To my nose this is Bond No.9 (The self titled signature fragrance) that slightly tepid sweetness, book-ended by fresh top notes and woody base notes. I have to say as someone who owns the Perfume version of the signature (basically the same as the original but stronger and with the addition of Oud) I can't say I entirely dislike the smell. However, there's one crucial difference here and it's not what I'd expected (the addition of Patchouli) but a distinctly horrifying smell. I have a whopping 4 vials of this (obviously not a popular sample) and I had thought that it may have been a reaction with the plastic wrapper. You know? Those bon bon sweetie wrappers that the samples come in. I had struggled to remove the vial from the wrapper and some of the dye stuff came off on my hands and had this horrible pissy smell. I thought to myself I hope that's not the perfume! Unfortunately It was. Yes New York patchouli actually smells like the back streets of New York City, Urine and all. Just as you take in the sugary sweetness and generic 'Bond accord' a split second later it is soured with a sharp, metallic musk and what can only be described as a pissy smell. I hate to be crude...but there it is. The only remarkable thing about New York Patchouli is that there's no trace of patchouli in it! No hippie herbaceous dirt, or thick, creamy chocolate. Maybe that could be the piss smell, a metallic sharpness when interacting with citrus and cedar...who knows? What is known is that something is really wrong with this fragrance. Maybe some people can't smell that? Or like it? Nobody else has mentioned it in comments...could it be the humble Lychee causing such offence? I really don't know but I could never wear this awful concoction. Like most stinkers, when you don't want them to have great performance...they inevitably do.

I love the validation of retrying a fragrance and then reading an old review and being like..."You nailed it back then dude!" ...to myself. Kinda sad I know, but it's true. What I feel I NEED to comment on is the unrelenting and frankly horrible drydown. I applied it yesterday evening, when out for a walk in humid conditions, went to bed, showered this morning and reapplied another fragrance. I've been walking around in the sunshine all day and it's still, really strong! I'm amazed I can smell it through my shirt, and I'm not exaggerating to be dramatic, really New York Patchouli is atomic! Crucially there's still NO bloody patchouli, just a mental, cat pissy accord. What's even stranger is that....I sort of like it!!! There's still a metallic note of that 'Bond accord' of sweet citrus.