Portrait for Men, from Paul Smith was released in 2013. The perfumer behind this creation is Barnabe Fillion. It has the top notes of Bergamot, Cardamom, and Pink Pepper, middle notes of Black Currant Blossom and Geranium, and base notes of Cedarwood, Labdanum, Musk, Myrrh, and Tolu Balsam.
This is Paul Smith's best fragrance by a million miles! So different to much of what is on offer in the designer game. In my humble opinion, Paul Smith has some pretty horrendous (or just boring) fragrances both for men and women but this stands out. I've never heard of Barnabe Fillion before but (a quick google search reveals he's a pretty french man with a beard) he must be a really talented perfumer because Portrait is unique. The resinous incense type combo of the fizzy, brightness of olibanum and mastic and the depth and heft of myrrhe, labandum and tolu balsam is sweet and intriguing but never warm almost cold and a little metallic. The main thing that stunned me was the fruity/floral top notes of what is listed here as black currant blossom but if I'm honest I had no idea what it was? This fragrance is interesting on a few levels drydown is good more of the same but kinda musky. It's quite an enduring perfume too, you can tell it's not massively high quality but Longevity is not bad, it's certainly not weak. The smell is the sort of thing that doesn't project but that's fine. A rare thing then...I'd almost entirely written off Paul Smith but this stuff is great and I want a bottle.