Petits Papiers
Mad et Len (2017)

My first sampling of the house of Mad et Len is Petits Papiers, the 2017 release exclusive to Luckyscent as part of their 15th anniversary, and to quote their description, “inspired by ‘Papiers d'Armenie,' benzoin-coated incense papers that took France by storm in the late nineteenth century.” These papers would be burned, spreading their sweet resinous scent.

It open with a strong cinnamon-like spiciness that rather quickly fades into a sweet, resinous blend dominated by benzoin, but also including guaiac wood, paper, and patchouli. The dry down feels split between the sweetness of the benzoin and guaiac and the incense-like dryness. It's elegant: a semi-sweet nod to gourmands while mainly being non-gourmand and resin-dominant, providing really nice experience and a great first impression of the house.

I give this high marks for the blend want to try it again after some time. And while I wouldn't call it wholly unique, it hits different spots from other resinous fragrances. The “Big Red” cinnamon chewing gum comparison is valid, at least for the opening, as it's an especially spicy experience for several minutes, in contrast to, say, MFK Grand Soir or Fort & Manle Suleyman Le Magnifique in which their cinnamon aspect is less spicy but more consistent throughout, more akin to a “baked goods” type of cinnamon.

The pricing is $165 for 50ml, manageable enough if it's something that you love but certainly less so if you're blasé toward it, but it's not a loud performer, fine on longevity but moderate on projection. As always, a dabber sample is far from ideal but I applied enough of it to have what I estimate to be a fairly good idea of performance, even after several hours of wearing.

Overall, quite a nice resinous scent!

8 out of 10

Instant flashback to my college dorm room
If anyone has ever experienced “Nag Champa” incense, the opening of this scent smells damned near identical to it. It's not very strong though, not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. It's somewhat sweet, luckyscent has this feminine leaning but in my opinion it's a solid unisex. Gonna update in about a week or so with a final impression, takes a bit of time to fully experience a scent imho.