It’s very difficult to convey my feelings about this perfume because they are so disparate but to use the cliché ‘love/hate’ is an understatement. The negatives are that I couldn’t wear Gaea, and not due to the honey notes which I actually think are very nice in this big, bold, authentic context against the atomic fruity note in here. It’s that syrupy, hyper pineapple smell of chewy, fruit salad bars (or something?) which eventually settles and subsides to a degree but still makes it a big no no for me. Now the positives are that I did say wow! When I first sprayed it because from a technical & originality aspect it’s instantly arresting, bold, and makes a big statement with a few olfactory ideas being conveyed simultaneously and feels like a layered composition instead of a thundering great Indy lump. As I mentioned Gaea does become cloying (to my tastes) shortly after but all the while I can feel the base, the green undergrowth slowly creeping into the fruity/honied vibes adding a naturalist layer. The best thing is the base, wait for it to settle right down and that’s where the rewards are waiting to be found it’s rare that you actually smell ambergris in perfume, it’s more of a fixative or exalting agent which improves ANY composition whether you overtly smell it or not. Here you do though, vague buttery, animalic saliva, breath on warm skin. It’s ultimately not for me but very, very interesting indeed, I’m curious to know what mixture of materials Peter used to create the fruity accord in here? It’s very potent to begin with but settles down quite mellow (thankfully) and long lasting Update: That vague animalic ambergris becomes marginally more skanky and shades of the civet replacer and dirtier element of ambergris that is for the most part completely shrouded in the fruity, honied opening and majority of the wearing experience.

Okay so Voyage from Hiram Green is striking in the same way that everything from Hiram is, the natural beauty immediately apparent. To me the florals are vivid in the opening but this is far from a floral fragrance. It smells faintly of a fruity, honey tinted tuberose/jasmine but lacking the power or character of either but somehow still evoking them, and that’s a positive for me don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to mislead tuberose lovers this is not that not is it even a floral centric fragrance because even in the opening I perceived what I felt was tonka be an absolute, clear as day. It’s not listed on here (not that it means anything Fragrantica is about as accurate as Nostradamus sometimes) but vanilla is and I have to say when everything else has gone after many ours it smells like the most gorgeous and simplistic vanilla note. Before that though it’s a dirty vanilla which I think is likely very high quality natural vanilla bolstered with isolated coumarin or indeed tonka absolute. It’s gorgeous and feels in its use here like the real warm base of a fougere allowing the greener notes or in this case a floral, amber oriental notes to shine through but act in a more transient nature. I love it, I don’t know what the original voyage was like but this one is pretty special I’d say.

Plague and pestilence is upon us! The sea will boil, swarms of locusts, and all that biblical shit, The ground opening up and releasing daemons into our mortal realm you know? All that. Why?? Because there's a Diesel fragrance that I actually like!!!! (Well think is passable) Well more accurately an 'OTB' line because they had those milk carton ones back in the day which were pretty good. In any case I've hated the rest with exception of this and maybe that camo one from a few years ago? This has a similar character actually, fruity opening, into a woody musk with touches of warmth. It's not great but It's alright, I was pretty shocked.

This one opens woody with a citrus blend, perhaps that grapefruit again? I actually think there's a peppery, light smoked hint of cedar at the back of this and if it was just cedar and citrus I'd probably accuse it of being boring or cliched, so I can't have it both ways. (Well actually you can just make a better fragrance!!) however, the vanilla makes the whole thing a bit smooshy...not offended as such, I just don't like it and I'm not a fan.

