I’m obsessed with this. I’m not always a huge fan of cologne fragrances but this is incredible. A bright fresh clean top as you’d expect but it manages to smell and feel natural despite enduring forever - as it dries down it becomes a sweet vetiver that just smells great. Very expensive but if money not a concern then buy it. It’s beautiful.
Exquisite, expensive and extremely animalic with a kind of sour cheese twist; way too rich and animalic to wear. I can't imagine who would wear this, perhaps some sort of ancient, eminent game of thrones character would smell like this. In fact, the cheesey opening puts me right off, but it does calm down quickly, I just can't imagine purchasing a bottle for the near-on 300 euros it would cost, especially when Guerlain itself offers such an array of affordable, wonderful perfumes. This is for wealthy collectors, probably never to be worn, and hey, why not! Update: I now own this, and I love it. Shameful as it is to say, I've discovered (by accident) that layered with L'Interdit EDP it's a treat! (I know, I know).
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.
A delicious, zesty, juice-fest with minty geranium. I have the Homme EDP, which is also wonderful, and as others have said, this has the same elements but in a totally contrasting olfactive presentation. The lime is BAM in your face, and makes me want to drink fresh lime juice. The notes that follow develop wonderfully into the dry down. Guerlain always manage to create something unique yet classic and timeless seeming, that makes me go aha yes! This is no exception. Update: I've had this a couple of years now, and the woods have become dominant. There's a suggestion of many different wood notes without any one type standing out, which I love about it. It's like standing in a woodwork shop or a very posh soap shop where everything is nestled in wood shavings in baskets. It feels piney due to the minty geranium. Love it.
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.
Great Tonka Bean bomb with 0 performance
This is an exquisite fragrance, leather daddy in a bottle, and I don't mean that in a fetish way, I mean like your dad in a fine leather jacket back when you were young, or at least some way more stylish version thereof. This must be what Burt Reynolds smells of. It's not macho though, just classic suave moustachio'd charm. I feel too young to be wearing it (I'm 42).
This and Blossom Love by Amouage have a surprising amount I common. I think it's the heliotrope overdose, smell them together, it's crazy.
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.
Diamond jubilee bouquet is a gorgeous, a fresh floral accord atop a classy, naturalistic, creamy and rounded iris/orris powder, shocked with mild greens and purples. I say 'natural' because it doesn't seem to break up into sweet carrot slop or individual papery ionones, nor is it complete powdery, parma violets affair, it's strikes a lovely balance, as does everything Grossmith have put in a bottle to my recollection. It's a little timid in terms of lasting power and impact and perceived value, especially at these prices, but hey let's not crucify it for that, thank goodness Grossmith haven't resorted to keeping up with trends or making big noxious bombs, attempting to be the next big thing in luxury perfume, especially surprising as they strive to make it in the middle eastern market. A fine perfume then, the opening few minutes is nothing short of magic and is worth wearing for that alone, but compared with the other excellent offerings from this house it ranks somewhat lower.
If it were possible for bananas to be both synthetic and slightly mouldy, and then those synthetic mouldy bananas were left in a mossy forest for a day or two, this is what it would smell like.
Smells exactly like Issey Ambre.
Had it. Sold it. Don't waste your money. Smells no different to the other flankers. The oud version is the only one that smells different.
Whereas the EDP is an exquisite perfume, whilst being very similar the EDT crosses the line into smelling like incense. This increases over the first hour resulting in pot pourri. Not a fan. Update: After wearing this a couple more days, I feel I was harsh, as it is a lovely fragrance, and expertly blended. However it does whisk me to a spooky knick-knack shop, try as I might to rid my mind of this idea. Strangley the EDP doesn't do this despite having the same list of notes. I think I will enjoy this on my bedding and dressing gown in the evenings, as it's a step too far for me to use out and about. Another update: OK I take it all back, I'm in love now. It's such a joyous fresh, sparkly burst, and the dry down becomes more and more delicious. My only gripe now is that it doesn't last very long... Another another update : Just wear Shalimar EDP for the best part of Habit Rouge.
It smells like expensive pâtisserie. That's not to say it's bad, but it isn't the exciting journey most other Guerlain fragrances send me on. I don't regret the buy, but this will be a one off. The intense and extreme flankers are both streets ahead of this, with the dazzling openings and deep, rich dry-downs I've come to expect from the house. I think maybe a touch more spice or some more florals would perk this up, but then you can get that from the intense, and the extreme has doubled down on the rich fruit leather.
