Its mix of powdered notes, chocolate and mandarin peel embodies the essence of femininity with every sniff. The scent begins with a tantalizing note of chocolate, reminiscent of the frosting atop a freshly baked vanilla sponge cake. This initial impression sets the stage for a captivating blend of candied orange and violets, delicately dipped in chocolate. Despite its subtle projection, it lingers on the skin throughout the day, and it proved to have a better performance than I expected. It's subtle, and worth spraying a lot. It's such an alluring scent for any occasion, and it's a great balance of freshness and warmth. This perfume is a true delight for the cold season or early spring, and I find it perfect for a comforting embrace on a chilly winter day.
If Guerlain did a Shalimar Milèsime Green Tea flanker this is what it would smell like. The leather is light and Guerlainy and there's a vanilla undertone perhaps something to do with the benzoin and/or tonka. Lovely, but not different enough for me to purchase a bottle (which in any case isn't possible now apparently). Very safe, and after 20 mins or so it becomes clear that the quality of Shalimar is lacking here.
Very cheap-smelling, light, basic rose patchouli scent. There's nothing particularly offensive here but 100ml should cost 20 euros in my opinion. Completely forgettable.
Washing machine detritus mixed with faint cheesy food smells, and some very cheap-smelling rose and jasmine floating around somewhere. Alongside it all is a weird metallic smell, adding to the image I get of a decrepit washing machine with loads of built-up soap scum. This house has some interesting ideas, but I find 90% of their perfumes are just unpleasant to smell, or that they open well and turn evil after 10 minutes. Lots of people seem to love this one, but I just don't get it at all. There are so many weird peppery roses to choose from, this is a hard pass.
Opens with synthetic mint shower gel scent, mid dry down is Lemon Dulci by Chopard, then after an hour it smells like cat piss. It's a cheap-smelling mess. Update - in warmer weather it only takes 2 minutes for the stale cat piss smell to come through. It also smells of cat litter. So if warm, piss-infused cat litter is your thing, this will be right up your alley. This has to be one of the worst perfumes I've ever smelled. Normally I can see merit in something I wouldn't personally wear but this is just horrible, and I've smelled it on other people, it's not just my skin chemistry.
I've just received the JSP sample set and I'm blown away by these perfumes. As a whole, the quality and uniqueness immediately puts me in mind of Strangelove (not to mention the style of one or two of them). I'm in love, it's a coup de foudre. This one, on card, made me recoil a bit, as I was getting a sort of fishy skank, but it just goes to show how different a scent can be on skin, as now I'm wearing it, it's incredible. It's a sort of rooty, herby, aquatic narcissus, unlike anything I've ever smelt before. The celery seeds note is strong, and the perfume as a whole is very powerful, but it manages to retain a sheer elegance and natural allure that is making me smile and chuckle to myself. This is going to be a problem, as if they're all this good on the wear I'll have to get a second job....
It seems all fruity and tropical, and then I start getting wafts of. - I'll just say - male genitalia and/or crotchy ball-sweaty jockstrap. I appreciate the thought and complexity gone into this but it's a hell to the NO for me.
Harrods Aoud suprised me. It doesn’t smell as I expected it to if I’m being completely honest. It opens with this green, airy and almost soapy trio of citrus, aldehydes and artemisia before developing an iconic Mai Rose at the heart. Not long after, you’re greeted by a very smooth and spicy cinnamon alongside a thick and resinous dose of frankincense. As the scent begins to settle, that’s when you start to notice the oud. This scent doesn’t come across as thick or oily as the other Aouds, and considering the note breakdown also lists cypriol, patchouli and guaiac wood (materials all used to make an oud accord) im wondering how much oud has actually been used here, if any. Overall you’re left with a very masculine and aromatic scent profile with deep, earthy woods and soapy florals to contrast. The quality here is obviously fantastic, but all in all the actual scent profile isn’t my favourite. If I found a bottle for a good price I’d go for it but this is by far my least favourite from the Aoud line. It’s a lovely woody masculine scent, but it seems to lack Roja’s signature flair.
Jubilation 40 opens very much in the same way as the original Jubilation - a thick, resinous and slightly smoky dose of frankincense, opoponax and myrrh is contrasted and elevated by the most addicting fruity sillage of sweet blackberry and juicy blackcurrant. What I notice with this flanker is the honey-like sweetness seems to be toned down compared to the original; instead being replaced by a slightly green, herbal and vegetal aroma reliant on an array of different notes including davana, rosemary, bay leaf and patchouli. Alongside this slightly green, resinous heart of the scent there’s an addictive warm spiciness coming from cinnamon and clove, which paves the way for an alluring woody base of oud and cedar. This fragrance is incredible. Jubilation XXV was already a mature and sophisticated scent but this release takes that maturity a step further with the aromatic additions to the note breakdown. I think this scent smells fantastic, but personally I actually prefer the intense sweetness of the original - to me it’s more playful and inviting.
What a pretty perfume this is. Complex, subtle, yes reminiscent of the plethora of exotic/tropical/floral feminine leaning perfumes out there but if you can't smell the inherent quality and craftsmanship of Bombay bling, I can't help you. I love the opening, it's big but not brash, you get that smooth Indian spice, and cardamom AGAIN! (This line is full of cardamom but used to different effects) Then there's a tropic fruit and frangipani accord but it's not like some cheesy shampoo bullshit, smells really natural to me as does the frangipani. Then the unrelentling vanillic sandalwood and amber base which is very tenacious. I get it. If you are well versed in feminine leaning trop/exotic floral/heavy creamy vanilla woods/amber perfumes then I don't doubt you can pick something up which approximates this, hell it might even be made by Dachaufour, but I think this is some fine perfumery right here. However, for all my praise it's a little too vanillic and sickly with the santal at the finish there for me, after the fresher fruits, florals and spices have retreated. Basically I feel it's a feminine perfume and I wear Coco and all sorts of stuff like that, so this says something. Bombay Bling! just has that energy for me, nothing wrong, I enjoyed it immensely and I have to say it's yet another fantastic perfume in this line, I've tried four others at this point and they've all been really good.
