SirCharles gives an excellent comparison below to Jo Malone's Oud and Bergamot a very original fragrance that to me smells like dark, sodden & modern wood, kinda synthetic but also some of the qualities you get from oud of certain origins. Then the bergamot which doesn't smell like bergamot, but doesn't smell enough like any other citrus not to be either. Enough about that though because although I definitely get the association, the delivery is about as different as one could possibly imagine. This has a subtlety to it, and broadly woodier theme's with a light ethereal spice to it. Light top notes, but enough to catch my interest when I sprayed it in a Hermes boutique and a mellow heart. My description doesn't do it justice, Agar Ebene is very good though. I was compelled to buy a mini travel spray.
I really find it hard to convey how much I love this fragrance. It's absolute magic, it's exemplary perfumery yada yada all that gushing stuff. In reality though it costs an absolute fortune and begs the question is any perfume worth dropping this kind of doe for? In a moment of weakness/stupidity....? Yes, I could be convinced. Obviously I'm not saying you are stupid if you buy this, because we all have our budgets and if you are a high roller then you can't get much better than this, truly. I mean there's plenty more expensive perfumes than this and if I had the money perhaps I would buy them all, but maybe I'd also drive a Ferrari and never wear the same pair of draws twice...? So there's that. The way it behaves on skin is amazing too. I mean initially I said about it 'filling a room' and being long lived on the strip and 'brutally strong' 'only one spray required' etc... but there's a clue in the expression there 'brutal' and that doesn't suggest a great perfume necessarily, certainly not what I'm looking for anyway. Fall into stars however only seems that way momentarily before settling into one of the most rewarding experiences only delivered by the very best perfumes in my wardrobe. I'd like to say this is only for special occasions but in reality I could wear it frequently and for any purpose and never tire of it's themes. I didn't quite know that straight away (like I said I thought it would be too strong) but wearing it today has cemented the positive feelings I had from first sniff. That first stiff is laden with oud, I mean characteristic, animalic, mild cheese, aged wood, fruits, dark booze it's a cracker and it just develops and develops. Crucially what Laudamiel has done here is make a modern seeming composition that has the heart of a middle eastern, oriental, oud attar, squarely front and centre. It has a honied depth which just keeps on giving. Then it shimmers into a gorgeous leather faceted, skin enhancement, with a huge amount of sweetness but never saccharine and no spikes from pink pepper or anything whatsoever in fact. The leather doesn't even bite, nor is it cliche smooth, you can't (at least I can't) smell any one particular material, it's a big rounded mass of a thing twinkling away like a fine cut opal or the stars the title has you falling into. Just feels like it might be a masterpiece. Thoroughly blown away by it... And being the cantankerous, misanthrope I am, I really didn't want to like it. I mean the flacon's looked average (they are actually lovely in person) the brand sort of came out of no where (don't they all?) what I mean is there's not the heritage story of a Nicholai for example. Also, I remember thinking 'she's pretty' at a lady in the pictures of the Strangelovenyc lab without realising it was Helena Christensen(!) Who is creative director. Not that it has any bearing but an interesting factoid I suppose. Also the sustainability aspect and choice of Oud as a focus may seem a bit passe now but having had a quick sniff of the other ones I can say that the quality and wonder carries through the line. The choice of Givaudan and specifically of Cool, renegade, perfumer Christophe Laudamiel was a wise one, as he seems to be teasing out the magic of oud and the other fine materials they have chosen to work with. I actually feel superior wearing it, not in a ego sense or flexing about opulent, pricey bottles or anything. I genuinely feel pity for others who don't (and really can't) smell better than me today. (wow that sounds patronising and needlessly competitive... haha) This is how I feel though, like greatness is emanating from my person. It's not fair. It's like taking an AK47 to a fist fight. If I come into some money I might buy the tiny bottle because Fall into Stars is too good not to. I think Oud lovers will like it's authenticity but I don't see it being a darling of the Attar crew. This is more about composition as as such will have a broad appeal. It's mesmerising, I am well and truly under it's spell. ps: Oh....Bless the lovely Tanja and Phine from Perfume Lounge in Amsterdam for giving me a precious sample of this stuff.
