When you read about Humiecki & Graef Skarb, you’re likely to be met with a pile of ridiculous crap about how Humiecki & Graef allegedly asked the perfumer (Christopher Laudamiel, who also created the terrific S-eX by S-Perfumes) to create a perfume that approximates “how men cry” . . . which is fine, if you’re just making up prose out of thin air in order to manufacture even the tiniest of buzz in the hopes that it will help your new fragrance stand out from the 4,652 other new fragrances that were launched just that week, but it’s patently absurd as any kind of meaningful description for the fragrance itself.
When you get right down to the nitty gritty, Skarb and S-eX have a lot in common, and it seems a signature of Laudamiel’s to craft a warm base of soft musks to underscore the cheery chemical hello that greets the user at first spray. Both fragrances are reminiscent of the storage room in a science lab, with whiffs of formaldehyde and vanillin, and Laudamiel infuses the two works with a scent of salty human skin that creates the illusion of an organic heart beating at the center of his synthetic machines.
Skarb is an admirable enough piece of performance art. There are divergent notes that yet work in balance (sweet & bitter, warm & cold), a dash of abstract floral (Orange Bigarade buds?) and a shaker of spice, and it’s light enough to wear in close quarters without offending anyone while still possessing its own streak of individuality.
S-ex by S-Perfumes, however, is the more accomplished fragrance of the two (cozier, richer, a bit more layered and complex), and if you’re considering a purchase of Skarb, you might want to do yourself a favor and check out S-eX before plunking down your cash. There’s no point in living a life full of buyer’s regret.
