Matthew
For our second conversation, we sat with Matthew, known to some as Amscent, a final-year student from South Tangerang who came up through IT, all algorithms and logic, and found in fragrance the outlet his analytical world never offered. We spoke about soul as the missing piece, the human musk that returns him to his mother’s room, and why he is certain that nothing in this life is an accident.
Coming from an IT background, with my head constantly full of algorithms and logic, there was never much of an outlet for emotional or creative freedom. Fragrance, and especially discovering HoM Haute, gave me a way to actually process and explore my emotional side, turning rampant, unstructured feelings into something more tangible and expressive.
Turning rampant, unstructured feelings into something tangible.
Your relationship with fragrance
I used to view it as a utility, something you would wear simply to smell and feel good. That changed for the better when I encountered HoM Haute and vintage fragrances. At first I could not really describe how it was different, I just knew. Turns out soul was the missing piece.
A fragrance with a soul lives. It smells good, maybe not just in the conventional sense anymore. Beyond the olfactory pleasure, you start to see good fragrances as ones that portray an art, an experience, and fulfil their conceptual brief from start to finish. That lens is only possible if the fragrance carries the soul the perfumer poured into it.
A fragrance with a soul lives.
A scent that takes you somewhere
How do I say this. Human musks, especially of older people. The musk inside my mother’s bedroom always returns me to her endless battle with the game called life, her traumas, her betrayals, and yet the warmth and love she always gave her children despite everything she had gone through.
What you’re wearing now
These days I find myself reaching for something lighter and more classical. Several vintage chypres in my collection (Missoni, Coriandre) and the more daily-wearable HoMs (Chypre Oppenheimer, Chypre Genesis, Almighty Push, Aquilaria Cyberpunk) are the ones I lean into most during this season of my life.
A daily ritual
A simple alone time in the car at night, spraying and reviewing whatever fragrance I want to enjoy, to unwind the day. It has become my own personal therapy, breaking down each note and concept to myself. It has genuinely helped me stay sane.
On good taste
Being honest, really honest with yourself about what you truly like, and building on that foundation into something more elevated: structures, art, concepts. It is called taste for a reason. No one will have the exact, picture-perfect taste you have. Inherently, everybody has good taste, if they are authentic with themselves.
One belief you would defend
There are no accidents in this life. Everything happens for a reason.
Thank you for helping me find myself again, the self that life’s chaos so often erodes. Big respect, and may God always bless you and your family.