Big fan of Omer's work and this is no exception, the most striking thing about it for me in the opening and despite a strong lavender presence it's the animalic undertones that really show themselves early and leave you under no illusion that Zeybek ain't fuckin' about. These animal notes are perfectly weighted, musky (and I do mean deer musk) mixture between sensual, cozy ambrette and mildly pissy, animalic musk. It reminds me of shangrilide and leathery aspects of castoreum, but cleverly dosed into a very clever fragrance which switches from an aromatic, herbal top, laden with hay notes into a kind of smoothed out, lightly metallic but creamy musk. It almost has shades of musk ravegeur in the drydown, floral, lilly like (probably the narcissus?) perhaps the sweet vanillic creaminess of tonka, which you really can't smell in the opening but is very prominent when settled. I get herbs, fennel, celery salt, spices, eugenol, cloves but it's all backed by that animal feel. I think it's very, very good, interesting perfumery and totally in keeping with the style of the perfumer and brand. His work often feels like a good curry, levels and waves of spice and flavour that build and develop on your palate.
Amazing frag. Poor longevity. If you want a beast version of it, go for Abercrombie batch 46 or Ruehl 925 (Both now rare) The original is now rebranded as Dior Homme Original. Lovers of that one quit hating on this one.
This is exactly what I want from hyper-modern, avart garde perfumery and has such a fitting title for this bizarre stuff. It's a tale of two halves though because as much as I adore the opening and first hour or so of the experience, the drydown is not great for me. So the opening emerges in a low bit rate buffering of digital greenery and pixelated ozone, but then snaps into sharp focus, and electrifying HD 4k clarity. It's a Lucy in the sky, psychedelic, kaleidoscopic garden of cellophane foliage and translucent bell pepper/tomato hybrids grown in Matrix style tanks full of ruthlessly efficient, synthetic Chlorophyll. A touch metallic of course and the slight, zingy sensation of licking a battery or chewing tin foil with metal fillings. OFF TOPIC! Always wondered why people would say it hurts to chew tin foil with metallic fillings....to which my answer was always..."Well don't chew foil then nobhead!" It's really very simple. So as this wears on it becomes more of a wander through a cubist, Tron nightmare, on that Slo-mo drug from Judge Dredd or the first stage of Sonic the Hedgehog but as if it were a virtual reality tour of some holographic Zen garden, only it's all glitchy and narrated by Max Headroom. See I can't even do TRULY futuristic imagery more like what 80's & 90's pop culture thought the future might look like. However, what initially evoked the acid fuelled, swinging Beatles track in the opening, soon becomes more like Radiohead's sombre and sentimental 'Fake plastic trees' and not because of overtly synth or plastic notes, which are undoubtedly there...because I really like that about it. The drydown is actually more creamy and natural with a white floral, hand cream and vetiver combination which for me is a bit sickening and seemingly comes out of nowhere, giving a bad jolt to what was a pretty euphoric trip up to a point. Cyber Garden interests me because it's a fragrance built upon a simple premise, look at the metallic green shine of the bottle, read the name in coded font and when the smell delivers the aesthetic right into your nostrils and directly into your brain, you immediately get this perfume! It's the Olfactory equivalent of Saw or Phonebooth or Snakes on a plane... HIGH CONCEPT. If you can't explain the central plot in a single sentance then I don't want to know, and it's too complicated. The only downside is that fragrances are kinda all about those tiny details that make up for plot holes, clunky dialog and bad acting. Sadly this falls apart for me but it does transition and change into something I really couldn't smell in the opening so I guess it's clever in that respect? I sort of want it....but I know I'd hate the drydown when wearing it but damn Costume National what a way to excite this jaded fragrance fan!
Now I've been very nice about this line but in truth there's only really two/three of them that are truly interesting and this is one of them. This is not typical of immortelle at all, it's not as leathery but has the lightly floral, honied touches with a mixture of fresh fig and mild coconut nuances of fig leaves. For me this is a combo that works brilliantly and I don't recall smelling anything like it. For that reason I rate this perfume highly, but I haven't worn it properly or lived with it so I'm not going to commit entirely. Very impressive though from what I see as a bit of a fringe private collection scent.
