Elegant bergamot and neroli with that powdered Celine base. It has touches of jasmine with a light dusting of orris root and musk. Here the oak moss gives it a little growl and bite. This is the most refined scent in my collection with a nod to the classics in perfumery. I can see a similarity during the dry down of OG Dior Homme. I've only put my nose on Black Tie and Parade from the house of Celine, but this is easily my favorite!
Parade takes the top spot for my most worn fragrance.. When I put my nose to it, I pick up mysterious incense note lurking about, giving the wear an aura of light green, white and beige. Chef's kiss for these cool spring mornings
A marketing team look longingly at the profits generated by Sauvage.
First off, what on earth is a colgne intense? A not-quite EDT? Or, more likely, a marketing ploy to avoid the supposed effeminacy of the word perfume, this being a fragrance that seems to aim itself fairly squarely at the men's market?
Anyway, this only occurred to me me after I sampled it, so didn't influence my overall impression.
From the outset, grapefruit or, on reflection, perhaps a sharp, cheap wine. Lots of it. This is offset by a fairly unobtrusive lavender, well blended, so it undercuts the tang of the top note.
From this point on, changes happen very quickly. It turns spicy and sweet, with an almost cola-like quality. There's an unexpected, very bitter blast of green cypress, gone almost as soon as it appears. Finally, it settles down to peppery citrus soap, and stays that way, droning away to itself persistently and boringly in the background. I did try to perservere with it, really I did, but ended up scrubbing it. Life's too short, etc.
There are things I liked here, most notably when the cypress gains dominance, but overall it is rather uninspired, with the spicy-sweet phase in particular both cloying and nauseating. It is, however, long lasting, considering that a) it's a cologne and b) it's a Jo Malone. Frankly though, I would have welcomed it if it had faded a little more quickly. Odd thing: it smells very pleasant in the bottle, but comes across as clumsily strident on the skin. An absolute pass from me.
This is magnificent.
Green and smokey, and a definite tribute to 70s mens' powerhouse fragrances, this is a prime example of taking that DNA then updating and bettering it. The key here is both the high quality of the ingredients, and the intense, ashy birch tar core which gives it a serenity and emotional depth. It's leathery and animalic, aromatic, bitter, floral, mossy. Longevity is eternal, projection ferocious- two sprays at the absolute maximum is needed.
I loved this from the outset, and didn't even get a third of the way through my little sample vial before splurging on a full-sized bottle. An all-year rounder, except on the very hottest of days, there's something very compelling about this scent that demands unequivocal attention and devotion.
Luca Turin apparently recently wrote a scathing review of this but, frankly, what does he know? You'd think he was a perfume expert or something. I adore it, and it sits very comfortably in my top 5 favourite perfumes of all time.
A fragrance that is only really suitable for colder weather, I always forget quite how astonishing this is.
First off, it's birch tar smokey. As in mega smokey, and at the same time brine-laden. It is such an intense blast that the first time wearing this, my immediate reaction was to recoil. On subsequent wearings I became innured to it and now just think, "That smells astonishing."
Gradually, a sweetness starts feeding through, which feels medicinal, almost jammy. This, I suppose is the opium scent, which I have smelt once, many years ago but can no longer recall if this is an accurate representation or not. The Smoke transforms to tea, lapsang souchong, with its meaty, earthy notes. There's a whiff of whisky, something floral then eventually it settles to deep, incense-laden woods. The smoke lingers, with varying intensity, from beginning to end.
There's not many perfumes I would class as an outright masterpiece, but this is one of them. It's extremely polarising (my partner loathes the smell as much as I love it) and there are a limited number of situations in which I'd dare to wear this. Nonetheless, if I had to whittle my collection down to three fragrances, this would be one of them: it's an outright love.
Amazing Guava scent. Very fresh guava woody scent. incredible!
I DO get why some people find this boring, especially if you’ve been doing this for a few years and are in deep. It’s very Essence of Men’s Cologne, nothing groundbreaking, “Blue” in that That’ll Do way. But I just love it every time I put it on. It’s mature without feeling old, masculine without smelling like you’ve spent a day up a tree smoking. On me it’s got a sweetened muskiness as it dries down that every time I get a whiff of it I feel good about myself. Today I wore it with a brown corded shirt/jacket thing, a white tee and jeans and it all felt very correct, the smell matched the ensemble. When I can pull it off to where I think the look matches the aroma I always feels like I’ve done good.
Imagine this friends. You wake on a damp morning and decide to put on Layton and then go a walk in the wet Forrest. Along the way you slip, covering your clothes in wet mud and shit your pants from the fall. Congratulations you have just imagined the exact smells of Layton Exclusif
This is a significant deviation from the original the one edp. It has incense, sweetness and much more of a night out fragrance than the one edp. My go to night out scent.