Almost lost the will to live in completing my reviews of this collection because the Vanilla ones just aren't that good. Vanori opens nice enough with a fresh, sharp and bitter grapefruit. There's an aroma chemical in here that I'm familiar with but can't place at the moment, in a woody context here it feels masculine, doesn't save this scent though. It feels misjudged in my humble opinion (which I'm sure people will disagree with) certainly after the initial freshness is gone. It can't tell whether it wants to go in a woody, aromatic direction or languish in a cloying, balmy vanilla hell? When settles there's a cozy woody smell in the base, familiar and slightly balsamic, rubbery nearly but despite that cozy warmth...it's not appealing. A couple of the Musc ones glimpse the spirit of vanilla heavy Guerlain offerings and I noticed someone comparing this to Angelique Noire below, sorry Angelique Noire this is not. Shame.

Look at the notes listed here and I'll show you a happy man, anticipating a lovely creamy, fruity fragrance...but no. How to they fuck up vanilla so badly? Especially when the entire line has nods to popular Guerlain, vanilla laden formulas? I don't get it? So Valkyrie opens fantastically and I actually thought this was the equivalent of the Oranzo & Helicriss in that it's herbal, aromatic, slightly green and masculine leaning, all of which I enjoy, especially with a vanilla backdrop to combine with, it could've been interesting. However, it's very short lived and soon settles to a cloying groove of hideous, cheap, yellow custard, sweetness with maltol caramel. I'd love to actually use maltol/ethyl maltol or bisabolene effectively in a formula because trace effects probably do wonders in fragrances you don'r even detect them in. That's the key but blending though I guess? When you perceive but can't overtly smell them. In this instance there's not enough to mask the vape pen effect. I will concede that now after 6 1/2 hours the soft musk/vanilla on my clothes is a little better or my nose is fatigued and has just waved a little white flag and accepted defeat and resigned itself to the ineviatbility of smelling this way today whether I like it or not. Buy the ticket take the ride.

I've smelled something similar to Vangelis before and it's spicy opening leads out into a balmy amber testure but again there's something wrong with this scene. It has a medicinal rubbery effect on top of the gag inducing, tepid, wobble of a poorly made vanilla pannacotta. I'm kinda drawn to it by the resinous, dryness of the spices for a moment but I need to be strong and stick to what I'd wear and this ain't it.

I'm starting with my favourite of this collection so the reviews are only going to get worse folks. I've got to say that this Vanille collection are pretty terrible on the whole, something I was very surprised by considering some of the similarities with Guerlain's L'art Matiere line, glimpses of which are found in the musc and orange blossom lines...but oddly not the one where you'd expect to find it, The vanilla collection. Vahina (careful to avoid a typo the 'G' conspicuously close to the 'H' as it is) literally smells like Dramduie or a particularly heavy handed bartenders, Screwdriver in the opening a mixture of orange and breath of booze. There's a neroli/herbal green, petitgrain note freshening things up but generally when it settles has that effervescing, swizzles sweets vibe from Ozkan in the orange blossom collection. This one probably is the best from the Vanille ones, the vanilla being ever present and freshened up by synthetic, throwaway top but it's more fun than the rest, and mildly bearable to wear.

ozkan opens like fizzy, ‘Refresher’ or ‘Love Hearts’ sweets, chalky, effervescent and saccharine sweet. Somehow still bearable and wearable especially when you start to smell what’s at the core. Experience told me I could smell it in the opening and this would be a chameleon but it’s so funny how much of a 180 this does. I get Tonka and very reminiscent general ‘accords’ from Guerlain’s L’Art et la Matiere line, Cuir Beluga creamy and almost almond like and with the delicate touch of Iris ganache...loads of the good ones basically. This is very indulgent and well put together the orange blossom is there but somewhat second fiddle to a stunning base. I love it, and the sweetie opening is fun and interesting. The best one from this Orange blossom collection for me.

Oscarine opens with a wow! Genuinely excited for a fragrance with fruity context that I enjoy so much. There’s a definitive black currant note in here, not cassis but positive Ribena, set against powdery woods, and a hint of orris/violet/iris with a creamed core of white florals, not distinct as orange blossom until dried down. Vanilla sweet drydown again...cozy. It’s all nice and civilised, nothing complex or heart racing, but I like it very much.