Intoxicatingly strong opening of atomic almond which doesn't settle down into smelling like almond until the drydown. It's like a ultra gourmand, MEGA, MEGA powdery scent which is an interesting outing but a super weird choice of fragrance in my opinion. The iris note is pronounced and when in this context just adds to the existing powdery amber and almond...which doesn't give enough balance IMO. It puts me in mind of similar scents from Etat Libre d'Orange like La fin du Monde or the recent Valentino Uomo the main exception being they both go in different directions and have better balance and less intensity overall. I feel Alba is over the top, a lovely smell but too strong and cloying. Undeniably quality juice here again from profumum and the longevity refelects that.

CoSTUME NATIONAL 21 is a complex, creamy slightly dirty amber. It's smooth, not a sharp or sweet nose burning amber type fragrance, more powdery than anything. There's a little hint of spices in the opening prehaps from saffron and pepper? It's a really nice opening too, complicated and exciting. The main spice is cumin and it takes a moment to develop as it settles down. I like this scent, because it's a real amber accord not like Scent or Scent Intense which to me is not a typical amber despite what other people say on here. 21 does it's own thing and is not like the rest of the stuff from this house which tends to be cool, fruity, musky and a bit odd. I lost this fragrance in the middle somewhere, it's just not my thing, the major decision I make when it comes to fragrance is 'Would I wear it?' and sadly this is not one I have any desire to wear. Still good stuff though.

To me this fragrance is quite floral with a gentle spicy edge. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to my second try. Bois bourbon is a boozy opening accented by saffron and cinnamon. The heart of the fragrance to me is woody and floral, the notes of heliotrope, lavender and rose are so complimentary and unified that they create a vague but sweet bouquet. It's reminiscent of dried flowers with lavender pot pouri. The birch coming through with a tar like smoke and backbone to it sets this off perfectly and although all that floral business smells nice the earthy woods make it wearable for folks who enjoy the more masculine notes. Actually as it dries down there's a turkish delight type rose note which develops which is velvety smooth and makes for a pretty lovely dry down...I'm enjoying it more and more. Good projection and longevity. All in all not bad and completes a very interesting collection of fragrances from Luckyscent.

Wow!!! I'm in love. This fragrance hit me like a arrow straight from cupids bow. Labdanum! a princely, opulent slap in the face of resinous beauty I knew right away this was going to be special. Then tart glimpses of another of my favourite notes...rhubarb! Apparently? I'll go with that... It's not the biggest but there's something like that in the opening. Then the heart starts to get really gourmand it goes from a gorgeous almondy/white chocolate thing to a wheaty, milky kind of smell. Then the spice element starts to reign that sweetness in giving a bit of a savoury spicy feel. Complex, warm and base heavy vibes finish off a dream fragrance for me... Nuit Epicee is magic! It's a minor shame the drydown is not as good as that superb opening...infact probably my FAVOURITE OPENING EVER! Gorgeous, amazingly long lived, easy 12hr+ and subtle sillage which gives you a nice little breeze every now and again. I'm stunned by this stuff, darkly gourmand, woody, resinous a bit like two other favourites of mine Armani Myrrhe imperial and Nasomatto Black Afgano but with an edible twist! Brilliant!!!!

Cereza review below is spot on and absolutely mirrors my own thoughts...before I've even expressed them in writing. You really do have to love papyrus and sadly I don't, it's such an odd watery note and often paired with sandalwood which is a bit like watering down milk. I immediately thought about Le Labo's santal 33 for this combo but luckily this is slightly more enjoyable in the opening...but less so on the whole. I think it delivers the pyramid of notes in the exact order stated here. The hint of elemi and ginger (ginger I don't get a great deal TBH)then the heart comes on quickly with masses of papyrus and a subdued incense. The sandalwood builds thoughout and makes for a pleasant drydown but the papyrus is pretty relentless and just not to my taste at all. It's a shame because I like sandalwood a lot it's just that it can vary massively and I'd rather it be surrounded by sweet & warm notes. Oh I get the yoga, east meets west link here...however tenuous.

Just to crystallize exactly what is going on here, Lys du Desert is a culmination of two fragrances for me and was probably created with their popularity in mind. I'm a keen lover of dance music, specifically Drum n Bass and this sort of thing reminds me of the remix culture in dance music. The art of refreshing or more aptly in this case, sometimes an artist has two tracks that adhere to a very particular sound. Then then make a mash up of these two tracks which then becomes its own entity. This is exactly what has happened here. hmmmmm...I wonder if you can tell from the name? Yes it's ...L'air du Desert Marocain crossed with another Tauer perfume L'eau D'epices. This mixture effectively creates the smell of Creed Royal English Leather or Knize Ten. And I've only just (this minute as I write this) noticed the perfumer responsible is Andy Tauer....How silly of me for not realizing! Kind of destroys the idea that Luckyscent really worked hard to create a perfume to 'Represent LA'. I know a lot of these briefs are meaningless when you like the fragrance (and I do) but I kinda enjoy the romantic idea that perfumery is art and as such the artists actually try to give their craft some meaning. Quite simply the top notes are a spicy waft of creamy warm spices of LDDM then it turns into the sweet ambergris of L'eau D'epices. Then the drydown sort of seesaws between them becoming an exact mixture of those two elements, heavy intoxicating amber then slightly floral and light breeziness. I'll be honest...It's wonderful. I wasn't quite convinced by L'eau epices but this reigns that accord back a little and becomes more like Tauers other creations. Real quality, Good subtle sillage, strong but not intrusive and expected longevity. If you like Tauer and the two aforementioned scents then you can't go wrong with this one.

