FRAGRANCE | Sacre Noir by House of Matriarch: A coniferous Yuletide scent with a dark edge

House of Matriarch clearly had Christmas in mind when they created Sacre Noir back in 2017, which has been a seasonal release since. Pine is at the center of this fragrance—a beautifully realistic interpretation with that familiar freshness, biting bitterness, and cold, camphorous feel. But unlike the just-as-fantastic Murkwood by Pineward Perfumes, the perfumer doesn't leave the tree bare. Like a Douglas fir bedecked for the holidays, Sacre Noir is filled with all sorts of elements that call to mind Christmas. 

The pine is drizzled with a spicy-sweet plum as a dark, smoky incense swirls around. They waste no time in enveloping the conifer almost completely. However, I wouldn't say they overpower the pine because it's still very much recognizable. What they do is impart a certain character to what would have otherwise been straight-up fresh pine, with something that's both festive and dark at the same time. And I must say that this contrast between sugary treat and ominous fume is executed quite beautifully, with one effectively balancing the other off. 

A subtle sourness develops shortly, providing yet another dimension to this already complex scent. The incense, on the other hand, maintains its darkness, its thickness bolstered by sweet balsams and resins. There's absolutely none of that churchy vibe you get from other incense-centric scents like Rogue Perfumery's Ishtar or even Penhaligon's Elixir. If any, the treatment is closer to how incense is employed in Serge Lutens's Fille en Aiguilles, incidentally another coniferous frag with Christmas written all over it. After about an hour, Sacre Noir's woody facets start to show, the spicy-sweet plum now waning, until eventually, everything settles into a near-homogeneous blend, where each individual note becomes harder to pick apart. 

Sacre Noir lasts a relatively long time on skin although it's at its loudest only in its first hour. Projection is rather modest for the most part but you can catch occasional whiffs of it throughout the day. While this is a perfectly unisex scent, it's more of a mood that some people may not be too keen on wearing on a day-to-day basis. Fortunately for me, I'm a fan of conceptual scents and for me, this House of Matriarch creation is simply a joy to wear. This is my type of Christmas scent—dark without losing its Yuletide soul, if that makes any sense.