Eureka is a very interesting scent, as there’s a lot of notes with a very strong character all vying for your attention. More than anything, I actually get a heavy dose of nutmeg which is both warming and spicy, yet incredibly smooth and comforting at the same time. On one hand, you’ve then got the balsamic bitterness of coffee, tolu balsam and black pepper, contrasted by the refreshing smooth metallic nature of voilet leaf and bergamot. All of this rests on a warm, earthy base of patchouli and cardamom. As I said before this scent is interesting, it’s not a love for me but I keep going back to sniff my arm just to try and get more of a sense of what’s going on. Similar to my review of Illusion, I like it enough to wear it but wouldn’t buy a full bottle.
Illusion is an interesting scent, one that surprised me quite a bit actually. This is a powerful sweet and spicy floral with heaps of strength and character. A warm, spicy and dark note of clove dominates the scent profile, contrasted by the warming sweetness of intense saffron and hints of jammy rose. This part of the scent profile is very reminiscent of Initio’s Oud for Greatness, but instead of heading in a woodier direction the scent continues to sweeten up even further through the use of sticky dried fruits, aromatic juniper and a cotton Candy accord. This is actually a pretty nice scent, I like it. I used to own a bottle of Oud for Greatness but grew bored of the scent profile after some time, which I imagine the same thing would happen if I owned this. I enjoy the fragrance, but my 5ml decant will be more than enough.
Lys 41 is a fairly simplistic white floral scent, but it’s definitely one of the better tuberose fragrances I’ve come across. It’s focused around the pure white trio of tuberose, Lily and Jasmine which creates the most delicate and gentle scent profile. The tuberose in here isn’t thick, waxy or bubblegummy at all. It’s balanced perfectly by the airy, slightly green and vegetal nature of the lily and jasmine to avoid becoming cloying or overly sweet. There’s soft hints of gentle vanilla and soapy synthetic musks but overall the entire scent is revolved around these three flowers. I really enjoy this scent, although not enough to buy a bottle. It’s incredibly relaxing and meditative to wear, but for the price it is just too simple of a scent profile to justify it.
Notes identified by kafkaesqueblog - Ginger, cloves, cumin, plums, stewed fruits, incense, labdanum, amber, cedar, patchouli, styrax resin, tolu balsam, oud, brown sugar sap, possibly a pinch of birch tar. ---------- I find this to be an arrestingly beautiful and unique fragrance. It ebbs and flows gently, sometimes seeming light, then redoubling its brooding, throbbing burn, rather like the embers of a fire that don't die, but just keep glowing and cooling, then glowing again as breezes stir the remaining fuel. It manages to skirt several genres, never quite settling anywhere specifically, but always burning and glowing. It's a work of staggering technical genius to keep twisting and turning and playing tricks, all the while remaining one unified scent experience. For me this is a classic, unforgettable masterpiece, and I'll cherish what I have for as long as possible.
After the first 20 minutes, it's identical to Tobacco Vanille. The first 20 minutes are almost identical to Tobacco Vanille except for a slightly pissy benzoin element. Not bad, but to me it's a clone of TV. There's no smoke, it's raw tobacco, not cigarettes.
To me there is (a lot of) cashmeran, minty geranium, aldehydes, incense and musk and something earthy. It's great if you don't mind the minty aspect. I struggle with minty perfumes but I do enjoy wearing this from time to time.
Smells exactly like Majestic Opulence from Zara. I can't pick up any cotton candy nuances. I'm able to pick up raspberry which reminds me heavily of LVEB Intensement - which is also similar to majestic opulence.
@S2312, It's not at all like Vanilla 28. Vanilla 28 is more like vanilla extract, not nearly as sweet, and is rather harsh. It doesn't project much either. It's a straightforward vanilla, much better for layering than wearing alone. Montales Vanille Absolu is powdery soft but absolutely projects, it leaves a beautiful scent trail. It's somewhat lactonic, like chocolate milk. I would say it smells nearly identical to hot chocolate powder. There are no chocolate notes, but this is definitely chocolatey and delicious. This is a true gourmand vanilla. It's nearly identical to Al Rehabs choco musk if you have smelt that.
@S2312 You would have to really enjoy Gourmands to enjoy this. Vanilla 28 is much more mature compared to Vanille Absolu. If I were looking for a sweet vanilla perfume, I would not go for Vanilla 28 whereas I would happily reach for Vanille Absolu. I truly think your best bet would be to sniff a bottle of sweet drinking chocolate, specifically, the types you'd be marketing to children rather than the healthy kind - like the yellow Nestle chocolate. This perfume is super sugary and sweet, if you like those types of scents you'd love this, I don't pick up any cloves or spices. Like the majority of the reviews are saying - it'll remind you of baked cookies or cake, really foodie and dense. To summarise; they both have very different vibes. They aren't dupes or substitutes for each other Vanilla 28 = Vanilla extract, somewhat mature or reserved Vanille Absolu = Chocolatey and bakery-scented, youthful, and playful If you like super sweet edible gourmands - I would think it's safe to blind buy.
