Within the Aoud line, Musk Aoud strays the furthest from the original composition. It initially opens very bright, soft and sweet with a sparkling hit of rose, jasmine and ylang with a slight sharpness coming from lemon. From here the clean musky base develops beautifully. Instead of aiming to replicate natural deer musk here, Roja has demonstrated the innocent beauty of ambrette of the highest quality. Rather than smelling dirty and animalic, the musk is sweet, floral and almost soapy. An array of woods mingle with smooth leather and oakmoss to give the base a creamy, addictive finish. Musk Aoud has to be the best interpretation of ambrette I’ve ever smelled, it’s gentle and subdued yet so incredibly addicting and alluring. There’s a hint of the original Aoud scent profile in the background, however this fragrance goes entirely in its own direction. I really enjoy wearing this one in the spring and summer as the heat really brings all these notes to life.

While Le Male has a classical significance in the fragrance world, I find current formulations to be a bit of a synthetic mess. It opens with a heavy dose of lavender front and centre, with a touch of warm cardamom and a sharpness coming from mint and bergamot. It’s got a relatively spicy heart of cinnamon and caraway, with a sweet base of vanilla and tonka. The main combination of notes here is lavender, mint and vanilla - while the lavender and vanilla work nicely together, to me the mint feels out of place and comes across a bit sickly, reminiscent of Eros almost. There’s no denying this is a classic release in men’s fragrances, but these days it just doesn’t hold up when there are far better options out there. I’d say if you have the money, just get Reflection Man and be done with it.

Lady White Snake is an overdose of clean white florals - it’s intensely feminine and quite sweet. It initially opens with a thick burst of honeysuckle and tuberose which could be polarising for some, with touches of orange blossom to sharpen it up. Magnolia and Jasmine soon appear, adding to the array of clean and soapy white florals and leaving you with something quite pretty. A musky base of leather and Amber soon present themselves as well, which provide depth and longevity to an otherwise very bright and clean scent. This fragrance is very good, but I wouldn’t say mind blowing. I struggle to understand how this can be unisex either as it’s very very feminine. While white florals are usually very light, airy and quite weak, this scent is thick and potent with no performance issues for me.

Montabaco Verano is fast becoming one of my favourite summer fragrances, it’s not the most complex scent but there’s something about it that’s just so addicting and satisfying to wear. It opens with the most incredible juicy grapefruit note backed up by juniper, sage and a touch of orange - all surrounded by a soft airiness. A soft and gentle floral heart of rose and magnolia are introduced with a subtle tea note before developing a more strong and masculine base. The tobacco here isn’t like any other I’ve smelled before, it’s got that slight smoky earthiness but it’s so gentle and bright that it works brilliantly in the warm weather. The key players that make this scent so addictive are the grapefruit, Iso E Super and ambergris - leaving you with something so incredibly smooth and refreshing to wear. This is hands down one of the best grapefruits I’ve ever smelled and will always have a place in my collection.

I can see why Ombre Nomade is Louis Vuitton’s most famed fragrance - it ticks all the boxes. It’s a very classy and expensive smelling rose-oud, made to be mass appealing whilst still remaining complex enough to captivate people. On my skin this scent comes off very strong with the rose, which is more prominent than anything else. The rose does smell a bit synthetic, however that’s not an especially bad thing, it kind of works with the rest of the notes. A smoky oud sits in the background adding depth and darkness while a touch of raspberry adds an addictive sweetness. This scent is enjoyable to wear and definitely lives up to the beast-mode claims, it’s one of those scents you can smell from a couple feet away just by taking the cap off. While I do love this scent, I can easily imagine that if I wore this regularly it would become very tiring and obnoxious, this is for those occasions where you’re really craving that powerful blast of oud and rose.

Marquee aims to capture the class and grandeur of the theatre, but doesn’t. It opens quite soft with a synthetic mess of assorted fruits accompanied by rose, before being joined by a powdery voilet and sweet vanilla. Not sure what these things have to do with the theatre but no matter. This fairly simple concoction then settles on the skin as what can only be described as a very basic soapy floral with little to no character. It’s sweet, airy and slightly powdery but lacks depth and quality unfortunately. It bears a similarity to Fatal Charme, but more soapy and less powdery - I’d say Marquee is the inferior version to this scent profile as it comes across a bit boring. If you simply want to smell good and enjoy very basic soapy florals then you might love it, but for me it lacks heart.

Don envisions the idea of ultra-masculine and rugged symbols of the mafia. It’s a fairly simple and linear scent, with the main players being a dry, smoky tobacco paired with a sharp whiskey. In the background, gunpowder adds even more smokiness while the sugar brings a touch of sweetness. This fragrance is pleasant and probably great for tobacco-lovers out there, but personally I find the quality is lacking here - a pattern I see emerging from quite a few of Xerjoff’s JTC fragrances. The notes just seem a bit synthetic and cheap to me, and aren’t blended together all that well. At some points during the fragrance’s life, it reminds me of Penhaligons Halfeti slightly - but not nearly as good. Overall this isn’t a bad scent but it’s not worth the price Xerjoff is asking for, it’s pleasant at best but that’s all it has to offer in my opinion.

Ascot Moon aims to recreate the Royal Ascot horse racing show through scent, by embodying the atmosphere of high society gathering on a large green. It recreates this idea very accurately I’d say, but not in a good way. The scent itself is composed of an overdose of this realistic grass note, backed up by an earthy base of oakmoss, patchouli and some warm spices. There’s a headache-inducing basil note which comes across very synthetic and almost like plastic, which does not react well with everything else here. Ascot Moon was a blind buy for me as I found it for a very low price, but after trying to get along with it I just can’t - and will be selling it on. This fragrance is intensely green and grassy to the point it becomes nauseating, the quality and blending is not what you’d usually expect from Xerjoff unfortunately.

Followed opens with an intensely powerful and incredibly realistic note of dry roasted coffee beans, its smoky and bitter while remaining utterly delectable. As it begins to settle on the skin, a dark chocolate and sweet caramel note bring some life into the coffee, supported by a soft vanilla and ambery base. This is without a doubt the most realistic coffee note I’ve ever come across, in the opening it doesn’t even smell like a fragrance - more as though you’ve rubbed yourself with coffee beans. Thankfully the sweetness of the other notes balances things beautifully to create something truly unique and delicious. Followed is an incredible fragrance, and while I think many people exaggerate its “beast mode” qualities a bit, it is incredibly strong. This is my first time sampling anything from Kerosene, it’s opened a rabbit whole which compels me to discover more from the house.