The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Keep Trying Me arrived in 2022 from the desk of Miguel Matos. Mai Senza Profumo, the profumeria artistica behind the release, brought Keep Trying Me to market as one of its limited commissioned compositions. The name is the brief: wear it when you feel like letting instinct lead. No caveats, no apology. The composition reads exactly that way: a spicy-aromatic top that doesn't introduce itself politely, a herbal heart that's both floral and slightly dirty, and a base built on animalic materials the modern market often tries to smooth over. Keep Trying Me leans into the kind of raw, unfiltered territory that mainstream perfumery tends to sand down.
What makes the pyramid worth a second look is the tension between its clean and feral halves. Carnation brings a clove-sweet floral warmth that reads almost retro, but sitting beside costus root, civet, and oakmoss, it stops being polite. The beeswax does quiet structural work, giving the drydown a waxy, skin-close warmth that keeps the animalic notes from veering into something unwearable. Iris adds the powdery lift, lavender keeps the aromatic thread honest, and patchouli roots everything in earth.
The evolution
The opening is where the spice talks. Cinnamon and grapefruit crackle on the surface, clary sage threading green through the heat, and the whole thing reads brighter than you'd expect from the note list. As the initial sharpness settles, the carnation shows up, sweet and slightly peppery, and the coriander and lavender build the aromatic backbone. This is the polite phase, and it's almost a tease. Eventually, the civet makes its entrance. It's not loud, but it's unmistakable: a warm, furry, slightly sweet musk that pushes the composition out of the fougere playbook and into something more bodily. Beeswax and iris keep it close to skin, costus adds a leathery, almost root-like bitterness, and the oakmoss grounds everything in damp earth. Vanilla and patchouli do the slow work, sweetening the civet just slightly without neutralizing it.
Cultural impact
Keep Trying Me occupies a distinctive place within the niche fragrance landscape, drawing on a classic aromatic fougere structure while incorporating animalic and herbal elements that push it toward more visceral territory. Its similarity score with the vintage Monsieur Leonard by Leonard suggests it leans on a traditional fougere architecture, yet the inclusion of civet and costus root introduces a feral edge that distinguishes it from more conventional interpretations of the structure.
