I mean talk about taking a long time to get around to commenting on this perfume, I guess I'd always dismissed it as 'nice' and at the back end of the aquatic era, being in the early 2000's it was kinda old hat at that point. But Cresp's Light Blue's have stood the test of time and are probably more popular (with enthusiasts) than the likes of a CK One or Issy Miyake or whatever, I'd hasten to argue (based on NO figures haha) but it seems that every woman has this (again, sweeping generalisation) and that I seem to notice it pop up and be mentioned more than some of the obvious freshies. I think it's cool in temperature and attitude, it exudes a sort of class for such a functional perfume. Lightly floral and hinting at something 'white' without any of the dreary, 'white floral' or even 'white musk' accord, Sure okay, it does, hahah, but seems really carefully balanced in the exact same way that the citrus is. It doesn't become Lemon pledge, nor does it's 'blue' character take it into windowlene territory. The blue, truly is lightweight and after SOOOOO many seminal takes on the aquatic and over use of azure molecules like Calone, it's nice to find something which does it all with a certain lightness of touch. I love it. The men's one ain't bad either (I shall have to revisit that) but not quite as appealing as this version for me. I might even get a bottle.

Warm, round and rich. Belle Ame is a spectacularly well executed perfume which for me is based around a gorgeous but not atypical iris/orris scent with a musky, vanillic bedfellow of tonka absolute which really chimes in more in the latter stages. Initially I found it more than mildly leathery, the ginger gives a pop of freshness in the opening and again works incredibly well with orris materials. There's a huge dollop of jus ne sais quoi in this, a mysterious quality which takes it away from being just another niche brand iris/orris of which there are many, very good ones, but many which have similar tropes, tricks and material combinations, despite what the note listing here might suggest, it's not another of those. Cacao for example is one of those tropes with orris perfumes and in all fairness it's here, but it doesn't feel played out. I actually felt it was so subtle as to be more like a particularly chocolate faceted benzoin. Also, despite all my patter about originality and uniqueness, my immediate association was with Dior Homme Parfum, this is clearly different in many ways and smells like an elevated more natural version of what is a superb perfume in the Dior, so it's definitely not a diss! It has been suggested to me that this is quite a misleading comparison (by parties who shall remain nameless) but it really isn't. So fuck you Dad!!!! This is the second part in Les Abstraits inital trio of releases and represents the beginning of the healing process after La Douleur exquise and it truly is a beautiful soul, and masterfully made perfume which just like the first release, doesn't give away all it's secrets right away. It's a very mature and measured approach which is in it for the long haul and to stand the test of time, rather than the temporal, 'look at me', instant gratification culture of perfume products. Again, Bravo Eugen and crew for making the world a better place by creating art that is worthy of discussion, praise and your money.

There's been no reviews for this? Wow! Probably says a lot. Well I won't. Yes, consider this the preamble to what could be a three word review. 'A bad Spicebomb.' It's reductive to compare like that but this really is a shitty version of Spicebomb. I mean Barbour is a pretty iconic brand and all they could muster was a peppery opening and tingle of juniper which I thought was very on brand. Then it takes a detour into that preponderance of pink berry, spice nonsense and wood/amber/spice, sweet but ultimately hollow. Spicebomb is not hollow, how could I love that one so but be sickened by this? While acknowleging what a debt this owes to it's forebear? Well that is the fine line perfume treads between the sublime (not that V&R Spicebomb is) and the the ridiculous (which Barbour actually deserves to be called) It did trick me for a moment that it might've been the olfactory equivalent of the countryfile green, wax jacket or biker clobber they are famed for. Barbour missed a trick here and I think they could've made something really weird and wonderful, instead of something meh.

Okay so people who read my various reviews around the place will probably be either bracing themselves for a bile filled diatribe, or a contrarian 'hey it's not so bad' sort of review which will piss off my snobby fragrance pals who think I should be preprogrammed to shit all over this at first sniff. Well it's neither and both. I don't know if that's reflective of my lack of energy in discussing a bad perfume (make no mistake this is a bad perfume) but I just kinda want to blow a massive raspberry and throw my sample in the bin!

