Meleg is an indie house based in Vancouver, owned by self-taught eponymous perfumer Matthew Meleg. I’ll link to one or two places where you can find his lavish fragrances below. Most of his fragrances are reminiscent of French, vintage-style perfumes, but the one I’m going to share with you today has more modern appeal. Stay on the line, darlings. This one’s a gem.
Hello beautiful people. It’s Scentgourmand, and welcome back to my channel. So it’s likely that you’ve not heard of Meleg Handmade Perfumes, unless you’re a Canadian like myself, eh? And even then. This house is ultra-niche, ultra indie.
None of Meleg’s perfumes claim to be IFA-compliant. The International Fragrances Association does not look fondly upon those who use goodies such as real oakmoss, civet, or musk. Matthew, however, insists his no-go components are all ethically sourced. As you can imagine, the likelihood of his perfumes smelling divine and beautifully complex is high, as are, unsurprisingly, the prices he charges for his fragrances. Each 50ml, beautifully packaged bottle goes for over 200 dollars, some reaching closer to 500 – Canadian dollars, I would imagine. Also, you know, if you’re a small business, your margins aren’t typically good, so there’s not that much of a choice regarding pricing.
Anyway, here is the one I have – “very cherry rose chocolate patchouli.” The name of the fragrance speaks to every note in it, bar one. Can you remember what I didn’t say?
- black cherry, lychee,
- rose,
- dark chocolate, patchouli
I guess the lychee (yes lychee!) in here serves to add a dash of fresh, syrupy sweetness, but I can’t identify it as lychee. I love every single ingredient in here, and adour not only the ingredients all smell together, but the way it fragrance smells on my skin. I wouldn’t say it’s a beast-mode type of scent, at least after the first 10 minutes, but I can still smell it on my skin at the end of the day. However, I most enjoy spraying this one on before I go to bed, and waking up to this scent in the morning, as it sticks happily to my skin all night. Apparently like many in Meleg’s lineup, this is resinous, potent, and bold. I bought this fragrance a couple of summers ago on a trip back to visit my family in Canada. I don’t recall exactly where I purchased this. It wasn’t directly through the Meleg website, though. I think it might have been through an online peer-to-peer market of some sort.
Now I’d been stalking Matthew Meleg’s goodies for some time earlier. I was intrigued by his use of authentic ingredients. This particular scent does not have any animalic notes, but it had always been the one that most attracted me due to the cherry, rose, and chocolate. This does not disappoint.
The packaging is supreme. Meleg’s bottles come in these wooden boxes packaged with hay-like material like a bottle of fine whiskey. I’ve since tossed the hay and have been using the box to store some tarot cards. Sadly, I place that leaky bottle of lychee goodness called White Impériale on top. Remember that review? And it stained my lid here. Rats. And just look at the details on this bottle here! I imagine Matthew stocks cheaper mainstream bottles to keep costs down, but he makes up for it with all these embellishments. He’s stamped his seal over a faux leather band stretching around the bottle. He has dated the batch and numbered the bottles. This particular one is from January 9th, 2021. He even has a barcode here. That attention to detail certainly elevates the look.
But what’s impressive is of course what’s inside the bottle. Even though there are only five notes, this fragrance smells rich, sensuous, and delicious. It was a blind buy, but was love at first sniff for me. It’s like cherry brandy chocolates.
Now things this fragrance is not, are delicate, refined, clean, gentle, light, and refreshing. This is sensual and sexy, but in a very beastly, raw sort of way. It’s hot and dirty. It’s hair-pulling… interactions with a stranger you meet in a pub. There’s no tender, soft foreplay here (that’s Youtube-friendly, right?). This is rough stuff. It’s linear and so earthy. You are tumbling with your partner in the soil with those roses, you know? – Licking the chocolate off each others’ skin and sipping on lychee juice between sweaty kisses and feeding each other dark and fleshy pitted cherries. Oh la la.
I can’t think of any other particular scent this reminds me of, BUT, if you like jammy rose gourmand fragrances, this might be for you. The fragrances I could put in the same ballpark, just off the top of my head, are Rose Anonym by Atelier Colognes, Terra Mia by Carthusia, Intense Café by Montale, or its Zara flanker Rose Gourmand. The difference here is the very earthy and raw patchouli. If you do not like patchouli, stay clear of this, obviously. But, in this fragrance, how can you not?