What to say about this one? Well it's a somewhat familiar story in many ways, the sheer heft of the leather accord (which is very dry and smoky) kinda dominates anything else residing in this perfume with the exception of the opening moments (seconds!) and the well established skin scent (after many hours) I'm not going to doubt the orris concrete or other expensive materials listed in the notes but I feel them swamped by this ashen leather, which I sort of do like, but is quite odd and something of an aquired taste. There's an expression used by boxing pundits/trainers 'smothering your own work' which is kinda self explanatory but crudely it's the practice of not giving yourself enough space to get off effective punches, however that might manifest. Well I feel this somewhat sums up Argos as a brand the fragrances aren't trash or anything they feel like they have little room to breathe and this one is the epitome of that, being that this ashy accord is draped accross the composition not allowing it room to give anything else. Now it has settled it's much more musky and sweeter on skin while retaining some of that smoky leather. I get it, perfumery is hard we're all hard to please if it wasn't powerful like this throughout I might write a review saying it was a meek take on an existing theme, so I'm cutting it a little slack as you can't really win with me. What immediately struck me was the similarity to the Rasasi I mentioned in another Argos review...This smells more like ambergris showers /Memo Irish Leather even than that one did. However there's another Rasasi it reminded me of more (at least at first) and that was the Tobacco Blaze which is a bizarre combo of this relentless smoky accord and peach/apricot prompting me to say it smells like a peach yogurt pot which has been repurposed as an ashtray, which doesn't sound great but in actuality was an interesting concept. However, now it's dried down a bit it's way more Ambergris showers.

Yet again! I don't think this is a bad perfume at all, however just gazing at the sample vial beforehand I found the colour of the juice inside, alarming, If it was sweets or pop, I wouldn't let my kid have it as it resembles the crystal meth or PCP of E numbers and sugar. This one, like the achingly sweet Triumph of Baccus is syrupy and clumsy in construction not lacking depth, or familiar perfume nods or even creative compositional interest, but feels, claustrophobic for me. The opening is bonkers, a mixture of toxic fruitiness and heavy, heavy ambered florals, to say this resembles flowerbomb is bizarre! Then it starts to get this vague resemblance to Noel au Balcon by ELDO, this is reasonably shortlived because the closeout is a similar strawberry shortcake/dolls head (see Triuph of Baccus again) and vanilla musks which is nothing like the honey and stewed fruits of Noel. Maybe this mellow floral/musky smooth drydown is perhaps what's giving the Flowerbomb energy? I dunno? So what I'm saying is this this has progression and depth, these are clearly uncotiously (over)concentrated EDP or Parfum concentrations made to be as thick and present and luxurious as possible but in trying to turn up to 11 they end up being about a 6.5. Now I have a feeling that many of these are cookie cutter, off the shelf formulas from somewhere, mildly modded and then unleashed through this Lux Niche angle, which I thought I'd find gawdy and corny n such but I actually like the art chosen, the look of the product is good and the marketing spiel not too cringey. This is not really my thing but it's alright.

So apparently this perfume is by the brand 'The Ordinary' and was formulated by it's creator, who is sadly no longer with us. I don't really know a great deal about all that, but I know that the cosmetics are well received and visionary according to folks who care about such things. I believe I know perfume fairly well and what I like, even in a lack lustre, beige release such as this one are some degree of coherent brand messaging, and I would certainly expect this to be the smell of a minimalist, hipster variety and it doesn't disappoint. This is the conjured smell of a blank canvas space, the lightly dusted floor, bare plaster walls, rendered stone, a light wash of emulsion. This is much more of a textural mood board than it is an attention grabbing perfume to smell nice or simply smell.... of. The peppery top notes are clearly there but at the same time about as austere as you can get, a sort of low impact incense and the rest is just a woody/stoney plinth which it sits atop. For what it is.... I quite like it for the same reason I like stuff like CdG, they're modern and cool. I like that it has exclusivity but not that gold encrusted, gawdy Harrods exclusivity more of a cool 'diggin; in the crates', trendy coffee shop vibe, and not because I enjoy the pretentiousness, simply because it's kinda cool that you actually have to seek something out in this age where we can tap our phones and have something arrive the next day. This is more of a 'if you know... you know...' sort of thing. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't even advertise it. It's that fucking cool! I also like the fact that it's not a silly price, because it shouldn't be. Functional perfume. This wasn't made to appeal to perfume fans but inadvertently a certain cohort of them will make Avestan a cult classic.