I'm a late comer to the whole Zaharoff line, knowing more about the man and all the surroundings of the brand, community stuff etc...than the fragrances themselves, so it's about time the arbiter got aquainted. At best they are none trendy, pleasantly wearable, Men's bizz backed by proper industry F&F company, and at worst slightly fucking boring, but hey I'll take that over bandwagon hopping and smelling of bubblegum any day of the week. So Signature Pour Homme is probably the most appealing of the ones I've tried so far, soapy, blokey, lavender and peppered with herbal spice in the top notes smells like all spice anise or absynth or something? very lightly dosed and makes for a well blended composition. The fougere warmth doesn't really come from sweet, or hay like coumarin (thus avoiding a bit trope there) and is instead provided by a kind of oud base/black agar smelling thing, which kinda is a bit of a trope but hey I resepct the style of the brand and I think this is a wearable effort.

So. Clearly I did review this back when I received a host of samples from this brand to have a really deep dive and figure out just how much I resented their whole, Middle east meets French, Oud centric, fleece folks, 'borrow' Tom Ford Private blend aesthetic, Swarovski encrusted LUXURY shtick! But I kinda quickly discovered I couldn't. Or perhaps I resented them more because they were just so mellow, easy going and sort of quite faithful to a certain, Frenchness in the main. Most stuff I tried was quite lovely really, without ever standing out or compelling me to own a bottle, this one was so much in that category that I'd forgotten to review it until you lot were lucky enough for me to find a sample vial and pop some on, several years later. Patchouli Argent is a fairly straightforward oud/rose/patchouli affair, it's deeply faceted, well made, quite dark and evolving but it's something else too, it's a bit dull. Sorry but it's true. I like that the rose isn't chintzy or cheap smelling or too bright or fruity, I like that the darkness dominates without murkiness, I like that it's NOT a patchouli dominant fragrance in the true sense (some people have made the comparisons to the dior and TF 'true' patchouli's which I don't get at all but hey) but there's a presence and clever use as a leg in the rose oud tripod and I like the ratios at least. There's some little notes which emerge from nowhere, a sort of musky, sweet sumptuous thing, then a kind of mild floral skank, a little like ambergris, mild saliva on skin effect, either that or I have an infection in my wisdom teeth again? LOL Yeah I dunno, it's fine, it's nice, it's good. There's many many worse in this category and perhaps you can take something from the various dessert trolley of vibes which pop out.

So some people are bothered by Zoologists shtick. Apparently according to people who frequent online 'community' stuff they are fanboy/girl/personed about pretty hard as well and clearly they have commercial success because they keep knockin' animals out. I however, am indifferent. I don't really have much of an opinion either way, I see what it is they are trying to do and I've been largely complementary about them when they achieve what I see as the brief and I'm slightly perplexed when they do hit a brief but make an unwearable (in my opinion) perfume. So anyway Moth was sent to me as a kind of 'you probably won't like this but...' sort of a fragrance, but to his and my surprise, I thought it was not only wearable but pretty fantastic to boot! It's largely a big, oldskool feeling castoreum focused perfume, dark, animalic but also quite classical and in the image of a floral chypre but I feel that's a bit of a lazy description too. It has a nocturnal feel perfect for the moth, but the castoreum and all it's savory, meatiness is complimented with a honied floral accord which works a treat. I'm a big fan of Moth, I think it's one of the better ones from the brand and there's been some excellent examples of this kind of faithful, vintage recreation stuff from Beaver to Nightingale. Really good.

