Meh, it's beautiful but so are countless others for way less. It reminds me a lot of Melodie de l'Amour.

There are so many perfumes of this profile. This is lovely but that's it, it's just lovely. It's not the earth-shattering iris I want for the price of a holiday.

Unremarkable, and about ten years behind the spicy rose-patch trend. It's a nice perfume, but not necessary, plus the price is absolutely insane, cuckoo bananas, casa de la batshit.

Too sweet for me, but I agree that it's better than tobacco honey, as this one is more consistent, while it lacks the dazzling opening. I can't take the sweetness, otherwise I'd be able to take it more seriously.

Vetiver by Guerlain reinterpreted by Xerjoff or Parfums de Marly or something. The edge is completely gone, and all of the rooty, earthiness has been replaced by a sickly, cloyingly sweet base,...so very sweet and pretty annoying. I'd like to say it's superfluous but it's actually probably a pretty smart move by Guerlain, to make an old classic marketable to the hordes who love crap like Initio and PDM. They really need to sort out their bottles if they want to reach this market though, it screams budget.

The current formulation (at least, the sample I got from Jovoy a couple of months ago) has an extremely loud and persistent kiwi note, and in general the perfume is VERY loud and agressive. I liked it though, and when I found a 100ml on Vinted for under 100 euros I didn't hesitate. The batch of my flacon is from 2020, and while being the same on the opening, it develops very differently. The synthetic fruit note is instead more natural smelling, and it quickly withdraws, allowing a rich mix of resins, amber and incense to take over. I get the walnut here, whereas in the more modern version I can't find it. This is probably full of synthetics, but the effect is much more old-school and natural seeming, not a million miles away from one of the old Serge Lutens ambers. While at first I thought, oh OK this is more wearable and tame than the sample I have, but I kind of like the craziness of the sample, the more I wear this old batch, the gladder I feel that I got this one. Don't get me wrong, it's still loud and it's still fruity, but it seems more classy and polished, and way less screechy and needy. The lack of top-note fanfare for hours allows me to perceive the ginger, benzoin, and leather, and overall there's a sort of cola accord that I didn't get at all from the sample. Another thing I get here which I struggled to perceive in the sample is the immortelle, which is perhaps why it put me in mind of some of Uncle Serge's œuvre. It's wondeful and maple syrupy!

I have Sans Fleurs and Triad, both of which I love, and find completely dynamic, each wear giving a journey that's never quite the same as the last. Now I have Lao Oud, and it's totally in the same ball park. What's really strange is that it opens like BAM stinky poo in your face, then suddenly drops off to leave a chocolate, honey oud fragrance, which left me slightly disappointed, but actually, wait a minute, it comes back stronger than ever, and it keeps doing this, playing hide and seek, but somehow each time it comes back with more of a vengeance. In the dry down I find it very similar to Sans Fleurs, although smelling them side by side reveals a multitude of differences, but i think it's that they both have the same sort of oud plus little to no floral element, and a dose of vanilla. This perfume is an absolute beast, and now comes just below Triad in terms of scary, monstrous beast frag. This is easier to wear than Triad (due to Triad's epic latrine filled with hyraceum) if you can get past the opening minutes, which I love, but which do take me aback every time. Update: no, the drydown doesn't remind me of Sans Fleurs, the mid does. The actual drydown suddenly reveals a dry, realistic coffee smell, like fresh ground coffee beans, absolutely marvelous and unexpected!

My initial reaction is that it smells like a tame Megamare, also seems very generic mens aquatic, and that it smells less like Ganymede than I expected, and more broadly less like a typical Bisch (no prominent akigalawood yet). I feel underwhelmed, and I also note a clear and immediate amberwood, although nowhere near the monstrous level in Megamare. I quickly go noseblind to the amberwood (but with this tendency I'm always worried about those around me who aren't noseblind to it, yikes). Over the next 30 mins, I start compulsively smelling my wrist. I can't deny the addictive hook is there. I think this will be perfect for a mild rainy day, and possibly in summer although it might be a bit strong for hot weather. The only other thing I'd say is that I don't buy for a second that this contains real vetiver, let alone sand vetiver, or anything else natural for that matter. It smells ultra-modern, ultra chemical and almost hyper-real, as if computer generated. I got my 50ml for 50 euros so I'm happy with it.