Darker, woody oud, with complexity, spices and an animalic subtlety in the drydown, it's lovely but lacks the brightness and clarity of florals and such in some of the others. I still adore the smell though.

Complete and total KO! Wow! Just Wow! Opens like a bright but herbal, white floral, all the while backed by a heavy woody, animalic breath of ambergris. It smells more like the herbal, cumin, sweaty bite of civet replacement rather than real civet which is more cheesy and oud like, but I could be wrong? Whatever the combination of animalic elements they are exquisitely judged because you can still smell the citrus and aromatic & lactonic creamy florals, perhaps some andalwood materials too long into the drydown. I get that this is totally masculine but not at all heavy handed. Love it!

This is back to what I consider more traditional attar business in the shape of a very acomplished fragrance with nice oud pungency right out of the gate, but it's immediately mellowed and clearly not supposed to dominate the composition. What does is the fizz of frankinsence, a syrupy amber and a beewax/honied, sweet rose and more than a twang of saffron. It's gorgeous let's face it, gets even nicer too as it dries down. I'm not taking nothing away from the composition but it's lots of opulent things, chiming in to give an experience that is satisfying but not highly original. Frankly who cares, all these materials are the finest in the world, coming together to make something special and Pasha's track record for making some of the most innovative and original oils out there, packing in tonnes of complexity, is well documented. This path is more trodden but he still does it with a huge dose of panache. I love it.

FFS Mr Eleven...are you ever happy?? Performance is not everything mate. How you can be soooo disappointed by these attars is a mystery... ??? It's rare that my jaw drops at a fragrance these days, being even more of a wizened, jaded, old curmudgeon than Mr Eleven here lol. But this is a fragrance on the highest rung of the elite. I didn't even know I loved gardenia this much? It's sublime. The earth moved for me smelling it right out of the gate, super complex mixture of divine fruits and leathery florals, giving a touch of the iris from iris soir but a way nicer for my nose. Textured, beautiful nearly edible, but not sweet as such, getting creamier but with a mild earthy, smoke to it, I think it's fantastic, despite opening strong I'd say it's not quite as potent as one might want for the big money and I like the opening more than the drydown but still this is nickpicking. Just revel in it though because it's absolutely stunning and had a profound effect on me.

'Don't think! Feeeeeel.' Bruce Lee My oh my...I adore this perfume. It's magic. This was sent to me by a wonderfully fragrant pal on the other side of the world, and bless her soul because she was so right. I do love it! It fooled me to begin with though, the vial in the package had leaked slightly and when I got it I thought it smelled of, cheap, fresh laundry, the kind of white musk you get given free with a rollerball when I've bought Oud in the past. This...takes a minute to register and comprehend but when it does....sweet jesus, it's majestic. It opens with a very light hint of rose, and then proceeds to take you on a musky journey into one of the smoothest, yet most complex musk accords I can recall, moving through light and clean, cotton like into more javanol and synth sandalwood to the sweetness and warmth of ambrette seeds, it's just a lovely thing to behold and smells different close up to at a distance. Natural, yet like my favourite synthetic musks, so what if it smells of galaxolide? It’s lovely. I can get a very slightly, traditional perfume element of lavender but it's not even a 'note' as such more of an ethereal, spectre. Then there's the warmth and richly resinous feel of the beeswax listed in the notes and again, it doesn't even have a 'note' of beeswax just a faint orgainic honied warmth a delicate vignette so carefully sown into the fabric of the musk accord in this. This is truly a perfume that smells of all things and one and it's a gift that keeps on giving in the drydown. Less is more here, attention to detail is key in fragrances like this. Where I once may have dismissed stuff like this as 'pleasant' and 'pretty' perfumery not really innovating or moving things on creatively, cringing at myself in hindsight for completely missing the point. Like Bruce Lee once said (yes I'm evoking the great Mr Lee to describe a soft musky perfume, what of it?) 'It is like a finger pointing away to the moon, don't concentrate on the finger or you miss all the heavenly glory.' A good lesson for life in many ways. Big thanks to my Kiwi pal Elyse for the sample you're a dimond luv, and also an enabler because I want a bottle of this now!

This feels quite similar to the last fougere but with crucial differences being the warmth is instantly there, and there seems to be slightly less complexity to this. More of a detectable nutmeg note and the usual bergamot, lemon, and elemi, toned down pine and moss, but a little more, classicly men's fougere about this, drying down to a not so hypergreen fragrance but more of a leathery, aftershave full of eighties vibe and perhaps more moss chiming as it settles down. It's nice.

