Molecule 04

I absolutely love this. Molecule 04 is one of those fragrances that initially smells very woody and quite unusual, but on my skin it settles into this gorgeous creamy, almost rose-like woody scent. It’s difficult to describe because it doesn’t really smell like a conventional fragrance — which is exactly what I love about the Molecule range. You really don’t need much either. A few sprays are more than enough, so a bottle will last you forever. It also mixes beautifully with Molecule 01 — the two together are fantastic. The best thing is the number of people who have asked me what I’m wearing when I have this on. Folks will follow you around. I’ve realised I much prefer the simplicity and weirdness of the Molecule and Molecule + ranges to the more ‘complex’ Escentric fragrances. Creamy, woody, slightly rosy, unusual and completely addictive. This stuff is amazing. Treat yourself.

i very rarely hate perfume. but this one, omg ... i have already reviewed it but i feel its my duty to warn other people. it is NUCLEAR and suffocating. tried one spray myself one time because i got it in the molecule discovery set. NEVER AGAIN. stayed in my room for about a week. gave it to my sister, but regretted it as soon as i visited her and her room smelled like it. i had to tell her not to wear it around me again because it is genuinely so nauseating

This one was quite a lesson to me in how much our noses vary. It feels wild to me that some people either consider this weak or can't smell it at all, because to me it is the most nuclear and insistently nagging perfume I've ever tried. Granted the only real shockers I've tried are Etat Libre's Rien and a few cheap ME flatteners, but none of them have anything on this. This isn't a perfume you wear for yourself - it's a perfume you wear for me, personally. If you want me to think you might have eaten 5000 woody oranges from across the ocean, then this is the perfume for you. And me, by extension.

Jesus Christ this stuff is potent and vile. My girlfriend and I both hate it. Smells like the cheap ass designer stuff that filled the pages of the macy’s catalog your parents would get in the mail when you were a kid. Bug spray. Disgusting headache inducing scent. Kill it with fire.

Faint up close, but it blooms and has a decent sillage. I get what others are saying: there's hints of wood, pain thinner, elmer's glue, and the funk of almost-overripe fruit. It's interesting and fairly pleasant, and although I value the experience of learning what the molecule smells like, I probably wouldn't wear it on its own as a perfume.

Interesting scent, smells like a very light encre noire, but it's a molecule that I go nose blind to very fast.

okej okej i kinda see ich wizje. To taki przyjemny swiezy zapach ktorego nie da sie skategoryzowac na meski albo damski. Oprocz tej swiezosci jest tu taka wingronowa slodycz ktorej ciezko nie lubic tak naprawde. Bardzo uniwersalne i naprawde jestem nimi pozytywnie zaskoczony. Dla mnie taki zapach oznacza ze ktos zna pileczke tbh Duzy ich minusem jest napewno to ze bardzo umieraja na skorze i pachna troche tak jak zwyczajny czlowiek, jak zapach ktory naturalnie wydziela mezczyzna w wieku 30 lat.

UGH I have a love-hate relationship with javanol. When I very first smelled Molecule 04, I was obsessed. I thought it heavenly. I wondered if it was too foresty green for me, or too cologne-y, but decided it was perfect. But then I wore it. And it's simply too much. Like, one tiny drop is already too much. I don't like wearing it. I adore javanol when I catch a whiff on a passerby in public, but that's about as much as I can take. I find it simultaneously addicting and overwhelming. When it's on my skin, I become sick of myself instantly, like it's simply too potent. The longer it sits on my skin, the ore synthetic it smells. Almost overstimulating.

Fall's day, the chill is settling. The cold hits the back of your throat, clearing your nostrils in the process. Hurts like nettle needles, but is somehow pleasant. A scent of a scent, slowly calming. Somewhere there's woods and paint thinner, a forgotten orange in a purse. The story of a story, sans the protagonist.

On me, Javanol doesn't smell floral, creamy, woody, or sandalwoody at all, just incredibly long-lasting lemongrass and neon pomelo peel. I ordered a discovery set, trying to figure out if any of this synthetic mono-concept suits me. I'm thinking of layering it with Guerlain's Samsara to add volume, lightness, and boldness.

I think that anyone who spends a considerable amount of money on fragrances should have Molecule 04 in their collection. This is the only fragrance that has had someone chase me down to ask what I am wearing, and this has actually happened on multiple occasions. I strongly urge anyone who likes smelling good to PLEASE invest in this! 2-3 sprays under any fragrance and you’ve brought it to the next level.

Interesting what time does to a perfume. I’ve had a bottle for years now, but I never wear it so it has been macerating quietly for 5 years now. I’m not suggesting that this should be the expected approach. But it has helped me to understand this finally after all this time. It develops as follows: citrus, flowers, creamy, all strongly underpinned with sandalwood/javanol. It’s like a different perfume to how I remember it. It’s really nice now. Strong performance too, both longevity and silage. Is it worth the investment? Not sure I would replace. I found myself moving away from this synthetic approach.

