A basic, shower gel, crowd pleasing scent
If I was being totally honest I'd say that I perhaps would NEVER have mentioned a cauliflower in my review unless prompted by the sample card to do so. Perhaps my mind is conjuring/grasping here, I freely admit it, but if this is cauliflower, then it's 'creamed cauliflower' not quite cauliflower cheese, my missus makes a kind of healthy (healthier) version anyway with milk and a kind of roux. Anyway... This is a strange fragrance anyway in the sense that the mandarin orange and perhaps bergamot opening doesn't quite give an instant flavour of what lies beneath but this is no doubt a creamy, vanillic, tonka bean fragrance. In all honesty, I don't like it. The saving grace is that it's creative and I believe this has a home with someone, while I've smelled most of these effects before, I've never really come across them together. I think what adds to the vegetal aspect in a fragrance which at it's heart, is quite a sweet (I know vegetables can be and often are sweet but I mean in a more sugary, dessert sense) thing. Coming back to the Cauliflower, I get a really faint trace of nutmeg or mace, and I think that's what's giving this creamed, veg, vibe. I was prepared to love a tonka centric fragrance from a great brand, albeit with a silly name... TONK A BLONK... haha, from a great perfumer, etc..... but I just don't like it. Sorry.
Woaah Nellie!!! The opening has a tart fruity sweetness and a warmth like a musk perfume but as a top note (which is strange anyway but stranger, considering what happens next) Anyway this initial smell is mental but it lasts about as long as a super heavy ion or Higgs particle or something? It really is gone almost as quickly a you perceive it. Then comes a really insanely earthy note. Just, just on the cusp of being too much geosmin (or similar) it's certainly what I would consider and overdose. At first it is a beetroot effect but as it wears on, it's a bit much for me. However, it peaks around the 20min mark and settles in to a nice, mineral, earthy, accord. Is it really beetroot though? I often think it's hard to capture the vegetal, carroty, bloody sweetness, because beetroot is earthy but it's not entirely so. I think QB has done a good job at making a series of vegetal, modern, seemingly simple perfumes here. I'm personally not bowled over by this one, it's okay y'know.
Three notes or accords listed here and it smells like all of them. It's a modern vetiver, leaning on the nootkatone synergy with grapefruit, a perfect combination but then it has this vine tomato consume association to me. Lasts ages. If you want a vegetal, woody, fragrance with a long lasting bite of bitter grapefruit, then this is as good as any I've tried. Does it excite me, not really, but it ties in very well with the Fennel one, Cedrat ceruse in a cohesive collection. I like it.
Okay, quick initial apprasial of these new L'artisans. I've worn on skin once but not properly, will come back and update but they're pretty straight forward, I doubt my thoughts will change a great deal. This one is lemon and fennel. haha. No I didn't just read the notes here, it opens with a squeeze of lemon, bright, lovely, then it settles into a anise tinged light, woody musk. Doesn't last for ages or anything and it never really inspired me or anything but it's my favourite of the new four I tried.
hmmmm...could've sworn I reviewed this. Anyhow, yeah....it's a treat. Really nice, cooling, naturalistic, dry, lightly peachy osmanthus, at the heart of a gentle, subtle, modern feeling composition. More loveliness from this house (yes I'm allowing these to be considered a house and not just because of their self proclamation) Osmanthus is a really fascinating floral aroma and they've captured it perfectly. It' not the most present or 'big' perfume statement but it's very nice.
This has to be one of the most elegant fragrances I've smelt!. Yes this leans feminine a little bit it's soooo good that i had to get it for myself haha. Beautiful special occasion fragrance that oozes sophistication and class.
This is basically the OG. Lasts all day.
So this perfume is really not what I was expecting from something called night flower. That name suggests to me a big, indolic, searchlight jasmine, or a sopping wet tuberose, and I braced myself for nightblooming impact, but in actuality it's much more subdued. Night flower is a musky, mildly vanillic, floral perfume. Smells fleshy like orris and tonka. In fact it smells like tonka absolute as apposed to just coumarin or a usually much sweeter tonka accord. There's something perfect about the sweetness of real tonka and this perfume showcases it delicate nature perfectly. The opening few minutes do have a salty tuberose but it's more like that very delicate from enfluerage kinda stuff not a brutal indolic power house, or sweetened, bubblegum, affair. Tuberose is actually fascinating in it's facets and diversity as a perfume material. Here it's very fleeting and slight, but I like that. The drydown is really cuddly, musky, I personally really like it, it's rounded and creamy and base heavy, and although sadly I have a bit of a cold today or I think It would be a bit more present, it's a very subtle, skin scent, which occasionally emanates, lovely little wafts, it's a very personal fragrance for you or someone that gets very close. I've just noticed comparisons to musc ravageur....nah! I get that if I had to stick them in a subgenre together, I would , or descriptions in a review like this will be largely the same ballpark, but don't think this is a clone or riff on musc ravageur because it's not even close. I like it a lot, doesn't massively excite me but it's great quality perfume and an absolute pleasure to wear.