So Montecristo is as funky as James Brown or Bootsy Collins... but not in a good way. Don't be fooled by how small and cute that Hyrax thing looks the musk from it is potent! The opening of Montecristo is especially potent with animal vibes which turn me (and my stomach) off straight away. The saving grace of this fragrance is that as it dries down the animal qualities become a little bit warmer, cuddlier and more mild. This is the opposite of my experience of civet/castoreaum etc... which normally develop more and more after the top/heart notes have long faded away. That doesn't however make up for the intrusive harsh opening. It's complex I'll give it that and definitely has interesting depth underneath the unpleasantness which keeps it interesting, and personally kept me sniffing. Tobacco is there that kind of fecal cuban cigar note, a bit of sharpness from resin, warmth and deep woody notes. Not my thing at all but worth checking out if you enjoy animalic scents. Update 27/03/24 Wow! What a fuckin' dick'ed I was ten years ago hey?? I said all this while liking the strange, sweaty freshness of Declaration and the filthy, chypre, powder of Rochas Femme, crazy then that I would be so turned off by this. I mean it's not really fecal or pissy at all, I get the hyraceum still and the general animalics mainly in the top, the drydown is actually very cuddly (which in fairness reflects my original review) the aspect I did miss was the amber and it's an alternative amber, like a piece with a mosquito trapped inside with a side of sweet rum n coke. It's a really nice balance of sweet earthy and animalic. I like it more a decade on.

I love leather scents and complexity (which the name offers) I'm also a huge fan of Boadicea the victorious but this stuff is truly atrocious! Complex is an abomination! I like to think I've broadened my olfactory horizons as much as possible now and I except some wacky juice but this is hideous! Awful, animal smell which I suppose is leathery but also herbal, smokey and thoroughly unusual. Oud, incense type resins and florals are present but seem to contribute to the perfect storm that is complex. I enjoy some hideously animal leathers too like Dior's Oud leather but this simply just doesn't work! I was really unlucky on the day I first tried this as I selected two fragrances to try on each wrist. The other was Masque Milano Montecristo which is a horribly animalic fragrance and Complex made that seem tolerable and almost nice. The silage and Longevity is UNBELIEVABLE it works it's way deep into your skin while creating a silage cloud at the same time. Needless to say it's not for me. Update: Have to say that upon further investigation and although I'm still not 100% on board...'hideous' was going a little far perhaps. The resins in this are of the highest quality and as such have an uber 'antique' vibe, very dusty, very smoky and full of character...like a broth or consommé absolutely packed full to the brim with flavour. Worth a second try because the earthiness of this is slightly more appealing this time around and the dryddown is almost pleasant but still not quite my thing. Boadicea is still one of my favourite houses, amazing quality and innovation among their vast range.

You will struggle to find a finer citrus than Acqua Viva. Many of the reviews here are absolutely spot on, especially @Estebanz. A real journey of an opening with citrus from sharp lemon/grapefruit settling to zesty peel which smells super real, natural and accurate. A citrus smell which is complex within itself and even changes slightly over the first few minutes. At this point I'll just say I'm not typically one to get excited about citrus but this is really worth the gushing praise. Now then, I was expecting the waxy nature of white florals like neroli to develop at this point because that is my experience of 'high end' niche citrus fragrances bases and heart notes. I think they use them a) because they do compliment fruits and citrus and b) because they turbo charge the longevity. To my utter surprise nothing developed except a gorgeous woody accord and even the tiniest hint of smoke. It's very subtle fresh incense type vibe like olibanum, maybe coming from the cypress or cedar? but it's of the highest quality and a welcome addition to a fresh summer fragrance. This is a masterful citrus aromatic a truly awesome piece of work with good longevity.

Harsh burning opening of strong ambery powder. Nepal Aoud is quite something, the combination of saffron then a delicate but steadily developing rose is classic and gets nicer throughout....I don't know what they do with the roses in bulgaria but it smells good. I can detect a creamy base but it's not typical vanilla and the oud is present with an ambery nature but not by any means strong especially for Montale. Don't be fooled by that description though it has the legendary Montale projection and longevity. As with many Montale's it gets better and better as it dries down. Not a fragrance for me then, I don't know what I expected by the name 'Nepal' but it had me quite excited, I have to say I'm not that impressed. Nepal Aoud is a bit uninspiring but undeniably high quality.