I get why there’s notes of tropical fruits listed here but the execution just isn’t quite bold enough. Frankly I’d have embraced a more juicy guava note, or even an approximation of melon but really it’s just a slightly dull Lilly of the valley, which has now dried down to a really fluffy, fruit tinged frangipani with a bit of vanilla nuance to it. Pleasant but too feminine for me and with no real imagination. Although I could be wrong and Sweet, exotic white floral fans may find this a masterpiece, such is the distance from my frame of reference, I really don’t feel qualified to comment.
This fragrance came highly recommended by a fragrance pal on IG and she wasn’t wrong, it’s a lovely smelling thing and pretty unique from my perspective. The best thing about it is that there’s barely any neroli to be found in this and golden hardly represents the aroma for me is more of a pastel pink hue. This is largely down to a fruity top notes which almost turn slightly figgy and a creamy sweetness of vanilla and sandalwood. It has a childlike, confectionary aura but never cheap, this thing is classy as hell and never overly sweet. As I said it’s a revelation to me as I’d never heard of the brand and was subverted somewhat by the neroli in the name. I need to wear it again to make my mind up about performance but this was a standout and memorable experience, Golden Neroli is a hit with me.
Wowie!!!!!! I love the fact that my pal Christi (below) and I are penning a review at a similar time, and prepare for the echo because I absolute ADORED this fragrance. Truly blown away by an innovative and genuinely unique fragrance from Hiram Green, Slowdive is a monumental tone poem of beauty, and this coming from someone with a well documented dislike of beewax. It stems back to childhood for me and buying honey from a local family who kept bee's. Their entire house smelled of sickly sweet honey, super waxy florals, beeswax candles and royal jelly, I swear the air was a yellowy amber colour. I often used to think... how do you live in this? I'm sure it was more impactful to newcomers and you likely got used to living in that environment, coupled with the fact they obviously loved it, being beekeepers and all! Anyway....back to the matter in hand....Slowdive is nothing like that though. It has the sweetness of honey but very little of the raw, heaviness, and hay like quality. The balance struck up here is supreme and I don't find it overly sweet or cloying at all. Although this is a rare occasion where I'm writing a review without having worn it properly such was my keenness to comment on this sublime perfume. This is what I want in my heart of hearts for a beehive to smell like. Those satisfying hexagonal combs dripping with amber nectar. You can smell the faintly fruity essence and blossom at the back of this fragrance giving the effect of a honey derived from many sources. Syrupy resins and that tobacco ekement combine perfectly to cap off what is a fragrance of supreme beauty and something I welcomed like a summer breeze blowing away some of the dross I've sampled recently. Exemplary stuff and Hiram is going to have to do some sort of alchemy to produce one I like more than this. Firmly on my want list. LOVE!
Knew nothing of this brand or the notes of this fragrance. Sprayed it on this morning and what a treat. The masculine greenery hits with a peppery dark edge. This settles to a lightly smoked vetiver note and this is the only clearly defined note I could get and it is KO gorgeous to be fair. I said to myself.... Castana definitely has vetiver (this usually means I check the notes and it's not listed) and hoorah there it is. However, as it settles it almost completely mutates and the heart/base take over and curiously does really smell of vetiver anymore, but a men's designer fragrance....I'm gonna say from the 90's and I wracked my brains thinking of what ot was, driving along in my car and all of a sudden ah ha!!! It dries down to something in the ballpark of Versace Dreamer of all things! This is a hasty review and I will need to sample again but It smells like dreamer, shades of Le Male and maybe even reflection man? So I'd even say there's a lightly floral tobacco and even touches of vanilla scented barbershop, fougere. I always think dreamer has a hazy, chemical smell, a bit stale and unsettling but fantastic for it. This is similar. I enjoyed it. 01/03/22 Update: I can't help but read back this review and think it might, just might, be a touch unhelpful/misleading. I really stick to what I said but I can't believe I downplayed (straight up didn't mention!!!) the nutty aspect of this perfume, because it is very nutty, like a beautiful, warm, chestnut. Vetiver (and certainly sandalwood) can also have this nutty quality, folks will be familiar with Haitian and Java vetivers but I have a material from Brazil which is obviously not as popular or well known but is very characteristically nutty. I think what I was driving at was that the base of this perfume is musky and soft, the top notes are interesting, a kind of hybridized Gourmand/fougere of sorts and I think the perfumer has struck a perfect tone here of innovation and calming, reassuring, perfuminess and chic, style, making Cloon Keen the kind of Chanel or Celine of the Emerald Isle. I think it's superb in both it's subtley and creativity and no wonder Luca Turin bummed it into next week! (He does get things right occasionally, the senile old git) The creamy warm hay/coumarin character and vetiver earth to it, does make me think it's something people who enjoy Hermes Vetiver Tonka would really like. Castana is basically Vetiver Tonka but for people with more personality.
