Well, this is yet another review I never bothered writing when I first sampled this as I found a sample recently in a bag marked ‘okay’ I know exactly why I put that first time around. It’s certianly not because Tacit is ordinary or pedestrian the composition is very carefully constructed and well realised, simplicitic yet deep and more than the sum of its parts. However performance let’s this one down and doesn’t scream high quality as much as the pleasant aroma does, at least at first anyway. The opening is yuzu and a strong basil note, the overall feel is a little green and fresh. It starts to settle and develop spicy facets and the basil even has a slightly minty feel and a medicinal touch of cloves. The body of this fragrance is vetiver and it’s a perfect companion for the herbal and citrus top notes and the vetiver in here is spectacular, thick earthy and clean but with a presence not dissimilar to licquorice but with a slightly cleaner soapy edge. Projection? None existent and performance was poor. Such a shame though because Aesop were onto a winner with a great concept.

Patchouli has to be in this perfume...surely? Anat Fritz is a very interesting, lovely Potion which evokes that earthy, moist, but sandy smell (perhaps the sandalwood?), with a strong lavender note which almost goes a touch minty for a second I think. This is classic patchouli heavy perfumery but bound to be divisive because of its bold herbal, earthiness. The problem I have with classical is that it’s not quite bold enough and looses complexity quickly, and didn’t last well either when I tried it initially in 2013, nor does it now when I’m revisiting it. The sample was in a bag marked ‘meh’ along with several others and my opinion hasn’t changed, but I did like it though and the bottle is pretty novel.

I have to give this particular extraordinary extract de Parfum a lot of credit, it’s quite simply the most entirely vivid smelling floral you’re ever likely to smell. If it is largely based on champaca then I will have to reevaluate what I think about that ingredient because I remember disliking Tom Ford’s champaca absolute when that was around. Regardless this is a triumphant and delicate smelling floral, moist, juicy, with almost fruity, green notes and a ozonic and citrus opening. The floral smell is somewhat of a mixture of ylang ylang as jasmine a sort of sweet, white/yellow floral and maybe a touch exotic too. This stuff smells of massively high quality to me and I’ve no doubt there’s some orris, and sandalwood in the base, because when first applied it oozes, heavy multilayered luxury. It’s not very long lasting which is not what you expect from something so concentrated but can often be the case.

This is a linear fragrance but I don’t think we should dismiss the base too much because it’s very light and woody but carries the top notes much better than something like shay and blue’s blood oranges just as an example. This is a prince among orange scents for me, super fresh and juicy, it’s gorgeous and at the right price, I’d add it to my wardrobe.

This is a galant effort, I have to give it some credit. I thought this kind of thing to be a waste of time, the original light blue was ultimately forgettable but didn’t offend me in any way. This zest version is actually okay because, although not groundbreaking in any regard, it knows what it is and doesn’t have any of that generic and despicably, mixed up cynicism of many second rate and redundant flankers. The grapefruit, lemon and mandarin in here are very pleasant in the opening and the base is a light, musky powder poof! I mean it’s no Chanel Allure homme edition Blanc but it’s very wearable and surprisingly long lasting for such a subtle scent. I think I’m going soft in my old age as historically, this scent would’ve got the usual Houdini scalding, but I’m in a good place and really digging on citrus and fresh fragrances at the moment, so this gets off easy. It’s okay by me. What I don’t like is the cheapness of the bottle. Is it me or does the font and all that writing on the bottle look a bit tacky? Not to mention the puke yellow stopper.

I have to say I really enjoyed this fragrance, I kinda expected monsieur geranium to be a modified version of Monsieur, despite being from different perfumers and the fact FM doesn't do flankers, not sure why I thought that then? In any case I love geranium as an ingredient, it's up there with labdanum as a favourite of mine and I appreciate that it does have somewhat of a minty quality but this is definitely amped up by the addition of a hefty mint note. I really like the smell of fresh mint and always have it growing in my garden but I can't say that I like it so much in perfume. I suppose the little hint in some perfumes is nice and I do like stuff like Guerlain Homme intense so why not? This stuff is UBER minty and opens with a real smack in the face of mint, but it's still very refined and not too sharp and in some senses addictive. There's a kind of woody powder surrounding it and hints of clove and anise but very fresh like a fennel sort of vibe. It's lovely and as the minty smell dies back (which incidenatally takes a couple of hours) the geranium really shines as a lovely thing. Masculine, clean and just plain lovely, I'm huge fan of geranium and this smells very high quality and precise in it's delivery. It's a low lying scent for me which does project to begin with but becomes more subdued. I have to say I adored the drydown, I thought it was heavenly but makes me want to seek out the Guerlain and Dyptique listed in the smells like because I'd like a cheaper alternative. Without smelling either this could be far superior but a very nice perfume when the geranium starts to shine and the base comes out later on. I liked it.