In all honesty I was a little annoyed by this perfume. The brand and I are very distant due to the prohibitive prices, general fanboyism, the questionable 'perfumer' status of Roge himself....yada yada.... but I put all of that to one side and wallow in the fantastic perfumes that I have enjoyed from the brand over the years, there really is something special about Diaghilev and Enigma, Danger and many others... If mildly derivative they are incredibly well crafted and just lovely things, Pafrum de la nuit 2 doesn't quite cut it for me. I don't dislike it, and I'm often one to say I don't care about the price of the materials going in, it's the art coming out and whether I deem it 'worth' the price, and there's something disjointed about the blend of this perfume. I personally don't like top loaded perfumes, all that wonder and complexity ultimately ebbed away to a lazy base of obvious aroma chemicals, again I'm not calling the use of them, it's essential but when I can perceive masses of fluff (timbersilk/iso e/cedar and amber chemicals etc...) I just get frustrated because someone is paying a retail price of nearly £1000 for something I perceive as crude. It's not their use that annoys me remember, it's the transition of the perfume from everything to nothing which troubles me. Specifically the opening is nice citrus, boozy, rum and a classy labdanum catalyst, which makes you think we might be in for a real treat from Roger here, but again this is not the rich smelling, rum CO2 or whatever (a very expensive material as it goes) of Enigma (the EDP original which is the only RD I own) it's more of a rum n raisin flavouring experience. The booze is deeply seeped into wood, this is a very woody perfume, brutally so. Parfum de la nuit No.2 does have a section of nutmeg and kinda, nutty leather/tobacco which almost evokes Bel ami or Equipage or something Hermes for a moment, and that's good. However, It smells ultimately smells of Iso E Super, Norlimbanol, perhaps some spicy accord of sandalwood materials, it's very dry and not very round or rich. Disappointing I felt, very tenacious but just one dimensional in the base. If this was a designer perfume, hell even if it was an expensive niche I'd say fill your boots for 200 quid. And I know....I know...I've said it before value is in the eye of the beholder and we all know the cost of the materials and the actual perfume are a tiny fraction of the cost, but something about this composition doesn't reassure me that I'm buying a luxurious perfume, and context is everything.

Wow! I bought some vintage perfume from etsy or ebay or something and the seller kindly included some unexpected, masculine gems at this was among them. The samples are 80's but clearly impeccably well kept because the top notes and everything smell intact. What a scent as well! I like to think I know all these and can recall them in great detail but truth is even the ones I wore (or my Dad did) are faded memories or rose tinted, pedestal stuff of legend, which they probably weren't. I don't recall this sport ever being something I'd tried, the original of course is a classic but this one not as well known, but it's a cracker! It's much fresher and more 'sport' accent the soapiness, without the piney aspect, it's spicy, earthy mossy drydown is of the era, Sport is great and that seller is a massive enabler (probably seeding people with samples because he has a glut of PR Sport bottles to shift) because I may seek out a bottle of this. There's me thinking I was done with vintage BS'ery.

Mate of mine sent me this and I'm not going to lie I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did. Okay, not that I'm the arbiter of good taste in perfumery or anything (I fuckin' am!) but I don't really class these overt, 'Hey wanna smell like cake?' gourmands as 'real perfume' yeah call me a snob if you like. All that aside I can assess One legged Joe on it's merits, it hits the brief, although too sweet for most if you're a glutton for this shit or have a great big, gurgling, inner child within you (in my case) which demands satisfaction, you'll take something from this. I know what this reminds me of, it's like trash coffee, specifically a Tim Horton's French vanilla latte, which is stupidly sweet and tastes as if Dominican vanilla gummed cigarillos and coca butter magic trees have been repeated dipped into your coffee. Trash and yet I still drink them. Then you get the butter materials/accord which is usually sent to ruin most Indy's compositions but here it's quite restrained and not too sickly, perhaps because it's surrounded by lots of other massively sweet and icky materials. The bitterness of the coffee note/accord is really well done, lasts, actually smells like coffee and serves to offer something mildly less saccharine than everything else in here. Still this is almost unwearable, simply because I don't care to smell like this, and it's not really what excites me about perfumery but hey that's just me. I accept that gourmand lovers, (the fanatical cat ladies of the fragrance community) will probably love this as it stands out in the field because clearly the perfumer has a affinity with these materials and can be super creative in the gourmand space.