Mind Games dropped two new fragrances under what they’re calling the Perfumer Extraordinaire collection — Knight’s Tour and Arabian Mate — announced August 25th. I got to actually smell Arabian Mate, and I’m just going to say it up front: I’m in love with this one.
The gimmick, and I mean that as a compliment
Each bottle ships with two lab samples of the actual raw ingredients used in the fragrance, so you’re smelling the building blocks right alongside the finished thing. I think it’s a genuinely good idea — most brands treat the “how” as a secret, and Mind Games is just handing some of that over. They’ve said they want to grow this collection out to 12 fragrances eventually.
The actual notes
Classified as woody floral. Top: bergamot, lemon, cardamom, spiced pear. Middle: rose, jasmine, guaiacwood, oud, patchouli. Drydown: sandalwood, vanilla absolute, tonka absolute, golden amber.
What it actually smells like
The oud is blended in so well it doesn’t smack you in the face the way oud sometimes does — it sits right alongside a sweet vanilla and sandalwood combo that’s just really well done. Then the cardamom leans into the whole thing and gives it this wonderful spicy edge that keeps it from going flat or too sweet. Genuinely one of the better-blended fragrances I’ve smelled this year — nothing about it feels like it’s fighting for attention, it all just works together. Makes a lot more sense now seeing guaiacwood and tonka absolute on the actual list too — that’s exactly the warm, slightly smoky backbone I was picking up on underneath the vanilla.
Where to get it
Both are up now on mindgamesfragrance.com. I also got invited to the Mind Games launch party at the Atlanta Neiman Marcus, so I’ll have more to say after that — curious to see how it’s presented in person and whether I pick up anything different in a proper spray versus what I smelled the first time.