Interesting choice, I will for sure try it for few weeks to see if it is for me!
Interesting fragrance, but I am not sure if that suits my notes preferences. Worth a try though!
I've seen people mention this as being similar to Balenciaga Pour Homme. This has no business being mentioned even in the same sentence as Balenciaga. It is horrific. It starts with a obnoxious overdose of honeyed pineapple and lavender which is as jarring as it is loud. And it's very loud. It settles down and becomes more bearable in the same way that I suppose chewing broken glass might become bearable as one acclimatises to the perfect pain. It is vile. It is dated and old school in all the very worst ways. It's less Burt Reynolds and more Jimmy Saville. Terrible.
Something scratchy, harsh and horrible lurks not very far below the surface of this one. Heavy-handed aroma-chemical soup resembling chai tea but only as much as a cheap soap or shower gel could.
Sweet, floral and cream scent, a little bit powdery. Not to heavy and overwhelming; you can feel the freshness combined with sweet flowers.
Totally woody fragrance, but with a freshness note. It's definitely dedicated to wear on special occasions, and rather for fall or winter season, because it might be a little bit too heavy for summer. I'm not a huge fan of woody fragrances, but this one is one of the best I've tested.
I absolutely love this stuff, even though I think it’s named wrong. For a start there’s nothing “ETERNAL” about it performance-wise, I mean it’s FINE, I get a fair bit of life out of it and it projects well for the first few hours but I wouldn’t call it a room-filler. But mainly I don’t get just coffee from it. I get MOSTLY coffee but the lactonic note gives it this really distinct baked goods aroma. It smells like walking into a bakery that also serves very good coffee. Should’ve called it “Eternal CAFE.”
This is absolutely gorgeous and may very well become my scent of the summer.
The opening is juicy, tart and slightly peppery. I do not get strawberry perse, but I do think this is what that tangy juicy accord is. I love that it is not the sickly sweet synthetic strawberry that you sometimes get in strawberry forward fragrances.
In the dry down it turns somewhat sweeter and warm, but retains the pepper kick, which I love. The rose also comes forward more. The name, Spiky Muse, is very apt! For people who fear this is a Delina clone or flanker, it is not.
Sillage is moderate, especially in the first hour. Longevity is good on my skin, 6+ hours. Price is hefty, but eh. Worth it, in my opinion.
Literally the epitome of a green soapy fragrance. Absolutely love this, so fresh with some herbal freshness coming through lasts a decent amount of time on my skin and it just quintessentially the smell of a British Gent.
This to me is a reference level leather fragrance. Really loud opening and dries down to a gorgeous leathery woody scent
Fresh piney juniper opening, very crisp like a cool morning hike with pretty sunlight. This is expertly crafted with loads of naturals all perfectly placed to create this bright slightly earthy (like a good tea) juniper. It pushes! Then this fragrance transitions and we get soft iris, tea, and some slightly sweet saffron touches...almost soft leathery in feel. Into the latter stages it develops creamy wood and soft sweaters. My goodness it's good. Easy 9/10 for me.
Pashm is signature imo and can be worn in almost any occasion, outside of maybe sports, gym, or high heat occasions. Could be good in high heat hello ambergris? Not sure yet. It's elegant, present, but never loud. Nor is it a skin scent. FB worthy
I had an immediate scent memory when I put this on of walking into the local upscale menswear shop in the late 90's to buy something with my mom. My mom wore Charlie and late in the day it had this soft cashmere woody smell along with her scent. Maybe that mixed with mens cologne from the store brought forth this memory.
This is a lot more versatile than I was expecting it to be. I didn’t have any real experience with Bleu Electrique, what this is cloning, but like almost everyone a few years deep into this hobby I DO with the original La Nuit, and that to me was strictly a date/special occasion perfume. This profile’s got a REALLY approachable everyday quality to it that I wasn’t expecting, a nice zingy-ness that makes it work casually just as well as it does on a smart night out. I suppose the fact the original’s got “Bleu” in it should have tipped me off on that really.
The name says it all. Upon first spray, you are hit with a very smooth ginger aroma. It dries down very fast, at least on my skin. The warming tones are very mass appealing, almost giving off a hint of spicy vanilla. The only drawback is the longevity...maybe 4 hours on skin. You will need to reapply this one. This is a fragrance that I would consider wearing all year round, for any occasion. Very good fragrance. Blind buy worthy.
Ambroxan overdose with Campbell's cream of mushroom soup, some pepper and herbs sprinkled on top.
This is incredible! As a man in his 30s that DOES NOT like leather, this really took me by surprise. This is grown up sexy, masculine, robust, sweet leather. Wow this is easily niche level ish right here!
Reminds me of blackcurrant liquorice sweets.
Lovely opening, doesn't last long enough for me unless I literally cover myself in it.
