This fragrance is more diabolical than the atomic bomb which laid waste to Issey Miyake's home town as a child....and I'm not being melodramatic. Is it any surprise then the review below is from a guy who took me to task about a review of a similarly awful scent some time ago? No it isn't. He clearly likes this kind of thing, whereas I find it abhorrent and offensive. I'm not getting at him for this, merely illustrating how tastes can vary in the most extreme of ways. I've been whining recently about generic, uncreative scents saturating the marketplace and you'd think I'd embrace something which evokes such a colourful response in either direction, for beeter or worse....well I don't! This stuff is horrific. Opens with a noxious cloud of salty, calone and a whole plethora of other messy, chemical crap. Yes it does have the same stuff going on as Invictus, Versace Eros (+ countless others) but makes those two seem the pinnacle of olfactory excellence in comparison. It's got that acrid, flyspray smell that would knock you sick but at least when you use thinners or some nasty glue there's a chance you might get a little high off it. No such luck here I'm afraid. I hate this fragrance I actually hate it. It might drydown really good or change or be nice on some people and I except that but I wouldn't even give it a chance to drydown. Oh...Did I mention I didn't like it?

Yes yes yes! I foolishly thought I'd get to try Fucking Fabulous but it's a fashion week exclusive or something, so I didn't. Oh well I wasn't even aware of this one so let's give it a try. Oud Minerale is not to my usual tastes from the opening, I have to admit that. It hits you with a salty, aquatic, ozone blast from the outset but instead of the usual revulsion, I was quite taken with this vibe. I appreciate the effort to try to evoke the sea, I mean who doesn't like the sea? but usually they go into horrid territory and Tom doesn't allow that to happen, keeping the mood friendly and non-intrusive at all times. The oud base is what holds it all together but the salty, seaweed and hint of pepper, keeps it natural and flowing...like the sea or water I suppose? So Having lavished Oud Minerale with praise I'd still say it's not something I would wear or add to my wardrobe but I could be convinced down the line if I wear it some more. What can be said for sure is that this is among the finest sea scents I've ever tried, if not the finest. It's clean and well executed like most TF products. Update: Now that it's been a few days, I was emptying the washing basket and oud minerale was clinging to the top I'd been wearing. It actually smells very clean and a great deal like ambroxan or even ambergris in it's dried down and remnant state.

I'm angry at this one. Firstly, how many more of these pieces of shit are we going to have to suffer through? I mean really... Even if the main players in the industry gave it a rest for a while and concentrated on sexy gourmand vanillas...oh yeah they already did that for a while back to the cycle of shameless, shapeless, awfulness. Secondly, this is a confusing one as I was expecting a little flanker subheading like...Givenchy Gentlemen...'Please'? (that's my pitch...or 'please stop'?) but no. This is a new imagining of Gentlemen, a fragrance I didn't think was all that great anyway but at least it was in the classic masculine mould. A shame because I didn't hate Intense or Chic but this is rubbish, sorry.

I really liked this fragrance on my girlfriend and in actual fact although feminine, Blossom Love's swee,t gourmand tones are something I would very much enjoy wearing myself. It starts out with a hugely sweet opening but there's enough inherent quality and restraint in the fragrance so nothing comes off as cheap. Cherry blossom is obvious immediately and then there's a development of that disaronno theme but to me it's not that boozy but more like amaretti buscuits so yeah essentially the same thing. The base is a definite tonka bean but maintaining a lovely floral nature too. This might be a common, some might say cliched theme aimed towards women... soft, floral, foodie scents but when done nicely, I can't help but appreciate them. It sits low and settles down to much less sweet scent which is just plain nice.

Here's how I feel. Amouage are back with a very solid release after a couple of...how do I put this? Not 'dodgy' as such recent efforts but not what I would consider in to be upto par with their usual trailblazing originality. However, I hate Figment. (How's that for a conflicting opening statement?) I do though. The animalistic nature of this scent coupled with the surrounding notes make for a stinky, pissy, grassy, resinous, uplifting, yet heavy urinal cake of controversy. When you stiff passed that I get the soil tincture (probs geosmin), patchouli, labdanum, leather, geranium, grasses, vetiver but it can't help but be wrapped up in a dispicable, dirty protest of a fragrance. I get it ...I do, it's the trendy, natural house (from California or Brooklyn or somewhere) but still with a middle eastern influence at the heart of it and that for me is the epitome of Amouage. It's east meets west...and everyone gets fleeced. Seriously though I respect this fragrance but will scrub it from my body to never return. Oh and only if I'm lucky because the performance and silage are MASSIVE.

