Metal Lavender Matière Première 2026

Most of the traditional lavender fragrances come off at too edgy/ strong to me. Metal Lavender feels like a shift. The opening carries a familiar freshness, slightly cool, almost airy nuances, taking you to the factories where lavender is distilled through those metal pipes. What I love about Metal Lavender is that it is never overly aromatic. On the contrary, it softens very quickly, which is very common for most of the brand's fragrances.

Both lavandin (and its metallic) and lavender absolute (and its warm nuances) are used to blend the fragrance into perfection, and all of it has wrapped around a generous veil of cashmeran and musks, smoothing every edge, giving it that almost skin-like, comforting texture. The metallic facet is there, but not cold or piercing rather, it feels like a quiet sheen on the skin.

Overall, It’s a complete unisex take on lavender, which is usually not the case. Metal Lavender feels modern, softened, and reworked in a way that makes it easier to return to. This might be where my appreciation for lavender begins.

I’m not going to mince words here. If you are someone with ambroxan or super amber sensitivities, you will endure pain if you sample this. I didn’t even realize how sensitive I truly was to super amber until I sampled this because Metal Lavender contains more unlisted super amber / ambroxan than I’ve ever smelled in a fragrance before in my life and in the thousand+ fragrances I have skin tested. Why is the super amber note not listed? It seems to be a marketing choice— because the brand is talking about how they are focused on using raw, natural ingredients — but truly this is the least natural, most lab-concocted thing I’ve ever smelled. Super Amber is disclosed as a note for EU customers on Nose Paris, but I haven’t seen any note lists that are directed at US customers that contain this disclosure. I find this convenient lack of transparency to be both unfortunate and deceptive. As I sit here, I can still smell the synthetic super amber molecule on my skin more than 40 hours & two showers later. On my first sniff, it was like I had inhaled a pure dose of super amber. I could smell the lavender for maybe about an hour after that initial hit subsided. And now I am stuck here radiating in the chemical weapon that is Metal Lavender. I unfortunately can’t recommend this to anyone, unless you want to smell so strongly of super amber that you cause migraines for everyone around you who may have sensitivities.

I had high hopes when I learned that Matiere Premiere was releasing a floral musk fragrance with the term Metal.

Because Silver Musk is my favorite musk scent, for which there is no alternative! And Parisian Musc has the musk notes that I find similarly appealing in Silver Musk - only the fig in the top note makes Parisian Musc uninteresting for me.

Additionally, Matiere Premiere's mentioned notes (lavender, cashmeran, habanoids) heightened my hope for a kind of Silver Musk with lavender! And then reality came galloping in like a little Trojan horse: with a beautiful top note. A lavender - soft, natural, and so lovely that it olfactorily transforms me into a bumblebee!

But after just 20 minutes, the Trojan horse reveals its heart note - and my entire expectation crumbled. Suddenly, the little horse turned into an iron with a steaming, metallic odor that ironed away the lavender. These metallic scent effects actually hurt me and literally erode the wonderful lavender note.
PS: Cashmeran is a wonderful molecule, but here I can hardly smell it! No concrete-like or cellar scent!
The fragrance reminds me of Zara Flower Please!

I have been eagerly waiting for my bottle. And that, even though I am actually not a lavender person at all.
For me, lavender often smells too medicinal and I can usually only tolerate it in small amounts.

But Matière Première simply has this unique DNA that always makes me curious. That's why Metal Lavender had to be in my collection.

On my skin, the fragrance starts surprisingly soft: calming lavender, velvety, slightly powdery, almost like fresh air in a modern spa. I also perceive fine pine-like nuances that give the opening a cool touch.

After a short time, the scent changes noticeably. This relaxing lavender moment retreats and the cashmeran takes center stage. Velvety, mineral, soft-woody, and slightly warm.

I find the longevity and sillage very fitting and pleasantly wearable for this fragrance DNA.

Conclusion:
The true star here is clearly the cashmeran for me. It gives the lavender a modern, almost metallic-soft direction and makes it wearable even for someone like me who usually doesn't like lavender.

I was very curious about the scent and immediately ordered a sample at the start. Actually, I'm not a fan of lavender, but this one sounds promising ...

The lavender note is extremely pronounced. Extremely realistic but also extremely sharp, at least for the first 20 minutes. It's as if you are cutting the fresh plants and pressing your nose right in. I wouldn't describe it as metallic, just as clear and sharp as an essential oil.
After a while, it becomes softer and, above all, more wearable! Contrary to other comments, I don't think it completely loses the lavender note, but musk and cashmeran add a somewhat more diffuse, woody-floral yet still airy note. All in all, the scent remains bright, fresh, floral, and somehow retains a cooling effect. It's somewhat of a freshy, just not blue, aquatic, or anything like that, but bright purple, fresh, clean. It's hard to describe, but perhaps the best comparison is with menthol and the (at first) sharp, cooling effect it has, especially up close. The nose is definitely clear :)

Quite interesting and special, minimalist and modern ... I often catch myself sniffing it, though I don't see many occasions for wearing it, which I find quite unfortunate.
The longevity is okay, but the progression is quite steep. It starts off very, very strong and develops into a noticeably calmer scent after just 30 minutes, remaining close to the skin but still quite detectable for a long time.