Oliban Keiko Mecheri for women and men

If you like frankincense but you're not into "church-y" kind of fragrances, Oliban is a fantastic option. The incense here is very similar to the one in both Eldo's Like This and Divine's L'Homme Sage. It's definitely remarkable and playing a main role but it's so well blended with all the other elements to never give the idea of a midnight mass or a gothic cathedral. Oliban opens incredibly beautiful and catchy with pungent resinous notes enriched by a slight peppery vibe. Rose, amber and tobacco make their appearance adding depth and some sweetness. An intrigant composition that despite its name, offers much more than simply incense. Warm, consistent and extremely charming. My only complain, if I can call it so, is that while the drydown is absolutely comfortable and pleasant, is still nowhere close to the outstanding and intoxicating opening. Quality stuff, anyway!

Rating: 7.5-8/10

Something wrong with my nose here - my big sample seemed to have no smell at all. Quite a puzzle.

Tried this again a day later and got a generic body lotion smell. Nothing to excite me, I'm afraid.

Oliban opens with a warm, peppery note typical of olibanum--not the sticky, smoky incense that some might expect. Cedar infuses to deliver a dry, camphorous clarity, bonding with olibanum to create a wonderful, clean, sweet woody accord.

I don't pick up a lot of tobacco, but a little smoky, honeyed hay. The rose in this composition is velvety and waxy which contributes to the soapy, spiced drydown.

Exotic and unusual with a light, balmy and piquant personality that I find appealing. Oliban is my third encounter with Keiko Mecheri which so far is consistently compelling.

I’m a sucker for anything with incense in it, regardless of its setting. Put incense together with the sensual, soft, rosy, plummy, honeyed woody base that Keiko Mecheri uses and the result is magic, at least for a little while.

Oliban starts off with a strong, almost smoky olibanum, aka frankincense, accompanied by a sweet plum note. The first half hour had me convinced that I need a large decant of this perfume. As the drydown progresses, the scent starts to stick close to the skin. The incense notes fuse into the whole so that it becomes a skin scent in the best possible sense of the term. Somehow, many of Keiko Mecheri’s perfumes have a drydown that is exactly the way I would like my skin to smell - velvety soft suede, dewy rose petals, Japanese plums, musk that hovers just between clean and animalic, and just a touch of incense. This drydown phase lasts for a few hours, but at the end it transforms into a dry, soapy note, the dregs of the tobacco accord, and what I could swear is sandalwood.

The sillage is moderate in the beginning and low toward the end. The whole progression from start to finish takes about 5-7 hours. I do like this perfume, but I would like it better if the opening lasted longer and if the drydown at the end were not so stark. I'll stick with my sample for now.

Gli amanti orientali dovrebbero definitivamente dare a OLIBAN una grande annusata! Ciò è finora il mio favorito della raccolta

"Olibanum" is another name for frankincense, and Keiko Mecheri OLIBAN is a seductive frankincense perfume. Not that there was any need to go out on a fact-finding mission to be able to report that incense is by far the central note of OLIBAN...

Tobacco and rose mingle playfully with the deep amber smokiness, but this perfume is mostly about incense embellished. Upon application, I thought that this was going to be one of a handful of pretty good incense compositions (two of which I already own). However, OLIBAN becomes deeper and more ambery as it dries down, offering a much more sensual and addictive elixir in the end.

Oriental lovers should definitely give OLIBAN a big sniff! This is my favorite so far of the Keiko Mecheri collection, the perfumes of which I'm finding use notes of extremely high quality. It is also quite clear that this house (unlike some unnamed niche houses...) takes sillage and longevity seriously--as well they should! I heartily recommend OLIBAN to men and women alike for wintertime wear.

I'd like to say this is an Oriental Spicy, because that's where itś at in this scent, lots of long lasting kick.
I really like the tobacco here, itś herbal and spicy. The amber is creamy and resinous at the same time. I can't accurately describe the notes because of the linear construction, and because the whole composition all together is just fantastic. Definetely a nice linear. This IS a great scent, but, it lacks something for me. It lacks a bit more depth, a bit more fullness. It stops making my mind swirl with awe...after about...hhhmmm....a half an hour. It really loses it's charm and force after a short while. It is however longer lasting than a Serge Lutens scent or an Annick Goutal scent. The longevity was 3 to 5 hours. It softened quite a bit at 3 hours but lasted a good 5 hours, and I could smell it in the shower washing away the next morning, and even that smelled good! Also, the sillage is excellent after application for one hour. It reminds me of a stronger and drier, simpler Coco Chanel and a much better Kenzo Power (minus the typical aftershave / masculine notes).

This reminds me of Nu by Yves Saint Laurent, but softer.
It smells quite like you would expect it to based upon the notes. A nice tabacco-rose-amber scent. A bit smoky, a touch dry, and almost mysterious.