Maison Martin Margiela Untitled fragrance

Untitled is the first fragrance from the fashion house Maison Martin Margiela. Like the fashion house and the man behind it, Untitled is a bit of an enigma, and it's taken me a few wears to feel I'm able to describe it. It's described as a woody green floral with galbanum, box green, lentiscus, incense and bitter orange notes, on a base of jasmine and cedar.

On my skin I get quite a smoky base contrasting with the greener, fresher notes layered on top of it. The top notes smell a bit like freshly cut privet hedge in the summer to me; there's a slight bitterness to the greenery that's much more pleasant than the word 'bitter' suggests. It's not a citrus note, it's more like the olfactory equivalent of umami; I can't quite put my finger on why I like it, it's neither sweet nor sharp, but it lends body and weight to the otherwise fresher green notes. In the base, I get more musk and a vetiver type note, rather than cedar; to me it's much more smoke than sap. It's work appropriate for me, but could also easily hold its own on dressier occasions too.

In summary; a pleasingly complex green scent, and I very much like the cleanness of the bottle design too. I can't say it pushes Ormonde Woman (reviewed by me here) off my own 'favourite green and woody scent' top spot, but it's a very good fragrance, and I think fans of the couture will be pleased by the fragrance.

Available at Selfridges, £45 for 30ml. The only thing that would put me off buying it right now (as in, at this moment in time, rather than in a couple of weeks, were I looking for this type of scent) personally, is that the Selfridges beauty hall smells overwhelmingly of the scent, as it is being promoted. For me, it loses the elusive quality when the air is saturated with the fragrance.

Disclosure: product was provided without charge for consideration for review.