Amber Aoud opens with the most realistic, juicy fig note with bright and sparkly florals such as rose, ylang and jasmine, accompanied by refreshing hints of bergamot and lemon. It’s a much fresher and fruitier opening than you would expect for an oud fragrance, but it’s stunning nonetheless. Following this, it develops a robust heart with intense sweetness coming from the fig and saffron, but with a slight earthy bitterness and warm spiciness from the oud, civet, ambergris and cinnamon. Amber Aoud takes a while to completely dry down as the sweet fig, saffron and cinnamon lingers leaving an addictive and alluring scent trail. Eventually you are left with sweet florals of rose and saffron, expertly blended with an oily oud and creamy ambergris. The warm spices linger gently overall creating the most addicting scent bubble that just oozes quality and class. Amber Aoud is simply stunning, however despite how much I love it I personally think Aoud and Musk Aoud are better. Amber Aoud is slightly overhyped and overpriced, and judging from the name you would expect the oud to be more prominent. Nevertheless this is a modern masterpiece and one of the best floral ambergris scents on the market, a must try for those who adore sweet fragrances.
After finally acquiring a bottle of Amber Aoud, I feel I can write a second review now that I’ve been able to wear it more often. This opens very similarly to the original Aoud, hints of lemon and bergamot alongside a floral medley of rose, jasmine and ylang compliment that classic woody base perfectly. Soon after the spraying, a juicy note of fig emerges which takes the first steps into a sweeter direction. This sweetness is intensified by cinnamon, saffron and a delectable Amber accord of the highest quality. Alongside this is the classic salty ambergris and oud duo which is so loved in the original. Amber Aoud is an absolute masterpiece and I can see why it’s the best seller from the 3 - it’s simply the most captivating. Where Aoud is dry and regal, and Musk Aoud being clean and subtle, this one truly pulls you in and seduces you straight away. I find this fragrance to be much more youthful, playful and versatile than the other two Aouds. Such a beautiful creation perfect for evening wear when you’re looking to attract others.
I smell like I've worn rose perfume then cooked an oily curry. Hard pass.
Wearing this to the gym (pm) after applying early morning. It’s been quiet all day, enjoyable nonetheless. However now it’s projecting like a steam train fuelled by ambroxan and musks. Might even be a little too much but I like it. Follow me on Instagram: @TheScentiest
Moonlight patchouli opens with bright and creamy florals of rose and iris, with a subtle hint of sweet fruity accents before developing a smooth earthiness coming from patchouli and cacao. In the base the creamy rose and iris remain a constant, but with an added depth and darkness from the leather, patchouli and suede. I’m not sure why this is listed as a chypre fragrance as it doesn’t contain the right notes or structure to be a chypre. Nevertheless this fragrance is mind blowingly good, especially for the price this can be found at. It’s dark, mysterious, romantic and alluring - perfect for date nights and evenings all year round. I feel it’s perfectly unisex too. This fragrance perfects the rose and iris combination with fantastic quality of ingredients. Van Cleef & Arpels created a masterpiece here and it’s a shame the house as a whole is so underrated. This is a must try if you love leathery florals and will always have a place in my collection.
This is a review of the EDT: Bal à Versailles is a timeless beauty. It opens with a very thick and heavy dose of civet joined by a sparkly touch of orange blossom, jasmine and rosemary. The civet note almost turns slightly sour as it combines with the resins, balsam and benzoin, giving the heart of the fragrance an almost dusky, powdery character. In the dry down the civet, resins and balsam remain a powerful constant and make up the majority of the scent profile. However a powdery and musky softness is present with leather, orris, ylang and rose. These notes blend beautifully together to create something that is truly stunning, but also quite challenging. This is a fantastic example of classic French perfumery, the pure parfum version is a lot richer and deeper however the EDT is more affordable and easier to wear. Despite being marketed towards women I actually find this scent to be very masculine. If you enjoy ambery animalic fragrances then this takes that to the extreme - the performance is nuclear. Unfortunately I find it’s wearability limited and have a hard time imagining getting compliments with a scent like this, but for those truly passionate about perfumery this is a must try.
