Coven
Andrea Maack (2013)

I agree with Naylor's assessment of this fragrance. While the notes and concept of the scent seem promising, it falls short in execution. On skin, the opening green and realistic fern scent lasts for a short time before settling into a mossy galbanum fragrance with hints of clove and sweetness from vanilla.

Although it's suitable for warmer weather, the performance of the fragrance is low to moderate. It would be more enjoyable if the opening scent carried through into the mid of the fragrance. For the price point of $203 CAD for 50ml, one might expect better performance and longevity.

Overall, I would give this fragrance a thumbs up, but with the caveat that it could be improved with better performance and longevity. It's still a good option for those looking for a green and fresh scent for the warmer months.

I definitely get a galbanum/loamy scent with greens and smoke at the start, but Coven dries to a loud perfume scent. I had a sprayed perfume paper in my purse and couldn’t figure out what I’d touched that smelled so strongly of Other Woman. By the time I figured it out, i hated it, even though it’s not offensive. It IS strong. Very powerful, much more like a loud perfume than a witchy scent to me.

Older note lists showed the following:
Woody notes, green grass, soil tincture, oakmoss, whiskey and spicy notes

This was a fragrance that looked perfect on paper but didn't work as well as I has hoped. I really loved the dark, green, earthy opening. Exactly what I was looking for in this type of perfume, with a witchy, autumnal theme. However, the dry-down just seemed disjointed to me. It changes a bit too much, developing into a brighter, sweeter concoction. The vanilla in the base, listed as whiskey in the old note pyramid, just detracts from a composition that's intended to be dark and brooding. I like the idea of a whiskey note, but unfortunately it just needed to be blended a little differently into this formula to be more successful. A darker and smokier take on the dry-down would have been on-point. Overall a decent scent, but not quite what I wanted after revisiting it multiple times.

Well, this was interesting. It smelled like crushed ivy leaves to me and not much else, and showed very little development. I once did some conservation volunteering where we were ripping ivy off trees in the rain and it smelled like that day - a bit of wet dirt and wood, but mostly an intense, cold, dark, green slightly poisonous smell.

coven is a superb abstract frag that says 'green' but forces one to reconsider what 'green' as a smell really means. it's damp but vibrant, woody but rather 'waterlogged' and weirdly resinous without any cliche ambery or liturgical references. rather than being a "millionth" iteration of whatever, coven is an fact quite original in approach for green and is one of maack's most appealing frags

As soon as I first inhaled this i flashed on the smell of being at The Botanical Gardens and walking into a humid/muggy greenhouse where the soil was just turned and the vegetation is old and ripe...misters are at work in the background adding a little more juciness to the smell...you can't get much greener than this...vanilla smooths things out a bit...i actually get a faint touch of caramel in the vanilla...intriguing and interesting to sample and study , but not something i would wear...to go the Pagan route, shoulda been just a wee bit more dark and gothic...

Are you ready for the millionth sort of post-modern “soil-concrete” scent squeezing the desperate hell out of an idea which was barely enough for one scent? Yay. Coven opens with a particularly irritating smell of something halfway uncooked rice and damp paper on a rather confused sort of earthy-spicy-floral base accidentally spilled on wet soil. And so remains for a while. But when you're almost ready to let the last bit of hope go, there's a nice slow transition revealing a sort of weightless, synthetic floral-green heart with a warm albeit rather cheap sort of tobacco-infused designer woody-boozy feel (that reminds me so clearly of a scent I can't remember at the moment – maybe Versace Man on steroids). Overall decent, but basically it evolves from a boring wannabe avantgarde thing, to a boring ordinary designer thing. Either it's genius or...

5/10

Coven is great. It's one of the strongest grass/soil-dominant fragrances I've put my nose on. It's surprisingly fresh for such an ominously titled work. Buried underneath the earthen peat and moss I detect a warm sweetness (perhaps the whiskey?) and strangely enough, a muddled yet noticeable minty note. It kind of tingles the nostrils and adds a confounding ethereal quality to the overall composition. It's like sauntering through some dark, damp woods at 5 am. The air is cold and filled with foggy early-morning moisture and the thick scent of moss and dirt rise up from beneath you.

Its very well balanced, and smells satisfying and evocative while still being very wearable and pleasant. While I do love it, I occasionally get a little bit tired of it and have to give it a break, but I always return to it. Performs very very well, lasts all day and projects. 8/10

The scent of being knocked off one's bike to land nose-first in a privet hedge, with the dry soil underneath choking one's throat. Lord, it makes me feel alive.
The green notes here are photorealistic and exceptionally good – listed as grass but to me this is the vibrant, slightly bitter, always enlivening smell of recently cut hedges. Combine this with soil tincture of a throat-constricting dry earthiness with remnants of moss mixed in and you have a perfume that hurls you into the life of nature. Much needed in the denatured spaces of urban life. The earth tones bloom and sweeten over time and the whole creation loses its initial velocity to become much gentler and airier on one's skin. It's also inevitable that the green notes grow more generic after half a day's wear, but the perfume remains compelling.
Coven should be sought out by all who value green perfumes; the first few hours make me think we are up there with the classics of contemporary perfumery. Something with such a distinct personality is clearly not for everyone – my partner recoiled upon smelling the first brisk spray. This Coven is up to thrilling, tingly things and – don't tell anyone – I've joined.

Once in a while, I have the urge to search for a fragrance that is really wild and unique to satisfy my cravings for originality and creativity, something that would make me bluntly yell out “What on earth is that?” or “What the heck is in here?” Though this could be an endless journey, one such example has recently stopped me in my tracks and made me ponder if I was actually smelling a bottle of fragrance or a piece of landscape from Middle-earth. Thus, I feel compelled to write a little review on Andrea Maack Coven.
Andrea Maack is not very well-known, even in the fragrance community. She is an artist from Iceland who has great visions in perfumery. While I like most fragrances in her collection Coven is truly the standout of the bunch, and not because it involves witchcraft. This little potion has me bewitched from the very first spray. Remember those summer days when you were mowing the lawn and you were overwhelmed by the smell of freshly cut grass? Well, Coven will take you for a long stroll down that memory lane. So, if the sound of this repels you even a little bit then stay clear of its path. I admit, the green note is very sharp in this fragrance, one would wonder if you have just rolled yourself in that pile of grass you just mowed or in the tree branches you just cut down. But I warn you, it becomes even more unorthodox as it evolves. So, let's continue using our lawn example. You mowed it well, pat yourself on the back and tell yourself you did a great job, but luckily all this work was done just before a thunderstorm hit, the rain came down at full force, flipping the soil beneath the piles of grass, transforming your lawn into a muddy pond! Suddenly, the air was somewhat fresher, but there was an unmistakable odor of wet soil around you. And that my friends is the star of this fragrance; “wet soil”.
“Are you kidding me?” you ask. I can assure you that my face cannot be more serious than right now as I'm writing this review. Not far from the truth, Andrea has intended Coven to portray a deep and dark forest in the medieval times, possibly where the witches practiced their witchery. What a great rainy day fragrance this might be!
So, next time when you mow the lawn, don't forget to put on some Andrea Maack Coven, with the grassy and wet soil scent you're projecting you might give your wife the impression that you've worked much harder than you did, but please, keep this witchcraft just between you and I.