Maison Margiela Autumn Vibes Perfume Review
Maison Margiela Autumn Vibes Eau de Toilette begins with a swirl of aromatic spices–pepper, cardamom, coriander, nutmeg–but ultimately shifts into a dry, warm cedar within a few minutes that sweetens with maple syrup over the next several huors of wear. There are hints of pine, darker resins, and rooty sweetness at different points in development, but Autumn Vibes is largely a cedar fragrance. The notes are listed as:
- top notes: pink peppercorns essence, cardamom essence, coriander essence
- heart notes: carrot seeds essence, nutmeg essence, olibanum essence
- base notes: cedarwood essence, moss accord, fir balsam absolute, labdanum resinoid
It has a harsh, peppery hit that tickled my nose initially, before sweetening with freshly dug-up carrots and flanked by spicy cardamom ad nutty coriander that combined with the dry cedar smelled almost cumin-like. The opening was quite aromatic, but the intensity dropped as the cedar and fir amplified, which made the spices run together and seem more like a piquant, nutty blend of savory spice. The carroty sweetness popped in and out over the first five minutes before settling against the dry cedar adding an earthy sweetness.
After 15 minutes, a dry, warm cedar took centerstage and remained the focal point of Autumn Vibes through its drydown. The sweetness shifted from rooty and earthy to darker, thicker, and more resinous, like maple syrup.
Application
For testing, I used 1/3 of a 0.7ml sample vial dabbed to the underside and topside of my wrist area on my left arm. I used an unscented moisturizer prior to applying the scent as this is also my swatching arm (aka, incredibly parched at any given moment) as I found scent did not hold well here otherwise.
Longevity
It lasted for seven hours until it was a skin-scent and about 10 hours before it was quite difficult to detect on my skin. The sillage and projection were moderate with the sillage dropping faster than the projection after three hours of wear.
Personal Thoughts
I thought I’d love “maple syrup” as a sweetener against cedar, but it felt almost less like pure maple syrup and more like the idea of maple syrup, not quite thick and dark enough to satisfy my preferences. For someone who loves dry cedar but perhaps finds other fragrances too dry with cedar, the sweetness of this definitely gave it a smoother feel.
Available Sizes
- 100ml for $135
- 30ml for $72
- 10ml for $30
I enjoy the Replica line – Beachwalk is a consistent favorite of mine. If they brought back the dry body oil I would buy several bottles to hoard.
This scent is so heavily Cedar on myself -and- right out the gate that it’s nearly overpowering.
I highly recommend anyone who doesn’t *love* cedar to buy the travel size of this to see if it wears the same on them.
The Sephora pointer has a good size sample, unlike Juliette, which is a tiny dabber. Just for FYI to readers. I find the MMs quite evocative of their themes, but there’s a heavy dose in all of them that’s reactive for me. Solution? Wear it from the bottom of the rib cage to waist. Weird, but works. Suspect it’s Benzyl salicylate, both a fragrance modifier and in the chemical sunscreen family. That’s a tough one to avoid, because it often is not listed as an ingredient in scent, foundation, and occasionally concealer. For anyone w/ allergies, etc. who cannot figure it out, that’s a good one to start an elimination trial with. Do a foundation patch with and without BS and you might discover it’s a problem. Actually, it has a high negative rating on the sources and a high rate of reactions in the population.
If nothing else, this sounds interesting. Not sure if it is something that I would like on myself, however.
This smells like rotting to me. I thought I was crazy when I smelled it but I looked at reviews on Sephora and I am not the only one who finds this scent to smell absolutely disgusting. Not just unpleasant or not for me, like it smells like wet rotting leaves that an animal may have died in. Santal 33 smells similarly but not n early as bad to me and the notes they have in common are the cedar and the cardamom so I’ve started paying extra attention to these notes in fragrances to see if I smell the same in others. I had a couple friends smell it recently and they didnt smell what I smell so you’re probably more likely to like it than to want to barf when you smell it…but there will be a distinct possibility while you wear this that someone will smell you and be repulsed.
I hate this scent so much too. I kept rereading the bottle and notes to make sure I wasn’t crazy. I don’t smell rotting things, but I do smell an awful unpleasant sharpness that causes me to physically recoil so…….
If I had to guess I’d say it’s the cedar in those fragrances. For a long time I ONLY smelled “guinea pig cage” whenever sniffing cedar. At some point I got familiar with the kinds of cedar available, but cheap perfume always goes for that rodent cage shavings cedar.
If you have an opportunity grab some fresh cardamom pods and rule those out…I really love cardamom. I think actual, real fresh cardamom pods are one of the best smells ever. All Indian grocery stores have them, usually cheaper than regular american grocery stores.
Also if you get a chance to sniff different cedar essential oils. I like virginia as it’s warm and sweet.
This sounds an interesting perfume to try – I quite like the notes in it.
I love this one. It feels very Le Labo-esque to me…
I like Autumn Vibes because it gives me Santal 33 without the dill pickle.
Have you had other scents give you that dill pickle note? And if so have you figured out a common note between that may be causing it? I ask because I have had several scents have this for me(and have seen reviews where people mentioned it) but haven’t figured out if it’s one specific note or ingredient. Also it seems to be like how cilantro tastes like soap to some because some people do not get that whiff of pickle lol.
I haven’t ever had another fragrance do this to me, but I think it’s probably because I haven’t tried enough. The internet sure has all sorts of theories of what it might be! I know I’ve read some people do still get dill from Autumn Vibes, so I guess I’m just lucky that this one works for me.
I’m one who loves Maison Margiela scents….I do like Autumn Vibes, but it’s number three on my list
after By the Fireplace and Jazz Club….
I couldn’t get past how this smelled on first squirt (luckily on a card!) to find out how it wears. I like cedar as a note (sweet virginia cedar, not the hampster cage cedar). But, I found it sharp and repulsive (and if I remember correctly it smells like 7 Virtues Santal Vanille in the bottle) and honestly felt a little betrayed by Replica. I love Jazz Club. I love By the Fire. I don’t mind smelling a few of the others even if I don’t want to wear them. But Autumn Vibes? No thank you, ma’am. Not Autumn and those Vibes aren’t for me.