After selling my EDT, I recently bought the pure parfum and I’m very glad I did. This is such an opulent, regal perfume which aims to recreate the kind of smells you’d experience at a ball during the 17th century among the richest and highest class of society. There’s so many notes in here that it’s very hard to pick out specifics, but there are a few that stand out from the rest. This without a doubt is an animalic amber fragrance at heart, and a strong one at that. A sharp and slightly sour note of civet is paired with beautifully deep resins, tolu balsam and benzoin which is incredibly warming and luxurious. There’s also heady musk and dark leather which lives throughout the scent - this is all balanced perfectly with an array of soft, powdery florals such as orris, rose and ylang with a touch of creamy sandalwood and earthy patchouli. I much prefer this to the EDT, it’s so much more rounded, refined and the florals seem to be a lot more noticeable instead of simply being a civet bomb. This is one of the most renowned classics in perfumery and is so well respected by perfumers all across the world today for a very good reason. This is the pinnacle of vintage-style perfumery, a true masterpiece and one of the most multi-faceted fragrances I’ve ever smelled. Absolutely wonderful.
Positives: it's very original. Negatives: it's absolutely vile. For me this falls into the same category as most MMM scents, namely cheap-smelling novelty claptrap. It smells like licorice, but in a repulsive way that brings out memories of cream rubbed into childhood wounds (or is it deep heat?) and doctor's waiting rooms. The most hilarious thing is that is deemed worthy of an even more extortionate price than most of the line.
From the very beginning, Xerjoff’s More Than Words is intensely fruity, it seems to be a combination of lots of different fruits and creates an almost overwhelming burst of juiciness. Floral notes soon begin to shine, namely rose, which only adds to the sweetness of this fragrance. While official notes are not listed for this fragrance, it is undoubtedly led by rose. The rose seems slightly synthetic unfortunately, and the fruity notes can be sickly sweet at times so this fragrance isn’t one to overspray. I’m not sure why the leading accord listed here is oud, as it is completely undetectable from my bottle. All I’m left with is an overwhelmingly sweet rose fragrance with not even the slightest hint of any woody notes. It’s a pleasant fragrance but I’m disappointed by the lack of oud, which I imagine if it was present would balance the other notes in here beautifully. I am unsure whether older batches might be more what I was looking for.
Prada L’homme intense is a modern masterpiece and undoubtedly the best fragrance from Prada. It opens with a beautifully clean and powdery Iris complimented by subtle nuances of leather and tonka. It soon dries down to that signature Prada soapiness from the Iris, however with an added darkness and mystery. Undertones of patchouli and amber add some depth to the scent however for the most part the fragrance is pretty linear. The performance is good and it gets great reactions from those around you due to is appealing and inoffensive scent profile. This truly is one of the best iterations of Iris on the designer market, up there with the likes of Dior Homme Intense. It stays true to what the original Prada L’homme stands for, but with a much needed intensity for the colder months of the year. Such a shame that this is now discontinued as it was definitely the best fragrance Prada had to offer.
Le Male Le Parfum starts off almost fougere with a heavy dose of lavender, linking the fragrance to the classic scent profile of the original Le Male. However this soon dissipates and evolves into a sweet vanilla and smooth Iris combination, with cardamom and warm spices to create a sexy and inviting scent bubble. The lavender stays somewhat consistent throughout the fragrance as does the vanilla, a fantastic homage to the roots of Le Male - however the combination of the other notes mentioned brings out a much warmer side to the fragrance perfect for evenings out in the colder months. The performance is decent however nothing impressive, however it’s very mass appealing while still having character. This is probably the most popular fragrance from Jean Paul Gaultier for a reason, it’s just a shame they can’t translate this level of perfumery to their other releases.
Sauvage opens with fresh and sparkly bergamot with a peppery kick. Lavender and ambroxan combine to give a fresh and juicy opening which is actually quite pleasant. As it dries down the lavender becomes slightly greener and soapy as the pepper maintains that kick of masculinity. The EDT itself lasts all day with fantastic projection which is impressive. Sauvage is undoubtedly a pleasant fragrance with a decent quality of ingredients, and will get a lot of positive attention from those around you. Back when it was first released the scent was fairly unique as there is nothing else that smells quite like it, however its popularity and success became it’s own downfall. Everyone and their mother has this and while it may sound snobby, a lot of people in this hobby (myself included) don’t want to smell the same as everyone else. I somewhat like Sauvage but at the same time I find it a bit boring and uninspiring these days due to its overuse. It doesn’t feel special to wear which ends up leaving it to gather dust. I definitely think there are better scents to go for these days especially considering how much Sauvage costs now.
Chanel De Lanvin; you can buy them on the Etsy shop Insider Parfums
Hello. Just to clarify - we haven’t reformulated it at all. The batch is identical. There might be the odd micro variation between individual bottles but the fragrance is identical. Feel free to drop us a line at [email protected] if you would like to chat about it at all. Best wishes.
A wondeful perfume, indeed a masterclass in haute perfumery. I'm baffled by those complaining about performance, I find it's a beast, albeit without being loud. There a warm waves of woody, resinous, sweet, vanillic benzoin to die for, and the best thing is it works in most weather conditions. I haven't tried it in hot weather and I imagine it wouldn't be ideal, but Autumn, Winter and Spring, it's perfect. Love!