Wow! Again Sultan just keeps giving these looks and it's a treat for perfume fans because he clearly blends with such skill and Passion. I don't really feel as though I have to blow smoke up the guys arse but not one of these attars is dominant in a single note, no matter how individually complex that note might be? That is rare in the world of these oils, to be so prolific at mixing elements and not getting mud or unfocused fragrances. These all have a brightness and clarity. So this is a fougere opening with a green lemon and lime citrus sparkling with elemi and pine. The general feeling is as green as the attar itself and gives an instant transportation back to childhood. I'm not sure if it's mine or a past life or a fantasy? but it feels like something I experienced whether waking or in a dreamstate. Strangely clean and mountain air like, the technicolour of the hills and mountain tops in a sound of music, but with a soapy forest floor, and mossy bark with fresh fungus peeking out...giving an almost psychotropic effect. The oakmoss element is there but not as strong as I thought it might be, but again that speaks to the blend of many materials coming together. Is there coumarin or tonka warmth there? That's what you have to ask with a fougere, or does it replace that sweet warmth with something else and I'd say this likely does but it's not as perceivable, although drying down to a lovely warm scent on skin with the most delicate barely there coffee note. I think it's fantastic and one of a few fougere's Sultan has in his collection some of which use less expensive materials.

Wow! This is stunning, instantly arresting floral explosion, with that nightblooming vibe completely inkeeping with the name. Although it's clearly not orange blossom dominant, I can smell it in the opening clear as a bell. It's always surrounded by a rich gardenia/tuberose which builds and builds on my skin and is just the right side of the inside of banana peels and bubblegum. If this was bubblegum it would be the most exotic, all natural bubblegum from Fortnum & Mason or something? It's COMPLETELY not my scene and still I find it unbelievably beautiful... like it's stunning, it really is. When dried down I get the vibe as if it was the remnants of a honied, floral perfume on a well worn jacket complete with stale cigarette smoke...my kinda gal! and an almost aquatic Ozone, maybe a touch of chlorinated pool, but only a waft of the gases in the air surrounding the fragrant, white floral goddess. So to recap this goddess is a rebellious, rocky, lifeguard, in a leather jacket, smoking tabs, blowing bubbles with expensive gum, drinking a North African Orange Blossom cocktail and eating a banana, while wearing bandit or something? It's a KO. Simply must be tried.

A while back, I was strangely attracted to this from a distance among some more fancy niche perfumes and just assumed it was one of those by the striking bottle. However, I was instantly repelled by the fact that it was Dylan Blue for women, due to the utter apathy caused by the men's iteration of this line. It's not 'bad' as such just a crystallisation of everything that's unimaginatively dull about designer fragrances. Anyway, Fragrantica wardrobe stalking is a real phenomena, and something I budded 'socially acceptable fragrance stalking' on a recent forum discussion. Anyway I was looking at one profile in particular littered with vintage Guerlain's and a who's who of pivotal and great niche and indy stuff and nestled among that this gleaming flacon, so I thought I'd best actually try it. That flacon for a start, looks great and really stands out although it does also resemble an urn. I was half expecting to me reprimanded when trying to spritz, then some poor unfortunate sods ashes to come spilling out! Not so...just perfume and hyper feminised perfume at that. I'm open t florals to some extent and from a DIY perfumers perspective I have to try to see the merit or technique behind everything, regardless of whether I'd want to wear it or not. So that being said I actually felt at first bombared by fruity melons and cassis, white flowers, and hyperclean, powder. It's a modern aroma chemical powder, not a soft resin or alluring musk powder either, kinda fresh and bright. I often describe things like this as having a rose hip note, when they don't but it's actually listed in the notes here so I feel vindicated. As it settles to me its a jasmine/muguet tinged with a hint of greens and a slight moistness and nothing more exciting than that. Got better in the drydown but to be honest I showered and went to bed without taking much notice of development. However, I did note that there was a really waxy, slightly unpleasant, hand cream that combo of white florals and an aquatic calone sort of note remaining on my clothes the next day, but ONLY at a distance. When you put your nose in for a proper sniff the remnant completely changes (like 180) and is actually a very pleasant jasmine, which is much more rounded now and even has a mild idolic quality but still with that fresh and clean base/mid hum, but more lived in and a bit warmer. Now I've dedicated quite a lot of time to talking about a scent which really doesn't bring a great deal of anything new to the table but if you like this vibe and want something which I ultimately think is executed quite well and that lasts, then Dylan Blue is a viable option.

This is a superb fragrance with a bold spicy, tolu/cinnamon opening giving way to an almost light and translucent amber accord which feels a little underwhelming....at first that is. However Bapteme is a creeping, stealthy little amber, building all the while to a crescendo of near full on sticky, amber immersion. It doesn't quite go heavy gourmand (cacao of benzoin) too vanillic or incense heavy a la TF AA (Labdanum dominant) nor does it go full dusty old book/library on you either. This is a middling amber combining a balance of these and another type the more airy, natural breath of ambergirs complete with a light saltiness. This also has a very subtle (but ever present) touch of rose and geranium to complete the whole Ambre Nuit asociation I also get from this perfume. The overall quality reminds me also of Profumum roma Aurea and Fiori but this is just lacking slightly on the longevity and overall presence to push it into the realm of elite ambers. What is does have going for it is that it's very well priced at £110 for 100ml and I'm fixated on performance so I can over look that in any case, just figured it was worth mentioning for those that do. A strong outing then from Phaedon in my humble opinion well worth checking out. :)