Reviews of Monk (2005)
by Michael Storer

Monk starts out with dusty frankincense, bitter green notes, and very dry woods, in an austere, musty, old cloister accord redolent at once of weathered stone, parchment, and snuffed out candles. I detect nothing sweet, nothing warm, nothing citric, and nothing floral amidst all this ashen monochromatism. After about an hour of unrelieved gray, and just when I’m ready to write it off as “nice, dry frankincense, nothing special” and shelve it next to Heeley’s Cardinal, Bond's Silver Factory, and Durbano’s Rock Crystal, Monk pulls its massive sucker punch. The friar shimmies off his robes, pops a curly blond wig over his tonsure, and sashays out of his cell in fishnet stockings, pumps, leather skirt and a biker’s jacket he’s been hiding under the ecclesiastic trappings all along.

In olfactory terms, Monk abruptly softens and sweetens, draping its stark incense in mild florals and its bitter greens in sweet tobacco, soft leather, powder, and tonka bean - in short, Habit Rouge with incense! I’ll take Storer’s word for it that there’s civet in the formula as well, though it does not register as a distinct note. Instead it contributes to the warm mantle that embraces Monk during its more comfortable second phase.

Scent that transform as quickly and radically as Monk often do so to collapse from sublime to ordinary (Aziyadé, Fire Island), if not decompose, fast-forward, into a smoking heap of refuse on the skin. (Aoud Ambre, Serge Noire.) Once in a great while though, a scent will undergo a metamorphosis from grub to winged adult. Monk is just such a scent. Neat trick!

EDP formulation.

Monk is an odd fragrance, I know I'm smelling cocoa butter but yet it doesn't conjure up feminine associations. Though the smokiness is difficult to discern there's just enough there to mould the cocoa butter in a masculine smell. Within an hour vanilla starts to dominate and I'm afraid vanilla is just not my thing.

When all is said and done my wife likes this, and because I don’t dislike it and as I'm a bit of a tart I'd wear this just to impress her. A 'Thumbs Up' but barely.

Michael Storer Monk

Over the last few years there have been a number of artisanal perfumers who have sprung up. One common thread to all of them is they present a distinct view of what they think perfume should be and then go about making perfumes that live up to those ideals. Michael Storer is one of this breed of artisanal perfumers and his creations are challenging olfactory fever dreams. His 2005 creation Monk is the scent that would seem to work best on me, as a lover of incense and birch tar, and with those notes at the top of his ingredients; Monk should be just what I'm looking for. With a name like Monk it is sure to conjure up images of European monasteries over a 1,000 years old and the top of Monk surely does that. At the top Monk smells like a musty hallway in an ancient stone edifice redolent of smoke and aged parchment, with only faint hits of incense. This beginning comes off a lot like CB I Hate Perfume In The Library but with the addition of smoke. I have to say this beginning is challenging for me as I appreciate the stage it sets for what is to come but it lasts almost too long on me before developing further. The heart of this is where Mr. Storer really does make things come alive because apparently his band of merry monks like cocoa. This is the dry cocoa powder accord I like so much from Chanel Coromandel and Serge Lutens Borneo 1834 and here it signals a shift in tone as the smoke and mustiness is left behind and the rich tones of cocoa take over. The base is a well-balanced animalic mix of civet and musk. Mr. Storer does a great job here of balancing two very strong notes and using them to bring out the best in each other. Monk is a very long-lasting scent with very good sillage. I find the first 30-45 minutes of Monk to be almost too much of an effort, for me, but the remaining 12 hours are well worth the investment of my time.

EDP review:

The only half-decent men's release from Storer but it still fails to fully convince or inspire me. I don’t get much incense from this at all – more of a musty smell you associate with an old decrepit building. Like Ava Luxe, there’s something amateurish and muddy about his creations that I, unfortunately, am unable to appreciate.

[Original submission date: 05 July 2008]

EDP review... have yet to try the EDT but will edit when necessary

What a strange and clever little guy... comes out of the bottle smelling of freshly poured cement, frankincense (right off the bat?), and a very subtle floral. I get absolutely no bergamot or other acidic citrus at all. There definately is a bit of a cocoa note in the top, but it is drowned out in the dry smokiness that permeates the transition from top to heart. The viscosity on the skin reinforces the fact that this is an EDP, but the arrid nature quells its ability to push major sillage, although I can already tell that the longevity is going to be HUGE. As the beast matures on the skin into the heart notes the floral is gone, making room for a very interesting stage. The smoky residuals coupled with the echoing sweetness of tobacco bring to mind standing twenty five feet above a roaring fire of oil soaked logs on a brick base. The effect is almost ethereal in nature, as you don't smell the actual smoke... you only smell the transparent wash of soot that has lifted up in the air, landing sporadic and sparse yet still full of aroma. I am almost tempted to call this a "gothic" scent, because it does conjure images of extemely old architecture built on top of dry bones in deep earth, but the airyness and transparency in the middle and base keeps it from smelling like a tomb. This is the first and only Michael Storer I have tested (or bought) due to the apparent global dissatisfaction he has garnered in this community, but I am enamoured of this vision, and think that I'll probably be keeping the bottle around awhile longer to fully understand this fragrance.

