Matthew Williamson is the first global scent release from the UK designer of the same name. It follows Incense, which was created in conjunction with Lyn Harris of Miller Harris and released on a smaller scale as a limited edition in 2002. Incense was a big hit with perfume fans on the many fragrance forums, but it is sadly unobtainable now.
His new fragrance was inspired by an exotic beach. Matthew Williamson Eau de Parfum was created by nose Clement Gavarry, and has notes of bergamot, lime, neroli, tagete, ginger, cinnamon, warm sand accord, schinus molle, jasmine sambac, orris concrete, ylang ylang, magnolia, rose, gardenia, heliotrope, labdanum, sandalwood, vanilla, olibanum, benzoin, patchouli and musk.
It starts with a strong and very sweet burst of citrus and tropical fruits over a heavy dose of something that smells like suntan oil mixed with jasmine. As the top notes start to fade, the sweetness is tempered somewhat by the cinnamon and ginger. The heart is a considerably softer, quieter blend of tropical florals, which eventually fade to a whisper, leaving behind a base of smooth sandalwood and resins. There is a touch of vanilla, but it is not particulary sweet in the final stages, and I found it very wearable at this point.
Matthew Williamson is very tropical beach-y, but to the extent that it is a an exotic beach, it is one that has already been overrun with tourists lathered with sunscreen. Tropical beach-y scents, especially very sweet ones, are not really my cup of tea anyway, so it is not something I am likely to wear, but it has its attractions and it will be interesting to see how it does on the open market, which strikes me as already crowded with beach get-away fragrances.
For those of you who loved Incense, of course, it is likely to be a massive disappointment. Williamson made it clear early on that he was looking for a fragrance that was more likely to find a wide audience:
My tastes aren't always commercially viable,' says Matthew Williamson with typical honesty about the difficult process of creating a new fragrance. 'I love exotic, woody, incense-based smells. But there's an overwhelming belief in this country that a white, clean, floral smell is where we're at. So I had to toe that line... to a certain extent.' (via The Independent Sunday, 5/15/05)
Here's hoping that he will follow this debut with something geared more directly to his own tastes.
Matthew Williamson is available now in the UK at Escentual and should be in the United States by next month.
Update 8/25/2006: the US launch of Matthew Williamson was postponed until September 2006, although as of now, it is already available in some stores, including Nordstrom. A sheer version of the scent is to launch later this year.
Incense was wonderful, and I am holding out hope that Matthew Williamson will turn out to be interesting. I have not tried it only because I got tired of beachy smells. They are not my cup of tea either. If the sandalwood is obvious as you say, then it might work. It is difficult to talk about this fragrance without a sense of disappointment, especially if you loved and regretted passing away of Incense.
V, the problem is that you have a rather long wait until the sandalwood is obvious, and unless you really like sweet, much of what comes before is likely to annoy you. I liked the base notes fine, but I don't know that I would use the word “interesting”. “Wearable”, yes, but there isn't really anything distinctive about it.
How much “stuff” can one possibly put into a fragrance. Man! It sounds like everything but the kitchen sink is in it.
I never took the opportunity to test Incense…sigh! I don't like beach-y fragrances either, so I won't, in all likelihood, test this one.
Hugs! Great new format!
I tried this avant premiere in May and it is not interesting to describe in my terms. I needed to wash this one off! 😉
Hope you are well R!
xoxo
R,
Thanks, glad you like it!
Incense was a great scent, but not one I loved personally. It certainly had tons of avid fans though.
Ooooh, a scrubber! I didn't hate it so much as all that, but nor do I need to own it. Hope you are well too, N!
I do not tend to care for sweet notes, therefore you are right, it might be rather annoying. 🙂
LOL! I thought it smells like 40% of Sephora (oops hope I did not step on anyone's toes!)
xoxo
As you know, I was at the UK launch. I didn't mind it on the night, but couldn't take it later on. It's the kind of fragrance I really really dislike: sweet, heady, and ultimately boring.
N, true enough, as I said above there is nothing terribly distinctive about it. But IMHO you can do much, much worse than this at Sephora 😉
J, Loved your post on MUA about the launch party, and can find nothing to disagree with in your final assessment of the fragrance.
I still say you could do much worse than MW — if I had to sit next to someone wearing a modern tropical beach floral, this might actually annoy me less than some others, especially if it was not newly-applied. But perhaps because Incense was such a distinctive fragrance, it does feel like a let-down.
The two MW scents seem like the products of a bifurcated personality–not to knock extremes of mood or multiple personalities or anything.
Signed,
GG and LA
GG/LA, Good one, both of you 😉
Not sounding terribly exciting. I'll give it a test when it comes out, you never know! I never thought I'd wear EL's Beyond Paradise, but some days it is just right.
Oh joy…ANOTHER pink juice/bottle…gag! LOL
A, it never hurts to try. I like some pretty unlikely candidates myself!
Pink seems to be the it-thing in fragrance right now, LOL! Dying to see that new MyQueen bottle, I am ready for more purple myself.
I hear ya! I am tired of being “pinked” 😛
This is 2+ years late to the party but I just tried this scent on @ TJMaxx and was wondering if it was a wide release (didn't know Incense). This stuff smells like a buncho other stuff and it blew my poor Dzonghka all to hell, at least on that wrist. I had to keep smelling the other wrist to avoid Pink Overload. And as always, since it's a fragrance I hate (sorry) it stuck like glue!!! It's scrubberin' time!!;-)
But!!! it was only $12.99 and I think my best friend would love it, liking smells like this, mucho! And the bottle is pretty…and so is the box, though I prefer a more austere look, myself.
It was a wide release, but seems to have gained little traction here. I wonder if it is doing better in the UK, but don't know. Great price though!
Awww, I love this one! Poor Matthew, so misunderstood. This was the first perfume I ever bought for myself at the Heathrow Airport two years ago, saying goodbye to my boyfriend (still here!) for the next four months, and Matthew consoled me. I generally know I have something good when my sister attempts to absorb it, and up till all these negative reviews, I thought I had a good system, because I have to constantly find new hiding places for this. I still love it, but I worry now that I've been gagging out those nearest and dearest for quite a while. 😛
Hey, glad you love it! We are allowed to have different tastes — I would not worry in the least, just wear what you love 🙂