing it today at 35, as much as I can imagine wearing this one day when I’m a grandma. Its composition is just so human and relatable and universally, cross-culturally connected to warmth and comfort. This isn’t some hipster shit. Its not trying to be a thing that it isn’t. It’s just brilliant and not making a big deal about it.

So... This is pretty much the best thing I've ever smelled. Like, I went and changed my favorite perfumes shelf within 5 minutes of putting it on. Gorgeous, gorgeous rice note. It's my favorite note in general and I've tried, and typically loved, pretty much every variation I can get my hands on, but this is far and away the best I've found. I was a little concerned because both cardamom and pistachio can go really soapy on me, but these stay true, the cinnamon stays delicious and bakery instead of going incense, and the florals are present but flit gently around the edges giving a bit more dimension, but not muddying the gourmand heart. Also hits that tricky balance of warmly sweet but not cloying or syrupy. Overall an absolute soft gourmand delight, cuddly, comforting, warmly spiced and nutty, I'm in love!

letting this one sit is important. original review: (ranked as "ok") suprised i did not love this one, cause i love love love gourmands, rice, and nuttiness. but this one did not smell like how i thought (spiced, sugary rice pudding/lebanon nights). (<-did not smell like that) it smelled like REALLY SWEET CARDAMOM. im happy everyone else likes it though!! have a nice time you guys (without me) review after letting it sit for a year: it smells like spiced, sugary rice pudding and lebanon nights now!!! smells sooo oo good. cardamomy, sweet, floral, milky, savory opening and it gets better (but quieter) as it dries down. the sickly sweetness it had a couple months ago has softened into something delicious. having a nice time enjoying this one with everyone else ♡

Delicious and captivating! I just have a little tiny dabber sample but I might need to bathe in this scent somehow. The tiny drops I put on my wrists are fading quickly, but as it fades I'm picking up a glimmer of Kayali Elixir 11, probably the rose petals. (In general this is not similar to Elixir 11 in any way - except for in the deep dry down the beautiful rose comes out. This is much more of a warm, cozy scent than Elixir 11, which I also really love but in a different way.) Madar is a beautiful composition of the notes listed above. Comments below mention a wish for greater sillage beyond a skin scent, so I'll try really layering on the oil and see if I can treat myself to a heavenly scent bubble of Madar today. Highly recommended!