I sniffed this for two minutes in a shop, on a strip, not the best conditions to make an informed decision or write an intelligible review for you guys, but I'm gonna do it anyway. The bar is set very low for new designer releases so if I lavish praise on this thing, carefully tone down & contextualize in your own mind, but I thought this was very good! A pleasant surprise then, a kind of hefty boozy resinous opening, it's almost a chewy amber and think but in all honesty I found it pretty original for all the talk of Dior Homme people have said to me. I didn't get that. I really didn't, I can understand there might be an iris/orris accord or at least something rich an floral (ish) I'm going to update this review, because I need to wear it properly, as I might be totally wrong, but my intuition is telling me this is a good one, and not the first from this line, there's another one that's good too.

Ooooh I mean the collection of three I tried here were not good and make think this brand is rubbish. (sorry) Expectations were of a booziness and perhaps some of those boozy rum tropes, I wasn't expecting a 'real rum' from a C02 extract or something (a brutally expensive fragrance material) but just a bit of that Killian, or Roja booze maybe a bit of Oakwood (also expensive but maybe a frugal drop or clever accord with cedar Nope. This is a fruity perfume, but it mulched, dark fruit and sweetness, not even in a good way like Vagabond Prince Enchanted Forest or Byredo Pulp. Dark Rum instantly reminded me of something, can't place it. It's not a perfume for me, it's not Dark and it's not Rum, the names shouldn't matter, but they do, they make me have expectations and they tend to be much 'safer' than these titles suggest. Disappointing.

Okay so this is bad. It's almost like Le Labo at this point, discard the name because it means nothing. If the brief is leather here, this was perfumed by an alien who has never smelled leather and doesn't even know what leather is. That's all I can conclude from this pickled, cucumber and celery salt, brine liquor which yes you've guessed it, smells like Santal 33. It's a cultural and perfumery milestone, I get it, but I despise the perfume. Sandalwood accords seem to want to be paired with this crippling, greenish, papyrus accord and I can kinda see why. Amyris has some of the qualities of both sandalwood and papyrus. This is a bit less invasive than the Le Labo, but also a paler and weaker version to those who love the brutality and presence of Santal 33, yes you can instantly tell the difference to the point it's not a 'clone' as such but I've no doubt they were aware of the popularity of this style of perfume. Look I can forgive a copy of Santal 33 even if that's what this was, but I can't forgive is the promise of Leather being dashed by the emergence of a horrid perfume trope, I hate. It's not Leather. Simple.

Most cannabis fragrances are a huge disappointment, not only in terms of accuracy (I've never smelled one that accurately smells of any flower I've ever sniffed) and two, because why the fuck do you want to smell like cannabis anyway? I get that it's a personal preference thing, but I really don't want to wear a perfume which smells that way. It's not that I don't like the smell of cannabis, far from it, nor is it because I'm not fascinated by the technical feat of making an accurate cannabis accord, I am. In fact, I'm looking to make a decent weed accord just to prove that it's possible. I'm surprised no one has to date because many of the terpines and flavanoid chemicals are also used in perfumery like Limonene, carophylenes, etc.... and common cannabis flower facets like citrus, piney, skunky, cheese, gassy, even leather and earthy spicy tones, all things achievable with many of the same chemicals, so come on perfumers....there's no excuse. So is this one any good at capturing the scent of weed? No where near!!! Sorry Malin and Goetz but you haven't even managed that trope we've seen from a few brands (Bois 1920 being the only on I can think of right now) which yes do indeed smell like cannabis, but I would say more like vegetative cannabis, which has quite a pungent greeness, and offputtingly, spicy, dark, hashish smell to it. They've (not this brand or perfume remember) nailed that to be fair, but that's even less desirable than smelling like the flowers to me. Anyway back to this perfume and it's a kinda sweet, slightly herbal (crucially NOT 'erbal) , nothing of a perfume. It's not unpleasant by any means but it doesn't capture the brief in any way. I'm baffled.

I really love this fragrance. It's truly excellent. Not a vastly complex fragrance but a very nice leather accord in here, one with really smells like leather. Leather 'accuracy' or realism is not something I'm hang up on, like many accords an effects in perfumery it can be a broad church as can leather itself depended on type, where it's sourced, how it's treated/tanned etc...and I allow for a degree of creative license in achieving 'leather' in perfumery terms. This has the deep, buttery, unsweetened effect you get from creating it using orris/iris type materials but this is less cosmetic than a Dior Homme for instance. I didn't really get a lot from the top notes other than a very delicate nuance, transitioning base & mid hum, that this the general tonality of this perfume. I can't wait to try it again actually, it's not a hugely creative take, it's not particularly screaming innovation, it's a very good perfume, executed incredibly well and as much as I think the Armani prive line has always been good, I wasn't really expecting tto be so charmed by this.

