Reviews of Mississippi Medicine by D.S. & Durga
If you are a fan of the D.S & Durga style, then this may be for you.
On my skin, my wife asked if I was wearing Raid...
So a neutral for me, even though I disagreed with her assessment.
On my skin, my wife asked if I was wearing Raid...
So a neutral for me, even though I disagreed with her assessment.
The opening is a little brighter than the drydown, but for the most part, this is a very cool, mossy, woody scent from start to finish.
The opening smell is like walking into the fresh-cut lumber section in a hardware store. Later it becomes more like old, weathered wood that you would find in old, abandoned but preserved log cabins. You can still smell a little smoke left from the many burning logs through the years.
For me, this is quite unique and of good quality, but it is a scent better experienced than worn.
Decent projection during the first couple hours. Lasts about 6-7 hours.
The opening smell is like walking into the fresh-cut lumber section in a hardware store. Later it becomes more like old, weathered wood that you would find in old, abandoned but preserved log cabins. You can still smell a little smoke left from the many burning logs through the years.
For me, this is quite unique and of good quality, but it is a scent better experienced than worn.
Decent projection during the first couple hours. Lasts about 6-7 hours.
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Unlike others, I don't get a lot of pine or coniferous wood from this. I do get the frankincense and birch tar....both being front and center. This is one I wear for myself rather than for others. It's an oddball, kind of a Gucci Rush meets Bulgari Black. Interesting, and I quite like it. But....I couldn't say "this is a casual scent, this is a date night scent......etc.". This is an oddball scent that, if you like it you might love it. I do. But most of your friends, or prospective dates, will not.
Top notes are a fresh breeze. Red cedar and white spruce are center stage. Violet isn't stomped on by the wood - I can detect it well. The top notes here are just plain Good!
The middle is just as good. Great, in fact. Pine, cypress breeze. Earthy, cool. I'm at a loss for words for this one. This is the "pine-y" scent I have been searching for. It's outdoorsy. One of the better masculine scents I've sampled in awhile.
The base isn't mean, angry, or nasty. The birch tar, incense, and cade are polite. A good core base. M.M. works on me, works, for my psyche. Comforting.
The middle is just as good. Great, in fact. Pine, cypress breeze. Earthy, cool. I'm at a loss for words for this one. This is the "pine-y" scent I have been searching for. It's outdoorsy. One of the better masculine scents I've sampled in awhile.
The base isn't mean, angry, or nasty. The birch tar, incense, and cade are polite. A good core base. M.M. works on me, works, for my psyche. Comforting.
Women do not have to smell like flowers or food. Commes des Garcons Zagorsk and 4711 were my gateway drugs for this important principle. I moved on to MM because Zagorsk, which I love, has no staying power.MM is strong, fresh, and bitter, with a ton of birch tar on top that doesn't dry down for a long time. You'll smell like a burnt-out campfire for a while. Then it glides into the base of frankincense and some other woody, patchouli-like things that last forever and cling to my clothes, which I like. Like a lot of new flavors, new music, and new thoughts, it's off-putting at first, but give it a second chance. I'm glad I did.
This is a long-shut cupboard in the wood supplies store stocked full of preparations to treat your planks, and smoky, tarry polishing products. Although there's frankincense at the centre of this fragrance, it's presented in a dark, earthed manner, bolstered by an array of woody and resinous tones. It could have been a dense mess, but instead it breathes and invites you into its frontiers gloom. The pine and bark notes give vigour to the more burnt out elements. The smokiness has the dusty quality of dry leaves burning. The kind of fragrance that seems to be calling out for a sunny winter's day or when the I want to go live in a log cabin' mood strikes you (I'll admit to being visited by it from time to time, usually when I have been desk-bound too long).
Nonetheless, this seems more of a perfume for a few hours than for an entire day, as it doesn't evolve much except for the frankincense and resins getting more of the upper hand in the later stages with the smoke and woody notes receding somewhat. I found this a bit tiring; but the more single-minded may beg to disagree.
Nonetheless, this seems more of a perfume for a few hours than for an entire day, as it doesn't evolve much except for the frankincense and resins getting more of the upper hand in the later stages with the smoke and woody notes receding somewhat. I found this a bit tiring; but the more single-minded may beg to disagree.