So I had this down as a 'like' from a previous wearing and I'd stick to that, there's something interesting and comforting about this sort of perfume. However, I think the kind of person who seeks out such smoky thrills would be better served by something slightly less sophisticated than this, some indy bollocks where they dose birchtar like a pissed chef, or I reckon if you're into brands doing smoke and phenolic vibes, probably seek out Beaufort or something? I appreciate the subtlety of this the smoke (that guaiac wood sort of BBQ) it hangs like a shroud over some other stuff underneath, which is frustratingly (but deliberately) never properly revealed. I get some booze and wood but it has a cool air to it both in temperature and temperament, flinty and a touch metallic even, reminds me of bonfire night as a kid when I had to do a performance of the gunpowder plot. Amazing how the olfactory nerve endings trigger these long term but rarely accessed memories. I mean this perfume is doing no wrong by me, and if it was stronger and more powerful it probably would be annoying me now, but it's very well balanced I must say, fairly long lasting and present but reasonably quiet. This is not really my vibe but it was one of the trio I originally tried from this brand and it definitely fits in.
There are some heavy hitting notes here (patchouli, vetiver) but they're delicately entwined with sparkling bergamot and hyper real florals creating an extraordinary, fresh bouquet. It's sweet, but only just enough to seem real, there's none of the sickliness you'd usually get with this type of scent. It does slightly remind me of the plethora of MFK freshies, but the musks in the base are distinctly FM.
Valentino Uomo intense opens with a burst of sharp and juicy orange, with a chalky clean Iris and nutmeg. This clean opening is then joined by aromatics of juniper and sage which are very subtle to create a tangy, floral and herbaceous opening. In the dry down you’re left with a soft and airy Iris that feels slightly synthetic, combined with a sweet vanilla and subtle leather. A bitter orange, spicy nutmeg and patchouli add some depth to the scent but not much. The performance is decent but not amazing, but is a great option for a night out during the warmer months of the year. Overall this fragrance is objectively good, but doesn’t really compete with other similar scents in this field. The Iris is a bit too synthetic which at times is reminiscent of fragranced baby wipes unfortunately. It lacks depth and character in my opinion, it’s great for those that are new to Iris but isn’t impressive to me.
I like this a lot, it's a very good vetiver based perfume and I'm probably jumping the gun on the review because I need to wear it again properly to figure it out. From the initial sniff I'd say it's a laid back, none scratchy vetiver perfume which relies on quite a mellow material for most of it's bulk, it's not overly smoky or anything, juniper is a fresh and welcome bedfellow, can't say I get much of the soft warmth of tonka or myrrh listed here in the base, but generally it feels like a really well rounded vetiver and having revisited Dior's Vetiver in recent days I can assure you that this is definitely more up my street and I'd sooner pay big bucks for a perfume like this than Frederic Malle's Vetiver (also good) for example, just because this is more subtle and oozes quality. However, it was quite shortlived and I know that should be implied in the name 'cologne' after all but it was extremely slight and low lying. Not a huge critisism and I really applied a tiny amount so I could wrong but something for folks to bear in mind if they are dropping fairly substantial money on this stuff. Update: 30/03/23 Yeah so I decided to wear this the following day after my review and I have to say, I'm still not convinced. It's simply a case of how present this perfume isn't. I'm not some size queen, or fucking performance brah!!! However, if the presence of a perfume is so slight it impacts on the experience and the ability to feel emotions about the fragrance or even assess technical stuff or whatever it might be that you get from wearing fragrance, then it's not working for me. It's not that I totally can't smell it, the remnant is there on my clothing and I have reapplied it, also I stick to my guns it's a lovely smelling simple, rustic vetiver with citruses and woody notes but still... I'm not onboard. Hard to say when I adore this brand but I gotta be honest, and hey does it matter? nah.
Boss Bottled Intense opens with a crisp and juicy apple note with slight hints of sharp orange blossom and vetiver before notes of cinnamon and clove begin to creep in and add a warm spiciness to the scent. It then dries down to the classic and instantly recognisable Boss Bottled scent profile with green apple, cinnamon and sandalwood. However in this intense version the warm spices are stronger with an added sweetness of vanilla. Boss Bottled Intense is very simplistic and easy to like, however nothing ground breaking or impressive. You could argue that this is like a cheap version of Parfums de Marly Layton, however with this being discontinued it’s unlikely to be found at a reasonable price. A real shame as this for me was the only fragrance from Hugo Boss worth buying.