Y? Why indeed? I'm sure I'm not the first, neither will I be the last to incorporate the name into a withering put down. Really though YSL...Y? I didn't like the opening, weak, uninspiring kinda fresh nonsense, nothing offensive just yawnful. Then to be honest when it settled down was a very nice mixture reminiscent of 90's aquatics or more modern references like Versace pour homme. My missus liked it she compared it to Moschino fresh which is fair but I think Y is bit more nuanced. The point is ...did we need another one of these? I think not, but hey they'll always be popular and that's not going to change anytime soon. What really gets me is the marketing campaign, the bottle design, the obvious attempt to make something new and fresh (in an ideas sense not literally) but failing to do so on the most basic of levels. It's very cynical of the marketing material to say that Y is aimed at millenials, With a view to offering something different. Come on. Let's have a reverse shall we? A super honest campaign for a new generation. Look we've rehashed this old tut, just like music and fashion and politics and come to think of it, EVERYTHING which regenerates like Dr Who in decade (and a bit) long cycles ready in time to be neatly repackaged and sold to your kids! Essentially the same thing but jazzed up a bit and we'll convince you is Tailor made for your consumption. Y is okay. It's me that's becoming jaded.

Everyone is so quick to slag off Abroxan but I think it's a very interesting base and can be put to great use in these modern scents. After wearing it became apparent this is fragrance of three distinct phases. Obsessed is a strange one really because it opens very nicely with much of the Calvin Klein freshness and the intriguing charm of things like Crave or CK2. Unfamiliar, fresh spicy notes of kumquat or starfish or some crap like that but never the less very nice. Then it becomes abundantly clear that it might just be one of these confused, messy generic fragrances, a dud of little significance and quickly dismissed like many others and I don't think this is entirely down to the ambroxan. Anyway....Thankfully and quite inexplicably that subsides and Obsessed has a 'third act' so to speak which adds another twist to the tale, in the form of a creamy vanilla type warmth and maybe just maybe... the Labdanum listed in the notes? If you read my reviews you might know that I'm huge fan of that resin and although I can't place it in here as such, the base does have a nice cosy drydown so I'm not dismissing the possibility. Now normally the fresh, unusual, hard to place, top notes, coupled with a crowd pleasing generic heart and a warm (or 'sensual' as they will market it as) vanilla/synth amber drydown sounds like my idea of a horrible frgrance trying to be all things to all people and doing none of them right. However, I quite like Obsessed. I kinda wish CK had the bravery to make a pungent, masculine call back to the original Obsession, now that would've peaked my interest. I'll have to wear this again but the opening was very pleasant, I have no issue with abroxan and the boring aspects weren't too boring and the creamy drydown is nice....so it's a like from me.

Such a disappointment. I cringed at the name and I cringed at the first spray of this fragrance. What is it about 'this' vibe at the moment? I'd say it's borderline gourmand but actually smells so chemicaly harsh, that I doubt you'd ever eat anything remotely similar. Immediately Code profumo/one million prive/Ferragamo Uomo all sprung to mind and they are even scents I don't think were that bad, somehow this is so generic and lacking that it's worse. Did we really need another fragrance of this ilk? No!!! I wouldn't even mind if manufacturers returned to the same thing, I mean it's inevitable but release after release? Come on. It obviously must make business sense, cashing in on the success of other fragrances but let's have some artistry. On the upside I like the bottle and to be honest I don't hate the fragrance (it dries down much nicer than it opens) it's just boring in the light of the wave of fragrances like this that have come out in the last year or so.

Never let it be said that I don't give credit where it's due because I think Paco Rabanne's XS line is not bad. The original has actually become quite a beloved fragrance for me and reminds me of the 90's. XS Black is a bit too sweet but is weird in good way and I appreciate the effort in making something original. So I have high hopes for this one, interesting notes but I never read too much into those, look forward to getting my nose on this.

What a shame it is but Pure XS is absolute bumwash! It's in the same vein as recent oriental releases to the point it's ridiculous now. I tried the new Armani scent on the same day and although this is different it still exists in the same sphere of modern gerericism masquerading as depth, warmth and sexiness. The opening is kinda subtle and slowing growing but similar to Ferragamo uomo or something? It does have a somewhat bracing freshness, maybe the ginger? A herbal woodiness, aquatic at times even but a base which is that silly generic accord present in loads of uninspiring new releases (One million/Invictus/Wanted/ etc...) and a bit of a resinous vanilla drydown. I don't completely hate it, Pure XS is just a bit of a mess and I was maybe expecting to get something good. One thing I am surprised about is how low lying it is on the skin. I'm sure the noses who create these fragrances have the best of intentions but sometimes the combination of notes and disparate ideas culminate in a boring, stilted composition. Oh before I go ...the flacon is MASSIVE and oddly weighty and impressive either as a paperweight or something you could bash a burglar over the head with.

I'm yet to find a Tiare flower fragrance which would be suitable for a man to wear. There's something inherently feminine about it in my opinion but that doesn't detract from this being a nice perfume. Despite the focus on tiare I'd say the main note is a lighthearted rose smell when it's all settled down and that's safe and crowd pleasing to most people. The opening is quality, sweet florals with a touch of the tropical about it, putting me in mind of something kinda Hawaiian. I think it might be the vanilla and touch of coconut making Poudre de riz a bit gourmand at times but with a warm ambery base and although I don't really detect tolu balm or even know what rice smells like I can believe they are in the mix. This is because it smells complex and very much a go to, quality powdered floral for women...basically it's versatile. The quality of this is undouubted and I don't know what it costs but I suspect it isn't cheap. My knowledge of similar perfumes is lacking but I think you might get something similar cheaper. I liked it though but from a practical point of view I could never wear it myself.