“Opera Mate” is a relatively new perfume by the brand Mind Games. Mind Games itself was only founded in 2022 in New York, but already lefts its mark on the perfume world.
The brand is clearly focused on untypical creations, scent notes that are seldom found in a similar combination, and a very good staying power.
“Opera Mate” got my interest when I read that the perfume has a significant chestnut note. Chestnut is rare in perfumes, and it is even rarer that chestnut plays the leading role. The few perfumes I know that are based on chestnut are outstanding and interesting. The assumption is that in the future more perfumers will work with that scent note. Probably a better idea than using banana in combination with almost everything, as was the trend this summer.
The perfume opens with a rich, sweet chestnut note, that smells like the edible chestnut (Marone in German). The English language unfortunately does not differentiate too clearly between the horse chestnut that you find on the streets in fall and the edible chestnuts. The horse chestnut looks quite nice but has nothing to do with food. The so-called sweet chestnut is not really very sweet, but pleasant when you eat it. The smell is wonderful. Warm sweet chestnuts you can today only buy fresh on Christmas markets. You buy a bag of hot sweet chestnuts and peel off the shell, then eat it immediately. In supermarkets you can buy shrink-wrapped cooked sweet chestnuts around Christmas time as well. For the rest of the year chestnuts are off the food plan. The rarity is certainly one of the reasons why the scent note is not used more often in perfumes – people do have no memory of the smell and therefore are not naturally drawn to it.
The scent of warm sweet chestnuts is emphasised by all the other notes in “Opera Mate”. They form a harmonious and enhancing background to the main note.
According to the Mind Games’ website the other ingredients are grapefruit zest, labdanum, crème brulee, davana, vetiver, caramel, sandal wood, and suede.
For my nose, the labdanum and crème brulee are the only ones to be distinguishable to the sweet chestnut. There is not much change in the perfume, which is totally fine. If something is good, there is no need to tamper with it.
The colour of the perfume is a warm red brown.
The founders of Mind Games, the couple Mariana & Alex Shalbaf, based their brand on the game of chess. According to the story that is anywhere found in the internet they wanted to combine the elegance and the intellect of chess with the marks of a real luxury brand. This is a short version, for the longer one just check their website. Creative director Mariana Shalbaf certainly gave a lot of thought into each perfume’s story. To me, as usual, the stories are not that interesting, but the game of chess is a worthy background. The perfumes of the brand that I know and bought are exceptional and untypical, that is what counts.
All the Mind Games fragrances come in beautiful bottles that are inspired by chess pieces. The bottles are in black or white, same as the pieces on the chess board. The lower part is the same for all perfumes, but the caps change according to the rank of the chess piece. “Opera Mate” is a bishop. The fragrances are not cheap, a peasant goes for around 270 €, higher ranking pieces often for more.
All the names of the perfumes have to do with chess. Opera mate as a chess move means a certain way to set the other side’s king checkmate.
Alex Shalbaf is the founder of The Fragrance Group that owns a few perfume brands, has licencing agreements with more and distributes many through his online platform “So Avant Garde”. His background seems to have been from another industry, but the change to the perfume world went smoothly and he seems to be very successful with his companies.
Mind Games is the first brand he and his wife launched themselves. They did extremely well, the quality is exceptional.
For the creation of the perfumes, they work together with Symrise AG, a German nutrition and niche perfume company. One of the many hidden champions in the market of mid-size companies in the country. Unknown to most, but hugely successful.
Perfumer and nose Christelle Laprade is one of the inhouse master perfumers at Symrise. She created a substantial part of the Mind Games fragrances, including “Opera Mate”.
Through the combination of the background of the founder Alex Shalbaf, his existing network in the industry, and the wish to be responsible for something special, I see a very solid foundation for the future success of the brand Mind Games and many more unconventional perfumes.