Muse

I am going to passionately disagree with the reviews that say this is exactly like Another 13... I really don't think it is. Sure, Muse is another take on an ambroxan fragrance, but this is very bright, sunny, and a little sharp to the nose. The solar accord is not something that is present in A13. It gives Muse a sparkly quality, sweetened slightly by florals, but not enough to make this seem round and cozy. This is a fragrance I would spray to wake up and feel invigorated by. It's clean (but not in a citrusy Lysol way) and little astringent. It's a tiny bit masculine leaning, but not enough to be unwearable by someone who is feminine leaning. A13 in contrast is soft, enveloping, woody, mossy, a teeny bit fruity in the top, all wrapped up in a nice package of aroma chemicals. It leans more "elevated dryer sheet" than Muse. If I want to cozy up with a fresh-out-of-the-dryer blanket on a cold grey day, I would pick A13. If I want to feel refreshed and sparkling clean in the heat of the summer, I'd pick Muse. Both very nice aroma chemical fragrances but they serve different purposes. 9/10

“Muse” is not just another ambroxan-based fragrance; it’s a nuanced take on the “your skin but better” theme. It distinguishes itself with subtle solar notes and floral accords that set it apart from its contemporaries. It exudes an inviting, cozy warmth that feels like a gentle hug. This scent is ambery sweet when layered, pairing exceptionally well with woody fragrances and complementing the amber found in many Oriental perfumes. The beauty of ambroxan lies in its chameleon-like quality, adapting to each wearer’s skin chemistry, offering a unique experience that is both personal and intriguing. Versatile and unassuming, “Muse” is the perfect backdrop for any occasion, be it a day at the office or a quiet moment of reflection. It’s a fragrance that invites closeness, a whisper of comfort that’s both a little sexy and a lot cozy. But heed a word of caution: “Muse” demands a light touch, for its charm lies in its subtlety. Overindulgence is not its way; instead, it thrives in the quiet confidence of just enough.

This is yet another perfume I seem to be anosmic to. I have just sprayed it on myself and I can't smell anything at all. Yesterday I tried Nomad for the first time and it was a different story - totally overpowering and intoxicating! Update: I have done a 180 degree turn in my opinion of this fragrance. I initially tried it during our winter and the scent literally vanished on my skin. I couldn't smell anything. However, as we have been enduring a horridly hot and humid summer on the east coast of Australia, I decided to give this another go. What a difference the weather makes! The powdery musk really stands out and is quite intoxicating. My daughter has fallen in love with it too and has begged me to buy her her own bottle. She is addicted to it, and wherever she goes a milky, musky trail follows... Definitely a warm weather fragrance.

Smells very warm, ambery, sweet and synthetic, when I first smelt it it reminded me of BR540, but somehow better? It smells synthetic in a likable way, where I can't put my finger down on anything specific but I can tell that I love it. Love wearing it after a shower as it smells very warm and clean, somehow like "my skin but better," and it does last a while. I can smell it the next morning, but faintly. It is musky but not in the way that smells like an unwashed person or smells too strong, the ambroxan is what I think makes this smell synthetic, but I love it. Might buy a full bottle or look for adjacent perfumes once I finish this 10mL.

Initially, I wasn't quite taken with Muse as it felt rather masculine when I first smelt it. However, my perception shifted the following morning when I woke up and could still catch it lingering in the air. It was strange at first because I would catch the scent and wonder where it was coming from then realised it was me. I reapplied after my shower and I found myself falling head over heels with the sparkling, airy, and crispness. It is like a beach holiday salty, sunny and fresh. Edit 8/12/23: I am just about to finish my bottle, I will be repurchasing.

I love this, which is weird because I don't usually like those 'not a perfume' ambroxan scents. There's something so comforting and warming about this fragrance. It's soft and barely there but it's also musky and clean.

I HATE oud and think it stinks to high heaven, however blended well enough in certain perfumes I can tolerate and even like a fragrance. To me this pulls more musky solar amber. The musk is definitely the main focus that I get and it’s a dirty gritty type of musk, not sweet and airy. The amber is a heavier denser amber but this fragrance also has a brighter aspect to it that I think is the solar note listed. I only like Nomad & Muse from this line and to me they are very similar DNA’s so if you like one, I think you would like the other and could even layer them and smell great together

My first sample of this was much more floral than what arrived in the bottle I eventually ordered. While beautiful, laid back and nonchalant, this eventually became the perfume I resented because it just burnt my nostrils everytime I tried smelling it. I wore this for around a year before giving it to my best friend. It's not bad, and definitely filled that "cool girl" niche I wanted out of a fragrance, but if I want something ambroxan heavy again, I'll venture elsewhere.