I get more of a funky oud accord than I expected, and I like it. It probably doesn't contain real oud, but the barnyard oudy thing is more realistic than in most scents I've experienced that have "oud" in the name. It's absolutely not worth the ridiculous price and the bottles are trash, but I'm glad to have a 10ml decant, it'll last me forever.
Whisky and burning roses; nutty darkness. Very compelling!
This is NOT Ganymede! It lacks the depth and masculinity of Ganymede. If anything thing it leans closer to Bois Imperial, but even then, it’s not quite that either. It’s quite pleasant and has that quirky metallic vibe that they both have, but feels airy. To sum it up I would call this Bois Imperial Light or Ganymede for Her
I paid a silly price to blind buy this, but luckily it paid off. It's like the EDT but with the awful synthetic scratch removed. The EDT sends me into an immediate coughing fit every time I'm near it, and this redresses the balance. It is very similar to the dry down of Burlington 1819, it just lacks the dazzling expensive opening of the Roja Dove, which, given that that lasts all of three minutes and that the bottle costs 10 times more, who cares! This is a beautiful creamy almond and vetiver combo, soft and delicate but with presence, like only Guerlain (and possibly JC Ellena) can do. My favourite vetiver, my favorite citrus and, more specifically, my favourite grapefruit scent, hands down.
Okay so this happens sometimes and it's usually for two reasons. Either a fragrance is so bombastic and complex, it overwhelms and you don't get a good take on it first time around, or (and in the case of this perfume) it's so seemingly simple and such a genre, trope, piece, that you overlook very mild tweaks and manifestations to that stock formulaic feel. What this is, is a very good Eau de Cologne, let's get that said right away, I mean who really owns that vibe? You'd probably be a fool not to say the French (clue is in the name of this perfume) but there's a very southern Italian, coastal feel about this, so much so Acqua di Parma could've made it. I find the waxy white floral heart really appealing and the citrus fresh and lovely but upon this second visit I get the fig accord in there and clearly the fresh, wateriness, works a treat in this context. And still, they're sticking the boot in the base with a creamy orris. Hot summer day, white shirt boom! I think this is a delight. Expensive, I mean you can get citrus, neroli, orange blossom, petitgrain colognes or like I said very good ADP stuff for a better price, but this is Celine does EDC and I'm happy to endorse paying for it if you feel you want to. (I won't be LOL, but only because I have too much perfume)
This is a simple, elegant, French type of fragrance. Opens with an almost powdery juniper/citrus combination but it's clearly underpinned with complementary woods of cedar and vetiver, softened with 'that' orris vanillic feel from Celine later on. That is the story of Bois Dormant. Cannot for the life of me understand any comparisons to Dior Homme, I mean if you wanna say Dior Homme is a better fragrance than this... then fine...I'd agree with that statement but... it's apples and oranges. The intent of this fragrance is clear and I think it nails the brief. I can't really think of a naturalistic, citrus cologne, cedar/juniper with those soft base elements in a cheaper price bracket (not saying they don't exist) but I think I'm reasonably happy with the quality and textural subtlety of this, albeit for a high price. That being said, I reckon it's one of my least favourites of these but no shame, they're a good line.
À nauseating amount of castoreum, surprise surprise.
Considering the hundreds of suffocating, fruity "oud" scents Chris Maurice has crapped out, any number of which could have been aptly named "Camel", this one is quite sedate, and thankfully lacks the usual ambro-chemical base he usually uses.
It's got everything all at once. Is that good? Not sure. Unlike other Zoologist perfumes, I don't get the link to the name here.
High pitched synthetic screeching florals over some pungent synthetic smelling honey with a pervasive vinyl/plastic note. There is something compelling about it, but only academically, it's not a wearable perfume for me.
It's like warm, wild animal fur.
This is like a horrible, unwearable version of Afrika Olifant (which I love). It smells like burning plastic and petrol (nothing faecal), then underneath that you have the lovely sweet resins and animalics found in AO. Instant headache, instant scrubber.
Aggressive ambrofix stench.
Hot vinyl.
Geosmin, piss and mould.
Who needs Sombre and Secretions Magnifiques when you have this most putrid rot to smell? Honestly it's horrendous. What I will give it, is that this is indeed what I imagine a filthy sloth would smell like, crawling down the tree to its latrine (this perfume definitely includes the latrine), with traces of rotting fruit in its pelt. And a bird has shat on it at some point too. That's what this smells like. I still appreciate its existence from afar, but who in the hell wears this is beyond me.
Smells like actual birdshit. In a way I'm impressed. It reminds me of Secretions Magnifiques insomuch as it's a finely crafted repulsive smell. If you were to seize a gross, diseased urban pigeon and shove your face into its plumage I think it would smell like this, there's even a faint whiff of car fumes, and it gets worse, and stronger, over time. Now I'm 20 minutes in and I'm getting the urine accord everyone else mentions. It's like stale urine in a grotty public toilet.
This is a phenomenal frag. Picture cuir beluga with cherry from guerlain l'homme ideal edp👌🏿👌🏿😍
