OM Inspire... and smile Miller et Bertaux 2010

Miller et Bertaux OM reminds me vaguely of a few different haute niche iris and cedar perfumes. The funny thing is: there are no flowers listed in the hierarchy of notes! Could this be a decanting error? I suppose, or perhaps the combination of ingredients in this high-quality perfume is somehow tapping into my memory of others in the same general olfactory neighborhood. I'm thinking of BOIS D'IRIS, among others.

The cedar presentation is really quite beautiful, and I do aver that this composition has major yoga OM potential! Very calming and serene and balancing. In fact, I have a hard time believing the note hierarchy listed above. I smell no cloves (to which I am hypersensitive, by the way), and the resins and frankincense must also be minimally present. Comrade Aromi seems to agree with me about how low-key the clove and other usually hard-hitting elements are--see below.

This is an excellent creation, but it's definitely a case where my nose does not agree at all with "the official story" of what it is supposed to be! I'm going to pm my perfume pal Gojira, who has a full bottle, to ask him what he thinks...

Cloves as first prominent note? Personally at the opening I get mostly a peppery resinous-patchouli blend, silky and clean, with a bold woody vein reminding me of cedar (guess it’s the incense). I also get something powdery, while the cloves note is just barely perceivable and really discreet, and also with a “substance” different than usual – more rooty and woody, and less harsh and pungent (not sure if because of the dose or the quality of materials, either way it’s good for me as I personally can’t stand cloves). Shortly a fairly pleasant, sharp, neat and cozy woody-spicy Oriental scent, not that original and honestly for me a bit boring and too tamed down to “say” something; but solid and nice. Really close to skin for me, but the persistence is longer than I expected.

6,5-7/10

Recently, there has been a lot of praise for VU by Ted Lapidus here. Well, that one is truly impressive. But for those who appreciate a dark, spicy, somewhat mysterious direction, they might discover in OM Inspire... and smile a subtle and, above all, more accessible everyday fragrance. Not quite as sensual, with less sillage and thus a bit more private. Where VU provokes and entices, OM quietly smiles to itself. But the two are obviously related.

The clove is really very subtly used. Neither flowers nor fruits distract from the theme, and we can safely forget about the pepper as a heart note. The fragrance lives from its beautiful base over which a fine resinous-smoky note hovers. And there is no reason to fear the incense. Here it even spreads a distinctly soft aura.

The perfume with the strange name really made me smile. Yes, this is again a fragrance for which there is no "Yes, but..." for me. I like it exceptionally well, and it lands directly on my wish list.

This is my first test candidate from Miller et Bertaux. The brand presentation has more of a pharmacy line feel. Except for one bottle, all the others I have seen so far look like medicine bottles. This may not appeal to everyone, but it does not distract from the content.

Om is a fragrance for lovers of woody-spicy scents without any hint of freshness in the top notes.

The opening is dominated by resins, and the clove is very subtly dosed.

The resins easily carry into the heart note, and the pepper has also been incorporated quite sparingly, so there is no unpleasant tickling in the nose.

The base is a successful accord of vanilla and wood, skillfully dominated by the incense.

Reading the ingredients, one expects a proper scent swinger with a loud presence. Far from it! Despite all the heaviness, this perfume is rather intimate and reserved, and the longevity is quite decent.

Not bad, Mr. Woodpecker!

...maybe I'll even smile a little, but it’s not enough for a joyful dance. "OM Inspire... and smile" reminds me of some specific fragrance, but I can’t recall which one. I don’t think I know the one by Turandot called Ted Lapidus, but it seems he’s not the only relative. OM is for me an extraordinarily vanilla and sweet incense scent, which is why I find it difficult to categorize. Unfortunately, there seems to be some resin or spice, some note in the fragrance that bothers me. In contrast to the recently tested Fear Not, I can’t criticize the impression of quality, the impression of naturalness, the performance, or anything else here. There’s simply something included that I don’t like, which makes me restless, stresses me rather than inspires me, and doesn’t make me smile.

Thus, my résumé is that "OM Inspire... and smile" is a fragrance that appears natural and of high quality, which everyone should try if they could be excited about a sweet-vanilla-spicy incense scent. I am bothered by the aforementioned spicy-resinous note, which I cannot categorize more precisely.