Myrrhiad – rich and dark and captivating

Photo: perfumeniche

Pierre Guillaume is, to my nose, one of the most talented niche perfumers working today. Born in 1977 into a family of chemists in Clermont-Ferrand, France, he trained as a chemist before joining the family business. But he always had a fascination with fragrances and, over time, taught himself perfumery. In 2002, at the age of 25, he launched his own line, Parfumerie Générale – a play on his initials.

Later, he added two other lines to this brand: Huitième Art Parfums and Phaedon Paris. Craving total artistic and financial freedom, all his fragrances from these lines are now under the Pierre Guillaume Paris trademark. 

I love a note of myrrh in fragrances, and Myrrhiad, part of the Huitième Art Parfums line, is one of my favourite interpretations of it.

Myrrh is a natural resin, like frankincense, that drips from cuts in the bark of Commiphora, or corkwood, trees. It’s earthy, resinous, sweet, smoky, warm, bitter, and spicy, and has been used for centuries for embalming, perfume and incense.

The name Myrrhiad is a combination of the words ‘myriad’, meaning an infinite number, and myrrh. So, the name refers to the countless ways the various aspects of myrrh are highlighted in the fragrance. To do this, Guillaume wanted to break away from the traditional pyramid structure in which olfactory levels are superimposed and focus on how a single material, myrrh, responds to other notes and how different notes interact with myrrh to create an experience based on their entirety. 

I’m not going to go through it note by note since Myrrhiad’s not built that way, but I am going to report my experience of it. Sharp and bitter, myrrh is right at the opening and remains throughout the fragrance's development as different facets of it are animated by body heat. The myrrh is sweetened with a note of amber flanked by a note of warm, rich vanilla, which coaxes sweetness out of the myrrh. A note of unsweetened licorice, bitter and intense, gently underscores the myrrh's bitterness and counterbalances the sweetness of the vanilla. Balsam, which, like myrrh, is an oleoresin, highlights its resinous aspect. Black tea absolue gives it a smoky dimension, that evokes burning incense. And just at this juncture, an animalic note of leather comes forward and gives Myrrhiad life. This, to me, is what makes Myrrhiad so captivating.

The dry down is rich, dark, and potent, with myrrh emerging to keep the sweetness of the scent in check so it never becomes truly gourmand yet remains mouth-watering. This is a fragrance designed to be experienced, not analyzed, explained, or explored. And, let me tell you, there is no other olfactory experience like it.

Check out Myrrhiad in our Shop.