Molecule 04 is good in an unexpected way, based on all my previous experiences with sandalwood this is not the scent profile that I had been expecting. It’s a deep rich spicy note with woody undertones. It in all honesty has proven very hard for me to review because I think it smells good but at the same time there is just something about Molecule 04 that doesn’t appeal to me as a base note or layer. On the performance side Molecule 04 failed to impress in either longevity or projection. The longevity was honestly quite poor, I got 3 and a half hours of total wear time on my skin. A 2/10 for longevity. The projection was very minimal, Molecule 04 never got more than an inch or two off my skin. A 1/10 for projection. Molecule 04 smells good but it just doesn’t feel wearable to me as a fragrance, much less as a layer. I just don’t think it has the performance power needed to be worn along side another fragrance, I think most would cover it up and the ones that don’t are likely to outlast it. As a fragrance Molecule 04 gets a 3/10 just for smelling good and as a layer it gets a 1/10. A note for anyone who plans to order the official samples from Escentric Molecules, the atomizer that is used has been absolutely horrible for me. It struggles to get a fine mist. Rather the fragrance comes out only slightly dispersed and semi stream like.

To me this literally smells like sweaty ass. I would rather have someone wipe their sweaty ass on my pillow than spray this on anything ever again, because at least real sweaty ass will fade away after a while.

Javanol does not smell like sandalwood to my nose. To me it smells like wet dog and armpit. It hangs in the air like body odor. I can't wait for it to go out of fashion more because it haunts me around the city.

The 1st 10 minutes of wear I was thinking "Wow this is harsh"...BUT then the magic happened & I was loving it. Very good! I'm so glad I bought it. I have bought a back-up bottle for sure...😉

Sheer, dry, sparkly sandalwood! In higher doses it takes on a lemony citrus facet. Literally the best thing I’ve ever smelled, no other sandalwood will compare, the perfect unisex molecular scent. Super versatile, understated, high quality and simple!

this fragrance is so one of a kind- creamy, warm, futuristic. perhaps its nostalgia factor but every now and then I smell it in the wind when no one is around and it takes me back to being 21 brand new to the city- its still on my suede jacket from 3 years ago. needless to say the longevity and sillage is insane. people will notice you.

100% reminds me of how newborn babies smell. Absolutely love it

I sprayed this in the airport before my 14 hour flight and I can still smell it on my hand 2 hours after landing… I swear it got stronger the longer it sat… the dry down smells exactly like Mojave ghost to me… I love this!!!

Iconic minimalist with pure Iso E Super creating a unique woody-amber aura that's skin-enhancing and addictive. True beast mode sillage and longevity on many due to chemistry. Masculine in a subtle, magnetic way. Year-round versatility, shines in any temperature as it adapts. By far my fave from this house.

I am a sandalwood FIEND. UNFORTUNATELY, this smells like straight up doggy doo doo on my skin. I wish I was lying.

I am almost anosmic to 01 and 02, this is the opposite, it’s massive. It was more interesting the first couple of hours, with both acidity, creamyness, spicyness, wobbling around, being all over and shapeshifting. Then eventually it settled into the exact smell of the cheap insense sticks that were all over when I was a teenager. That was interesting enough to begin with but when it just stuck around in an extremely ever present way I got sick of it and sprayed 1 spritz of terre d’hermes on top . I feel like it just makes that one even more divine. I don’t feel finished exploring here, I need to try it out in the world and see how it acts there, I need to try it layered with rituals no. 21 ( sandalwood and patchouli) , I need to try it with something vanilla. In general I find it endlessly fascinating how this fragrance ( if it is at all perceived) acts so differently on everyone and is experienced so differently. As with the other molecular fragrances. And all that from an isolated molecule- meeting the world. It reminds me of the alchemical mysteries of perfumery and tiny interactions. - remember that if you’re anosmic you can still somehow experience it through layering and the effects it brings. (I also layered molecule 01 with terre d’hermes and that was absolutely horrible - sticky nauseous sweet. With this one I feel it brings out the sweetness too but only makes it even more divine. I’m basically inside a holy mountain right now :) with this combo. ♥️🏔️

Very light and reminiscent of soft sandalwood. Can't smell it directly, needed to put a blotter I. The bag. Fine once concentration does down but overloads otherwise.

So sad because I am the biggest sandalwood fan, but I got super unlucky and am completely anosmic to this. I'm saying like I DOUSED my hand in this and neither me nor the friend I was with could smell a single thing. Do not take this as a reason not to buy, take it as more a sign that you absolutely should try/sample it first - I'm sure it's lovely for those who can smell it.

I like this unique scent! I have the Genre Parfums version of this and have not smelled the original. I like to pair this with Brown Sugar Babe Level 13 body oil and Le Labo Another 13! You can really wear this with anything!

Molecule always gets the compliments and this is no exception. I can’t really smell this on me except for a few times during the day. I asked “who smells so good” and everyone I asked said it wasn’t them. They did say they smell incense. The kept saying that but we didn’t know where it was coming from. For some reason, after this drys down, it turns to pure intense on me. So it was me all along. Very strange and kinda cool.

I can't even smell it but it still makes me cough :( The times I do get the odd whiff of this fragrance, either 5 seconds after spraying it or sniffing my wrist after wearing it for 5 hours, it smells like wood freshly cleaned with lemon pledge. Kinda nice.

just smell hand sanitizer, like with 02

This is a lovely perfume to layer and enchant other fragrances such us Kryptonite by Khalil T. I use it mainly for that purpose. It’s a woody scent, quite strong on me. Rather unisex. Alone doesn’t make any sense. Perfect for winter time. 3.5/5