MATIèRE PREMIèRE · EAU DE PARFUM · 2019
Juniper berries open sharp and gin-like, cutting through what's actually a dark, smoky guaiac wood built to feel like ebony itself.
Checked via an authorized Matière Première retailer, explicitly listed for the 3.4 oz / 100 ml Eau de Parfum size. Regional pricing, stock and assortment can change.
SECTION 01 · PORTRAIT
Matière Première builds every fragrance around one dominant raw material, and here it's guaiac wood from Paraguay, overdosed until it reads dark and resinous rather than merely woody. Juniper berries keep the opening sharp, Indonesian patchouli and cypriol oil add an earthy, leather-adjacent depth, and cabreuva rounds it into something warmer.
It smells like the idea of ebony rather than a literal wood — dark, dense, and a little smoky.
— Parffolio editorial view, grounded in the official composition and brand description.
Performance and perception vary by skin, climate, application and formulation. Sample before buying whenever possible.
THREE MOMENTS, ONE EVOLVING SCENT
Juniper is the only top note, and Matière Première lets it stand alone rather than blending it into a citrus accord. It's bright, resinous and a little bitter — closer to crushed juniper berries than to a soft aromatic opening — and it fades faster than the wood underneath it takes to arrive.
Guaiac wood arrives as the clear center of the composition, dark and smoky rather than sweet, closer to the smell of a wood fire than a polished sandalwood accord. Matière Première's whole method is to overdose a single material until its texture becomes the fragrance's real subject, and it shows here.
Indonesian patchouli and cypriol oil (nagarmotha) bring an earthy, almost leathery density that keeps the guaiac from feeling one-note, while cabreuva oil from Brazil adds an ambered warmth underneath. It's a quiet base rather than a dramatic one — the kind that reads as confidence more than announcement.
FROM FIRST SPRAY TO LATE DRYDOWN
A single, gin-like juniper note opens the fragrance before fading fast.
One overdosed wood material takes over as the fragrance's real subject.
Patchouli and cypriol add leathery depth before cabreuva warms the base.
A dense, quiet woody-amber trail with excellent reported longevity.
AURéLIEN GUICHARD'S ONE-MATERIAL METHOD
Aurélien Guichard founded Matière Première on a simple constraint: build each fragrance around a single raw material at its highest usable concentration. Bois d'Ébène is one of the clearest examples — guaiac wood carries almost the entire composition, with juniper, patchouli, cypriol and cabreuva there to frame it, not to dilute it.
“Each fragrance is composed around one central natural ingredient, used in its highest possible concentration.”
— Matière Première's official brand description. · verified quotation
View the Aurélien Guichard profile and all connected Parffolio fragrances →
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