I remember seeing this bottle but it's not an immediately accessible design for a man to pick up & try, well not this man anyway, but I have sampled the bee bottle now. I'm assuming this one has been discontinued in this format? Anyway, This is a violet dominant fragrance as the colour of the perfume would suggest and it's very vibrant, yet restrained and actually fresh. This clearly resembles violet fragrances I like but I was struck by how different it is too. The opening is very fresh but no sharpness of citrus just that, mellowing into 'realistic' Iris/violet and not one that I found particularly powdery if I'm honest, Insolence is certainly no Violetta by Penhaligon's. Funnily enough I've tried another modern violet/iris this week and yet again I've been surprised at just how changeable they can be. A lovely perfume but a bit reserved for my taste.
Allow me to start with the positives here this is not just a cookie cutter, eau de cologne freshie. Nor is it the ultimately bland aroma chemical mess of a eros or Invictus, some small merciful praise can be bestowed upon Gucci Guilty Cologne for this fact. Gucci had really turned a corner injecting life into this Guilty line with the divisive release Guilty Absolute (Men's one) which people either found to be a blissfully animalic leather or an inept, antiseptic, nightmare. Stranger still that it had come from the nose of Alberto Morillas, and this one does too, with the use of a note/accord seldom found in men's designer perfumes and that's Heliotrope. All this sets us up for an interesting fragrance and cologne is not without that merit let's just let it have this credit, before I rip it to shreds! So the opening is actually very fresh, truly aquatic, fresh a bit salty but with a steady decent into more floral territory. This is that violet leaf, dry ionones sort of tinge but if this was a violet fragrance I expect I would like it. I sampled this without prior knowledge of the notes and I KNEW there was heliotrope in here....I couldn't place the name and kept saying Angelica no...mimosa, no....artemisia no....what is it?? I knew what I meant and seeing it here just validates how prominent it is in this fragrance. Three stages are... unusual fresh, seaside floral opening, into a heart that is almost a scrubber, it's that bad. Let me just say that this could be a taste thing on my part but I found it really sour and unpleasant combination. Then when nearly dead and settled right the way down comes a woody, synthetic aroma chemical heaven of timbersilk, clearwood, synth ambers? and like that.....all is well. Too little, too late and overall I have to say I plain dislike this fragrance and would never wear it, categorising it as a stinker. Just let me highlight once again that this was not a failure for any of the reasons I thought it might be, and I respect that Gucci and Morillas have tried somewhat to follow suit from the barnstorming Absolute, with something different. It fails because perfume like this should be at the least pleasant for all it's challenges and this wasn't to me. Sorry it just wasn't.
Wow! This has a bright, aldehydic, musky opening as the name might suggests couple with the growing rose note it's even slightly metallic, certainly clean and with the tinniest hint of geranium. It's vaguely chypre-esque and does have a nod to the Encens one (either new or old) in style. It's very good just not my bag...but I would try it again and give a proper wear but I doubt my feelings would change all that much.
This is another bit of magic. I could never afford Encens Mythique d'Orient and despite my flacon preference I have to say this reboot works out about £1 per ml, that is an absolute bargain for a masterpiece chypre like this. I don't have the capacity to portray the poetry of this fragrance. I'd say I prefer Bois Mysterieux if I had to pick simply because that is more oriental and ergo more my style but this is on an equal par creatively and affectionately recreating their forebears (if the formulas are indeed any different?) Ambergris is the stuff of magic in perfume and it rides underneath everything here unpinning and giving a slightly musky skank, which is as addictive to keep sniffing as the raw stuff. I'm amazed at the bright aldehydes in here and just how long they last in to heart and base of the fragrance. Lightly floral, brightly resinous a little touch of damp earth and moss and powder, all the trappings of a classic. Absolutely loved it, opened stong, lasted for ages just a supreme fragrance. Bravo Guerlain.