First spray. One thing. The only thing I could think.... IsoButyl Quinoline nightmare. (and I love IBQ) Here me out though, this is a stripped back, raw and modern (if a little lazy) leather accord which is predominantly one material IBQ. Now I'm being a little harsh calling it lazy, this is a well made perfume, a deliberate overdose and stylistically on trend with a certain perfume I didn't like initially but now LOVE!!! So let's talk about Frederic Malle/Jean Claude Ellena's Rose & Cuir. I get that the 'reminds me of' section here is full of R&C associations and it can't help but remind anyone of that, it's a simplistic transparent rose with a massive scratchy, smokey, mossy, leathery IBQ note. Crucial difference for me is that rose and Cuir is much more leaning into the geranium (minus the minty facet) aspect of rose, but then giving a sweet, raspberry jam at times too. This it still that infused, lighter more PEA rose, like a rosewater, being dommed in quite a savage way by the leather note/accord/material. Although it's an overdose and as I said I like the material and this style, it just feels a bit too grubby, oily, like a mechanics discarded rag. I'm not saying it doesn't have nuance and I will have to try it again because R&C took ages to grow on me but I get that. It's a modern art piece, this just feels like a bit of an afterthought. Sorry.

I found this one really nice too. Nice. Yeah not exactly lavish praise but the best I could muster. I thought it was the most forgettable of the line, but as terrible as that sounds, it's really not. I definitely have to give the disclaimer that I need to try this more. Okay so same impression of the rose note in here, it's infused, not overly sweet or jammy, which in this context is a really classy move. This is probably the most floral (SA mentioned peony to me) of the three, but I did get a labdanum type note in the top/mid so I guess this the 'ambery rose' of the bunch? It's good. Yeah but I was least interested in this one (until d'amalfi dried down on my skin) but I have to revisit. I think the take away is that these are competent and somewhat interesting releases from the loud, oud rose type biz I might've expected and smelled a million times before.

So when I saw these new TF Rose perfumes, I like to try to keep an open mind but I can't help thinking this is going to be a trio of rosey tropes, an oudy one, a patchouli one, a jammy one, perhaps a modern chypre-ish pink pepper topped one? By the name, I'd already assumed a leather one? (Russie) Just an assortment of good perfume but not very exciting or engaging perfume. I guess I'm miserable and jaded what can I say? Well thankfully that's not (quite) the story here. Each one of these roses have a very subtle and nuanced rose note, not overly sweet or too dry and full of geraniol. This is a very balanced smell, sort of like something delicately infused with rose. It's airy, it's a bit like rosewater and I wasn't expecting that. The opening is really pleasant, it has a certain heliotrope quality but again it's a infusion of almond, with a good balance of sweetness, I mean after all, Tom does love his almonds and cherries. I didn't find it too sweet though, that is until the drydown when you might as well throw most of what I've said out of the window, because the base seems to settle to a very sweet vanilla and the rose grows into much more familiar territory, think that Armani rose one (Rose d'Arabie is it? something like that?) and maybe stuff like More than words by Xerjoff? Now both of those fragrances I'd say were good (maybe even great?) atomic, sweet, vanillic modern rose perfumes, however you're under no illusion what they are from the start, and almost become acclimatized to them. I was slightly disappointed that the curtains didn't match the drapes (is that the saying?) and I found myself wearing something I probably wouldn't choose to after a couple of hours. But hey, it's not a bad perfume at all and this game of two halves might really float your boat, who am I to tell you otherwise?

Okay so this is very much like Jour, but also noticeably different. I might not be fulflling my role as reviewer here because despite revisiting them at the same time this week and doing a direct comparison, I probably couldn't tell you what the differences are. I'd say 'weight' this is a little heavier as you'd expect perhaps from a EDT to EDP, being that it's a bit thicker, and given this is a light, powdery citrus, floral, perhaps that's not what you want? Well it is. Because the powdery drydown is what I crave in this, and the Absolu version gives us that in abundance, and usually I'm a fan of the more diffuse edt's n such (Like TdH for example) so yeah this was a turn up for the books. I want this fragrance, it's lovely.

So I recall sniffing this when it came out and thinking 'meh' it's Ellena it's Hermes, it's orangey, it's nice and didn't think much more about it. Well it's nearly a decade later and I'm revaluating Hermes as being probably the most consistently brilliant of the big fashion house brands. They might not be the most wildly creative but they connect with a lot of fragrance fans and everything from the concepts to the packaging give a great experience to the customer, and the Jour flacon is one of those joyful things. The smell of the perfume does have some additional sharpness but to me it smells of orange pith, but it almost seems to sidestep that with it's floral (white) focus and when I say focus I mean blur, because it's not the vivid indolic white flowers of jasmine or tuberose but the kinda vague, fantasy muguet and magnolia of white flowers. But it's soooooo fresh and lovely, with this licked skin, chalky ambergris which I think smells flat to some people (see bigarade concentree) but I think Ellena deliberately juxtaposes this against the zesty freshness. The drydown is a powdery light, caleche lite sort of thing maybe? But quite tenacious without being annoying. I think it's wonderful and I actually really want this fragrance, especially for the warm weather, it's class.