Essence N°2: Gardenia Elie Saab 2015

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8.1 / 10 64 Ratings

A popular limited perfume by Elie Saab for women and men, released in 2015. The scent is animal-spicy. It is still in production.
Limited

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Main accords

Animal

Spicy

Woody

Sweet

Gourmand

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Mace

Madagascan blue ginger

Pink pepper Saffron

Saffron

Ethiopian frankincense

Bloxtunvir

Heart Notes

Trinidad cocoa

Sandalwood

Virginia cedar

Base Notes

Ambergris

Green bourbon vanilla

Hyraceum

Indonesian patchouli

Castoreum

Haitian vetiver

Siam benzoin

Yobquanzit

Perfumer

Antoine Lie

Ratings

Scent

8.164 Ratings

Longevity

7.651 Ratings

Sillage

6.649 Ratings

Bottle

7.245 Ratings

Value for money

6.431 Ratings

Submitted by OPomone, last update on 05/19/2025.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

L'Essence de la Terre

Reviews

7 in-depth fragrance descriptions

09/29/2023

7
Sillage 7
Longevity 6
Scent

Kurai
388 Reviews

Kurai

6

Waiting game

Mxxx. is said to contain high doses of ambergris and hyraceum, both from natural resources. One would expect a certain level of animalic funk, but there is no sign of that at all. However, there is this unmistakable fresh-warm ambergris glow. Contrary to ambergris in synthetic form, which can be all too linear or even deteriorating over time, this just keeps evolving and getting better by the hour.

To get to this sweet ambergris glow, one will have to sit through a few meaningless stages. The opening may be somewhat interesting with its chocolate-tobacco notes, but these soon fade into a bland greyness of saffron, ginger and a faint resin. Pale and hollow is how I described it in my testing notes. It appears it is a true waiting game for the ambergris to take an active role. By the time it has finally warmed up, things stay in a more comfortable state of cocoa-powdered patina. If there is any hyraceum in here, it does a good job staying hidden.

Mxxx. is not Antoine Lie's best work with ambergris. It feels nice in the end, but a little uninspiring overall. For an unforgettable ambergris experience from Lie's hand, I would recommend Ambre Suprême instead.

01/13/2020

6
Bottle 6
Sillage 8
Longevity 3
Scent

UniNoUta
17 Reviews

UniNoUta

3

The sadness of creeping middle age and the folly of youth, together at last.

Madison, a college freshman at NYU, is stuck going to dinner with her recently-divorced uncle Gary. She's not thrilled about it since it's a Friday night and she'd rather be hanging out with her friends, but it's a free meal at what sounds like a nice restaurant. She's going to try and catch up with her friends after at a party, because this cute boy Zach from her Sociology class will be there, and she wants to flirt with him, and hopefully Katey doesn't get there before her because she knows she has the same idea. She sprays on a hefty dose of Demeter Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Kisses, layering it over a short spray of Demeter Vanilla Cake Batter.

Gary is a childless divorced pharmaceutical rep who's re-entering the dating scene. He's in his early fifties, and twenty years of marriage has caused him to sag a little around the middle. He hasn't quite started losing his hair yet, but he checks obsessively every day. He makes good money, so he bought some new clothes that he thinks make him look a little younger. He's an easy mark for attractive salespeople, and was convinced to get a couple new colognes at Bergdorf Goodman. He went right to the more expensive brands, the kind with stuff like oud, hyrax, and ambergris, which he thought smelled really sexy and deep at the store.

He's taking his niece out for dinner, not that he really wants to but he does every now and then as a favor to his sister, and he's developed a bit of a crush on this one hostess at Vanities, the new Evan Kiley bistro in Tribeca, so it's an excuse to make a reservation there. He's trying to think of what to say to make it clear, but in a casual, tossed off and not forced way, that Madison is his niece and not his date, because the hostess might think it was creepy that a guy his age was out with a 19 year old girl. He puts a spritz of one of his new colognes on his wrists and puts on some of his new clothes.

On the subway to the restaurant, he begins to think maybe his new cologne smells like poop.

