Forbidden
House of Matriarch (2012)

The thumbs up is based on MY likes, where I can see this one might be too odd for some noses. The earthy, pepper, and floral are in a death match with eachother. As they tire the woody notes take over. I dont find the cannabis in there. Again, I love it for its daring attempt. Some may not.

I get a fleeting impression of earthy florals in the opening, swiftly overtaken by the woody patchouli accord that seems to be ubiquitous in this house's perfumes. In this one it seems more subdued though, & there's a hint of menthol or camphor here, too. Thirty minutes in, it settles into a crisp, dry white floral with green, woody & slightly animalic aspects. I have difficulty picking out the tuberose from among the other notes. After ninety minutes, it's warmer & earthier with oakmoss & amber, & later there's a touch of green leaves in the base. Five hours in it's very soft, & nine hours in it's barely there.
I don't dislike this, but it doesn't really appeal to my tastes, either. It probably would appeal to fans of floral woody chypres, & I see it has inspired some tremendous reviews here.

The listed notes of "wild mushroom" and "pepper blend" describe the opening of this fairly well. It smells too experimental. Some sweet floral comes out eventually, and it's nice, but it doesn't necessarily go well with the mushroom and pepper smell. This is not something I would recommend as a daily-wear perfume.

Forbidden's opening is a wower with its blast of green and straight-froward indolic tuberose. There's also an overall mushroom-y vibe going on but it's nowhere close the incredibly realistic (and slightly off-putting) one in, say, JAR's Jardenia. The fragrance then morphes into a tremendously solid green white floral that's thick but not overwhelming. Well refined and bold without the heaviness which is often typical of tuberose-centered fragrances.

A fragrance that pushes the boundaries of floral perfumery as only Lutens or Vero Kern have been able to do.

Heady, narcotic and completely tremendous.

FAVORITE fragrance of all time! Talk about seductive and intoxicating!!! If I had to pick one fragrance to wear for the rest of my life, this no doubt would be it

Forbidden opens with a powerful blast of dark, thick floral-indolic notes (a truly overwhelming, ipnotic, migraine-inducing tuberose) with a subtle zesty feel and bitter, crunchy leafy nuances, as per Matriarch's style. The notes are raw, bold, dark; the ambery powderiness, the “botanical” indolicness, the threatening astringent greenish accord, a really peculiar kind of decadent fruity-vegetable breeze (that mushroom note?) set a mood which makes me think of Lovecraft's stories, that American Gothic heritage which seems behind other House of Matriarch scents – that, with a hippie approach. The mood is dark, breezy, quiet but gloomy and tense. A nice, clever and interesting take on a rather classic floral note, which smells opulent but definitely in a non-classic meaning; no French luxury “baroque” here, rather a cold, shady, earthy blend which smells at the same time much realistic and vibrant, but filtered through an oniric, kind of mesmerizing approach with a definite “narcotic” power – a subtle dark sweetness mixed with that “flower power” (hence my “hippie” reference). Shortly a hypothetical “hippie gothic”, if that ever existed. As for other House of Matriarch scents though, the persistence is a bit weak: the first minutes are incredibly sharp, bold and catchy, but it quickly tames down to a still nice, yet more “average”, quiet and uninteresting tone – not what I would expect for such a price. A nice vetiver note pops out on the drydown, still carrying a subtle dusty sweet feel. Nice, but really incomparable to the superb early phase. There's some magic indeed in this fragrance, but you've to be quick enjoying it until it's there... still a really good dark and lascivious floral-woody scent, quite an interesting stop for all tuberose's fans, but unworthy the cost in my opinion.

7-7,5/10