Mandala
Masque (2017)

Mandala was a pleasant surprise for me as I had zero expectations when I sprayed this perfume on.

I was immediately drawn into the top notes of nutmeg and angelica with their spicy and green notes respectively.

As a lover of incense fragrances, that was the main reason for me trying Mandala, and the mids brought the incense and it smells wonderful. Cardamon does it's smoothing thing and cinnamon and cloves bring their zing. I love the heart notes in this perfume and the way Mandala is blended is very, very nice to my nose.

The base notes bring the woody finish from resiny labdanum, cedar, and sandal, and finally oakmoss and ambergris. I don't really get much oakmoss or ambergris to be honest, but this fragrance is a gem and FB worthy in my book. Two thumbs way up from me for Mandala.

A sharp, warm, airy resin scent. I was expecting this to be earthier than it is. Something in here gives me a strong synthetic impression in an old school kind of way. The only notes I can pick out are myrrh, ambergris and maybe nutmeg - that aspect of it is pleasant, and I do think it smells good on clothes a day after wearing, but overall, this isn't something I want to smell like despite liking a lot of incense fragrances.

The longevity is insane...I sprayed a sample in the evening and 22 hours later (after a shower and change of clothes), I was still getting wafts.

I waited forever to purchase a sizable sample of this fragrance, so I could wear it & experience it before deciding if it is FBW. I had extremely high expectations for this perfume after a few reviews sighted it as a "must have" incense fragrance. I'm unsure if my lofty hopes have let me down, or if it is the fragrance itself. Unfortunately for me, Mandala turned out to be one big "meh."

While I enjoyed the initial frankincense and (I suppose) Angelica opening, the hope ended there as Mandala quickly settled into nothing more than a huge, harsh, spice bomb of cardamom, nutmeg, clove and cypher green. I wish this fragrance unveiled more smoky, traditional "incense" notes but sadly, it did not. A few hours in, my nose still feels bothered by creamy, spicy almost "gourmand" notes. I detect wafts of booziness (amber) but sadly, that's about it.

Longevity is good and on me, Mandala wears as a close skin scent with mild & minimal silage.

Nice enough I suppose but as a daily wear & total love, this is sadly a strong pass.

A blast of a strong and sharp frankincense greets be in the first seconds - with touches of nutmeg added soon. A brighter glimpse is brought in soon, courtesy and an angelica-artemisia impression then blends in well.

The drydown rings in a darker phase, in which the sharp edge smoothens somewhat, and assumes a nigh oily-spicy character that is derived from a rich and dominant olibanum not. Some galbanum with a smidgen of a herbal undertones joins the olfactory party now, as does a more restrained labdanum, with a crisper note injected again by a cistus that is also quite fresh. The incense is still there, softer that then it was at the beginning. Whiffs of dried fruits appear transiently.

The base mellows the incense fumes a bit further, and a collection of woods emerges. Initially hints of sandal, cedar and quote a bit of myrrh is shining through, but then it becomes sharper by the addition of an oak moss component. Later on the whole starts reminding one of the very artificial pseudo-ouds that are commonly used in perfumery these days. A slightly salty touch of ambergris is hovering in the background; this ambergris is restrained but quite authentic, and also much, much less synthetic that many of the other ingredients.

I get strong sillage, excellent projection and eight hours of longevity on my skin.

A vivid incense bomb for wintery days that takes on a long journey along the spice trial, one ends up in some less enchanted woodlands that are rather generic for some of the time. The large amount of ingredients makes it a bit crowded, preventing some elements to develop their full potential, whilst other ingredients or overly synthetic in a manner that is not particularly original. Some ingredient are of a higher quality though, and an ardent incense lover might find some contentment here. Overall 2.75/5

When first applied I'm hit with a fresh and pure approach, almost like clean cotton, a sea breeze but highly concentrated and very mood enhancing. It becomes really evident that the ambergris used here is of high quality or a revelation in the laboratory, either way the first hour into this fragrance sets a very tranquil and clean vibe, then the transition into the mid reveals incense ..woody incense that brings me back into the shore, I'm then in a church over looking the sea and everything around me is calm and assured. I'm reminded of things like 40 knots or zoologist squid ..this isn't setting out tho to be obviously aquatic ..it just creates a religious sea view to me personally. I get 24 hours on my skin and could still smell it after a shower.

Masque Milano Mandala is the second perfume from the second act, the sample obtained during an introductory event with Alessandro Brun at the former King of Prussia location of Perfumology, soon to re-open in Old City Philadelphia.

Mandala is a reference to the multicolored geometric creation of the same name from certain eastern religions, sometimes created with paint, sand, or textile, and they can be beautiful, artistic mixes of color and inspiration.

The fragrance itself is predominantly a multifaceted incense scent, somewhat bright, somewhat spicy, subtly nuanced, not an overly loud winter beast type of incense scent, but an incense scent for all seasons. The nutmeg and angelica in the opening foster a fairly sharp effect, angelica itself being somewhat bitter, before drying down to a more harmonic, albeit even more spice-laden blend of cinnamon, clove, and cardamom, before drying down to a woody base.

Overall, Mandala is yet another great creation from the minds at Masque Milano that is a bottle I'll seriously need to consider buying, as I really love the complexity and intrigue of this composition.


I'd especially recommend fans of incense fragrances to check out Mandala by ordering a spray sample from Perfumology, as the fragrance is distinct enough from other incense-dominant fragrances, given its varied note list, that it merits trying for uniqueness alone, even though the uniqueness is subtle, not a loud, in-your-face type of blast of resins along the lines of an Amber Absolute or Ambra Aurea. Like the other creations from this line, Mandala is created with care and subtlety.


I find the performance very satisfactory, not like the aforementioned beasts but still robust and thoroughly enjoyable. At $158 for 35ml retail, despite beautiful presentation, it's not cheap, so one really needs to love it to purchase it, but I imagine it would be an treasure for many incense fans in particular.

8 out of 10