Lovely. Just lovely. A breath of fresh air on this pre spring day (well it technically is Spring but you wouldn't know it) fresh lovely floral accord with lightly powdery undertrappings all smoothly delivered. The execution of Santa Maria Novella is so good I never fail to be impressed even with overtly femme and things I don't often opt to wear myself, this has been a thorough reward, an absolute joy.

I found the opening of this to be refreshingly unique, citrus yet again smacking at the helm of a lumbering ship of notes and accords. After about ten seconds I was like 'what is that'? eventually realising it was a really nutty smell. I'd love to know how this was achieved? Pyrazines perhaps? It's fairly fleeting but then the drydown is again a sweet, amber musk hint of rose, skin scent, sitting close and musky. Hard not to like, but easy to exclude from any elite level of perfumery because they just seem so clunky and deliberate, perfumery is about mystique for me and Argos just seem to lack it for some reason and it's a damn shame because the imagery they employ references to classical artworks and their inspirations, rather than seeming cheesy or phoned in, are actually quite authentic. All the blurbs are flowery as expected but I just think.... fair enough. I'm going soft in my old age I think?

I found this hard to dislike. It's a bit of a mess really but crucially doesn't smell bad. The top notes are really defined bergmot and these higher concentration, niche and indy brands seem to get that right consistently. but underneath is a sort of complex soup of amber, woody, musk. It's quite lovely but dolloped on with little finesse or stand out 'notes' it seems.

Perhaps I'm missing something here but this perfume is not a direct clone of Tuscan Leather. To look at the notes in my carded sample, you'd think it was and then coming here and seeing swathes of smells likes, I'm just not feeling that way. The fundemntal things which make tuscan leather are in fact a sort of rough sawn woody, sandalwood base which this simply doesn't possess. Some fleeting association this does have a rspberry note (if you must) a leather accord of sorts and a dry, smoked birch airy ambrox effect effect but the metallic spikes and sour citrus give this a whole different dimension. This has more incommon with Aventus than it does Tuscan leather. To be honest it reminds me much more of a Xerjoff (name escapes me) a Memo (name escapes me.... albeit something leather.... not that that would narrow it down...lol) and finally one I can actually name Rasai Ambergris Showers. I didn't hate this either but it felt a little more redundant as if chasing hints of hit perfumes here and there but ultimately coming out with something different but still derivative feeling. It's alright.

I want to say that this fragrance is terrible/awful whatever, because it's egregiously saccharine opening is only matched by it's appalling creamed tobacco drydown. Not only that but quite impressively it manages to shoehorn in the irritant that is the apple note/accord and yes you can smell that too despite all this other mental noise, including waxy floral note banana jasmine/ylang which lasts the first 30mins or so! And yet somehow I don't hate it. Yeah. Bizarre. I think I'm having a stroke or something? I mean it's bad. It's objectively bad but there's almost something admiral about the fact it concisely conveys all these things in one stonking, lump of a perfume. It's not for me, but it might be for someone. (with no taste, or who like I think I do, likes it ironically or for kitsch value)

Okay so in the interest of full disclosure I went into this sampling with trepidation and conscious bias against Argos as a brand for reasons too long and pointless to go into but let's just say my hopes were not high and I did relish the idea of slating these perfumes in the public forum that is Fragrantica. However, In Argos Pour Homme I was greeted by quite a likable designer masculine vibe with a sort of niche/indy sensibility and certain clunkiness of materials which I found quite pleasant and even...almost endearing. Yeah I know. I'm as shocked as you are. To me the opening was a nice bergamot and gin fizz sparkle which gives way to a mild lavender and violet, and is all quite fun and such if a bit heavy handed. Then the drydown resembles a sort of Paco Rabanne XS/ Creed Himalya type thing a sort of sage, white floral induced, creamy barber base. I really quite liked it.

I was sent this as part of a blind sniffing exercise to determine whether it was cheap or expensive. My general thoughts were that it smelled and probably should be...cheap but the overarching feel was one of minimal, hipster, modernity and as such I believed it to be expensive. I could just picture some hipster with a beard and a beanie hat, pedantically correcting something I said with an upward inflection at the end as if he was asking a question? This utter twattery and BANG ON the Money, blind appraisal aside, No.8 is a somewhat nondescript, peppery, woody perfume, which softens to the kind of musky, skin adornment one would associate with this sort of thing. Personally I can't hate this sort of thing, it's wearable for me but I do find it a bit bland and uninspired. Oh well.