Birch tar...and a lot of it in the opening. It settles down pretty quickly though, and I really enjoy Mississippi Medicine. It's a green scent that smells of many different trees. I love trees and I love to smell like most trees. This is a wonderful combination of cedar, spruce, pine, wild juniper or "cade". A nice resinous scent. I would buy some as well if it wasn't 165.00 for around an ounce of fragrance. Very pricey. Maybe someday...but for now, there's others I want more...
Absolutely fantastic fragrance. This smells almost exactly like burning copal resin, which is used a lot during Dia de los Muertos, on the ofrendas (altars) to the dead. Very much like a pine-cedar resin. Brilliant!
Update -- I pulled the trigger and now own a bottle of this beautiful, distinctive scent. It is very woody, in fact a veritable woodshop. Smoky birch tar adds to the slow-burning embers aspect. Resinous, terpenic, at times heady and exhilarating. Hints of incense. The lone floral (violet) adds a silver-ghostly subtext, appropriate to the so-called "death-cult" vibe of the scent. ;)
I like this herbal-medicinal brew. Hint of leather in the dry-down (like an old saddle). Beautiful, haunting. Not sweet artificially, just at times the natural result of the rich ingredients. Reminiscent of patent medicine and liniment. Grassy, hay-like. No florals. Substantial but not heavy, wears well. Something like mint/earth, perhaps patchouli. Smoky mint. Green scene.
I like this herbal-medicinal brew. Hint of leather in the dry-down (like an old saddle). Beautiful, haunting. Not sweet artificially, just at times the natural result of the rich ingredients. Reminiscent of patent medicine and liniment. Grassy, hay-like. No florals. Substantial but not heavy, wears well. Something like mint/earth, perhaps patchouli. Smoky mint. Green scene.
The opening blast with a floral notes with aldehydic touches, and an incense note, and the latter soon takes over. It is a frankincense with, especially initially, a balsamic undertone that could be described as mildly medicinal at stages.
In the drydown a woodsy pine accent appears, but it is soon pushed into the background when the birch tar sets in, which has a distinct burning and smoky characteristic on my skin. Gradually it is fading out over time, like a fire that moves further away in the distance.
The sillage is moderate, the projection brilliant and the lovebird and excellent nine hours.
A warm incense winter scent with a burning and smoky characteristic, made from high-quality ingredients and well blended. 3.25/5.
In the drydown a woodsy pine accent appears, but it is soon pushed into the background when the birch tar sets in, which has a distinct burning and smoky characteristic on my skin. Gradually it is fading out over time, like a fire that moves further away in the distance.
The sillage is moderate, the projection brilliant and the lovebird and excellent nine hours.
A warm incense winter scent with a burning and smoky characteristic, made from high-quality ingredients and well blended. 3.25/5.
An interesting mix of wood notes (cedar, birch) and incense, probably not the heaviest/strongest offering D.S. & Durga that I've smelled. Surely more on the cold weather side but also workable in warmer weather, Mississippi Medicine is doesn't lean so heavily on the incense as it does on the woody/resinous notes. Like other scents in the house, it smells very natural, never surprisingly sweet or sour, but almost a patchouli-esque earthiness. Probably not one that I'd buy but with decent projection and longevity, it might prove worthwhile. This makes me to go back and smell some of their other scents to compare.
6 out of 10
6 out of 10
Dark, moody, evocativeFrom D.S. and Durga:"Mississippi Medicine is a fragrance based on the rituals of the proto-Mississipian death cult of the 1200s." Wow! This may be one of the first times for me that a description of a fragrance actually matches exactly the image that the scent evokes. Dark, moody...you'll only want to wear it while chanting hexes in velvet robes and your blackest, thickest eyeliner. A really great scent that had me constantly sniffing my wrist...I was really digging what I assume was the birch tar. The downside? Well, what makes it so intriguing may also work against it and I feel like it would make me, well...make me feel depressed because it is so damn moody. Just maybe. But I love the fact that a fragrance can do that. I would definitely recommend it for people seeking a dark, incensey fragrance. Well-made, evocative, decent-to-great longevity.