A simplified review here as I wrote some quite detailed notes on this but, having worn it a couple of times, it doesn't warrant a great deal of discussion. The top notes, the fruity accord whatever you want to call it, is unique (certainly to my nose) and while I could parrot the notes from here, I'd just say it smells like some sort of 'fruity amalgam'. The fact blood orange is mentioned is interesting and somewhat perceivable, as different to other broadly 'Orange' materials like orange oil, tangerine, mandarin, etc.... all of which are different but blood orange is really different. Then pear & blackcurrant? Sure. Why not? This accord is present throughout, a very long lasting fruity freshness, the glaze atop what is a mildly honied and caramelised amber accord, with what I'd say is a slightly femme lean. I think it's good, I like it. I don't love it though.
Opens like the original but moved onto a fresh summer version of it. Similar vibes to Reversed but my favourite flanker is still Reversed.
So this is the first fragrance I've tried from this brand. I wasn't sure of their legitimacy to be honest, I'd seen many (what I assumed to be free) bottle flying around on social media among the influencers and bottle begging shites who know little about the craft but seem to offer up their expertise anyway. (sorry, I'm supposed to be reviewing this) Anyway, another off putting bit was the tendency to vagazzle the bottles with gold leaf, something I associate with vodka for tween girls or a special Christmas, Gin liquor bottle, which lights up and looks like a snow globe, such is all the golden debris floating in flacon of Atelier des Ors. Something gaudy to appeal to the middle eastern market, says luxury to them but tacky to me and a big turn off. However, this brand has earned some kudos by some respected voices saying they are worth checking out, and by not being another throwaway, transient, pop up. I have to admire the aesthetic and creativity of the brand, gold leaf and all, having tried 5 of the collection here and being impressed by all of them, in one way or another. Aube rubis then is an immediately fruity and immediately patchouli forward fragrance, it's clever in being full bodied but not quite giving up all it's secrets right away, it's reminiscent of a FM Monsieur or that Bois 1920 one, real smacks in the face of patchouli but this has a mildly softer, more graduated edge. I get that the fruity note in the opening is listed as blackcurrant here, and I see there being a 'twang' to this, I often say it is similar to saffron and comes from the earth of patchouli, but blends into fruity notes well too, could be cassis that is conspiring here to make an interesting effect. A gourmand, edibility (says praline here) I can't help feeling is not your typical chocolate association sometimes gotten from patchouli. So I'm saying all this is familiar in tone, but in truth this is bold but still wearable and has it's own little trick up it's sleeve. As it dries down I get more labdanum and resins in combination with that patch but still sweet and toppy sense of something 'fruity'. I like it, I think it's well made, has enough to keep me interested, has goldilocks zone patchouli which will satisfy the purist without alienating the more timid perfume fan. All in all a good introduction to the brand for me.
Continuing my Chanel resampling odyssey, I arrive at Bel respiro and I like it, but I'm underwhelmed to be honest. In the pantheon of green perfumes Bel respiro just doesn't quite make the cut for me. It's no trope cis 3 hexenal grassy but ultimately unsatisfying perfume, nor is it a big traditional, galbanic, green bomb, (although it leans more in that direction) the airy accord which comes from bel respiro is to be breathed in deeply and savoured. I don't feel it though. I don't connect with Bel respiro and as a relentlessly tedious, fact based guy in a perfume world of woo, things like connections and speaking to my soul, seems wooly and out of character for the acerbic, molecule naming style I've become known for. Truth is though, jus ne sais quoi, heart, soul, all that soppy bullshit, truly IS what makes a perfume special, to deny that would be doing the whole art form a disservice. What's interesting about bel respiro is that there's a warmer base to it but it's so light and subtle it's barely there, smells almost like vanillic/tonka/orris and musks, perhaps that's what constitutes the 'leather' accord listed in this? It's barely in the realms of existence though so as to barely make a difference to talk about.
