Under The Stars is yet another boring and unimaginative fragrance from Margiela (surprise surprise), but I can see they tried to take a small step outside the box. Yes it smells like leather, but it’s obnoxiously peppery to the point it’s bordering unpleasant. The leather itself is the most prominent note, being fairly smooth and dry with a strong masculine appeal. However, the overly synthetic oud accord doesn’t add much value I find, combine that with an overdose of black pepper and you’re left with something quite messy. Sure it’s pleasant enough, it’s alright at best. But for the prices Margiela is asking for these days, absolutely not. I’m not the biggest fan of this house anyway but there are far better offerings from them.

Le Jardin de Madame Chan is my first encounter with Olibere, and I must say I’m definitely intrigued to try more. This scent is focused around Ylang and does it beautifully well, it’s brilliant. The ylang is thick, yellow and creamy with soft powdery facets, almost as if you could reach out and chew on it. An oriental warmth from coriander and geranium provide a very gentle contrast which is needed, whilst the creaminess is furthered by a base of sweet vanilla and sandalwood. This is a fantastic reference scent for the note of Ylang, it’s extremely satisfying to wear and really epitomises that beautifully tranquil philosophy of the yellow floral facet. I’m considering picking up a bottle but I’m just not sure if I need it!

Percival is a basic cheapie fragrance trying it’s hardest to be something luxurious, a sheep in wolfs clothing you might say. This plainly smells like overly-synthetic shower gel which is a scent profile that’s been played out to death on the designer market. Of course it smells pleasant, but the obscene amounts of ambroxan and amberwood make it smell the same as 90% of everything else on the market which you can get for a tenth of the price. I suppose there’s some hints of lavender and citrus but it is simply an ambroxan explosion unfortunately. Sorry to anyone that loves this but who is paying such ridiculous prices to smell like something that costs £10? I don’t understand it, got to be one of the worst releases from an already poor house.

Anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely love Roja Dove fragrances, I would say they are my favourite house. Unfortunately, Isola Blu is a disappointment for me. There’s nothing wrong with the scent at all, in fact it’s beautiful, apart from the fact it’s a clone of Terre D’Hermes. It doesn’t even try to hide this either. I suppose bitter orange isn’t listed but the other array of citruses alongside orange blossom recreate a very similar feel, alongside masculine woods which replicate the Vetiver. From the note breakdown you wouldn’t think it would be so similar, but it really is. It’s a lovely fragrance and of course the quality and depth is better than the Hermes, but for the difference in price I’ll stick with my TDH thank you very much.

It’s very clear from the get go that Haltane is a copy of Oud for Greatness with minor tweaks, which isn’t surprising given that the two houses are sister companies. I find this has a slightly fresher opening with the sage and bergamot, but ultimately dries down to the same thing. It’s got the easily-identifiable saffron and oud combo, where the saffron is overly sweet and somewhat screechy whilst the oud is a fairly basic bitter synthetic oud accord. There’s a hint of sweetness from the ‘praline’ but overall I find this is the woodier counterpart to Oud for Greatness rather than being a straight saffron bomb. This is a pleasant scent don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t smell bad at all. But for around £300? That’s a joke. Parfums de Marly have really let themselves go, that’s a crazy amount of money to pay for such a mediocre scent.

Sacrebleu is an old French swear word to express shock or astonishment, however I’m not so sure how that translates to this scent. This is a sweet, fruity and gummy tuberose fragrance with little to no relation to anything along the lines of profanity or blasphemy. As stated above, the tuberose is right at the front of the scent - giving you this massive heady gummy smell which is sweetened significantly by peach. A soapy note of Jasmine alongside rich carnation provide a robust floral heart, resting on a deliciously creamy base of vanilla and tonka. This fragrance is definitely attention-grabbing, so I suppose it has that link to the name as it’s a statement maker, but overall smells incredibly appealing and quite lovely. As tuberose fragrances go I would find it hard to dislike this one.

Néroli Intense - I was expecting yet another weak and pathetic neroli scent but this one surprised me, it actually lives up to the claim of being somewhat intense. Neroli is a note that when focused upon, needs to have a simple backbone to properly celebrate it. The rich, sultry soapiness of the neroli is perfected here. It’s balanced brilliantly and smells so fantastically realistic, if you close your eyes it’s almost as if you’re smelling it directly from the branches of the orange tree. The clean white aspect with vibrant hints of bitter orange and a touch of green aromatics it’s smoothed out by a gorgeously sweet and creamy beeswax note. This is fantastic. As neroli goes, I’m not usually the biggest fan but this is a really nice one. If you consider yourself a big lover of neroli this is a must try.

Caravansérail is one of the more unique coffee-based fragrances I’ve come across, and it’s actually quite lovely. Usually I’m not a big fan of coffee scents as the note itself can become very overpowering, but this is balanced to perfection. The coffee is of course the star - it’s very realistic and natural smelling, providing that rich bitterness and steamy warmth which is accentuated and partnered with an incredibly smooth and creamy note of cardamom. This pairing makes up the bulk of the scent, with gentle fruity touches and hints of woods in the background. Overall a really lovely scent. It’s very serene and relaxing to wear, I can imagine this would be perfect to wear to a cafe. It’s not a scent I plan on buying, as I said because I’m not a huge fan of coffee notes, but I can still admit this is fantastic.

Cuir Cuba Intense aims to celebrate the complex nuances of dry tobacco leaf, connoting the image of a box of Cuban cigars. For a fragrance with ‘Cuir’ (Leather) in the name, I was surprised to see no leather in the note breakdown. The tobacco is front and centre in this scent which is great - it’s incredibly thick, dry and leafy with a masculine warming aroma. The comforting warmth is furthered by the sweetly spicy notes of liquorice and star anise, alongside subtle hints of harsher spices like cumin which give it some edge. There’s a definite minty touch alongside a heart of florals, whilst hay very clearly pushes the tobacco further into that dry, earthy territory. Overall this is a very well done tobacco scent. Definitely unique, and almost unforgettable once you’ve smelled it. The quality is brilliant and it’s really well made, it’s not really my style of scent but part of me enjoys it and I can appreciate what a great creation it is.