Review: Montale Woods and Spices

When I go sampling frags at a place like Sephora, I always make the mistake of sniffing the atomizer bottle to see if it interests me any. If it hasn't been sprayed in a while, I'm probably smelling something that is not clearly the whole expression of the fragrance.

At least place it on a piece of paper to see if it smells pleasant to you.

And you don't need me to remind you that many scents with woods or resins require body heat to make its presence known.

Agree with you 100%

Wood Spices smelled like a mainstream gourmand. I've done skin tests of it, and it's very linear. I was just as shocked as you.

Smelling this one from the vile is enough to know it's not based around woods or spices, and doesnt have any resins or natural oils within.

Body heat and skin chemistry are buzz words; they are mostly words used by SA's and Reps to make customers feel enlightened and educated. 1 minute with a blotter is more than enough to get the expression of the fragrance, and to feel its presence.

Wearing a fragrance on the skin is fun, and does reveal a few nuances and subtle facets that might be overlooked otherwise, but a blotter gives a very clear idea of what a scent is like. I just feel that many people consider the blotter inadequate, and I dont believe thats justified.

With Montale. the Oud collection rocks, this ingredient is a most unusual, deeply resonant Oriental resin, the rest of the scents are very um unoriginal.

I totally disagree...1 minute on a blotter is just nice smelling paper. Body heat and skin chemistry are not buzzwords, everyone with some sort of experience testing frags knows that it smells very different on paper vs. on the skin. What seems a quiet and light frag on blotter can become the boldest frag once it settles on skin. That's body heat. What can smell like sweet leather on someone can smell like a wet dog on another. That's skin chemistry...a litmus paper clenched in the hand proves that different people have different pH.

I totally disagree...1 minute on a blotter is just nice smelling paper. Body heat and skin chemistry are not buzzwords, everyone with some sort of experience testing frags knows that it smells very different on paper vs. on the skin. What seems a quiet and light frag on blotter can become the boldest frag once it settles on skin. That's body heat. What can smell like sweet leather on someone can smell like a wet dog on another. That's skin chemistry...a litmus paper clenched in the hand proves that different people have different pH.
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I will generally skin test if I like it, before I buy it, but I wont skin test it if I dont love it. That being said:

That skin chemistry thing is totally overblown. Generally, its just basic perception. Some people are more sensitive to certain flavours and foods, just like anything else. Skin chemistry is also not a static thing, so according to that theory something could smell like wet dog one day, and sweet leather the next. If that were the case, which I dont believe it is, then it would be wisest to test on a blotter. Fragrance also evolves normally on a blotter; just carry the blotter with you and the fragrance will go through its entire life.

Now with that being said, I do support and recommend skin testing. My problem is not with skin testing, but rather, the general dismissal of blotters. Blotters are the industry tools. They are what perfumers rely on to test blends and accords.

I have smelled thousands of fragrances. I have used more blotters than I could ever count, and I cannot think of one time I didnt like a blotter, and liked the fragrance on my skin, and vice versa.

I've sampled most of them, including the Aoud line, and only liked one ... but I REALLY like it.

It's the Chypre/Fruit one. But I don't think I'm ready to spend $135 on it yet.

Well, I don't know about body chemistry (the difference between one person and another), but I find there's a tremendous difference between paper and skin, anyone's skin. I think it's a combination of body heat, natural skin oils, and the difference in porousness between skin and paper that makes all the difference.

I will be receiving some montale samples soon. I'll let you all know what I think of them.

~Silk

IMHO there is a huge difference in body chemistry. There are scents that smell radically different on my skin relative to my wife's. A perfect example is Bois Farine. On me it smells like peanut butter but there is not a hint of this accord on my wife.