This fragrance is spectacularly good. Truly a gem among a line that is very overlooked in truth. Many brands have these 'private' or 'exclusive' collections and I often thought it was a cash grab or something they must be seen to do, due to the success of TF, Chanel, or Dior's popular privee exclucifs. Namely D&G and Hugo Boss, companies who have fairly established mainstream lines but can't quite drum up the interest in their posh ones...At least that's how it appears to me. I'd say Gucci suffer from this only to a lesser extent, with their 'The alchemist's garden' line framed a bit more cleverly with packaging etc... Anyway...I'd seen a few of these before and tried the Ambre Tigre (which I subsequently tired again and loved despite being hard to get hyped about yet ANOTHER Amber) but an extensive session with all of them gives a picture of a really accomplished and well thought out line which achieves that most difficult thing, perfumery familiarity and skill but avoid cliches and do something new. Are they massively innovative? No... but they do enough and the quality of blend is evident in nearly all of these offerings comparible with Guerlain or something in the fact that they are not made with the intention of quick, easy impact, a leather one, a rose one, etc... So here's the incense one! haha No but seriously as much as I gravitate towards 'incense' I'm actually a bit weary of it's tropes so it's nice to get something like this which avoids them. Opens with a light airness of spice, immediately warm and a light cinnamon edge from tolu balsam and a dense labdanum, this alone sounds like a cliche but it's somehow dry with woods and more sweetness of vanilla which builds and builds until you are left with a base of it. Despite this bezoin/vanilla/labdanum this scent doesn't come off like an amber, it's light and ethereal, wafted smoke and bite from incense but presented with restraint. I thought it was great. Has the magic touch and my seal of approval for sure.
Wow! to say this has a macaron note is very telling, the whole texture of this piece is like the feel of a macaron. Solid, but that's merely the facade, the gossamer thin shell with a much more caked powder, and springy, spongey interior, lurking underneath. It has the characteristic light flavouring of a macaron too, in this case pears and red berry aldehydes, maybe a touch of apricot? It's a real diffusive, musk driven piece, sweet, warm, tender but sparse kinda powdery, futuristic, gourmand. I think it's inextricably...brilliant! Yeah.... I know. That's two Ariana Grande fragrances in a row that I reckon are pretty decent. I think it's just my taste at the moment and attempts at appreciating the technical aspects of very, single molecule driven compositions. I kinda like a stack of aroma chemicals that add up to more than the sum of their parts, seeming easy to achieve or generic to some, when in actuality they are moments or traces away from being something very lovely indeed. It's not incredible, but I'd like to try it again and god forbid I have one of these massive, embarrassing bottles in my collection. It would be like a fabulous blight in my wardrobe. A 'My little pony' unicorn among your hermetically sealed, mint condition, Original, He-Man & Star Wars collectables. It's tempting though, as it's dead cheap and I probably would find it easy to wear.
For starters.... I love this fragrance. I didn't know I did, because despite being aware of it for years I'd never bothered to seek it out. At this point it's worth mentioning that I own PdM Oajan which is a very similar, I'd say louder to the point of spinal tap, more honied, spikier more obvious cinnamon, just more of everything and that came nearly a decade after Jean Claude Ellena created this little beauty. So this has the Cinnamon but it's more reserved, an amber like resinous body of benzoin, sweetness from vanilla but the heart is a darker, honied tobacco sort of smell, laden with spice. It's completely adorable and what I like is that it has all the stuff I love from Oajan but in softer focus, not a brutish and more quietly, respectfully humming away. There's a Daniel Josier which to me is an even more dense, less complex version of Oajan and despite all the similarities between these three, wearing (owning) them I suspect it becomes easier to tell them apart. Ambre Narguile appears to be the genesis though and a very lovely thing JCE brought into the world, I'm enjoying it massively today.
