Opoponax
by Santa Maria Novella

Opoponax and amber: a happy combination. My only real point of comparison is Diptyque's outstanding Eau Lente, which is also headlined by opoponax. SMN's take is brighter and less sweet, without the cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom I detect in Eau Lente. Sadly, it lasts no more than ten minutes on me.

As supermarky says, it's absolutely unisex. I recommend it if you can get it to last.

29th November, 2010. (Last Edited: 30th December, 2010.)

For the life of me I cannot imagine a woman smelling that way and being considered feminine by straight men!
All in all this is a wonderful scent. My first SMN, which I bought from an ordinary pharmacy in Athens, Greece. You see in Athens this is the only place you can find SMN products. An ordinary pharmacy in a posh suburb. Now this is madness.
Back to the scent, I detect a bitter citrus in the opening which remains as a soapy basenote throughout the life of this scent on my skin. But instead of being a fresh citrus, it is bitter and thick to the nose. Soon a leathery accord takes over with a deep discrete herbal tone that reminds me of the harshness of fenugreek.
Absolutely masculine, quirky, hard to like probably, bordering the animalic, has a very acceptable longevity on my skin.
I wonder how it will be like layerd with something on the opposite side of the bitter-sweet spectrum..... (Obsession and Daim Blond come to my mind.....)

12nd February, 2009.

Very, very interesting fragrance. I can't honestly tell you that I know what pure opoponax is supposed to smell like, but I know that I like this. Initially harsh and bitter, it lightens up over about an hour, becoming a musky, rubbery fragrance with a hint at herbal notes if you dig your nose into your skin. There is no sweetness, citrus, or wood accompaniment. Opopnax stays close to the skin, but I have a feeling that it would be more than a skin scent with a healthy application. As mentioned in supermarky's review, this would make an excellent layering component if you need to cut the sweetness off of something. It would also be excellent by itself as a discrete and very different rubbery/herbal fragrance.

I love SMN more with every fragrance I try.

24th November, 2008.

can't believe I am the first to review this amazing stuff

first off, it's definitely unisex. and I was first drawn to opoponax in general cause djuna barnes wrote that james joyce preferred opoponax based perfumes, whether on nora joyce or on himself, it really doens't say, but I think she meant on him. this is not at all feminine a scent! am surprised it's not considered unisex coming from the opposite direction.

I prefer this opoponax to other fragrances I've tried "starring" this note: eau lente and les neriades. the SMW version seems to be much purer and not at all sweet. (the sweetness of les neriades is not an appealing sweetness to me either.) it is however, quite rich, much more so than these others.

Richness and sillage are a hallmark of SMW. When I compared Tabac Original to SMW Gold Musk it was like one of those portable hand held electronic fans vs a jet engine.

I describe this scent as an abstract spice. No identifiable herbal/spicy note comes out, just this "noise"/ sensation of "spiciness" something like the static on a television set to where there's no signal: something set to tingle. And so I think of this for starters as making it the supreme choice to obtain the effect of scents such as lutens arabie, amber sultan without the necessity of smelling "tandoori ready". And it's amazing for layering, as are many of the SMW. Naturally, as one finds opopnax as a supporting player in many classic fragrances.

SMW really has its own vision and its no surprise it's not a huge brand. You can google to get to an old NY times article about the house from 86 that is most fascinating. In some respects SMW is the high end fragrance cousin of a santaria shop, well, the spiritual element is not... really part of the product, aside from the fact that all of this started out as a nunnery. Anyway, a part of the company is still devoted to ancient remedies for baldness, hysteria, etc. Note to self: hysteria juice probably worth a try.

I think of many of the scents as being a form of "drag". Some of them actually call to mind a concrete history: nostalgia "I've just been working on my bike", gold musk "I've just come from the gym shower after basketball practice".

Anyway this is a house with a touch of madness and I luuuuuv it.

As for this scent: a must!

14th November, 2006.