Exactly like the MFK Aqua line, bright, fresh, light, sharp, slightly sour, with a noticable fixative woody/musky base. Good for after the shower freshness or when you want your scent to be discreet and inoffensive.
I prefer the new version
Sprayed this on one hand in a boutique, now I'm home and I've scrubbed it off. A metallic opening gives way to a very heavy, pungent, gasoline-leather note, with some violet alongside, but it's completely linear and relentless. On me the performance was nuclear, unfortunately.
No cumin listed but on skin it has big fat sweaty BO cumin, I love it.
On the opening I get very little, and I'm tricked into thinking it's wishy-washy. No! Over a short period it starts to unfold, and gets stronger, with first white florals, then fruity aspects coming through. I start getting ready to go out, and as I'm moving about and my skin heats up, it gets stronger still. I'm surprised by the performance! This is a crafty little "eau" which isn't very transparent at all in the drydown, and to its credit there's no evident fixative base keeping it going like there would be in such a scent from your average designer or something like MFK. There's also a sort of spiciness underneath it all providing just a touch of warmth which, again, gets stronger the more it heats up.
Wow, this is a great, sweet fruity floral that smells way more expensive than it is. Whereas Velvet Orchid is too bombastic for me to wear, this fits the same bill but is more wearable. I got a few 10ml Avon scents for dirt cheap and there's more than one hiddem gem here! ....... Now I'm into the drydown, it's got a twinge of Angel too, but again, easier to wear. Love it! ...... Far drydown is like Lost Cherry
I’ve never been a fan of pear scents but this is one of my top 3 favorites. Fruity and Fresh but with depth and grown up.
This is undeniable brilliance in a bottle from the high priest of smell himself. It's a different thing every time I wear it. I think that now I'm familiar enough with it to get over the influence of marketing copy and other people's opinions, this genre-less gem has resolved in my mind as honey-iris. The iris is the same found in Heaven Can Wait, very unsurprisingly, and L'Eau D'Hiver shares more than a passing resemblance to Girl by CdG (for Pharrell Williams) and perhaps therefore has its roots vaguely in Fahrenheit.
Same perfume/formula as Synthetic Jungle, different name. Apparently people were put off, not realising the name was an artistic choice, and that the perfume is no more or less synthetic than the next. I'm relieved, as Synthetic Jungle/Nature is a bold and unique perfume, almost unwearable admittedly, but I love it.
Am I losing my mind/touch with fragrance reality? I can't for the life of me understand how this compares to Gucci Guilty absolute. Slight disclaimer... I only sprayed this on a strip, in a shop, and sniffed for a maximum of 12 seconds, so I'm not really qualified to even pen this review or talk comparisons but GGA is such a bold and Iconic fragrance that it would be immediately apparent right? Surely? Perhaps I'm losing my touch but I didn't get that at all, I guess these are both made by Morillas so...could be....could be? I mean this guy (Plein) is a world beating ARSE of massive proportions. Makes Jezza & his brand look like the height of olfactory integrity compared to this SHITE!!! Both German (I think at least?) both posers, and both with Alberto at the helm. Interesting. Must be a type. I mean Phil... mate? Wandering about in gaudy, designer label crap with your own name plastered all over it, private jets and fancy cars, scantily clad ladies and those money gun things are for ABSOLUTE WANKERS! And don't be all like ohhh Houdini you're just a sad, INCEL... hater, or a bloated snob, full of your own importance...Both of those characterisations are somewhat accurate but...still...I don't like your tone. I get it, That's his Schick and what passes for cool and that you've made a success of your life these days, but fuck me! Anyway... I found the fragrance offensive and that's odd because I'll go along with it being like the Gucci (a fragrance I like) if I must, so it must be all the other stuff that is (nose) blinding me to it's apparent brilliance and edgy, raw leatheriness and such. I smelled a kind of spicy, amalgam of modern dreck, complex and fruity topped but heavy and lumpy, semi gourmand patchoulish perhaps?, vaguely spicy....maybe? Strength not being indicative of depth, certainly not a great deal of emotion. It's Nu Money good. To be fair...if I wear it on skin and it does all this AAAAAND has a touch of that outrageous, leather accord from Gucci Guilty Absolute, then I might....just might...actually be interested in that! I know!!!!! I complicated. It's not the smell see that's putting me off, I find the branding so hateful, it's clouding my judgement and unfairly tainting what might be quite an interesting juice and I'm giving it a lot of leeway in saying that. Could it be the absolutely preposterous bottle, a credit card for bling worshipping, fucking idiots? Could it be Plein himself? or the ridiculous ad campaign I remember seeing for this, more viral than the Covid pandemic this thing came out during? I don't know. I think it's all of the above.