Magic!!! Finally got to try the colognes from Les Indemodables and they didn't disappoint! Well this one certainly didn't. It's a really fine study on grapefruit, sharp in the opening but with a sweetness and sherbert fizz to it. The midsection is a kind of mossy wood but it's not really bitter like some citrus/oakmoss things and that's not to it's detriment. Citrus and fresh white florals is a pretty well trodden path but this has some very good, naturalistic vibe to it, the sweetness I mentioned likely coming from jasmine. I noticed some comparisons in the 'smells like...' and I get that there's an ambergris quality to this perfume so comparing it to the Ambre from this brand is entirely valid in one sense...it probably uses their excellent, ultrasonic extraction/tincture thingy, which I've tried on it's own and is excellent, however probably slightly misleading to say smells like...but anyway. It reminds me ( a little bit when it's dried down) of vintage Dior Eau Sauvage, I think there might even be a rounding sandalwood accord in there. It's wonderful. Really, I mean it should be hard to get excited for a perfume which is basically a citrus cologne but I respect that citrus is one of the hardest things to do as a perfumer, ad this is elevated by great materials and world class compounding, so it deserves praise.
Blimey, where to start. Yes it's skanky and dirty, sort of wrong, a sort of pudendal funk that arrests the senses, but it works. Nothing else compares to this. I'm not sure where I'd where it, but then when I've felt that way about other perfumes I've come to realise it doesn't matter. You just wear it when it feels time, and wear it with pride. Update: just discovered I'd smelt the 2016 batch, then I tried the recent formulation, and found it horrifying. It smells like wet farts, very very wrong indeed and I couldn't wait to wash it off.
I'd have called this Aldehydes Poudre, although that's not to say the iris isn't pronounced. The initial aldehydic blast is almost reminiscent of Oud Khol for me, although obviously only the aldehydes, sharing the almost savoury sharpness rather than being on the soapy side. Wondeful, addictive, powerful yet light... another yes from me for this wonderful house. I get the comparison to No 5, but this is more subtle, and once the dry down takes effect, the warmth of the amber really balances it out wonderfully. It's like a next level No 5 EDT.
I find Frédéric Malle perfumes (and in particular those by Ropion) can undo my prejudices towards certain notes. This beauty totally flipped my opinion of tuberose, which I normally find very troublesome, bubble-gummy, cloying and OTT. I also normally hate coconut in perfume, but this has shown me that if the quality is high enough, and the blending expert enough, I'm in! The coconut kulfi dry down is almost as good as the superstar opening. I was in the bakery this morning, and a bunch of people started saying "oh my god someone smells amazing", and I was half mortified, half thrilled when they locked it down to yours truly. Thanks Frédéric Malle! Update: It's too strong for any time of year except high summer (outside), when the heat mitigates the effusiveness, thus it's a glorious fanfare of creamy tropical florals, whereas indoors or in cold weather it's,cloying.
This is beautiful. Grape bubblegum with red berries smell. Very feminine but still unique and lovely smelling frag
So....I'm somewhat surprised that I've never commented on this before but it's not exactly the most outstanding fragrance so maybe I'm not? Anyway... To me this is a very good fragrance based around Vetiver materials, but is the best? No. Does it have a sense of being elevated to justify being a Dior exclusive? Yes...I'd say so. It has both elements of the fresh, bright but earthy and dry, also the creamy aspect, also this coffee accord/note/element is there but I just figured that was a facet of the vetiver, because it's extremely slight (certainly no Eau noire coffee) so it's good in those terms but I just don't like it as much as I should. This was the issue when I first tried it many years ago, it just didn't stand out for me, and now due to exclusivity, and the fact that modern Dior Privee releases have been a bit....shit! (let's face it) Vetiver has become more sort after and placed on a slightly elevated pedestal for what is a kind of smooth, soapy floral, vetiver type fragrance. It's no Guerlain Vetiver. I don't deny that this is a very professional fragrance, unlikely to offend anyone in an office or meeting type environment and promotes a sense of 'that person smells really good' due to it's cleanly, ubiquity and effortless class but for me I'd rather wear (the perhaps marginally more polarising?) Tom Ford Grey Vetiver which for me is simultaneously bolder and fresher than this outing. I don't blame anyone for loving this perfume and saying that I'm wrong about my personal vetiver preferences, because it is very good, just when you can afford to be exacting about a genre, do be!
This is the shit! So delicious, just as when I was little and was tempted to taste fruity shower gels, I want to devour this perfume. However it's not a gourmand, but it is the tastiest, juiciest citrus I've come across, with the most stellar performance (I have 2016 batch). Possibly now my favourite Malle, although it's a tough call to make.