So....I used to be really good at keeping up with new releases and Lalique was a brand I struggled with because they are barely stocked in the UK anymore. Well that's not true EVERY UK based online discounter has them but I'm not blind buying even at a reasonable price. I mean stores that used to carry them, simply don't anymore and that coincided with this release so I never got to sniff the stuff. I love Lalique as a brand too, many of the fragrances are super classy works, even if they are super cheap raw material wise (yes a formula boasting 80% Iso E Super, I'm looking at you!) and Encre Noire is an example of that. To me it smells very faintly of citrus, dry graphite and a smoky dose of Cedar & Vetiveryl acetate...oh and IES. That's it's genius though! Anyway, enough about the original what's this one like? I found it to be an incense type of opening more like a GPH I or a CdG Man, that kind of thing. Peppercorns flung onto some impossibly white hot, cosmic, griddle pan, instantaneously sublimating on impact into a diffuse, peppery, vapour. Then a cypress/cedar, some sandalwood, spicy, softness but more of that raw, gloomy day, Vetiver from the original. I like that Lalique have continued with the dreary and bleak EN aesthetic when they could quite easily just make the crap that other brands churn out, yet they refuse to do so, even the 'sport' flanker in this line had the original at it's core. I think L'Extreme is alright.
I've heard Youtube reviewers and the usual crowd, spouting about this fragrance and I can't say I necessarily agree that this is some clean, soapy, linen fragrance. I thought the opening was like a creamy, dense, vanillic body which had been unsweetened by strange licorice and celery salt notes, before the heart becomes woody but lightly sweet. I didn't find this particularly powdery but it does have those herbal touches and is somewhat powdered. Maybe? I'm surprised how good it is! Not that I don't like other stuff from Josh or this brand, I do, but I guess the spoilers I'd heard about it didn't really fit with the scent I found on my skin. The heart is more woody (must be the teak wood listed here) and the tenacity of sweet vanilla notes remain at the end but it's by no means a total sweetie. I enjoyed it, had a somewhat 'designer' feel. Now I'm not exactly sure what I mean by that and I really do hate to toss tedious, meaningless labels around only to then cross pollinate.... but on this rare occasion I make an exception because that's how I feel about it.
The Original was Original, giving weirdness of nagamotha or papyrus or something against the waxy uplifting orange and orange blossom, it was a real grower on me. This however, is rubbish. Soooooooooooooooooooo boring. Acquatic piddle. Not a fan. Shame.
Having liked the This is Him, I'm wandering into Z&V releases with a reassurance that they will at least be passable. That's a dangerous state of mind BTW. From this I got a fairly 'generic' (I do hate that term but it's fitting in this instance) opening of heightened, diffuse citruses and musk resulting in a sigh of...oh well it's not terrible but they appear to have peaked in their first release...how sad. But wait a moment (or an hour or two to be more precise) and you will be treated to a very rounded and appealing, synth santal and mild, creamy florals in the base. It actually had me thinking, wow this isn't half bad, coupled with the fact that it has a central note among all this that I'm not sure what it is, and it's unique, alluring. It's sweet and kind fruity but always maintains a none too vanillic sandalwod. I'd have to try it again but This is love Him, ain't too bad from an initial test out on my arm.
Now I did ask the brand owner what the discoloured juice was all about and she said (paraphrasing here) 'ayedunnoe?' Nah, she did give some explanation but it's of little consequence, she did however assure me that it hadn't just destabilised in the shop window. Truth of the matter is I thought it was a shady, kinda juniper/dry gin zing, at top a kind of citrus, woody accord akind to a very lack lustre (and in fairness not trying to be) version of an Aventus or Elysium or Cedrat boisee or a million others. I don't want to be too hard on it because I like the brand concepts and this isn't terrible but didn't fill me with joy either.
It's a rare, rare occasion that I would ever dare to say that a fragrance evoked my beloved Fahrenheit, I said it about a DS&Durga fairly recently and I'm doing it again about this. Super 8 has a wonderful, sweet opening nearly, but not quite mimicking the hawthorn effect of vintage or even present day Fahrenheit. It's much more airy and cool but does have a brace of greens and a violet note, but dries down much less leathery and more sparce, modern. I quite like it but it didn't punch me in the face (in a good way) with originality or vigour. Worth a sniff though.
