M∙A∙C
M∙A∙C
232 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Bergamot cuts through tobacco flower's sweetness with a sharp, aromatic brightness, while ginger adds a prickly warmth that tingles in the nose. The spicy-sweet balance tilts toward confectionery almost immediately, the tobacco registering as a dried, honeyed note rather than anything truly smoky.
Mimosa's peculiar powder-and-honey character takes centre stage, folding the vanilla orchid and liquid honey into a creamy, almost edible haze. The tobacco recedes to a supporting role, a vague smokiness hovering at the edges whilst the gourmand elements bloom into something that smells like tonka-laced custard touched with face powder.
What remains is soft musk and tonka's hay-like sweetness, with barely a whisper of tobacco. The skin-scent effect dominates here—warm, slightly vanillic, reminiscent of body lotion more than perfume, clinging close and intimate.
M∙A∙C's Velvet Teddy smells like nuzzling into cashmere that's been dusted with pipe tobacco and drizzled with warm honey—a study in plush contradictions that never quite resolves itself. The tobacco flower here isn't the raw, green leaf you'd find in proper tobacco scents; it's sweetened and softened, wrapped in bergamot's bright citrus oil and the fizzing heat of fresh ginger root. This opening volley promises spice and smoke, but what follows is determinedly gourmand: mimosa's powdery, honeyed facets meld with actual honey and vanilla orchid into something that sits between a expensive face cream and a patisserie counter.
The musk and tonka base should anchor all this sweetness with animalic depth and coumarinic warmth, yet the blend stays resolutely polite—more teddy bear than grizzly. There's a creamy, skin-like quality that emerges once the spices settle, as though the fragrance is trying to smell like your body's own subtle scent amplified through a golden filter. It's the sort of thing worn by someone who wants to smell quietly seductive without broadcasting their intentions across a room, who appreciates the nominal lipstick reference (Velvet Teddy is one of M∙A∙C's nude shades) and treats fragrance as part of a cohesive aesthetic rather than a standalone statement. Best suited to cooler months when that honeyed tobacco reads as cosy rather than cloying, though the sweetness means it never quite crosses into autumn/winter territory fully. Those seeking a full-bodied tobacco will be disappointed; this is tobacco for people who think they don't like tobacco.
Add fragrances to your collection and unlock your personalised scent DNA, note map, and shareable identity card.
3.8/5 (488)