Just going back and familiarizing myself with the peerless Les Exclusifs collection from Chanel. It's one of those lines that I know is just quality across the board but there's not much in there to truly excite in terms of cutting edge perfumery or whatever. But hey you reach a certain age where you go pffft! who needs cutting edge? I want old stuff done really, really bloody well, and actually to be fair there's quite a few in the collection which are not tropes and don't necessarily have an easily traceable ancestry, although perhaps a Chanel one. So Misia is a perfect example of this, the ultimate powder puff fragrance, delivering, customary Chanel sparkle in the opening, and somewhat raspberry rose juice, to butter smooth, cosmetic powder in the midsection. Some of these Ionone/Irone rich fragrances tend to lean in certain directions but here I get a lovely blend of fleshy, vegetal orris and fresh, but powdery, make up, iris but with that heavy violet tinged bias, which I love. I get that leather sensation of a cuir de russie, it's elegant, lovely, pretty all those things. For me personally I have to be in the mood for this kind of fragrance it doesn't quite have the versatility of a cuir de russie but that doesn't make it any less special. Comparisions to Frederic Malle's Lipstick Rose are valid, I can completely get the comparison. However, tonally they are different. Misia is much more in the pastel tone of chanel as apposed to the more high contrast, out there, 'fun' rosier, fruitier, Ralf Schweiger effort for Frederic Malle. I love both.
Now this is to the EXTREME of its title😅😅. This coffee one is by far the most realistic coffee frag I've ever smelt. In fact it's too realistic for me haha (Im not a super coffee fan lol). This smells like coffee with some caramel milk with added coffee folkowed by more coffee 🤣🤣. A real in your face coffee!. Same goes for the vanilla, it's sickly sweet for me. However when layed together, it does produce THE ULTIMATE GOURMAND COFFEE SCENT!!!. A true coffee lover would fall head over heels for this combo right here lool
FANTASTIC fragrance. Perfect mix of of fresh citrus and fig. Underrated frag. Only thing that lets it down in longevity and project but it's pennies a bottles so you can drown yourself in it.
This smells like my 2003 original formulation of Issey Pour Homme 😍
This is very nice and very close to Guerlain Spiritueuse Double Vanille 👌🏿
What I like most about it is the listed 'snow' note. Fun Fact: Musc de Koublai Khan has a yellow snow note. LOL So I'm not going to moan about what a safe first release this is and what a featureless landscape it depicts, not gonna slag off the perfumers, because it was clearly their brief. If I was being mean I'd say Moncler went super safe on the commercial appeal of these perfumes this smelling like a boring, vanillic, pink, powder puff girl-burp, of unicorns and rainbows n all that shit! and the Men's one, a kind of post Santal 33 clone, a modern wasteland of bits and pieces of non committal spicy/wood eggshell fragments, but strong as an MF'r yeah???? But I'm not moaning or being mean remember. So I won't be saying that. Truth is, I quite like both these perfumes, even though the branding is a bit vulgar and the price, quite high. So yeah this is a vanillic, powdery perfume with a fresh opening of citrus and mild, musky undertone. Never going to set the world alight and I'm not an expert on perfumes like this but I'd wager that it's better than some real cheap rubbish you could get in the same genre. I physically couldn't wear this because of the vanillic, sweet nature but more power to you if you can.
