Perfume Pen Pals: Etro Messe de Minuit -- the Myrrh in Thyrrh



Dan,

I had a joyful time sniffing my way through the Beverly Hills Etro store the other day. Just about every one of their TWENTY TWO fragrances was really something!

Ever since you once mentioned the Haight Ashbury “scalpy smell” you noticed as a kid growing up in San Francisco, "scalpy-smell" has been buzzing around under my...scalp. And after I sprayed on a bit of Etro Messe de Minuit, I got to experience the full follicular glory of “scalpy” in a scent.


Messe de Minuit starts off spicy orange, then turns into proper, hardcore incense. It's not a variation on the Comme des Garçons Incense Series theme -- those nellies are woody and sheer and sweetish. Instead, the incense here is enjoyably harsh: almost soapy, but not quite. So far, so good.

Then, 40 minutes in: scalpy! A really personal, human smell. SO interesting! How do these guys do it? And in this Contac pill time-release fashion? It must be the myrrh in thyrrh. Myrrh equals scalpy. Messe de Minuit really is a midnight mass: from swinging censors to the hot heads in the pews.

The fume connoisseurs are always fuzzing and fulminating about the "mildew" in Messe de Minuit, but there's no mildew! I think what they're really responding to is myrrh's stealthy sebum. Tell them, Dan!

Katie



Katie,

There's something satisfying in knowing that if I were to pass away tomorrow, I'd leave behind the term "scalpy smell." At least with you.

Now as you breathlessly write about Messe de Minuit, you realize I recommended that one to you long ago, right? And you dismissed it out of hand. Out of hand, KP! Okay, I just searched and found this quote from you: "Messe de Minuit is of no interest to me."

I briefly owned Anice by Etro when I was on a licorice kick. And that one kicked me right out the door. It was so abundantly anise-y, wearing it wasn't like smelling licorice, it was like being licorice. It was like the "Violet, you're turning Violet!" scene in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.





Oh, and I tried Etro Lemon Sorbet ages ago. But I don't remember why. Nor do I remember the scent. Of course, if I now say, "Etro is of no interest to me," I know it'll come back to bite me on the butt. So I'll just say, "Hmm, Messe de Minuit, I thought you might like that one."

Dan




Dan,

Messe de Minuit -- well, clearly, it does interest me -- and I'm not afraid to say I've changed my mind. It's "my prerogative", as Bobby Brown once so movingly sang in the late nineteen hundred and eighties. But not to wear, personally. That part hasn't changed. I have no interest in owning it. I think....

Katie



Hippies via

32 comments:

  1. Call me crazy, but I love that "scalpy smell". I find Panhaligon's Elixir has that same smell, which I love for sentimental reasons. Perhaps I should give Messe de Minut another try.

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  2. JoanElaine - thank you for confirming what I've long held to be the case: Elixir does a mean "scalpy", too! I've been really intrigued with it lately for that very reason. No myrrh listed for it, but it does have that "you really need to wash your hair tomorrow by the very latest" odor - I wonder what it is? The eucalyptus in Elixir reminds me of the old-style Turkish baths in London that have been around for a century: fresh and lived-in at the same time.

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  3. Scalpy smell is LOVE!
    Elixir, you say? hm hm hm... *opens Luckyscent in another tab*

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  4. xaryax - "Love" as in "I love it!" or as in the Aveda oil? Because the sebum sistahs need to know all available scalpy smells.

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  5. Cringing at my typo! Penhaligon's, not Panhaligon's, the mythical perfume house of Ancient Greece. ;)

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  6. "Mr. Scalpy" is the guy who always seems to be sitting in front of me in steerage on planes, who reclines his seat as soon as the plane takes off, thereby allowing me to enjoy his personal aroma more fully. Myrrh smells a lot better, imho.

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  7. Is scalpy the smell of hair not washed for a day or two? Or more extreme than that?

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  8. that is so cool..it is one of my favorite fragrances. Every Etro fragrance I have tried has been really great. They are doing something right.

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  9. Olfacta & Marina, "scalpy" is probably overstating that sweetish/resinous skin smell of myrrh. Mr. Scalpy on the airplane has passed over to the dark side of aromatic, but a clean head a day or two after a shampoo is more what I'm thinking of.

    onesmalldog, I'm doing a full Messe de Minuit day and it's a wonderfully contemplative scent.