I'm wearing this today and I have to say it's pretty interesting. The vetiver is green, almost clean & fresh but the dirtiness is being provided by something more in the realms of a patchouli and cedarwood. The ginger is there, but it's not, hot gingerbread nor is it fresh and vibrant, newly cut root, but thankfully it's not the essential oil type ginger which I find lacking in realistic or authentic ginger note. It reminds me of something by Lush, there's definitely bergamot and a natural linalool smell both citrus and lavender, aromatic. On par this is the best of the three I got in a pack together and it lasts a bit better too. It's not a complete muddy mess but it's definitely natural perfumery at a decent level, not elite.
This fragrance absolutely floored me! Nothing like the original Organza, it's a sensual, beauty of a thing, a rare light and airy feel of sweet citrus, amber, woods, and fruit all so delicately spiced with cinnamon. I mean... I love deep, rich amber's spiced with cinnamon don't get me wrong, but to reduce Organza Indecense down to the notes listed here or my fumbling description wouldn't be right. Sometimes a fragrance calls to your heart, it beckons you in and this siren came from the most unexpected of places a Givenchy counter, a strange alt version of a femme classic and a nearly defunct and hard to find line. I adore this fragrance, the amber is quite vanilla centric and after several hours once the top and heart has been striped away, it smells like a kinda pedestrian, sweetie, puff piece. However, by the time that rolls around you've already had hours of exemplary & stunning perfumery to enjoy. I want a bottle.
One curious anomaly, a glitch in the matrix, a wrong to be righted if you will, well it has finally been put straight...I've tried Derby. In my years as a perfume fan I've tried rare vintage Chanel's and Guerlain, Coty etc... from the 1950's and earlier and yet this alluded me. Four main reasons why it frustrated me so much... 1) I love Guerlain (who doesn't?) 2) This is a 'Men's' release 3) It has a prominent carnation note (my favourite floral odour) 4) Even the non vintage release has a fantastic looking flacon. The reasons I couldn't try it are purely due to location and having poorly stocked Guerlain counters in my area. Well I just visited Amsterdam and gorged on this collection wallowing in three classics not least of which was my favourite....Derby. What a fantastic scent. I mean it's simplistic in some sense but you can take more from it if you want to, being that there's actually layers of complexity within Derby too. I get quite a lot of lavender and geranium underpinned with a mild powdery carnation note. There's a touch of oakmoss if you ask me and the leather listed in the notes is more of a gentle floral, flesh, like an orris or iris leather. Light, but lasting, classy men's business, you can't go wrong with this stuff. I think it's fantastic and I will maybe even try to acquire a vintage bottle but if I don't manage to find one this modern version will do just fine. Superb.
This fragrance was massively anticipated by me as a big fan of the original so anticipation and expectations were unduly high, so bare that in mind if I give this a lukewarm appraisal. So it opens and I get masses of ‘Parfum’ like closeness and oriental warmth, not something I get from the original but with the declaration Parfum in mind, this effectively does the same thing. Another aspect it borrows from Declaration is a cumin/caraway note, mildly sweaty even at first with only the vaguest glimpses of the aromats from the edt. I’d say this is very much a modernised, and reinvented Pasha, but does it have merit? Well it’s been on my skin for a few hours now and I’ve got to say, it’s really grown on me. There’s an almost sweetness to the leathery drydown, it’s really soft and subtle and I doubt will catch the attention of your average perfume punter. This will be sort out by those in the know and Cartier have surely created something, while not earth shattering that is very accomplished and has way more class than the vast majority of new men’s releases. I need to wear properly, but I’m of the same opinion as the Declaration Parfum, it’s a welcome addition, and it’s effectively a “what would this fragrance be like if it was in an entirely different genre?“ type of thing. Is it as good as the original? Nah, but if it’s reduced somewhere, I’ll make it mine. I love the soft sandalwood like drydown, though even just on my arm, can’t wait to have a proper wear and update this.