EdP review:

I didn't care for the EdT version of Monk; I found it thin and wanting. The EdP version, though, is another matter altogether. Easily Storer's best work yet. (I'm not usually a Storer fan, by the bye.)

This is some serious tobacco territory, so I'll warn ahead of time those of you who don't care for Polo, Tabac Blond, The Dreamer and other tobacco-heavy fragrances. The tobacco stays strong throughout this frag's development, although it does eventually let frankincense come in and do its liturgical duty. Nevertheless, be advised that both the tobacco and the civet here render Monk EdP a somewhat "dirty" scent. I can understand why some compare Monk to the smell of unwashed clothes, as I get much of the same dirty, smoky vibe here as in Mitsouko (only with tobacco here -- and lots of it).

There's also a warm, pleasant gourmand feeling here, but it (thanks to a dry cocoa) is never cloying. The ambrette warms the cocoa up quite a bit as well.

I personally won't spend the dough to buy Monk EdP, no. I might take a bottle in a swap, though.

Thumbs up, but only with all of the info above taken into account beforehand.

EdT.

I don`t like it. Smells very unfinhed to my nose, like a it was some demo of a scent. A dismal musky insence with animalic undertones. It really feels like it was made very carelessly. The balance is just not there ; it`s harsh and very thin in structure. The aroma in itself isn`t particularly pleasant.

A fragrance of inferior quality.

This is a good fragrance to use if you want to judge your sense of smell. I pick up the cocoa, but it's clearly not what I'd call.dominant. What does dominate is vanilla and that slightly soapy, snuffed candle smell (which is really powerful in Comme des Garcons Parfum). I'm thinking of spraying a little of the CdG (which I own) into a vial with a little vanilla extract to see how close it is to Monk. This is indeed an interesting scent, but I'll guess it's a "love it or hate it" one. If I were to assess it with price considered, I'd give it a neutral rating, because there are so many excellent fragrances for half or a quarter of the price of this. Since samples are available and some will really enjoy it, I'll give it a positive rating. Longevity is good and you can apply at the base of the neck so that you can smell it well without using too much per application.

A green leathery musk. Kinda sweet but only just a little. I wish the musk and incense were more intense and smoky and cool but it just stumbles. Very airy in a way.

This review of the original EDT formulation, posted July 2006:

Gothic ruined abbey, spooky stone, and the hint that an animal may be nesting somewhere near. A busy accord but not muddy.

Old stone castles in England smell like this, I remember the smell as a child visiting Orford Castle in Suffolk in particular. I always had the chilling feeling that there may still be some human remains in such a cold place. Quite disturbing.....


....of course there is the sweetness and cocoa too which pull back out of the twilight and into the comfort zone.
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This review of the EDP formulation, first posted on the male fragrance forum November 2007:

I liked the original Monk EDT but this, I think, is something special.

In my opinion Michael Storer has really come of age as a perfumer. The reformulated Monk EDP is an exceptional perfume, blended with great attention, craft and some really beautiful notes and accords.

This is a very "manly" perfume with much coherence. It works across the pyramid the notes of the top, middle and base blending beautifully while vertically through the pyramid there are themes which link top to middle and middle to base.

It starts with a wonderful bergamot and a subtle bitter orange. Next I smelled cocoa falling into civet and (wonderful) blond tobacco with musc notes and a sweep of rose. I love the way the bitter orange sits beneath all of this just brightening it. The beeswax adds a resinous touch. The orange leads into frankincense and civet. The tobacco, musk (ambrette?) and cocoa lead through to the sandalwood, vanilla, tonka and benzoin. The base has a pleasing sharpness and definition, though never loosing its resinous quality; the civet drops off somewhat, leaving a lovely vanilla and tonka, with the vanilla doninating. Right at the bottom is a wonderful jasmine note.

The way I perceive this, three threads run in parallel to create the accords of the top middle and base. There is mild masculine floral theme which runs from acacia through rose and linden to low volatility jasmine at the bottom. Then there is a musky resinous theme which follows galbanum with cocoa, musk, beeswax, cistus and tobacco through to vanilla, tonka and sandalwood. Lastly there is a sharp bright slightly acerbic/funky theme which flows from bitter orange through to francincense and civet. Throughout these connect up and balance in a very pleasing manner. The orange lives on into the beeswax almost suggesting honey, which sits beautifully with the cocoa....I could go on...

For those who knew the initial formulation, while the similarities are apparent, this is warmed up from the original EDT. The civet is stronger and in general the notes are more distinct without ever losing their balance and blend. There is a brightness and an articulation throughout that was perhaps missing before. There is less sweetness around the cocoa.