One of my greatest perfumed regrets is not buying Songe d'un bois D'Ete, the glorious smelling Guerlain presented in a beautiful flacon. It's not a unicorn by any means and still widely available online but it's a bit pricey I thought. Price shouldn't be a factor when it smells this good...Fantastic then that Bois Mysterieux is very similar smelling, I think you get more volume and the price is more reasonable...Although I haven't checked my Oud Essencial was about £120 for 125ml I recall? So if it's around that point it's a bargain! The opening is a stunning oriental incense that instantly transports you to the far east, it's magical. Has nuance of cumin and caraway, anise and licorice, powerful but with a lightness of touch, elevating it to the very highest level. The myrrh is sweet, but has some bite, the body of the scent is creating a smooth leathery, woodsy effect and hint of warm animal musk. Describing notes in this fragrance is a little reductive because of the expert balance and transition of accords into one cohesive master work. This fragrance is an absolute delight. What a treat it is and has to be top priority on my purchases list.
So clearly I forgot to post a review of this one but not because I favoured Some of the others I have penned reviews for. Strength I’d say was my third favourite from the line, and don’t be mistaken for thinking it’s dead bang mediocre in the middle because the two above it really were excellent. So comparisons to Tobacco Vanille are obvious as the big glowing neon reference point for sweetly honied, dried fruit, tobacco fragrances...and that’s what this is. I have to state for the record that there’s no way you’d ever mistake them for one another and that is to Zegna’s credit. I actually favour this over TV smell wise it’s somehow more easy going, still warm yet lighter, but performance, ballsoutness (yes!) and even price are all in Tom Ford’s favourite rendering stuff like this and Phaedon’s Tabac Rouge a touch redundant. Certain Genres I can’t write off in this way, ‘fresh vetivers’ for example I don’t just think oh I’ve got XYZ and that’s the pinnacle, I don’t need anymore. However some genres I do and that’s just my bad. If this was cheaper then for sure I’d give it more thought. I actually find the honey in this to be sublime, the Tobacco adds just enough, bitter, Woodsy qualities, the smoothness of the who affair is just lovely.
Decent. Quite linear and not really possessing the exoticism I expect from Ylang Ylang but very nice all the same and the floral opening masks just how much vanilla there is in the base! Jeez the musky/vanilla drydown is long lived. I liked it and it’s not even my scene.
I absolutely adore this! Going to have to really sample it to make sure but initial spray had me bowled over. Not much in the way of Oud synthetic or real, certain not real but I don’t doubt it’s there because there’s a woody, amber heft to this fragrance. It’s warm and stunning in the opening with quite a sweeter saffron note and I get nutmeg in there too, it’s a heady brew of stuff I like. Hugely powerful and having said all this nice stuff about it and loved it so much am I left mouth agape standing back in awe of this thing...well No. Not really. I love it. I’d like to wear it and own it and I know that love would grow into a real fondness but does it have the wild chemical attraction of a love at first sniff? Not quite. That kind of relationship is doomed to fail anyway so maybe this is ‘the one’ for me? Just a sensible one. I will update this when I acquire proper samples.
I really like this fragrance. Uncompromisingly about vetiver. Opens with that wet stone/cement to drier flint/gunpowder facets, into a plume of slightly moist, autumnal leaf mulch being burned. It's kinda fresh and alive underneath that orchard floor though, not quite green but just nice. Dries down a bit cleaner and more cedar maybe some synthetic woods come out, it's very warm and lovely as a skin scent. Performance being acceptable but surprisingly not amazing considering how it goes on and projects early on. Now having dabbled in perfumery recently I can say that vetiver is one of my go to materials. I have smelled several different types and they are very changeable and superb in their own right. The isolate I'm using at the moment is vetiveryl acetate and as much as I liked vetiver before I embarked on making my own perfumes, it wasn't the material I was itching to get cracking with. I favoured stuff like the rockstars of Rose, Iris, Oud....etc... which in hindsight are actually very hard to get right and it's a costly learning curve. In any case, Vetiver has become one of my favourite basenotes and I have a newly reinvigorated love of it shall we say. Also I can see just how special this composition is, because it's quite hard to minimally compliment and support the smokey, earthy tones of vetiver. I think this does a really good job with the top notes.