Lemon sherbert opening which, while it smells nice, I don't want it on my skin. The dry down is great but the opening, pffff. It's like a bag of lemon sweets that have been left on a sunny dashboard. The vanilla is the strongest lasting note on my skin and together the lemon and vanilla drown out everything else. It sort of smells like a coke float, when you put ice cream in coca cola. If I didn't have New York Intense I might love this more, but NYI does it way better.
AMOUAGE Ashore Mackenzie Reilly 2020 Feminine Sometimes it’s difficult to find a realistic review of some Amouage’s perfumes. I think the reason for that is that people who love Amouage are always used to get something extraordinary, something special and/or something artistic. That’s why technically great is not enough and on the other hand some amazing scent is not so popular because it doesn’t meet the right people. When I bought Ashore (blindly) I was thinking that it’s too cold weather for it. It didn’t really make any wow effect on me but mostly people like it in hot weather so I was thinking to wait next summer. Anyway I was spraying it on me the other day and I fell totally in love with it. Beautiful bright and soft Jasmine which is not heady at all. It’s somewhat transparent and minimalistic, it’s even quite linear and easy. It feels fresh and warm and I feel that I have worn some Jasmine scent during the day, spent a beautiful sunny summer day on the beach and been swimming in a salty Mediterranean Sea. That’s how it smells - Jasmine with sun and clean sea water - solar notes and salty feeling. It’s beautiful. It’s like a scent of a mermaid. 🧜♀️ I think I will wear Ashore a lot during the next summer. The longevity is easily 12 hours and it’s not too strong, absolutely office safe. Top: Pink Pepper, Cardamom Oil, Turmeric Leaf Oil Heart: Jasmine Sambac Absolute, Solar Accord, Rose Absolute Base: Ambergris Accord, Olibanum Hyperabsolute, Sandalwood Oil Thank you for reading and if you want to follow me on IG: @ninamariah_perfumes
Just a cheap smelling Layton Exclusif wanna be. Smells similar but the ingredients are cheap crap.
I’m a big fan of supposedly animalic fragrances, so I was disappointed when this didn’t come across that way. I was expecting something raw, primal and erotic but instead found something grossly synthetic, medicinal and excessively harsh. To my nose, Pheromones is dominated by this refreshing citrusy yet balsamic elemi note which I believe is main culprit of that medicinal smell. Thick and heavy cardamom, intense leathery labdanum and a dirty cypriol take this even further. The scent is definitely stinky and dirty, but in a very fake and clinical way rather than natural and animalic. This scent let me down unfortunately. It just didn’t live up to the quality and praise I’d heard online. If you’re looking for a seductive animalic scent, you won’t find it here.
Epiphany is a big no-no for me, matter of fact it gave me the instant epiphany that I don’t like this fragrance. There’s no denying this is a very unique scent profile, but there doesn’t seem to be any harmony or balance to make this wearable in any way. It’s got this extremely prominent note of a bitter and zesty lime, coupled with enough black pepper to make you sneeze about 30 times in a row. From here you start to notice a very sour and sticky liquorice contrasted by the smoky, earthy woodiness of incense, birch, cedar and patchouli. It starts to improve a bit as it dries down but to be completely honest I don’t find any enjoyment from this scent. As I said earlier it could do with being a bit softened round the edges.
Begum is one of those fragrances I seriously thought I would love from looking at the note breakdown, unfortunately I was left disappointed. Usually the fragrances from the 17/17 Stone Collection smells exceptional with fantastic quality, however this seems to smell significantly cheaper to it’s peers. It opens with a medley of citrus and fruity red berries before quickly developing a clean floral heart of jammy rose, soft orris, powdery ylang and a hint of soapy white florals. This aspect of the scent is lovely I must say but as the sandalwood starts introducing itself, the obnoxiously sweet vanilla and plasticky rosewood take over and ruin it for me. This feels like the same style of rosewood they used for Alexandria II which I can’t stand. This scent starts off really well in the opening and then just gets progressively worse until you’re left with a bit of a headache-inducing mess if I’m honest.
Durra is my first encounter with anything from Spirit of Dubai, and I must say I’m thoroughly impressed. This scent is the epitome of a summertime oud fragrance, combining both the woody and resinous aspects of Middle Eastern perfumery, with the refreshing aquatic feel of the summer. There’s obviously way too many notes in here to be able to pick them all out, but some dominate more than other. More than anything, I get an explosion of a thick and intensely earthy oud alongside smoky birch, leather, civet, castoreum and tolu balsam which provides this rich and animalic soul to the scent. To contrast, there’s a powerful mix of aquatic and ozonic aldehydes with some hints of green pine, aromatic sage and masculine lavender. Durra is incredible, a must-try if you’re seeking a complex and attention grabbing summer scent that strays away from what we’re used to in the West. The contrast of the refreshing salty spray of the sea, with the earthy animalics and oud shouldn’t work at all, and yet it does - fantastically.
