The Mother’s – Golden Fragrances (Trial Packs)

The Golden line consists mostly of the same scents as the Regular line, just significantly fewer (17), and there are also Geranium, Iris, Ylang Ylang, and Spring Blossom.
The line appears to be a quality upgrade or providing more potent versions of the Regular scents. After being largely impressed with those varieties, I couldn’t wait to try the Golden line.
This time I ordered directly from the official Mother’s importer in the EU: wierook.nl, since Padma Store has only a very limited selection and is comparatively expensive.
I planned buying a sample box, but it was out of stock when I wanted to place my order. So I opted for the so-called ‘Probeerpakje’ (trial packs) for the most part. These are card-shaped packages, each containing 2 mini-sticks of 3 different varieties. It’s just enough to get a basic impression. A trial pack of the Golden line costs €0.95.

Type/Rating Regular	Type/Rating Golden
Masala range 4	Masala range 3	Amber Amber differs significantly from those in the Regular line. They have a warm, ambery sweet scent, but I don’t perceive that as the main actor in the composition. There is a sharp, spicy, somewhat pungent note that seems incredibly familiar, but I can’t place it. The note almost feels a bit green and with a certain air dilution, the pungency turns into an airy, fresh impression. If someone presented these incense sticks to me without context, I would probably say: “Smells delicious, but what is it?” because I don’t perceive the scent as a classic amber profile. I like them, but I definitely prefer the Regular Amber.
Masala range 2-3	Masala range 2-3	Autumn Leaves [NL Herfstblaadjes] Here, the difference to the Regular line is even more pronounced. These Autumn Leaves also manage to convey an autumnal mood and create an image, but while the Regular line version uses warm, autumnal colours to paint a picture of returning to a cosy home with hot chocolate waiting for you; I see a walk through a damp, late-autumn forest that revitalises and clears the mind when burning the Golden version. The scent is deep, earthy/mossy-dark. There are also spicy notes and a slight sweetness, but the woody, rather tart notes are dominant.
Masala range 2-3	Charcoal lower range 2	Cinnamon [NL Kaneel] [In the Regular line, it’s ‘Cinnamon & Spice‘; furthermore, there is a ‘Cinnamon Bark‘ in the Herbal line.] I had two very different experiences with this variety: On the first try, I found them cinnamony sweet. I didn’t notice much of the charcoal base, but found that they need a lot of air to open up their scent. Better suited for large rooms. With the second stick, I smelled the charcoal very intensely and found the aroma strangely floral and distinctly perfumey, like when you apply perfume and the alcohol hasn’t quite evaporated yet. Wierook’s description doesn’t offer much, but MCD mentions “Essential oils of cinnamon bark and leaves, with accents of anise seeds, cassia, and oakmoss absolute.” I like the Regular much better.
x	Charcoal 2.7	Geranium Geranium essential oil is often used as a cheaper alternative to rose oil. For me, as a floral scent Philistine, geranium oil almost smells more like a rose than rose oil, which is often too sweet for me and doesn’t capture the scent of a rose blossom as I perceive it. Admittedly, I’ve never been able to stick my nose in a Damask rose. Geranium smells somewhat fresher and greener, and that’s what I associate with rose blossoms. It’s the same with these incense sticks. I find them very rosy and prefer them to Rose from the Regular line. I don’t smell the charcoal base.
x	Charcoal 2.5	Iris Iris was not included in any of the trial packs, so I bought a 12-pack of minis, which costs €1.75. Iris root is also known to us as orris root; it’s the rhizome of a lily. The scent of iris root is very powdery and strongly reminiscent of violets. The incense sticks smell almost exactly like a pack of high-quality iris root powder. It has the classic powdery scent, backed with a certain earthiness, and it reminds me of violets. The scent is overall quite mild, definitely pleasant, but I find it boring on its own. Unfortunately, due to the mild aroma, the charcoal base becomes noticeable very quickly.
Charcoal range 2	Charcoal upper range 2	Lavender (NL Lavendel) Lavender is generally not a favourite of mine. The Golden version seemed sweeter at first, but not anymore after a direct comparison to the Rgular version. It’s more intense, ‘denser’ than the Regular version, but not necessarily better. Perhaps less smoky.
Masala upper range 2	Masala lower range 3	Musk Musk smells very different from the Regular version. The scent is significantly more potent and above all more floral and sweet than its counterpart. I don’t want to call them ‘perfumey’ because I usually use the term negatively, but the scent reminds me of perfume. Over time, some spiciness and a kind of freshness are added. Musk does offer some complexity, but these two mini-sticks aren’t enough to actually explore this; just enough to decide that I like them. Still, I can’t really say I prefer them to the Regular version because they are really two entirely different characters. Golden is more striking and somehow more accessible, Regular is much subtler and has more in common with Japanese incense like Shoyeido‘s Dailies than with most Indian sticks. It should be noted that the Masala of the Golden version contains significantly more charcoal than the Regular variant. They almost seem like a charcoal stick coated with some wood powder. They also burn quite fast.
Masala range 3	Masala upper range 3	Myrrh Myrrh is actually better than the Regular line variant in that it is a bit more potent. While the Regular can burn almost unnoticed in the background, the Golden make themselves apparent. The only scent difference I noticed with the Myrrh out of the trial pack is a kind of powderiness that the Regular Myrrh seems to lack. The question is whether €1 more per pack is worth it, and whether ‘quieter’ isn’t sometimes better. MCD writes about it: “… the finest myrrh resin, softened by a touch of rose, geranium, and lavender.”
Masala range 4	Charcoal lower range 3	Patchouli Patchouli is one of my favourites of the Regular line. However, this Patchouli is somewhat generic. It smells sweet, spicy-warm, and quite typical for patchouli, so it’s earthy. In cooler weather, a certain floral note emerges. It smells purer in a certain sense than the Masala, but also flatter. This charcoal variant sorely misses the unique character that its counterpart in the Regular line has, but they aren’t bad. Again, I definitely prefer the Regular variant. (I bought a mini-stick pack of these. €1.95)
x	Charcoal upper range 2	Spring Blossom (NL Lentebloesem) Spring Blossom is described by MCD as “a bouquet of spring flowers, crowned with pure absolutes of rose and jasmine.” It’s a nice, sweet, tangy floral scent. At first, you can smell the charcoal quite strongly, but that fades quickly.
x	Charcoal range 2	Ylang Ylang Ylang-ylang brings back a little childhood memory for me: it was one of those bright, sweet scents that I totally adored as a small child. This scent is different, it’s bright and sweet, but nowhere near as much as I remember ylang-ylang to be. Other incense sticks of this scent type have also shown me that my memory is probably based on a fragrance oil and not on true essential oil, which is very expensive. The scent of these incense sticks is sweet-floral and reminds me of perfume. Additionally, it has a greenish, fresh aspect that prevents it from becoming overwhelming quickly. For someone who likes floral scents, it’s surely good, but it’s not for me.
Masala range 2	Charcoal range 2-3	Spicewood / Purification Wood [NL Zuiveringshout] [There is also a third version of this, belonging to the extended Regular line: ‘Zuiveringshout Woud‘ or ‘Woody Spicewood‘, it’s a Masala.] This scent has nothing in common with the one from the Regular line for me. They are spicy-sweet and warm. They have the typical and special spiciness of Mother’s [reminds me of BIG RED chewing gum], which I found in many of the Regulars but not in Spicewood. The sweetness sometimes turns a bit ‘smeary’ but this is mainly a problem that occurs with poor ventilation. I like these incense sticks. At the same time, this pleasant spiciness also appears in some of my favourites of the Regular line, which are Masala incense sticks, and therefore it’s by no means a unique selling point. Moreover, I wonder: why make a charcoal version of a scent that has wood in the name? They don’t smell woody. I like them a bit more than the Regular Spicewood, but it feels like comparing apples and oranges. Note: I had two sticks of Regular Purification Wood from a trial pack and out of a sampler fan containing all variants of this scent. This particular variety out of the two different packs smells significantly different from each other, and those from the Padma Store sampler smelled different again. So it’s difficult to make a clear comparison. The rating on the left refers to the Padma Store sample.

