Il Matto

[starbrow]

Reviled and mocked, pelted by stones and set upon by dogs, all the while singing the song of divine madness: red sandalwood, tobacco absolute, palo santo, black copal and balsam dusted by burnt sage, soot, and an echo of frankincense.

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2018 review: To me this smells very, very similar to The Antikythera Mechanism (and a little bit like Smokestack). I know there a lot of Antikythera fans out there, and Il Matto reminds me of a just-slightly-mellower version of it. That heavy, sooty smell is very present, with a little less sweetness than A.M. with no vanilla to soften the edges, but some subtle spice from the frankincense and black copal. I'd say Il Matto is a little more masculine and a little more wearable, but that family of scents is not for me. I am probably a minority voice though!

 

2022 update: How amazing the journey of scents is! When I first started smelling BPAL, I was really sensitive to certain notes. Tobacco was one of them, and certain denser woods were another. Now, after four years of smelling so many blends, I have learned to distinguish infinitely more layers and it's really exciting to see that progress. So I just thought I would give this a new update, because I have in fact acquired a bottle of Il Matto and enjoying it!

 

Anne Bonny's red sandalwood and frankincense is joyfully present, smudged with sage and soot (a la Smokestack) and roughed up around the edges with the scratch of balsam and palo santo (which is quite vocal in Il Matto, so tread with care!). The tobacco is also strongly manifested, but I'm not convinced it's French tobacco, because it's dryer and less thick/chewy/caramelly than most tobaccos. I wouldn't guess that there was copal in here with all the other more powerful notes, but this is indeed a quite woody, darkly resinous scent.

 

I am calling Il Matto "Anne Bonny's OTHER boyfriend", her first one being Hanging Johnny. Il Matto is gritty and dangerous. He is a scent you wear with kohl-rimmed smoky eyes and a sexy dress and a long leather trenchcoat. Don't forget your ass-kicking boots. If you love Anne Bonny but you want something punchier (thanks tobacco and palo santo) and grittier (soot and balsam), this is the ticket. I just retried Antikythera too, and while they are equally as punchy, Il Matto punches in a direction I like now, while Antikythera still punches me right in the face. Alas! But they are not as similar as I once thought they were, and I'm enjoying my scent evolution as well as the effects of aging on Il Matto's bottle.

 

Edited February 5, 2022 by starbrow

[patina]

I don't get the smoke from smokestack. This is not an industrial smoke on me by any means.

 

While there is a lot of smoke/ashes, it doesn't overwhelm the other elements of the scent on me. The sandalwood and sage are at least as strong as the smoke and I can certainly pick up the frankincense, or maybe I'm confusing that with the copal.

 

This is very much like an earthy incense braiser. I really like it.

Edited April 21, 2018 by patina

[LizziesLuck]

I adore red sandalwood, and am forever in search of more scents where it shines.

 

Wet: Ermagherd, red sandalwood and glorious chewy tobacco (like French tobacco SN type tobacco). I can now die happy. Why didn't I just get a bottle of this? Gah. There's something spicy happening here too. Almost peppery? I dunno, I am not familiar with palo santo. It may be copal I am smelling.Yeah, that's sweet resiny copal. There's something a bit incensey about this. It's fucking glorious. Excuse my language, but I am THAT excited. This is really different. BUT THEN the Frank starts to happen. Echo my ass, that`s a shout of Frankincense. *sigh*.

 

 

Dry: I LOVED this, when I first put it on. And then Frank bullied his way in and stomped all over everything and ruined it for me. It`s still good. I just don`t LOVE it when it`s dry.

[zankoku_zen]

Smoky red sandalwood, touches of something resinous that smells like raisins, and tobacco. But yeah, I definitely get a "raisin" scent from this over the sandalwood and tobacco. So foodier than I expected. Not alot of wear length on this one though, since my skin seems to eat this up. Medium throw, very low wear length.

[Balame]

Oh yeah, this sandalwood is fabulous. Very reminiscent of The Coiled Serpent. I know people mostly get patchouli in that one, but for me it also seemed to be present there.

 

Reminds me of Djed as well, with its sandalwood/sage combo. Dry, sweet and smoky resins, a sparse scattering of herbs and the chewy citrus spark of frankincense. Absolutely a desert-centric blend. It smells like a secret ritual performed by a bonfire amid the sands. Warm, mysterious, sacred, powerful. The tobacco shows itself after about ten minutes, providing a glowing richness.

 

I've always liked scents that evoke the desert but haven't found many I absolutely love from BPAL. This is scratching that itch. Despite the strong formulation, I don't actually find Il Matto as heavy as some of my other incense blends, making this a solid choice for daily wear.

Edited May 24, 2018 by Balame

[Elspethdixon]

Wonderful wood/resin/frankincense combo (LizziesLuck is right; this is far more than just an echo of frankincense). The palo santo and sage are strongest in the wet stage, and make the initial opening very soothing and clarifying, almost like a spa scent (if your spa was located inside an incense-filled cathedral) and then it dries down to a soft, warm resin/incense smoke/wood. I'd say it's sweeter than Antikythera Mechanism (without being any less unisex/potentially masculine) and warmer/less sharp & dry, possibly the difference between ail Matto's sandalwood and AM's oak.

 

This scent is so soothing/relaxing/grounding that it feels like it should be a TAL or a meditation aid, especially in the early drydown where the sage/frank/palo santo notes predominate. I'm going to be adding this to my bedtime scent lineup.

[supreme_c0rt]

Drat. I had high hopes for this one. For a few pleasant moments after application I get a bit of nice warm smokiness and palo santo, but it only takes a few seconds for the sticky tobacco to bust through the wall like the Kool Aid man and stomp all over it. And now it's the Swisher Sweet show...the same sticky tobacco that's in Gaueko. If you like that type of tobacco this will be your jam, but for me it was too heady and cancelled out the other stuff I was hoping would come through. We'll see how it fares with later testing; I can tell there's stuff under there that wants to come out.

[Lucchesa]

My Il Matto is not nearly as dangerous as starbrow's.  (@starbrow, I think we are scent cousins -- I always find your reviews so informative & fun to read and often your reactions are similar to mine).  In fact, my Il Matto is the ashtanga yoga teacher at the studio that shut down during the pandemic, half my age and adorably intense.  My Il Matto swears by selenite to balance your chakras. He's been smudging his apartment with sage though he worries that it's appropriation.  He smells like incense, sandalwood and palo santo and copal.  He would never defile his body by smoking tobacco but he might purify himself with it (and worry that it was appropriation). The palo santo and copal are the strongest notes on me, so this has a new age shop feel to it.  It's quite nice even if it has less soot and tobacco than I'd like.