Mortal Skin
Stéphane Humbert Lucas (2015)

This is like sexual ink. It's a beautiful fragrance and does remind me of that wonderful inky smell and the almost sexual feelings I experienced (without realizing it) as a young boy when I'd be reading the Sunday L.A. Times and smelling that ink.

This is what it reminds me of and kind of smells like. It's the most pleasurable perfume I own.

Take that, ha! It's true.

This is one for the loquacious connoisseurs.
This is a nice office fragrance. It comes across slightly effeminate early to mid, amber vanilla becoming increasingly peppery with sandalwood and settling close to the skin. That's it.
Now , of course, if you look at the notes, you start thinking, wow! Of course! I can smell blackberry, iris, Myrrh, musk, how clever, I can really appreciate this.
However in the real world that is not what you will be thinking. In fact instead you will be crying with the knowledge you could smell a lot better for a lot less.
This is one for the Tate Gallery for the cognoscenti to admire in their own time at their own expense.
I have Nasomatto's Absinth on my other arm. Now you're talking! Expensive but unique great sillage and longevity and gives simple souls pleasure.

Fragrance: 4/10 considering the expense. Otherwise 6.5/10 at face value.
Projection: 6/10
Longevity: 8/10

Really mysterious dark scent with fruity balenced scent.resinous fruity woody produce creative frgrance.
Blackberry and dark ink on resines like opponax myrrh and styrax hover over sandalwood and incense create a well made art.
9/10

My first try from Stephane Humbert Lucas, but perhaps the house's best-known entry, Mortal Skin, is primarily a resinous fragrance, but with some interesting quirks.

Admittedly I didn't think it would smell like skin, but through the semi-animalic resinous dominance of the fragrance, it does vaguely have that vibe. Some florals, the musk, and sandalwood bring the resins to a more comforting, semi-feminine place but there are other elements that frankly complicate the mix like blackberry, ink, and civet. So its center is the resin/wood/musk dynamic but it does veer off interestingly with almost a powdery lipstick mix, so it seems a little feminine on my skin, but I like it.

It's not a huge performer, though, at least on me, and so at its pricing of $290 for 50ml is a bit steep as far as a full bottle. I'll enjoy trying this some more but with resinous fragrance–though I love them–I can be pretty picky, and Mortal Skin in particular is a “like” not a “love” for me, at least for now.

7 out of 10

Blackberries on hot tarry asphalt or blackberry scented ink...a touch of incensy smoke...to my nose, very enjoyable....get a nice background woodiness...something about the tonality and smell of some accords in this puts it in the same family as 2022 and Black Gemstone ...if you like those , chances are , you will like this...smoky flavor...feels warm and dry...resiny...some animalic effect sneaking up...nice finish - woody/resiny creamy semi sweet with a nice touch of animal...me like...

An esteemed member of the "Snake Collection" from Stéphane Humbert Lucas 777.

How does one approach a scent with a tagline like this:

“1st Act: The perfume, languid and colourful, hypnotises me, I am facing two eyes that desire me. Leafy coolness, fruits, the magic of the encounter, The seduction begins.

2nd Act: The perfume rises up and paralyses me, The fangs ooze, wanting to sink into me. Throbbing heat mixed with blue cold, I think I am bitten. Sandalwood, tequila, intoxication.

3rd Act: Bestiality, brutality, journey, The perfume smells of hot ash. Life slips away. It now knows that all is beautiful."

Carefully, with an open-mind!

The whole concept of Mortal Skin is at once silly, and also scary. It dares to encapsulate what human experience tends to be like, to an audience so full of a myriad of backgrounds and perceptions. All I can do is to share what it "spoke" to me, as I take Mortal Skin to be a very abstract experiment that can vary from person to person.

Ink and tar accords catch my attention strongly with MS, as do incense and resins holding hands with surprising blackberry fruitiness. Cardamom also grips my interest as it does with other scents, but this time it is dancing on stage with heavy-hitters that overshadow its mentholated touch: Wormwood, cedar, resins aplenty, and musk, inter alia. This is a deep journey into what makes me feel alive and organic, as if I can appreciate my natural skin scent more as a result of being thrust into this cauldron.

It's not a loud scent; rather, it is just above a body spray-level of intensity. It's meant to be a subjective experience that doesn't say, "Here's the [X] note, now the [Y] note." Rather, Mortal Skin is impressionistic, relying on the beholder's own sensibilities to get something from it. Whether or not he or she would ultimately like to wear it is another matter entirely!

I would wear this during less active occasions (i.e. not at work or playing sports). It leaves a trail that would doubtless turn heads in wonder, perhaps initiating an olfactive journey in others if not for a few moments.

Good luck on your discoveries with this one! :-)