I find the dirty musk tone quite sensual, and the bouquet of rich floral tones goes superbly with the woods. Bizarrely it performs badly for something so pungent (in a good way) on the opening. I struggle to find anything that performs well these days, although L'IDG EDP does, as do Habit Rouge EDP and Vetiver (those are the only ones). If they're going to water everything down, they should include mini atomisers with the bottle, as this needs several reapplications during the day.
1st thing, BE WARNED! ⚠️, this is not for the faint hearted. Super potent black espresso note. This is toooooooooo much coffee, to the point where it's extremely difficult to pick out anything else from it. Imagine pouring freshly brewed black coffee over yourself, that's what this smells like. I feel this needs a lot more sweetness to be wearable. Performance ofcourse is astronomical. Lasted over 17 hours on skin and well past 3 days on clothes. But for me this is a very headache inducing smell cause its so dark and strong. Oh and this is com8ng from someone who loves dark, gourmandy, winter frags. Imo the beat from this house with absolute no competition is Lost in the desert!😍, now that there i NEED 100ml of😅.
Addictive, juicy and unique. I can't put my finger on what I love so much about this. It should be harsh (my first spray in the store took me by surprise and I thought I'd hate it), but it quickly relaxes into a delicious, rich, fresh green breeze. I'm currently wearing it on a rainy autumn day and it's perfect. Any perfume that gives me several moments of joy through the day, as I catch it and remember I'm wearing it, is a win for me. I think it's quite polarising. I've had positive and negative (albeit politely negative) feedback, but the ones who questioned it prefer subtle skin scents, which this is not. The dirty civet note is perhaps where the magic lies, I'm not sure, but in any case every time I spray it I notice something different and wonderful, without it being too busy. Summer update: In hot weather this blossoms into a neroli fantasy, and I can smell all of the notes way more than in winter. It almost makes me wonder whether I ever smelled strong vetiver, or if it was in fact a combination of the many different things in the blend. In any case this remains a classic, and I'm glad I finally got to smell it thriving in the heat. Update: having tested countless other vetivers, most expensive, this is one of the only ones that doesn't turn sour after an hour.
For me, nothing beats vetiver perfume for rainy weather, and this and Encre Noir are the be all and end all for me. So many others have tried to better it, but not even Guerlain has succeeded with the new parfum version, which is a just pffff meh (yawn). This is an astonishing perfume, and even the newest formulation is an absolute masterpiece.
Oh my, this takes me straight to Southwold, a gorgeous little seaside town on the Suffolk coast (UK) filled with cute little boutique clothing stores, yummy fish and chip places and cozy pubs. Atlante is a gorgeous marine scent. I can smell the pebbled beaches, the salt of the North Sea, that ozonic sea air you get as you walk around town and the smell of posh bougie stores. It’s absolutely gorgeous. I’m in love with this one. Follow me on Instagram: @TheScentiest
I adore Greek Keys, and own the special edition Parfum miniature. Here in extrait, I think it works even better. You can feel the golden sun flickering off the blue azure Mediterranean Sea, all fresh and ozonic. I particularly like the oakmoss as it gives off more of a myrtle like seaweediness. A sparkling, aquatic fougere. Makes me long for the Greeks islands I hold so dear.
Easily my favourite from Sarah Baker’s extrait collection. Props to Ashley Eden Kessler. To me the opening smells like a heady night out in the richest, trendiest areas of London. Resins and cardamom meld in the top, lifted by a spicy black pepper. The mid is all about the cassis and patch. Love this one.
Rules of Attraction is a musky, iris-based leather fragrance with bright, light florals. It’s a flirty, playful leather, with a sexy animalic side thanks to the addition of civet. Dries down more woody iris and the brand’s notes mention an antique rosewood accord which adds a more restrained aspect to the kink of the rest of the notes. I would say this is a wonderful spring fragrance and for fans of iris, civet and leather, you are gonna get a real kick out of this.
Anyone else expecting to see ambergris in the notes or just me?
The Grand High Priestess of the guerlinade legacy. Gobsmackingly well put-together. Just make sure you dress and behave appropriately for someone wearing something so exquisite.
This is an absolutely disgusting ozone bomb. Extremely harsh and artificial. I tried it in an attempt to find a dupe for Liz Claiborne Liz, but it did not meet expectation. Liz is more aquatic than ozonic, and certainly not to this level of stank.