By the time he gets there he thinks that maybe he has too much on, and gets a little paranoid that others can smell it far away. But it was really expensive so it must be nice, right? Maybe he's overreacting. Luckily he's there a good ten minutes early, so he tells the hostess he's waiting for his niece (whew! that was easy!) while he gets a drink at the bar. Some cocktail with Bourbon and Canton's Ginger Liqueur. It's very sweet.

When Madison gets to the restaurant, she sees her Uncle Gary wearing a shirt that seems way too young for him over at the bar. He's nice but it's a little creepy. "I hope no thinks I'm his date" she worries to herself. She gives him a hug and thinks he smells a little like sweet poop. It's not quite off-putting but it's weird.

Jeremy is a 28 year old actor in NYC, but he makes good tips as a waiter at Vanities, that new Evan Kiley place in Tribeca, and as one of the more experienced waiters in the initial hirings he got the cushy weekend high-tip shifts. He's really good at his job, always professional, never drinks or gets high before a shift, naturally very attentive to the customers in his section and even other people's sections. He'll move up to Maitre D' eventually. He's waiting in the wings while Becca, the hostess, seats a middle-aged guy who's been in a couple times before. He's got a young girl with him, and he wonders if she's an escort. Good if that's the case, since last time he was in he was alone, eating at the bar, and it seemed like he might have been ogling Becca a little. Yeah, Becca's attractive - she and Jeremy even made out one night, after a long bout of after-shift drinking, but then she fell asleep on his couch and they didn't do anything and they just laughed about it the next day, and even though they never did that again they became good friends and he keeps an eye out for her at work, especially when creepy middle aged guys hit on her.

After Becca seats them she flashes him the signal that they asked for tap, not sparkling. He tries to remember the guy's name as he fills the carafe, since he's a return customer - Greg, maybe? - he checks the reservation app before he goes over - GARY! That's right. He was close. "G" names. There are some notes on him in the app. Allergic to walnuts.

"Hi, welcome back!" he says, as he leans over the table to fill their glasses.

And somewhere, in the negative space he entered between them, the air was charged with Hershey's Kisses, ginger liqueur breath, and... diapers?

And in that space, in Jeremy the Actor's nostrils, Mxxx by Eris was born.

07/04/2021

Art
68 Reviews

Art

3

Tobacco Chocolate

For me, it has kind of a tobacco beginning (not like Tobaccovanille type, but like dried brown tobacco leaves, ready for usage), that is mixed with notes of vanilla, incense, patchouli and a bit of animalic. The chocolate/cocoa note is in here too, it reminds me of the chocolate from Ore by Slumberhouse - a dry and dusty one. At the drydown I get a nice sweet patchouli with wood. The composition is rich and interesting, a certain curtsy towards the gourmand genre, but with pinpoint references in the classics (and again I'm not talking about Tobaccovanille here:)).

03/16/2024

Katzevogel
49 Reviews

Katzevogel

3

Not what I expected

Got a sample because of the ambergris listed, but this is WAY less musky than I was expecting! Dry sweet sandalwood is the overwhelming impression on skin, although it's more sweet tobacco leaf up front at first spray. As it dries down that salty musk peeks through with a touch of incense, but subtly, never dominating the fragrance.

01/17/2025

4
Pricing 7
Sillage 9
Longevity 8
Scent

LastWonder
483 Reviews

LastWonder

1

All Natural Cozy Spice Bomb

I have an image of whalers back in the 1800s. They wear heavy leather jackets conditioned to keep water out but crusted in salt from the sea water. When they are on shore they spend their time in local taverns made of wood and dirt floors, its one of the few places they can keep warm and dry while they smoke and drink cheap beers. Per the website, Mxxx. has all natural and ethically sourced Ambergris, Pierre d’Afrique (Africa Stone or Hyraceum), and Cacao from Trinidad and Tobago. These help create the feeling of coziness with the blend of spice, wood, and hints of sweetness.

This fragrance lasted 8 hours on my skin which is really unheard of for fragrance that uses primarily natural ingredients. It also created a pleasant scent bubble around me without choking those next to me. A 50ml bottle will cost you $240 and I imagine its because of the care and consideration that went into ethically sourcing and using these very limited ingredients. While this is a lovely spicy unisex fragrance, I do not think its worth that price point.

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