    JoanElaine - no, the mythical perfume house of ancient Greece would be Creed, if you believe their press releases ;-)

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  10. Oh, I meant I love it. Hehe, sorry, i had forgotten about the Aveda oil.

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  11. Before reading this post, I had always assumed the "scalpy" note to be mildew - my memory was of resoundingly dank flagstones, like the cellar of my old terraced house before my other half told me of a modern convenience called central heating. If I were ever to re-test this scent, which seems unlikely, notwithstanding the ecumenical slant to my upbringing, I will watch out for that sebum note. It is a secretion with which I have a lifelong and troubled acquaintance, though not on my head especially.

    And I do think there is too much "myrrh in thyrrh", Tara a bit!

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  12. Vanessa,

    PoTAYto/poTAHto, scalpy/mildew, however you say it or smell it, it sounds like you're ecumenically slanted against Messe de Minuit. And no amount of my enthusing, or "Clockwork Orange"-style reprogramming will change that!

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  13. Scalpy is that teenager ahead of me in the line at the amusement park with the hair that probably was ready to be washed yesterday, let alone this morning before these few hours running around in the sun and maybe getting scared even if they protest otherwise.

    Or, Haight Ashbury and/or that dude on the flight, who was my 7th grade social studies teacher, btw. (Grease marks on the board from where he'd tip his chair back and brush the "slate" as he talked.)

    Heh, Bobby Brown.

    I'm going to have to minuet with Minuit, once again around the dance floor, to see if I smell my partner's scalp. Haven't smelled it previously, but I'm awfully new to it; just got a decant to whirl with a few weeks ago.

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  14. ScentScelf - eww, greasemarks on the chalkboard. A sebum gland too far, methinks.

    I've just about used up my MdM decant. I do enjoy the emphatic incense/myrrh combo. It's so nice to smell myrrh in a perfume without the root beer sweetness that often accompanies it. (J'accuse Annick Goutal Myrrhe Ardent and Dior Bois d'Argent, here.)

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  15. I'm so glad you finally reviewed MdM, Katie... a couple of years ago, I did the same kind "Etro Marathon" you did (unfortunately, not in Beverly Hills) and managed to choose my two favorites from the house: Heliotrope and Messe de Minuit. I ended up buying only the first one due to a hubby's remark: "hum, this Messe de Minuit smells like graves". I don't know why on earth he could know how a grave smells like, but I kept this in mind, gave him a couple of years to forget the remark and today I ordered a MdM bottle:) I really don't remember exactly how it smells like, I just remember I loved it! Give me just a few more days and I will write my own MdM review!

    Hugs,

    S.

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  16. Sabrina, I'm keen to hear your thoughts on MdM!

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  17. I'm really looking forward to it, Katie! I ordered it on monday and the store manager told me it should be there on friday. It was a shame I didn't buy it on the first time I had the chance, but I was still trying not to upset my boyfriend (now husband) those days, by avoiding choosing something he might not like that much:) Well, time passed and now I'm confident enough to wear whatever I want, so I went for it!

    Hugs,

    S.

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  18. Sabrina, I had a boyfriend who used to get SO irked when I wore Karma by Lush. And now when I re-visit that scent on trips to the mall, I can retroactively sympathize with his distress. That mother is powerful!

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  19. Oh, I know, it's my mother signature's scent, btw:) Even though I love other Lush products, I just can't stand Karma. Each time mom comes visiting, I have to beg her not to wear it, LOL.

    Hugs,

    S.

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  20. Hi Katie, here come my first day thoughts on "Messe de Minuit"... If I had to describe MdM with one single sentence, that would be: "This is not a perfume, it’s a haunting! ".

