Fantome de Maules

A stroll through flower-dappled fragrant forest, holding hands with Le Loyon, fabled spirit that roams them. He pauses at patches of blooms and selects the most redolent to present for your nose. Fantôme de Maules references a Swiss forest-spirit that haunts in harmony with it's timber environs. Spicy and green, the citrus top is suited to cold weather. Lemon zest and crushed cardamom pod spiral in a rolling boil for a warming tonic. Sharp coriander seed cracks in early on, an impish tingle that heats up the greenery and spices, lending complexity to both the resinous labdanum and dry woods. A persistent sweet apparition, restrained by a thin circle of salt, never veers into saccharine. I'm not surprised that Ambroxan found it's way onto the note pyramid here though it is not officially listed by Stora Skuggan--more likely it is tonka producing airy sweetness (here void of it's chocolate or vanilla facets.) The middle of Fantôme is floral spice, more aromatic than culinary as the lavender and vetiver take stage. The finish is a dreamy recollection of the otherworldy walk in the woods: ghostly florals, wispy musk, beautiful cedar and sandalwood faintly carried on a leaf-shimmering breeze.

A rare glacial green. Icy aromatics and crisp citrus twine into alpine forest mist. Hear me out: this is the shadow version of Bath and Body Works’s seminal work “Coconut Lime Verbena.” There’s no coconut, but I still get a sweet, downy accord that hits the same note. It’s here the pepper+coriander prickle the cashmere+white musk just enough to lend the effect of nuzzling deep into the neck of a wooly jumper. The citrus note is still limey enough to pucker. And the lavender subs for verbena, bracingly sharp like a lungful of mountain air. I take back initially passing it off as a monotone, office-safe green. There’s something beautifully harsh about Fantome. Might be a tie with Azalai for my favourite of the house. Mental Snapshot: This is my White Witch scent. You know, the one where Tilda Swinton offers a little British schoolboy Turkish Delight. The snow-laden pines, the duvet-sized arctic fox fur cape, the little silver vial of peacock-green potion. She smells sweet, then strange, then savage. Fantome’s cap even looks like a drop of that conjuring elixir. tl;dr: Frozen, directed by David Fincher ❄️🖤

This is a shy one. It disappears on me, at times, just like Fantome in the story, and turns into a skin scent after the first few hours. Lush winter greenery with a citrusey sparkle, a peppery-cardamomey edge and a cool background calm of cashmeran at first, musky tonka-vetiver-wood later. The occasional flash of pleasantly mild florals is very walk-in-the-forestey and welcome. Fantome de Maules is comforting, balanced and altogether inoffensive. This would absolutely be my go-to office scent if not for the price tag. Edit: I've just had the pleasure of experiencing this fragrance on a hot day. Imagine being so warm that if you had any body of water in your reach, no matter how dirty, you'd gladly hop into it. And miraculously, there's a deep, crystal clear, icy cold lake right there, mist rising above its surface, a forrest brimming with welcoming shadows all around. This is what that lake smells like as it makes contact with your over-heated skin. Cool, refreshing relief. Wonderful oblivion.

contemporary galbanum-forward fragrances are a category of perfume i'm fascinated with, as greens (and galbanum in particular) in many of its forms SCREAM 1960s pillbox hat to me. glorious chypres somewhat stubbornly of their time and hard for me to get past and recontextualize due to my own personal associations (not their fault!). so when i find galbanums or green heavy scents that take me somewhere else, i'm thrilled. maison martin margiela (untitled) comes to mind (and her sister, prada infusion d'iris), chanel n•19 poudre (as opposed to her mother n•19) as does niche xinu monstera. now i can add fantome de maules to this inspired list. full spectrum green, manages to be crisp and dew-soaked all at once. this is the thin beams of light shining through the tree canopy, filtered yet pointed. contrary to what some say, i find the price point for stora totally reasonable, and the performance quite good (hours on skin, days on clothes). it's all subjective i suppose.

A bittersweet veil of lichen & moss-lace envelops your silhouette, trailing translucent just past your bare feet. Your skin is stained by the earthen, herbal sweetness of dirt pathways where fertile roots guide you as they writhe and rise from their steaming, damp depths. Alive and hauntingly present, there is a denseness in the atmosphere, a mist creamy and still. The forest canopy folds its protective nest around you. There are blossoms breathing and rotting, cycles and sounds staying true and close to the ground.

There's a soft, smooth greenness here that I love. As others have said, this fragrance is clean and well-blended such that nothing sticks out, making it hard to figure out. Quiet and comforting. I understand the soap comments, because it has a certain freshness that many soaps also move in the direction of, but it's much better smelling than any soap I can think of, and performs remarkably well for a fresh scent. Expensive for 30mL, yes, but I don't find it unreasonable for the quality.

a green scent that's not harsh or peppery but soft and shadowy, like moss-covered tree trunks or lichen on stones. I find it magnetic, bewitching. shouts a little on the opening but then calms into a softly herbaceous floral on a bed of wood, musk, and moss. retro, but not "old." nice in cool damp weather. this juice is pretty concentrated; no need to overdo it. a moderate amount lasted all day and (I'm told) wafted into the room with me when I got home after 8 hours.

I think this is my favoured scent from Stora Skuggan. Green fresh and citrus that settles to have a less forward and zesty scent to something more subdued, woody and earthy yet still fresh. I can smell ambroxan, labdanum and sandalwood. Whenever I catch a whiff of it I feel soothed, happy and clean. Its kinda lovely. This may well be next on my purchase list.

I had a small sample around for a long time before I gathered myself to buy it. I love it. It is really unique and noticeable, yet completely inoffensive. A greenish forest kind of thing. But like no other green forest scent that I know. I put on just one to two sprays. It lasts a really long time. I can still smell it when I wake up the next morning.