Initial thought - metallic, masculine mess. Too strong and artificial but upon wearing in the heat it became a salty, marine, fresh, sunny musk. So good. This is how you smell after reading & playing volleyball on the beach, dipping in and out of the waves all day. A lil sweaty, a lil sweet, sun-kissed and free. Easy reach for the summertime. Will be layering with all my summer faves.

Very light, clean, musk scent. There’s a hint of florals but nothing too strong. I also get a slight citrusy vibe but again, very light. This would be a good perfume for someone who doesn’t want to smell like they’re wearing perfume. It would also be good for the office. Very “clean girl” vibes. But to me, it’s just too insipid and light to justify buying it.

If you’re into skin scents, this is a really good one. I like that it focuses more on amber than musk or iso e super. Slightly sweet, slightly floral, but mostly invisible. Similar to Lake & Skye 11 11, but in my opinion Muse is better.

A heavy ambroxin bomb, not like fake BR at all! This really suits me, chemically! Haven't found another WIE perfumeI like.

I used to love this perfume but it smells different to me now. More masculine than it used to be.

Sweet and creamy Ambroxan. Love it!

Is this a dupe of another 13? Yes and no. It smells like the dialled-down version of another 13 that's less than in every facet, especially in sweetness. It's not exactly the same but the vibe is very similar, I would say an 80% similarity. It definitely doesn't capture the sillage or longevity of another 13. For another 13, I was enveloped in the scent bubble the whole day and didn't need to sniff my wrist to smell it. And to me, it had a pheromone-like allure to it. Muse had a dialled-down version of that for 1-2 hours but afterwards, it transformed into a more distinctly feminine sweetness in the air. Not the same at all, but it has a sweetness in the air, similar to what cloud/baccarat rouge can do (instead of plastic/ metallic/ medicinal, make it warm and skin-like) I didn't like this at first because I didn't notice it after 1-2hr. My coworker could smell this 4 hours after I sprayed it and she was a bit more than an arm's distance away from me. Afterwards, I noticed it subtly lingering in the air. Worn it for about a week and have gotten 3 compliments already. Muse is like the essence of another 13 with a baccarat rouge vibe. To sum up: I love how you can't exactly smell yourself but other people seem to love it. And it's never I love your perfume, it's always you smell good. It was giving effortless beauty.

Ugh very disappointed in this one. It’s not that I don’t like the fragrance it’s that I can hardly smell anything at all. I bought mine directly from WIE I’m not sure if I got a faulty batch? It’s just sooooo weak that I can hardly smell anything at all. I basically have to dig my nose into my wrist to get any slight smell. Which is annoying because what’s the point in wearing something you can’t even smell. It smells fresh and floral - maybe a violet/lily scent. But it’s so weak I can hardly detect anything at all.

im gonna be real i loved this when i was searching for a nice winter perfume but i brought it home and got sick of it soo fast. its overpowering. i mean, i guess i could say it dries down nice? like it becomes softer but thats really it. not much depth to it tewwww much ambroxan for me and it smells a bit crazy on me. also unrelated but the teensy bottle i had lit evaporated in like 2 mths without use. idek lasts long. i smell it on my clothes after a long day. :) 5/10

The first impression to me is a watery, clean scent. Feels like a very light scent to me, but when I put it on in the morning my partner could still smell it in my hair at the end of the day. Difficult to identify any notes beyond that... very very light floral maybe? Makes me think of a light misting of water over wildflowers. They do describe it as a subtle scent in their own description too.

An umpteenth ambroxan ++ that's a little floral, and a little weak to boot. Not unpleasant, but... nothing to write home about either. For fans of the genre looking for something mega-easy to wear.

I get a blast of wood+ambroxan and that's it, from start to finish. It's extremely linear with no depth, but I guess you could use it for layering.

Another 13, like BR540, a unique enough fragrance that doesn’t need a dupe, especially at this price point. Just get the Le Labo.

unfortunately a lot of nothing

I agree with the reviewer who said that this smells very similar to Le Labo's Another 13; any slight differences are really negligible and not worth enumerating. So if you like that one, you'll like this one. And therein lies the problem: this is the third Who Is Elijah fragrance I've tried, and the third that is a dead ringer for a trendy niche fragrance. In the case of Le Labo, this one is less expensive, so it has that going for it, but the brand’s pricing is on par with some of the other fragrances from which it all-too-liberally “borrows”. I'm always eager to give smaller niche houses a chance, and in a crowded market, plenty of fragrances inadvertently end up smelling similar, but there's more than a whiff of dishonesty to what this perfumer/brand is doing in my estimation. Dupes have their place in the market, but creating overpriced knockoffs that masquerade as unique indie creations just seems crass to me. "Who is Elijah?" seems like an all-too-fitting question for a brand this lacking in identity.