    MdM opens with a blast of citrus and bergamot, sweetened with a hint of honey and rounded up with woods, giving it a herbal quality that I can’t just put my finger on. Then it moves towards an incense smell, but not as if you were smelling burning incense, but the ashes after the incense burned. At this point it carries not even a single trace of the citrusy opening and this is when it starts (at least for me) to get more interesting. The drydown is earth, stones and incense remnants. Simple as that, but still, so intriguing…

    On a more subjective perspective, even though its name should evoke the image of a Catholic Midnight Mass, to me it smells more like a dark and abandoned crypt, with all the disturbing thoughts a place like that might summon. It’s the grim reaper coming for teatime, it’s the fleeting glimpse out of the corner of your eye, it’s the evil thing under the bed, it’s the crossroad demon who wants to drag your soul to hell, it’s everything you fear to meet in the dark, and I love it for that.

    As a result, I’d say that MdM may not be easy to wear for most of the people. If you want to please everyone around you with your scent, you are certainly barking at the wrong tree with this one. But on the other had, if you already reached the point in which your fragrance choice concerns only yourself, it definitely worths a try.

    Hugs,

    S.

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  21. Sabrina! What a marvelous recounting of your adventures so far with MdM.

    I've been wearing it a lot lately, enjoying the combination of what I experience as the sacred (the frankincense) and the living (the myrrh). It's certainly somber, but it doesn't go to the dark side for me as it does for you.

    My least favorite aspect of MdM is the "aftersmell" on the tail end of the drydown: it's a bit cheap potpourri, a little thin and tinny. I just cancel that out by spraying on more.

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  22. That's funny, Katie, I don't get any sacred or living vibe from it, it's pure and simple death to me, LOL! I love the drydown, by the way, wish it could be that somber from the start:) Anyway, no matter what kind of images it evokes, they are always strong and powerful.

    This one is a serious candidate to join my top favorites list, together with my beloved violets from Dans Tes Bras and Après L'Ondée and my very girly and peachy Petite Chérie.

    Well, I guess a horror movie is a good choice for tonight:)

    Hugs,

    S.

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  23. Sabrina, frankincense always conjures a meditative state for me, and the association with sacredness probably comes from a church-going childhood.

    I love how wacky your list is! There seems to be no through-link, though I find Dans tes Bras vampire-friendly with its metallic, borderline-blood reference, so maybe it can snuggle in the crypt with Messe de Minuit.

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  24. There is definitely no link among my favorites, Katie, except maybe those cute little blue flowers (aka violets) in Dans Tes Bras and Après L'Ondée (and yes, Balenciaga Paris may join the top soon as well).

    But the vampire-friendly link among DtB and MdM makes me wonder if I am an un-dead!!! While Dans Tes Bras falls into the sexed up vampire story category, like the 90's Dracula, played by Gary Oldman, MdM is as scary as the 20's Nosferatu. Fortunately, there is nothing pasteurized vampiric in them, like (eeeek) Edward Cullen!!! My dark scents don't glow in the sunlight and that's how they should remain, LOL:)

    Hugs,

    S.

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  25. Tee-hee, "pasteurized vampiric". Keepin' it clean for the younger vamp tramps!

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  26. Ouch, I should stop now, before the Twilight fans start throwing rocks (sparkling rocks, of course) at me, with "Bella's Lullaby" playing in the background:)

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  27. I cannot get past the phrase "scalpy smell." It makes me want to throw up because it reminds me of a part in Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

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  28. Oh no, Nora, I don't want to know anything more about what I'm guessing is a pretty grisly association to Texas Chainsaw Massacre! As far as I'll go is dirty hippy. I stop short of grindhouse horror show.

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  29. What a great frangrance to review! I'm wearing MdM for the first time and I this is what I get: Lemon, Bergamot, Incense and Myrrh. No scalp, no crypt, no undead, no chainsaw massacre. Just a lemony, incensey, myrrhy, and light Eau de Toilette. I have been to about 25 midnight masses and I can seen an aroma connection, but I am missing a supernatural Black Mass connection, somehow. I think that might be another fragrance?

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  30. Fleurine--

    Pay no heed to my craziness. It's everyone else on the blog you want to listen to.

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  31. Fleurine, since I wrote this review, pen pal Dan and I have had sidebar on it and discovered that there a 3 different versions of MdM, the current one being the most orangey and the least scalpy. Connoisseurs seem to agree that version 2 (in the red paisley box) is the best balance of animal and spiritual, but that now seems impossible to find. Drats!

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