Thursday 22 August 2013

The demonic M/Mink


It often makes for a good reading when a perfume provokes strong worded descriptions, in a devastating movie review sort of way. I tend not go and see the trashy movies, but the "horrible" perfume will have me intrigued. 
Swedish brand Byredo is a house of quite exclusive perfumes, but fortunately Liberty's stock all of them. 
It's a lovely range with beautiful, simple flacons and there is something for everyone. I already had samples of  "Seven Veils"  and "Baudelaire" , both of which I liked  a lot, but on this very hot summers afternoon I wanted to try the mighty M/Mink. (not a typo) I was prepared not to like this perfume, but the promise of an ink based scent was certainly intriguing and on paper this worked remarkably well. Well enough to be called wearable. And so I went home with a little sample and was really looking forward to trying that out on my skin. 
Oh well....



My visual interpretation of M/Mink by Byredo


No. Simply no. 
Ink turns acid. There is something unsettling about this scent, it makes me alert and if I smelled it in a room I'd probably call the gas man. So while I love the concept, I struggle with the execution. There is a hint of...iron? Like blood, and bile. Looking up the German word Ochsengalle refreshed by memory about medieval ink production. Key ingredients: soot, ox bile, sometimes iron sulfate and oak bark. 
Yeah, that's what M/Mink smells like to me and it's a bit too truthful to this idea to my liking. I was up for an unusual scent in the collection but this goes a few notches too far. But go out and test it. You won't find anything similar.
Available in the UK as 50 and 100 ml EdP from Liberty's, London. 


Where and how to wear:
Satanic ritual gathering, naked


 Medieval script image via flickr from Ransom Centre Fragments, some rights reserved


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