Overall, I have to say that the Golden line is not what I expected it to be. I am disappointed that some of the varieties that are Dry Masala sticks in the Regular line are charcoal-based here, which of course significantly affects the overall character of the scent. Most of the scent types present in both lines don’t just smell stronger or “better” in the Golden version; they smell different, sometimes to an extent that I don’t recognize them.
There are a few highlights, but these don’t replace the respective variety of the Regular line for me; they just offer more choices. The one exception might be Myrrh.
Some others that I liked, like Autumn Leaves, Musk, Spicewood, and Amber, would have deserved their own name in my eyes.

A general remark regarding the charcoal scent:
This sooty smell appears mainly at the beginning, shortly after lighting, and usually disappears or at least fades significantly into the background. This is highly dependent on ventilation. The less ventilation, the more the smoke can build up, and the more you will smell the charcoal base.
With cross-ventilation, or if the scent can spread into several rooms, the unpleasant tone basically disappears and the scent becomes all the more pleasant and ‘purer’.

The following varieties of the Golden line are missing in this review: Jasmine, Lotus, Orange Blossom, Red Rose*, and Vanilla. All are charcoal-based in both lines. Except for Orange Blossom, which was sold out, I didn’t order them due to lack of my interest.

*I noticed while writing the Le Perfume review that I actually did have Red Rose Gold [NL Rode Roos Goud]. I think they differed so little from the Regular that I simply hadn’t recognized them as the Golden version. Indeed, I didn’t even create a page for them in my notes – wow. In my notes on Regular Rose, however, there is an entry about incense sticks out of a trial pack; I assume those were actually the Golden ones. I mention that they smell stronger, greener and somewhat old-fashioned and rate them 2.0.