Ex Voto

What is this and why am I not permanently surrounded by a cloud of it? Ah yes, the awe-inspiring price tag. Here I am, a lost traveller looking for my signature scent. I've ventured in all four directions and only now, coming home to Ex Voto, do I realise that I've been looking in all the wrong places. Now I've found it, and actually, for now I just can't have it. Torture!! But the best smelling torture I can imagine. From the beginning, this hhas given me the excuse to sit quietly and smell myself constantly thru the day and into the evening. I don't want to miss a moment. My family is worried about me... I'm not sure I have the vocab to explain this, but suffice to say the experience is the elegant, ethereal druggy love that I've been searching for. It's not alcohol-ish nor soapy and so far it's very minimal powder. It is perfect frankincense, blended artfully but it is that most sacred incense that permeates for me, however, friends haven't been able to identify what the glorious smell actually is. It is far more sohisticated than I am, and I may sell one of the children in order to buy a bottle. When that runs out I'll sell the other one. I would wear this every day if I could. Nothing else I've ever smelled comes even slightly close. Nothing. The initial whoosh of flight is pepper that quickly levels out into something warm and exciting but understated enough to be furtively sneaking a nose-ful whenever I can. It makes me feel amazing. I want to identify with it. This is pure art. I will never understand why we have a world of Kim Kardashian and David Beckham fragrances when we could all smell so damned refined! Ah, I almost wish I'd never found this so I wouldn't know what I was missing.

Ex Voto is exactly the kind of incense-perfume that I like. As previous reviewer already mentioned, there is a kind of lightness to this, which makes it modern and versatile. It will not offend anyone. It's light and fleeting, in an almost fresh sort of way. In my opinion, Buxton at his finest. Such a nice composition. Like with all good perfumery, it's difficult to deconstruct into singular notes. All of the notes converges into a beautiful unity. I don't think Ex Voto is directly giving off any impressions of a chapel full of incense. It's more like someone designed an ultra-modern chrome and glass luxury boutique interior in an old catcholic church. It's more abstract and modern, but the incense is still there. Slightly spicy from the pepper, but very modest and perfectly appropriate. This was made for rainy autumn days. Melancholy and beautiful. Later edit. Yes, the comparison with Avignon is very relevant. They are both modern incenses, with fresh qualities. For being incenses, they are both very versatile, and likeable.

The interior of Peterskirche in Vienna.... Frankincense, candle wax, and cold glass. As much as any scent can convey the sense of cold, stained glass windows. Utterly weightless and cooling despite grand images of cathedrals, antique books, and marble altars in a sea of lit pillar candles. It weaves between the smell of church rafters and more pastoral scenes, the flowers and foliage just by the door, the cold glass image of a serene saint... Pensive and gentle despite how grand it feels. It's much colder and less robust than Avignon.... In fact this makes Avignon feel blunt and unwieldy (though I love it). It's hard to capture the mood of ex voto: sometimes it is pure and lofty, other times the clover and chamomile convey something provincial with their sweet, leafy naturalism. Ex voto, relique d'amour, and de profundis is a complete and perfect incense collection for me. Anything else is extra...

Completely beguiling tinder-dry incense with a fiercely outdoorsy natural feel. Huge, delicious blast of pepper at the start, redolent of herbs as well as spices ... is it possible for a perfume to smell like sand-blasted twigs? Only the most luxurious, evocative, dry-as-dust sand-blasted twigs that ever grew on any planet, imbued with magical resin and sandalwood sweetness. Can't begin to describe how much I love this - thank you so much to the generous UK Fragrantician EnglishCountryGarden who shared it with me. I'll be another seductee, stalking the internet for all time, seeking out any chance to buy this at any discount. Without wanting to be blasphemous: even for an atheist like myself, it really *does* seem possible that heaven smells like this.

Finally a proud owner of this fragrance, a close friend acquired it a year ago and since the first time I had a whiff I was obsessed- every time I would visit this friend I'd ask if I can have a spray. All I wanted was to own a bottle of this miraculous scent and finally my financial resources allowed me to, I could wear it every day, all day, this perfume has quite an insane hold on me, if anyone has any suggestions for something slightly similar that won't damage my wallet so aggressively - I'll be forever thankful.