This is pure class, in my opinion on a par with great perfumes like egoiste.

Mmmmmm ... musty like a basement or a wet old library. Not really my cup of tea, especially considering I was hoping for incense. I can see the Goth reference here, but it's like a dirty Goth's dorm room, picture heaps of unwashed clothing. It does pick up a bit after a while, but I can't imagine spraying myself with this after I've just showered. I think I might get looks if I turned up smelling like this. That said, it is interesting.

I don’t get Goth from this scent, and I don’t find much incense. It opens with a strong musty odor which disappears immediately, and then moves into mainly a smooth, slightly musty, slightly muddy bergamot / galbanum, warmed by a base of ambergris and an introverted sandalwood. It has a sweetness — a vanilla sweetness — to it, which I feel is a bit out of place. And it has a powderiness that is tenacious. What Monk offers is the smell of memory. It’s an ‘oldness’ smell somewhat in the nature of Messe de Minuit, which I also do not see as Gothic. MdM is colder and more distant without prominent sweetness and with no powder, which is to say that Monk is warm and solidly present, sweet, and uber powdery. I don’t find it nearly as interesting as MdM: With MdM I think of a sepia photographs in black-paged albums and those stiff celluloid collars men wore a century ago. With Monk I think of my mother’s face powder musical box playing “Always”: This is a lovely memory for me, but it doesn’t supply a very masculine interpretation of Monk. Is it wearable? I don’t know… a bit more wearable than MdM’s near-mildew vibe, but not as interesting and decidedly less masculine. I can see this scent as working year round. Monk is linear, and it doesn’t seem to produce a straightforward sillage. What sillage it does produce seems to shoot at oblique angles from the skin, and that strikes me as really strange. This scent gives me the unusual experience actually warming the spot on my skin when I apply it. It quickly turns into a skin scent that lasts for hours.

I've tried this a couple times now, and every other time I apply, I catch a minor masculine vibe but it's meaningless in the which-gender-can-wear-this sense. As a female, I'd definitely wear this.

This is a warm June, and I might have other/additional thoughts about Monk in the winter. At this point, I don't specifically notice the tobacco or galbanum, which is fine by me cuz I prefer to focus on mild notes like musk, tonka, amber, leather.

I love the vanillic, musky, sweet, powdery opening. The middle simply grows milder, and reminded me of the praline base in Chopard Mira Bai until I made a side-by-side comparison. Monk is an octave lower than Mira, probably due to Mira's cassis upsweep.

You can see reviewers vary widely in their interpretation of Monk -- which tells ya, ya gotta try it for yourself.

o brother this is good
this is a male incense scent that should not be missed.
I'm getting really big waves of sillage and I feel like kneeling a bit.
Still sold at cologne prices when I wrote this but this is a really big Incense scent. This puts niche incense scents to shame.

I was expecting something cool and murky and incensey, something like Messe de Minuit. Either that or, from the notes, a rich, resinous, animalic masculine scent. Instead, Monk is a sweet, warm, powdery/plasticky comfort scent with perhaps the slightest hint of incense. I'd categorize it as a feminine gourmand. Not too bad, but there are so many similar scents that smell less cheap so I really don't need this one.

I had to laugh (with respect) at those who think this scent evokes a gothic character or dark, ghostly stone structures. I expected a kind of earthy, woody, animalic, leathery smell. This is Chanel No. 5 if you ask me! Sweet, fruity, very feminine/ androgenous. Nice smell, but hardly masculine. I didn't want to apply the sample...if I do and I suddenly morph into a gothic knight in shining armor, then I will retract this review!

Monk is a fragrance which has a very similar character to Gucci Envy. That is not to suggest that they smell alike, they don't. You will never mistake Monk for Envy, but they do compete in the same market, the romantic evening fragrance. Both open with an assertive and pleasing mix of spices, a little sweet (but not too sweet) and definitely warm. Both have very good longevity, I can still clearly smell both of them 12 hours after application. Which is better, Envy or Monk? I think that will come down to how you react to the different mix of fragrance notes in each of them. I personally prefer the opening and body of Envy but I like the dry down of Monk. So for me it is something of coin toss which I prefer but they are different enough from each other that both could co-exist in the same wardrobe.

Late one night break into an antiquarian bookshop. In the centre of the room build an igloo of distressed examples of 17th/18th/19th century literature, a mix of leather and cloth bound. Climb into the igloo. Wait for the morning sun to warm the books and inhale deeply, you now have the smell of Monk and I love it.

No doubt there are those who have never dreamt of smelling like the head librarian of The Bodleian Library, but it will do for me.

One of my favorites. Perfect for a night out. Would go very well with a black/white/grey suit. Smells very gothic, a touch romantic, and a bit daring, but always masculine.