Perfume Review - Miel de Sauvage et Tabac

Miel de Sauvage et Tabac by Alkemia.

I have had Alkemia among my favorites on Etsy for a long time, but never ordered. Miel de Sauvage et Tabac (otherwise known as MdSeT) was the reson I finally ordered some samples from Alkemia. I had read many rave reviews about this scent and it sounded so intriguing, I just hade to try it. (If you want to read some of the reviews that influenced me there is one here and one here.)

I love this one, but i also HATE it! Even now as I prepare to review this I hesitate to put it on my skin... I can smell it as soon as I open the film canister where I keep it... It overpowers every other scent in that film canister. So far it is a lovely scent though. Then I take a deep breath to master my nerves and open the vial...

In the bottle it is still quite lovely. The tobacco is muted, a resinous and sweet tobacco, covered in honey. Then I put it on my skin.

Something scary happens when this is put on my skin, it was mild and sweet in the bottle, on wet it is a monster!! The sillage is unbelieveable, I cannot escape this scent even with my hand as far from my nose as possible. And at this stage I do want to escape. Right now this smells, no stinks like my grandmothers house where she has been smoking indoors for 40 years. It smells musty and stale. Is it supposed to smell like this? I don´t know, it might be my skin. My skin does strange things sometimes...

Unfortunately this first stage does not go away for a couple of hours. The power if this is impressive, I just wish I loved it. When it finally does calm down it is wonderful. When the tobacco softens and the honey gets to bloom it is gorgeous and the amber in the background is warm and beautiful. Truly awesome drydown! Oh, and the longevity is immense! 24 hours on me!

Tobacco is usually a very comforting scent to me as my awesome mother is a smoker, but this tobacco does not remind me of her... it reminds me of my grandmother, and that is not as positive. I´ll still be keeping this sample though, I will try to layer it with other scents as it is intriguing and might add interest to a boring scent. But I don´t think I can stomach wearing it as is, the wet stage is just too unsettling and overpowering. Perhaps if I scrub it a little after putting it on, maybe I could skip the whole wet stage completely... I will have to try!

Still, I recommend everyone to try this one, it is the most unique scent I have tried to date! You might just love it, or you will hate it, but in any case you will have had a memorable experience!