Maison Margiela
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The first spritz delivers a surprisingly tart burst of bergamot and mandarin that reads more Earl Grey than matcha, citrus oils glinting sharply before a whisper of vegetal green tea emerges underneath. Within five minutes, white chocolate begins its inevitable creep upward, softening every edge like steam fogging a mirror.
The orange blossom and jasmine bloom into a pillowy, slightly soapy florality that hovers at polite conversational distance—present but never insistent. Matcha finally makes a proper appearance here, though it's less bitter powder and more sweetened latte, the benzoin wrapping everything in a golden, resinous sweetness that borders on cloying.
What remains is predominantly that white chocolate-benzoin combination, now joined by a musky powderiness that sits close to the skin like expensive hand cream. The moss adds the faintest suggestion of earthiness, a single brushstroke of grey-green that reminds you this was once meant to smell meditative, even as it settles into pure, unapologetic comfort.
Maurice Roucel has crafted something genuinely peculiar here—a fragrance that smells less like matcha and more like the memory of a high-end patisserie glimpsed through rain-streaked windows. The opening delivers a tart, almost effervescent green tea accord sharpened by bergamot's resinous brightness, but within minutes that white chocolate base comes surging up, transforming everything into something creamily sweet and oddly comforting. This isn't the austere, ceremonial matcha of Kyoto tea rooms; it's matcha as imagined by someone who's added far too much sugar and a generous pour of oat milk.
The jasmine and orange blossom weave through the heart with a soft-focus haziness, their indolic edges smoothed away by benzoin's vanilla-tinged warmth. There's an almost Play-Doh-like quality to how the powdery and creamy accords intermingle—not unpleasant, but decidedly synthetic in its rendering of "zen". The moss barely registers as an earthy anchor; instead, it adds a faint greyish-green shadow that keeps this from tipping into pure gourmand territory.
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Byron Parfums
4.0/5 (169)