It’s a crime against humanity that this fragrance costs $180. Even if you spray it 20 times, the scent won't last 20 minutes before completely disappearing without a trace. The fragrance is overwhelmingly dominated by alcohol, with only the faintest hint of pear hiding underneath. It honestly feels shameless charging $180 for what is basically an alcohol-filled container pretending to be a luxury fragrance. Performance-wise, it smells and lasts like one of those cheap $5 perfumes from a discount store that vanish after a few minutes — except somehow this one costs $180. The website also promised a free 2ml sample to try, which was never included in the package. What makes the whole experience even worse is the no-return policy. It genuinely feels like they already know the quality and performance of this fragrance would disappoint almost anyone who buys it. Overall, this felt less like a premium fragrance and more like an outrageously overpriced bottle of alcohol.

Very subtle but reads a little too masculine on my skin, and leaves a slightly sharp/bitter taste. It reminds me of a specific deodorant I dislike, although I have no idea what they have in common. Difficult to pick up floral notes on my skin.

All I could smell was rubbing alcohol and unfortunately I didn’t enjoy the dry down either. It leaned too masculine and synthetic for my taste. Glad I only got it in the discovery set.

On me, all I get is the cold metallic/mineral smell from the ambroxan and the saltiness of ambergris. I’m not getting any solar notes or ambery warmth. Not a fan.

Another bad perfume from this brand. They all smell like incense to me or bad men's cologne.

Smells like a chalkboard--similar to Another 13 in that way.

Ugh this smells just like JHAG Superdose on me. Which I hate. Was hoping that it would smell like Another 13 based off of the notes. Glad I didn't blind buy this. Make sure you test in person if you're able to because there have been some people that I trust say it smells like Another 13 to them.

It was a scrubber for me. Sickly amber/musk , very masculine and no pretty floral/other notes to offset it. I couldn’t wait to get to the sink and stary scrubbing dishes san gloves. I don’t like a single one from this line. They are all sickening and masculine to my nose.

EUGH! The dry down with all of Who Is Elijah’s perfumes are overwhelmingly synthetic and chemical like..actually insulting to the nostrils. Just a bit much

So much ambroxan, which is not well blended. It smell very plasticky, like burnt tires, on my skin. Gifting this sample to someone else, this is terrible.

Brought it and sold it. So overwhelmingly synthetic.

Muse by Who is Elijah is one of those, "your skin but better" kind of fragrances in a similar vein to Le Labo's Another 13 and Juliette Has a Gun Not a Perfume. Ambroxan based fragrances have never worked with my skin chemistry. The result is always a strange salty skin aroma with a hint of musky woods. Others get the sweetness and the ambery woods which I wish I did too, but alas my skin chemistry does not agree with ambroxan or heavily synthetic notes. Towards the base, I do get a hint of amber and oud. Muse is not a skanky oud in any way, but it does smell like a very toned down version of the now-discontinued Le Labo's Oud 27 on my skin. If I happened to own a bottle of Muse, I would almost never wear it on its own, and would opt to use it for layering purposes instead, (similar to how I use my bottle of Juliette Has a Gun Not a Perfume). Escentric Molecules was the first brand to popularise the use of synthetics in scent pyramids, and as the brand's popularity faded, Juliette Has a Gun and Le Labo launched their own versions. Muse by Who is Elijah is essentially a dupe that is mimicking the scent pyramid and the success of the niche brands listed above. I don't smell any of the non-descript solar notes or floral notes. Ambroxan, oud and amber are the main players in this scent pyramid and frankly I find it a little lack-lustre.

I really liked this when I smelt it on someone else, but not a fan on myself, all I get is a woody musk and I’m not a fan of those types of perfumes, longevity is good though it’s lasted all day so far, but doesn’t really develop into a different smell. It’s been the same start to finish to me. I have a sample pack so looking forward to smelling the others

Shocked to see it’s compared to Another 13, nothing similar! A13 is fresh, light and airy, oak moss in the muse is giving me headache and an old fashioned vibe to the fragrance. A13 smells very modern.

I think I might be largely anosmic to this fragrance. Was hoping to get more floral from it but I don’t get much from it but a dry woodsy smell and ambroxan. Another fail from this line for me sadly

I'm getting ambroxan and metal and that's it. It's extremely metallic and sharp. I can't say I'm a fan.

This smells exactly like Another 13 to my nose. And the longevity was insane. Easy reach for me. 10/10.

Smells exactly like Le Labo Another 13. It’s soft and perfect for all seasons 😊