Psychoanalysis is an absolute knockout!!! First of all I'm suspicious of Bella Freud and her family, it's not really entirely rational on my part but there you go. I find something sinister about Sigmund Freud, Lucian her father is actually an artist I admire but he's a bit weird too and the least said about Clement the better. However in spite of this background I've let the fragrance and the feel of the brand do the talking and I've been reasonably impressed with most of the Bella line. In the most part they are fresh takes on traditional formats and Psychoanalysis is another one in this vein. Reading out the notes and you'd be forgiven for thinking it wouldn't be very nice or wouldn't work but you'd be very wrong. The opening is a fresh blast of lemony petitgrain. Herbal, green and maybe even galbanum/elemi ish? It has a bit of a cologne feel and makes you go hmmmm...that is nice... but not exactly inspiring, but just wait for it to develop. The base feels like vetiver, and cedar, dry, clean, woody fragrance but as it dries down gets more and more masculine for me, it's dry and like no tobacco you've really experienced. Actually come to think of it, it is....slightly. The modernity in here makes it lean toward a Montabacco type of thing I wouldn't be suprised if Iso E super featured heavily in the formula but the tabacco note is slightly earthy but not the traditional dense or stale vibes you usually get, it's very nice indeed. When dried all the way down psychoanalysis leaves a gorgeous deep woody, leathery, scent, but before that the citrusy notes of petitgrain last really well. I love it. I have to say it might just be my love of all things zesty and uplifting at the moment but this stuff is great and actually has me tempted to buy a bottle.

Petit Matin or early morning is typical of Francis Kurkdjians style, fresh citrus top notes, with some herbal facets, and then the main heart of white florals, usually orange blossom, with a musky, woody or amber base depending on Homme or Femme or just to give some variation generally. I wasn't a fan of Fleur du male and some of these MFK's have been a bit too heavy on the white florals. For example I wore APOM Homme yesterday and it has some peculiar notes in the opening which are quite sour and strange, that's before you even get into the neroli and orange blossom. I still quite liked it but I liked Amyris too while kinda thinking it was a little 'off' at the same time. My point being that MFK is not my usual taste and neroli and orange blossom can give off a creepy, hand cream vibe which I don't enjoy. So with that background covered I have to clarify when orange blossom and neroli are used in the right composition they transform into some of my favourite notes. Examples from MFK, Guerlain, Mugler cologne and Acqua Viva to name a few. Petit matin is a modern, clean musky opening with a shear masterclass in citrus which is long lasting and beautiful, hints of lavender add to the classic cologne feel which is modernised with a powdered, warm base of ambroxan which is not heavy in the slightest if you are one of these people who hate the stuff. It settles right down after projecting for an hour or so to a very low lying but very long lasting and super high quality scent. I smelled it on the wrist of the SA and it was warm, feminine and frankly just wonderful. It also gave me the opportunity to smell the opening and the drydown simultaneously, albeit on someone elses skin. On me it was fresh and the white florals and ambroxan just boosted the citrus top and the balance of elements just superb. This is a really, really, good, bright, optimistic fragrance, I loved it.

This is a knockout! A smooth, yet bold and multifaceted amber evoking lots of different notes from classic perfumery like lavender, labdanum, and vanilla. I was in love from the opening balsamic hit and incense sharpness, to the sedate, woody, creamy sweetness of the drydown. This would feature very highly on a list of alltime great ambers. However, on a personal note I can take it or leave it, Grand Soir doesn't get me as excited as it once would have done. This is due to the fact that my tastes are always drawn to heavy orientals and it being so in my usual wheelhouse is not necessarily a good thing. The reason being, I'm making a conscious effort to get more fresh and light fragrances, but otherwise I'd be all over this.

I really enjoy this perfume, it's a rose fragrance not really for rose fans. This is for people who like the harsh, opening stinging the nose with opulent saffron but rapidly becoming a darker shade, full of incense and sandalwood. The rose grows gently in the background and the whole thing settles to something not dissimilar to Penhaligon's Levanthium, a really spicy rose affair. I love the stuff but it's not got the performance or complex power of levanthium, nor does it have the rose sweetness, it's like a subdued version but very nice nonetheless.