Crystal Saffron Matière Première 2022 Eau de Parfum

This is the reason why samples exist - Crystal Saffron is NOT a safe blind buy. Don’t let the comparisons to BR540 fool you: while it does have some common notes, it is a very different animal. And I mean “animal” in more than one way. I had a visceral negative reaction to a point where this fragrance made me sick. I can’t get this beast off from my wrist even with the dish soap. It has nuclear projection and tenacity. Oh my! And I am not among the fainthearted when it comes to perfume.

I'll start with a confession, this was the first niche perfume I ever bought and I'll continue with another confession, I sold it after I had solidified my taste more firmly.

I didn't sell the perfume because it wasn't good for my taste, it is.

It's just hard in my opinion to find appropriate situations to wear this perfume.

And yes, there are better ones.

What's certain is that it is very unique in the field of perfumery.

In terms of performance, this perfume will give you what you're looking for, good longevity and sillage.

In conclusion: it's good, it's unique but when you're a perfume collector, you'll always have a better option than it.

8/10.

What is niche perfumery in this age? We all know the accepted definition of a fragrance being niche only if the house producing it is known solely for its fragrances. Your PDM, Your Initio. That was the zenith of quality, daring fragrances for connoisseurs like you, I presume. What does that mean when the same company owns most of these fragrance houses? What does it mean when they all more or less adhere to the same trends and rules...chasing the success of the same previous scents? Is it really worth it when a $20 fragrance produced by a glass company is lauded more than some four-figure-priced fragrances? Sure, accessibility is to blame to a degree, but what do you do when the next big thing is a more expensive version of the last big thing? In contrast, LVMH can make belts and glasses while creating the most popular scent profiles of the modern era that will likely shape fragrances for decades to come. Technically not niche despite having the price tag.

To the point, Matiere Premiere, while traditionally niche, has ostensibly moved away from trend-seeking with its entries. This fragrance, along with many others, is too strong, too loud, too long-lasting for most people. The saffron and incense are very strong in the opening. I'd equate it to sniffing an Expo marker. You can come to like this anyway for its own strengths, being dark and slightly floral. Where the magic happens is in the mid... a mid that will take hours to reach. The dark, mysterious fog opens up into this amazing, rich, and masculine floral-saffron. I've often called it internally BR540 for adults. Of a hundred-bottle collection, this is the top three for me in terms of raw power, with only other MP fragrances surpassing it. Who is this for, a difficult-to-obtain, hard-to-endure atomic fragrance? I doubt 80% of people who own this will ever buy a second bottle because it's so strong, and the atomizer is designed with that in mind. You, the collector, will sit this on your shelf and perhaps not give it enough time, disuaded by the difficult opening. Maybe you, like me, will come to love it but realize you can't do this amazing fragrance every day. I submit that that is what modern niche perfumery is about.

This is the cutting edge of taste and performance. If you fall into the group who appreciates this, it exists in a whole other world from Imagination and Side Effects. This is for the right enthusiast, perfection. It does not care that some don't like it, think it's too strong, too much ambroxyn... it just is.

In closing, the floral, almost gourmand, smoke-like quality of this CS is absolutely gas for some people. If you sincerely love saffron, I think you have found a great next pick.

Edit: I didn't read other reviews until after I wrote this. Obviously, I am glazing the scent. I think it's a 10/10 in the concept of a dark resonous non-gourmand saffron fragrance. This is a thing you have to want. It may not appeal to everyone, but for being what it is, I find it unparalleled and thus deserving of a perfect score. I couldn't think of a way to make it smell better while it retained its other qualities, so the smell is a 10. Now, the longevity and sillage are another story. This stuff sticks to whatever you spray it on for days and days. I'll smell it in my car because I sat down wearing it. I've had a group stop me outside and ask what I was wearing. You can dislike it, sure, but you can't deny that it goes everywhere and sticks to everything.

Disclaimer: If this post sounds familiar, it's because I'm coming to Parfumo after deciding to stop using Fragrantica. For this reason, I have copied my comment from there and I'm posting it here instead.

I didn't think much of this at first, but now I'm deeply obsessed with it. Is it plasticky? Yes, but saffron is like that, and I love it. The name is perfect. This is the most evocative fragrance I've smelled. It's sharp, glistening, and cold like a crystal. It's so bright, effervescent, and juicy without being fruity. It reminds me of the word "fantasy," of retro-looking, chrome, sci-fi illustrations, of pink glass and y2k imagery. I had to make a Pinterest board for it.

Like others have said, this fragrance is INCREDIBLY POWERFUL. Stayed on my shirt after two washes (which I loved). However, I see why people hate this and want to scrub it off. Some of my loved ones can't stand this and don't want me wearing it. As someone who likes gasoline, paint, and other hazardous yet huffable scents, I adore this scent. Some people will despise this "synthetic" smell, but as I said, I think saffron just smells kinda plasticky on its own anyways. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I understand where haters are coming from though--fragrance is extremely subjective.

This has got to be one of the most polarizing fragrances I've smelled. Safe blind buy? No. I don't think anything is a safe blind buy though. I'm not made of money.

We are living a new perfume era. Once the Aventus thing has gone, now we’re living the Baccarat Rouge era, where everything gets inspired by that.

Everything that has saffron reminds of BR like pineapple aventus, but not everything is necessairly the same.

Crystal Saffron has a bright sparkling and citrousy opening, while the drydown gets close to BR540 with that pungent middle eastern saffron note, metallic, modern and molecular.

It’s different enough to have both, as this hasn’t that cloying sweetnes but yeah, this starts to get a bit boring.

Anyways, i really like it, but i’m sure in some years this will be forgiven like all the aventus-like stuff.