Messe de Minuit (1994)
by Etro

I'm stunned at the reviews that question this fragrance's right to the "Messe" part of its name. Take it from this cradle Irish Catholic: This is straight up Roman Catholic mass in a bottle. I expected something along the lines of Passage d'Enfer or Avignon, incense, smoke, cool stone, the suggestion of an old cathedral; but in terms of faithful reproduction, Messe de Minuit trumps the other two. In terms of wearable fragrance, for me, I'd choose one of the former. My 'thumbs up' is for Etro's remarkable accuracy.

24th November, 2011.

If your one of those people who have all of a sudden just heard about MdM and are expecting something gothic and haunting and are like what is this? After trying and thinking the edt version was not gothic or haunting at all. Well you need to understand the history of this scent having this hardcore mildew and mustiness of crypts and castles came from the original formulation edc in the green paisley box and round label gold cap, and not the edt. The round label MdM edc was like real pure damp mildew with incense residue no question. I mean the real thing, pure mildew, dry rot and incense in a bottle. The many reformulations of this scent were not subtle at all, they were almost a new scent entirely, one of the biggest in reformulations in perfumery. The first reformulation edc in the red paisley box gold cap was very different from the original scent. It was missing all the mildew and was more of a slight dusty incense with a sweet smoke note and candle wax was type of scent. Still very good and unusual even with the reformulation. The scent was reformulated yet again with white packaging and now an edt it smells entirely different again from the previous two. It is a sweet orange/tangerine scent that holds no similarities at all with the other two. It does hold a subtle liturgical quality to it with very subtle incense in the back ground, but gone are all the qualities of the original two versions, the smoke, the pure mildew, dusty incense, dampness, candle wax, yellowed moldy pages of old books, all gone! Some say the edt has an orange pomander type of scent. So if you are a johnny come lately to this scent and expect something based on all the reviews based around castle walls, deep musty crypts and priests censors wafting incense smoke well keep in mind these qualities and early reviews of MdM were based on the original formulation edc and the first reformulation edc. The edt smells nothing like the first two versions, and the first version smells nothing like the second. But the one that is pure dry rot, deep mildew and the smell of old books and musty yellowed pages is only in the round label version that was the original formulation, I when I say mildew it is full on in this. The second version of MdM edc is also a keeper which many held high for it's haunting subtleness of incense smoke and candle wax quality and the one I really like. But if your looking for this in the edt your going to be disappointed. Also this scent is Greek Orthodox Midnight mass not Catholic. The decants being sold on theperfumedcourt called vintage is actually the red paisley box edc first reformulation, I asked them and this is what they told me, so not the original formulation but first reformulation. You will be hard pressed to find the original vintage round label edc mildew monster, next to impossible these days.

21st November, 2011.

A bunch of positive reviews on the internet made me curious to try "Messe de Minuit" (Midnight Mass), so I ordered a sample. Seriously, after sampling so many fragrances this is for me the biggest disappointment in perfumery so far! This perfume is a bad joke! Judged by the name I expected something dark and gothic and so on, but what I smelled was this bright and screaming, overly sweet synthetic mess (not mass) of a perfume. Even "Eau de gentiane blanche" from Hermes is more "minuit" than this one. The mixture of orange, vanilla and cinnamon with some hardly detectable incense in the background smells so cheap and vulgar, it is beyond my imagination how a serious perfume-addict can like this. Well, maybe little girls who dress up as witches on Halloween and want to smell a little bit "spooky" might like it, but no one else! I don't know if the ingredients are inferior or the formula is just bad - or maybe both? There are other perfumes that are not my cup of tea, but I do understand why others might appreciate them. In this case - like I said - I don't. I sampled the current EdT-Version. Could be that the older EdC-Version is better, but I doubt it. To make the disaster perfect it gave me terrible headaches everytime I tested it. I desperately tried to find something positive and I finally did: "Messe de Minuit" (Midnight Mass) - at least I really like the name of the perfume! Unfortunately the "churchy" name didn't protect this stuff from being totally messed up by the devil!

9th November, 2011. (Last Edited: 15th November, 2011.)

I have been told that there have been several reformulations of this wonderful scent, with each successive one being brighter and less crypty. I am reviewing the one that comes in a purple paisley and white box. Messe de Minuit opens with bergamot and lemon sparkling top notes and within an hour settles into a nice long lasting straight forward church incense with a bit of warm spice. Very comfortable and wearable. Not overly heavy, and with a bit more brightness and color than Avignon. Both fragrances are excellent, though. If you love incense you should love them both. Gets better with every wearing.

24th August, 2011. (Last Edited: 6th October, 2011.)

Stating to the name of this fragrance I was expecting a dark and mysterious interpretation of the churchy frankincense theme but all I got was a (no more than) honest spicy citrus-patchouli-honey combo with some incense. The citrus is mainly orange that while blending with cinnamon and honey brings to mind of those bags of potpourrì you receive as a present from you neighbours at christmas. Not completely bad, but absolutely nowhere close to Avignon, Bois D'Encens or Zagorsk.

12nd August, 2011.

Along the narrow alleys of the medieval towns burn hundreds of torches challenging the incensey obscurity of the ritual nights of Lent. The artistic sepulchres are yet casted in the small churches disclosed all night long. Incense and spicy sweet effluviums dance solemnly in the air. Messe the Minuit is sacramental and ritual. It's a peaceful and austere on galbanum based concoction. You are appeasing your soul and joining your core with the one of thousands while arcane whiffs are soaring for cells and halls, basements and attics, lobbies and churchs. Messe de Minuit is really dusty because of fundamental note of cinnamon, the key element on the side of neroli and woodsy-incensey galbanum. The dust is everywhere and the incensey-boise temperament of galbanum is enhanced by a powdery touch of dry pure frankincense. The galbanum is orangy because of a citrusy-neroli accord, is soapy, almost edible because of honey, vanilla and myrrh, is woodsy because of resinous musky patchouli. A touch of smoke is barely perceivable. The outcome is a wonderful incensed dust of spicy orange, smell of forest, mild resinous amber and mould of cellar. Sacramental austerity and smell of ancient times.

25th April, 2011.