This was a love at first at sniff when i sampled a few months ago and now I'm proud to say I finally have a bottle of This green, woody, sweet-creamy fragrance. This house has my complete and undivided attention. A true star in my collection.

this is a lovely mix of greens and florals to me there’s a very comforting smell to this fragrance that cozy cashmere note in it and some of the florals are quite nostalgic to me

Lavender, gasoline, musky, green, sweet, linen, sugar cube dissolving in tea, dying breath in a meadow full of flowers, your insides spilled over their petals as you bleed out

Green and softly sweet opening, herbal and spicy drydown. A bit soapy, but not in an unpleasant way, as usually i can't stand soapiness in perfume.

Pleasant, a fresh green fragrance, kind of sweet ish??

Tidy, well mannered, prudently expensive, never shouty, unique enough to want to talk about it, to let others hear it, extremely versatile, a victim of nonstop usage for over a year, to the point when I had to take it out of the rotation. The aftertaste of wearing it for so long is acknowledgement of this scent as a very special companion over a period of life, a testament to distinct personality this perfume carries. As I was buying second bottle, I truly thought there will be a third one. Hard to pin down if I was put off by a broader need for a change or that the scent truly grew to annoy me. Indeed both, as I haven’t missed it for a moment. Not a perfume that stood the test of time. It’s lost the aura to excessively mawkish saccharine dry down, which isn’t automatically bad, but in this particular case it’s not a rich powdery, engaging one, rather one that asks for a scruboff or a respray, one way or another. Contrary to the votes here, this is certainly more of a wintertime/autumn scent for me due to the underlying sweetness. This isnt green forest, that is nonsense, but it is a melancholic scent, toned down, designer in approach to the blend, not the category. I may imagine it serving a certain styling accompaniment, whichever way your associations will drive you. I would say it’s a match to soft tailoring, French flair, a play on creative professional aesthetic. The bottle design truly perfectly matches the mood of it.

Fantôme de Maules is a really nice green scent from this consistently impressive perfume brand. It is a bright, fresh green scent that makes great use of galbanum, that hazy, somehow sweet green note that populates vintage classics like Estee Lauder Private Collection or Balmain Vent Vert. There is a lot going on here, but it is a cohesive, nicely-composed modern green scent. FdM opens with sap-like green notes, fresh and dewy, brightened with citrus. Galbanum adds haziness and an inspired lavender note adds a slight fougère quality to the green opening. Some peppery spice follows, muted but adding a nice edge, but the opening is mostly - deliciously - green. As it develops, the greenness subsides and soft florals emerge. It becomes softly woody and musky with some (thankfully restrained) ambroxan in the base that simply serves to enhance the other notes. While it is pleasant and beautifully composed, this phase is admittedly less exciting. It fades to a slightly sweet musky skin scent with some greenness remaining. Sillage and longevity are moderate. A pleasant, unisex springtime scent, FdM is a tale of two halves. The green opening is sublime, but the woody floral phase as it settles is less exciting and slightly more generic, despite still being a lovely, unisex take on florals. Possibly the most wearable scent from Stora Skuggan. 4/5.

Testing blind I got a bit more of a woodsy vibe than green, with a vegetable undertone. My guesses were something like vetiver, bell pepper, black pepper. The wood is comforting and receptive, with only a bit of smoke in there, sitting among a layered aromatic background. It's not trying to be overly spicy or big, and I like it's mix. Looking at the notes, quite the mix it is, and while you could pull out most of the notes, a few like lemon and floral notes, feel distant or not even present. The longevity was good, with the projection feeling moderate.It leans masculine to me. It feels ripe for early fall. While I do appreciate it's rather safe "I'm not a spice bomb" approach I admittedly feel neutral about it as well. The spice sometimes leans too herbal, and the freshness of what comes to me as a sweated down green bell pepper, again, while nice, isn't my thing , but I'd recommend it.

A gorgeous, fresh, masculine and modern take on the chypre, this airy beauty from the very promising new Swedish house Stora Skuggan combines the classic chypre notes of oak moss, labdanum and lavender with many interesting new elements such as Forest flowers and leaves, lemon, musk, amboxan, sandalwood, cedar, cashmeran and a notable coriander. The reference here in the name is to a Swiss myth to a mask wearing forest phantom sometimes seen collecting forest herbs and flowers. Beautifully blended with a moderate to long pleasing projection and sillage this obscure beauty is my second purchase from this house after the equally surprisingly striking Silphium. And it delivers in spades. Utterly unique and haunting this lovely new perfume is waiting for larger discovery. A clean elegant scent that can be easily worn without ruffling any feathers. Enjoy!

We are not spoiled with Swedish Perfumers, so I became very interested in Stora Skuggan and sent for a test kit. After testing Thumbsucker (which I really dislike!) And Silphium (ok but no hit) this is without a doubt both my and my male partner's favorite so far. I'm surprised I appreciated it so much after reading the notes. I thought it would be much colder and sort of more "introverted", instead it feels elegantly balanced with a warmer and slightly exciting tone at the bottom, which even feels quite sexy (but without being provocative in any way). A scent that really feels unisex but still classic and a little luxurious. I will probably buy a bottle of this Fantôme de Maules.

Smelled this fragrance for the first time at The Scent Room in Dallas, TX. Kind of a harsh opening, but about 20-30 minutes in it kinda goes into a aquatic green, almost like a cool evening watching the sunset with a breeze of fresh lily pads with flowers and the greenest grass, along with the aquatic woody notes. It just all ties in so well together and is a work of art from the perfumer. If it wasn’t for the harsh opening I would rate it a 10/10, brings me back to fishing with my best friend at the town pond. But the opening is sharp so it’s a 8.5/10 in my opinion!