God these bottles are friggin' massive! The scent is pretty massive too. If you like the saccharine sweetness and technical modernity of BR540 then you'll dig this. Baccarat Rouge 540 was a scent that I loved when it was first released (commercially for MFK rather than the crystal one which I was aware of due to Fragrantica some time before that) but vowed that there was no way I could wear it. So a bad scent then? right? No absolutely not! Something about it seemed like a paradigm shift, even before the subsequent hype, something about that formula just made a statement in modern perfumery and the more polarising, the more impactful the statement. I was digging the strange, plasticy saffron which cloud seems to have slightly less of but is no less of a molten sugar, aroma chemical haze and for the price actually a really accomplished fragrance, even if you want to call it an 'official clone'
I don't dislike this fragrance, but to say it has little depth wouldn't be unfair. I guess it's not really my cup of tea, a fruity musk cocktail which primarily smells like some exotic fruit punch. I imagine rose when I smell blackcurrant or cassie which I do in the opening. I don't feel qualified to comment on what makes a good fragrance like this,so take what you will from my review.
Okay so....Set phasers to 'GUSH'!!! No....I hotly anticipated this release but couldn't find it on any Guerlain counters in the UK! I know Harrods had it exclusively for a while but this is Guerlain, and they usually roll it out everywhere after a short period. Still no!!! I noticed that it's now in Selfridges online but not in store....arrrrggghhh!!! My frustration was mounting, am I never going to be able to try this fragrance?? Then a perfume pal of mine from Poland (who is a sweetheart xx but also probably was sick of my moaning) sent me a sample in the post over the weekend and finally I got to sniff it. You might think that degree of anticipation can only lead to disappointment, but I'm pleased to say this stuff joins the family of brilliant releases in this line. Cuir Intense is a symphony of delicate touches and floral leather mastery, further cementing Wasser as one of the greatest perfumers alive today. I'm aware that it's a bit strange and redundant to say that this evokes Chanel's Cuir de Russie partly because Guerlain Vs Chanel is a bit like The Stones Vs the Beatles....I'll just have both thanks! Also because they don't smell anything alike but the high watermark of the Chanel always lingering and this come close to that kind of brilliance. So the facts are I don't have much to say about the breakdown of notes, because this thing is majestically smooth but there's definitely a soft iris/orris to the rounded, leather accord and Cuir Intense resembles musky touches that run through the entire line like Encens Mythique and Bois Mysterieux etc... This has a light, waxy but exotic touch of Jasmine/Ylang but it's by no means a hyper floral leather or fragrance for that matter, nor is it a complete, intense rawhide of a leather. Sadly (for my bank balance) it just adds to the long wnats list, along with the other two I mentioned. It's BRILLIANT!!!!
Another massively interesting opening where I can positively smell the chocolatey benzoin and perhaps tolu from the opening, which is unusual. Then the wet floral accord is like a sweeter hyacinth (lilac) and starts building when settled but with a honied thickness backing it and ensuring that the floral aspect isn't too big. I really like it actually.
I think my TF counter put this out early by mistake because I've already tried it, sighed, and moved on. I hate to be reductive for a few reasons not least of which being the fact that I like the fragrance I'm going to compare this to, and because it's so easy to say...this is like this. Rose Prick to me feels like a reworked Noir de Noir. If you've smelled NdN this opens with an airier, creamier feel much more like the sheerness of a FF or Soleil Blanc or Santal. Then the 'darkness' grows bringing some of that, candlelit, red wine dinner table rose of Noir de Noir. It might just be the same Rose/Patchouli mix dealing a bit of earth into what is in effect a creamy, hazy rose fragrance. I like it. I wasn't wowed by it, it progresses into different moods whereas I find NdN quite linear, but this isn't as 'dark' so it's a trade off. The name is stupid. I mean I'm no prude and I defended Fucking Fabulous, I then tolerated Lost Cherry (after rolling my eyes quite heavily) but now it's getting a bit tired.