So I'm only familiar with Moncler as atrociously gaudy and expensive, ski wear type shite, puffa coats and the like. This is their first foray into fragrances, let's see how they get on shall we? Not too bad. They've managed to make a variant twist on Santal 33, but they've actually made it way more palatable to the point I can actually wear it without coughing up a lung from disgust and olfactive fatigue, or hanging round vegan eateries with my macbook, pretentious clothes and coffee, talking in cliches and up-speak, blissfully unaware of my own twattery. Textile street yeah??? So hats off to them for that, because the opening of Homme is peppery to the max I mean a real hit of the stuff and it's prolonged, reminiscent of Marc Jacobs Bang. Then as it settles more of the listed clary sage here and green effects to freshen with that black pepper. Then the heart is pure growing sandalwood and trendy vetiver, but somehow rounded and creamy but with that green, spicy incense effect of the characteristic papyrus accord (or nagamotha/cypriol) which would usually have me tapping out but something about the futurist way this is blended negates that, as mentioned above. All in all, I really liked it, a very powerful and tenacious perfume too, which could be dangerous in the wrong hands, a real club blaster, it will get you smelled at least. The reason I want it is because of that preposterous bottle and the dot matrix thing on it. If the fragrance was utter dogshit, Fragranticans please believe me I would tell you not to waste your money, but to me this is a fragrance collectors piece, that I kinda have to have. First from a brand, silly gimmick, actually pretty good jus, without being too derivative or trying to do too much. Okay so it is a little bit on the expensive side and if you want to go and get a Santal 33 clone then maybe do that, but clearly they set the price point for the name of the brand (high street designers are getting cheekier) and the fact the flacon is a big fuck off thing, it's weighty and more substantial than I was expecting (me freely admitting here that the only reason I would entertain buying this is that it's not shit smelling and I've been suckered in like a child by the quirky, programmable screen) actually mean that me.....tight ol' me would probably pay the £170 asking price and perhaps hardly wear the fucking thing. Who knows? If it's in a bargain bucket sometime I might entertain it.
Stronger With You DNA with a (very small) touch of iris.
So of the three I've tried, Derviche was my favourite. I love the leathery, tobacco and what I perceived as castoreum (but is apparently civet according to this?) with a sweet, boozy, animalic richness. Now perhaps I could be critical and say this is a modified formula of some vintage perfume I'm not aware of but I'm a bit too fond of being unfair to Manuel Cross like that, he's fulfilling a demand for this type of fragrance and his audience love it, so fair enough. Again this is quite heavenly in the opening an less exciting/acomplished in the base which is quite backwards for my personal experience of artisan fragrances. There's a smoothness and complexity to them at first, which gives a good first impression and then unravels a bit later on. I like this, but I still have an issue with marketing as anti IFRA, it's difficult for me to get around that. I shall give it a proper wear and report back here with an update soon enough.
I found this one to be very disappointing considering all the hype. I mean it opens well, very appealing, fresh, masculine vibes but for all it's seeming cohesion in the opening, it falls apart shortly after, becoming an amateurish, clunky work. I mean you can get Fougere formulas (although this doesn't quite adhere to a classic fougere) online and knock something up, it won't smell as seamless as Houbigant or Invasion Barbare or Beau de jour. It has herbal elements, soapiness, moss with DHM and linalool, it's a bit flat for me as it dries down. Not particularly enamored. (Disclaimer: I'd only sampled it on a strip at that point) Trying on my skin is a different ballgame, forget what I said about the opening it's horrific, not fresh at all, smells astringent like marker pens but without at least a hint of the dizzying 'high'. However after that it's much more appealing the mossiness and grainy textured musk, loads of coumarinic warmth and even bordering on tobacco. It actually reminds me a little of another perfumer I think is pretty crude, Arron Terrence Hughes Boss Bastard but credit where credit is due, what both of these perfumes lack in finesse, they make up for in niche appeal and raw power. I think the soapy DHM comes out more on the strip and in actual fact is way better once you wear it. I still am not going to concede that this is a good perfume, it's okay, I'm somewhat enjoying the wear and I felt a bit bad for posting something fairly inaccurate up top there but that was my initial reaction and I stick to it in some sense.
I'm left scratching my head about the 'reminds me of' section here, but that's why it's an opinion and it's also not called 'smells like' because to it's credit I don't think this directly smells like anything else. However, that's not to say it's good because I'm more than disappointed with it, I'm pretty mortified if the truth be told. While the composition itself has unique nuances, it comes from a genre I like to call, '...loud shouty incense, smashed together with vanilla and or tonka.' The opening is quite nice, sweet, spicy smoked, resinous but that vanillic aspect starts to grow and the whole thing just grates on me, personally. I can take good things from it, I do like these kind of modern resin perfumes but I just can't seem to wear them without being fatigued and this hits a really sore, pitchy note, almost immediately. The tenacity is INSANE!!! Especially for a Penhaligons and they do take some stick for this line being a bit weak in that department. The caps and packaging generally on these are cool, and if the brand can maintain it's sales to Joe Bloggs through releasing in this signature line then fine, but perfume lovers (certainly me and others I talk to) want and expect a bit more. I think the classic/legacy fragrances from Penhaligon's are much better, but that's not to say there aren't a couple of creative ones in this collection.
