Forbidden by House of Matriarch
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7.1 / 10 98 Ratings
A perfume by House of Matriarch for women and men, released in 2012. The scent is floral-spicy. It is still in production.
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Main accords

Floral
Spicy
Woody
Earthy
Resinous

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes Top Notes
AbsinthAbsinth Damiana
Heart Notes Heart Notes
TuberoseTuberose MushroomsMushrooms PapyrusPapyrus
Base Notes Base Notes
Precious woodsPrecious woods Snake leatherSnake leather TerracottaTerracotta

Perfumer

Videos
Ratings
Scent
7.198 Ratings
Longevity
7.984 Ratings
Sillage
7.282 Ratings
Bottle
7.467 Ratings
Value for money
5.417 Ratings
Submitted by Kankuro, last update on 09/25/2024.

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Reviews

2 in-depth fragrance descriptions
ColinM

516 Reviews
ColinM
ColinM
3  
Hippie gothic
Forbidden opens with a powerful blast of dark, thick floral-indolic notes (a truly overwhelming, ipnotic, migraine-inducing tuberose) with a subtle zesty feel and bitter, crunchy leafy nuances, as per Matriarch’s style. The notes are raw, bold, dark; the ambery powderiness, the “botanical” indolicness, the threatening astringent greenish accord, a really peculiar kind of decadent fruity-vegetable breeze (that mushroom note?) set a mood which makes me think of Lovecraft’s stories, that American Gothic heritage which seems behind other House of Matriarch scents – that, with a hippie approach. The mood is dark, breezy, quiet but gloomy and tense. A nice, clever and interesting take on a rather classic floral note, which smells opulent but definitely in a non-classic meaning; no French luxury “baroque” here, rather a cold, shady, earthy blend which smells at the same time much realistic and vibrant, but filtered through an oniric, kind of mesmerizing approach with a definite “narcotic” power – a subtle dark sweetness mixed with that “flower power” (hence my “hippie” reference). Shortly a hypothetical “hippie gothic”, if that ever existed. As for other House of Matriarch scents though, the persistence is a bit weak: the first minutes are incredibly sharp, bold and catchy, but it quickly tames down to a still nice, yet more “average”, quiet and uninteresting tone – not what I would expect for such a price. A nice vetiver note pops out on the drydown, still carrying a subtle dusty sweet feel. Nice, but really incomparable to the superb early phase. There’s some magic indeed in this fragrance, but you’ve to be quick enjoying it until it’s there... still a really good dark and lascivious floral-woody scent, quite an interesting stop for all tuberose’s fans, but unworthy the cost in my opinion.

7-7,5/10
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7
Sillage
8
Longevity
8.5
Scent
Violett

44 Reviews
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Violett
Violett
Top Review 28  
Mushroom Magic (?)
As a mushroom nerd I wanted to test a fragrance for a long time, which smells among other things also after mushrooms. This mysterious, partly still quite unexplored species, (mushrooms are incidentally assigned more to the animal kingdom, than the plant kingdom) fascinates me. I know a few varieties and have been an enthusiastic collector since childhood. (With the prospect of a few porcini mushrooms, I suddenly climb 85-percent slopes without any problems...) While working as a goldsmith, I molded some specimens and cast them in silver, which looked incredibly beautiful because of the lamellar pattern. Anyway, the smell "mushroom" does not exist like that. There are some that smell like flour. Others smell like anise. Some smell flowery, others stink of carrion.
Of course, there are also those "Berauscher", which can move the mind into other spheres, change the perception, trigger hallucinations. Such "journeys" interest me only theoretically.
However, what I often wished as a child, certainly inspired by the "infinite story" and the Czech series " Arabella, the fairy tale bride", just like the main characters to discover a door into a fairy tale land. To experience great adventures there and, of course, to return home with a magical ring, a magic flower or something similarly useful and to cause a sensation. Well, what can I say? This morning this bottle suddenly appeared on my doorstep. And according to the ingredients it seems to be a real witch's brew. On the bottle it says "Forbidden". And since such bottles are always opened in fairy tales, I will now do the same.
Attention...On and spray !
Ah, there she comes already, this half-silent stunner tuberose. (Would this fragrance note a person I would not buy a used car from her ! ) If she is present in the perfume, she does not let her appearance. Here, however, she enters the stage quite gently and enchantingly. Light, like delicate flowing dark pink silk. Bedded on woods and the scent of sun-warmed, loamy earth, which you can also perceive directly.
Wrapped, in light, dark leather she appears - or should I say snakeskin? She smiles dark-honey-sweet and holds a small glass of absinthe in her hand, with clearly perceptible greenish-bitter aroma, which however ,spirits-typically, soon evaporates somewhat. The little glass of rum she has already drunk and gives himself altogether accordingly beschickert.
The whole fragrance has a very warm, relaxing character. Sit back, let go and enjoy, blows me here as a message in the nose. The tuberose is shown here from a very quiet, earthy side. The otherwise sometimes almost shrill sedate flower was here itself ingratiating anesthetized, without losing its character.
Is there now finally a mushroom to find here ? Well, I'm not sure. If so, I'd say the hint of a chanterelle whistles a delicate spice to it here. Also a touch, (but really no more !) of spices I seem to perceive, like cinnamon and nutmeg. It is impossible for me, this warm-woody-earthy-spicy miscellany that underpins the fragrance, really to break down into its components. There's wood and animal and earth and spice...
A fragrance of cozy warmth, but at the same time a mysterious abysmalness, which is due to the tuberose and the leather, the animalic, and quite, quite certainly also the mushrooms that keep themselves somewhat covered here ;-) Towards the base, it now also changes again in a decidedly attractive direction. A spicy-zart-herb, dark honey-harzig-warm woodiness develops towards finally wam-soft-earthy-gentle and the inevitable amber-sweet at the very end.
I suspect yes with expert womanly nose, that it could be the contents of this forbidden bottle here, once again a kind of love spell, which is snowed me there in the house. More detailed must be discussed here, however, only yet.
This fragrance invites in any case to spend a cool autumn evening relaxed by the crackling fireplace, with a nice glass of wine to. He is also well suited to go out to eat, as he does not have a particularly strong sillage. The does not interfere with the taste.
In general, he fits, however gearteter, relaxed, pleasant togetherness at the very best, as I find. He smells interesting, but nowhere near as weird as one might suspect
i found him immediately pretty great and am glad that I could get him much cheaper than the original price. Because as wonderful as many fragrances of this brand are, they are unfortunately also cost-intensive. In any case, I say Bescho here again thank you for the
HoM hiking package, without which I would not have been able to get to know the fine fragrances of this brand so quickly !!
Some of the HoM perfumes have door-in fairyland potential.
Just like Forbidden, for which I hereby broke a lance.
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