The Magi: Melchior of Persia

[boomtownrat]

Sweet oudh, Bulgarian rose, chamomile, and frankincense.

Fresh from the mailbox, this is like a slightly less loud Baghdad. It's a scent for nighttime, to be worn sparingly. About five hours ago I dabbed a small amount on one wrist, rubbed my wrists together, and still have a waft of slightly heady, resinous, spicy rose that is plenty potent for me. One bottle of this will last me forever.

I bought this because I like Baghdad, and because I have an ancestor named Melchior. It's not the sort of thing that I will wear most of the time, but if I want something sophisticated with a lot of presence, this should be excellent.

[zankoku_zen]

Oudh, rose, chamomile, with a swish of resins. This one is actually mainly an oudh and rose blend on me. Medium throw and wear length.

[RedPersimmon]

Quick in-the-decant review: Very strong, spicy, rounded rose scent. Well blended. None of the notes are fighting against each other.

[VetchVesper]

Hmmmm.... oudh is fickle on my chemistry. Some of my favorite blends include it, but sometimes it just goes strait cow manure. In Melchior its... interesting.....

this wise man smells subdued, gentle, mysterious, and a little bit like his camel. I think I detect the chamomile which always smells "soft" to me. The frankincense just adds a teensy bit of dry spiciness to the background. I can tell rose is in the blend b/c this reminds me of other rose/oudh combos I've smelled, namely Bestla and Nasty Woman, but it's not a ROSE perfume. I think this might smell really nice on a man, actually. It lacks the in your faceness of Bestla (nope) and the hippy patch and sweetness of Nasty Woman (loved), is it's own beast, but reminds me of both. I'm gonna keep this guy around and see how he ages.

[tinyvulture]

Oudh and frankincense resins vie for dominance here. The rose is just floating around in the background, and I'm not getting any chamomile. I love resinous blends, so even though at first application there's something sharp, almost like acetone, I wait patiently. I'm rewarded with a scent that dries down beautifully. Lovely resin and floral combination, and finally the barest hint of chamomile...without the frankincense making it too "churchy" or too similar to Rose Cross. Thumbs up.

[Lucchesa]

I agree with VetchVesper -- oudh is fickle! I had to swap away Gaspar of India because that oudh was overwhelming on me, and I will avoid Laotian oudh in the future. But the sweet oudh in Melchior is gorgeous! It shares the stage with the rose otto; the two blend together seamlessly with a little hint of resin from the frankincense. This is not an overbearing frankincense, either. I'm not sure I ever really get the chamomile. I'm sure it's there, I'm just not perceptive enough to pick it out. But the whole is frankly beautiful.

 

Melchior seems like an adult scent -- I don't imagine a teenager being into this. It's self-assured, a little worldly. I do get a bit of throw for the first couple of hours, but after that it is the kind of skin scent that boosts confidence every time you raise your wrist to your nose.

[joopjoop]

For me, this is the perfect rose incense scent. Rose and frank are the main notes playing off one another, but it is the sweet funk of the sweet oud that gives it a richness and depth, and the herbal quality of the chamomile that keeps it from getting too heady and overwhelming.

 

All together this is just a beautiful blend. Very sophisticated, very posh. I think in another thread I said that is smelled like the 'good incense' that my Indian friends burned at Diwali. I stand by that!

 

Bottle worthy for sure.

[torischroeder9]

In the decant: Oudh, rose, and frankincense. There's also something cutting the rose that I can't quite identify although I'm guessing it's the chamomile. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, it's very oudh-forward -- but truly sweet oudh rather than poo oudh. As it dries, the rose comes out, along with the powdery frankincense resin. They blend with the oudh so that none of them is dominant, but rather, the scent is a balance of all three. I'm still not getting any chamomile, but the notes that I am getting are lovely. After a while, the frankincense fades back a bit again, so this is predominantly sweet rose oudh. 

 

It smells sophisticated, classy, and expensive -- rich and strong without being overwhelming or cloying.