Devotion
House of Matriarch (2013)

I see this as a softer sweeter type of incense offering. There is definitely a touch of vanilla, and a non offensive Oud like the kind I smell in Crop 16 from House of Oud. I also like that I actually smell more myrrh than frankincense.

Like Orca, Devotion is another (yet earlier) great resinous creation from House of Matriach, seemingly very apt at putting out balsamic offerings.

Devotion is resin-dominant, for sure, the note listing including amber, incense, myrrh, and opoponax, with touches of leather, spices, and vanilla.

So it leans toward the sweet rather than animalic side of resinous but there are still animalic hints amidst what is generally a dark, smoky, ambery mix. There's also a vaguely floral characteristic to it that I can't quite put my finger on, but I sometimes get that out of opoponax specifically.

Devotion is overall excellent, but the downside is the price, which, for HOM, can sometimes be quite high--in this case, $330 for 50ml, $120 for 15ml, or even $13 for a 1ml sample. Still, I'd recommend fans of resinous fragrances track this one down to at least try it.

8 out of 10

They always manage to ruin a good thing by introducing gaia and oud, those bitter, nasty things that make my nose shrivel and my toes curl.

A shame because the myrrh, francincense, amber, vanilla and opoponax blend beautifully together. Then laid over what would have been a beautiful, exotic, dark oriental scent is that dreadful oud/gaia accord.

They should have stopped while they were ahead. Just awful to my nose.

Yep, what Darvant wrote.
Smells great. Fans of darker resinous scents should give it a try.

Devotion by House of Matriarch opens with dusty, dry resinous and incense notes, initially with a slight green aftertaste (on the bitter-crunchy side). The resins are strong, dry and thick, creating a peculiar initial feel that I would define like "stone", in a way. There is a balsamic note around, a thin, delicate breeze surrounding this dusty, heavy and grey monolith of concrete resins and incense, which slowly becomes warmer, softer and starts to "release" its mystical aroma. Not much else initially: a spicy note and a thin veil of dark dry notes on the base. As minutes pass the incense starts to smell more "familiar", like classic olibanum, and the spices grow in strength – I smell mostly cumin and cloves. So basically, as it's already clear from the composition and from other reviews, it's an incense-resinous-spicy scent, with just a dark woody thin note on the base. To be really honest, despite the compelling opening, the evolution of this scent does not have much to "tell" me, partially because it soon becomes quite light and close to skin, and fades away quite quickly, partially because it basically smells like a sort of "downgraded", more grey, more dry and grey version of other resinous-spicy incense scents like Casbah by Piguet. Finally it is also a bit linear, which depending on how much you like it, may be a pro or a con. Nice, but personally: "not impressed".

6,5-7/10

Devotion is an amazing olibanum/woodsy resins/ambrette seeds organic accord provided with spicy/ boozy, tobacco and leathery nuances. The aroma is coozy, warm, "ambiental", enveloping and evocative about intimate dinners with friends inside mountain huts. I detect some olfactory links with Slumberhouse Jeke (slightly Baque and Sova) in a way we can figure in mind cozy recreative ambiences full of woody and leathery fornitures, fireplaces, candles, soft music but also aromatic/resinous exhalations from the forest (resins, dried fruits, barks, dry leaves, needles etc etc) or finally arcane dusty aromas exhaling out from the obscure barns and mills and their stocks. I detect cloves, I'm almost sure about, cloves plus may be cinnamon as probably flanked by dry orange peels, may be apricot, bay rum and myrrh in huge amount. The latter, combined with vanilla, visceral amber, seasoned woods, hints of rum and tobacco, provides an incredibly warm and comfortable vibe hallmarked by smokey/incensey steams. The smoke keeps rising up more and more along the trip as supported by a leathery background. Devotion is basically a spicy/incensey, highly smoky and woody concoction but the olibanum support is never liturgical since the aroma is able to disguise the sacramental resins (anyway notable) in order to hypnotize the wearer with arcane culinary aromatic exhalations about rum cakes, spicy meals, edible balsams, hazelnuts and honey. On this sphere the aroma conjures me vaguely some Frapin 1270's nuances. Despite the "edible" facets the fragrance smells finally balanced, elegant and subtle as the spicy balsams turn back restrained and the resinous spiciness enhances subtle refined woody sparks in the air. Devotion is supposed to be the Christi Meshell's signature and I can understand why. Wonderful.