I've journeyed full circle with this fragrance and I've got to say that I've arrived at a happy middle ground. I like it quite a lot, after initially being bowled over by it, I think I was a little hasty. It opens with a super smooth, cosmetic leather note, not dissimilar to iris/orris but then becoming more patent/faux leather and plastic like. I attribute that perhaps to the saffron, having that plastic nature but with smooth opulence and non of the earthier character. It has sweet facets but not in a traditional sense, this is a fragrance with quite an artificial feel. I don't know whether it's the generally creamy, powder of the heart of this fragrance, the sweet custard vanilla nuances or the aldehydes in the opening but something says oreintal chypre and Chanel to me. Not any specific Chanel....just the overall vibes. It's kinda fresh but has warmer substance too, and although vanilla is not listed in the notes nor is tonka or benzoin or anything vanilla like I'm still inclined to believe it's there. It's more clinical and less dirty than real vanilla it's more of a vanillin, which I love anyway. It also has a quality I like to call, 'carpet shop' new carpet complete with a hint of rubbery underlay. This was how I described Amouage Honour Men but I don't think these two are all that similar. I thought the performance was going to be a let down but it's actually a secretly tenacious scent. I have reapplied it but not because it was flagging, more to remind myself of how it opened for review purposes. The drydown gets more diffuse and opens up, becoming a bit like Boucheron Jaipur homme or something of that ilk. No Rules is a very interesting fragrance, unique but not quite as special as what I initially thought.
This fragrance is so bizarre and I will be updating after I’ve worn my sample but the initial spritz I had the other day in store and I was treated to a somewhat green opening with sweet facets. After this blows over the fragrance Abruptly changes and I mean like night n day and it really doesn’t take long it’s literally on a knife edge...then bang! The most beautiful labdanum note, it’s calm and has a naturally aspirated sweetness. This prominence put me in mind of a recent Eldo fragrance, Attaquer de Soillel and I even pointed out the similarity to the SA and she reached over to where the ELDO’s were kept and concurred. This was only an initial try but the resinous quality of this fragrance can’t help but appeal and if the other elements are not as fleeting I suspected, then this is another interesting fragrance on my radar.
If I’m not mistaken this is the Floyd/67 festival one? I’ve gotta say...way to capture that vibe. This has a hippy dippy vibe to it from a patchouli bias but that’s not the whole story by any stretch, the sweetness and rounded body, accented by vanilla and sandalwood. It’s a grievous fragrance with a good heart and ties in with the darker 90’s grunge one. This has more Optimism about it, as did the 60’s (if you don’t count the wars and the civil unrest!) and this is more representative of the free love and musical revolution. It’s not psychedelic or wacky though and the drydown might be a little ordinary but I enjoyed the ride.
I was impressed with this. It’s a synthetic, distinctly designer affair with a heavy emphasis on a resinous, woody accord or group of accords that I’m going to call Oud. You get the waxy orange flower which is balanced well against the generally darker hue, and this effect is lasting into the drydown. I then get a softer more rounded vanilla touch to this to finish off... I was initially wowed by this and saffron but as they settled actually started to annoy me a little before redeeming themselves. They are loud, brash and unapologetic but warm and oriental in keeping with the BOSS Bottled line in that regard. I think I need to spend more time with both (and revisit the original Oud) to make sense of what is happening here?
Let’s not fixate on the ‘oud’ in Everything with Oud in the title, I used to do that but I’ve come to realise to treat Oud like amber, as a concept. Ironically there’s quite a prominent sharp, resinous note that I could associate with some synthetic Oud materials but the prominent accord is one of saffron. Yet again...I don’t think it’s real saffron, doesn’t have the earthy facets, it’s very sharp and harsh but also oddly smooth when settled, what it does have is the leathery feel. So this sounds negative so far but let me assure you that the opening is fantastic, then it becomes cloying and even a little annoying, deeply dried down it’s a sublime skin scent. I’m conflicted because it’s unapologetically designer in feel but the price doesn’t reflect that so...yeah. A bit of a mess but a glorious mess. If it’s ever heavily discounted I’d pick up a bottle.
Ravishing! That’s the word that makes the most sense when talking about Femme, one of Edmond Roudnitska’s finest creations and one of the jewels of Rochas. Review based on a Parfum de Toilette from the 70’s. In the early 1940’s, with the devastation of WW2, fragrances sought to bring optimism and joy. Miss Dior was one, joyous and optimistic. Femme was another. But Femme was different; it was more sensual, more voluptuous. Originally dedicated to Hélène, the young wife of Marcel Rochas, it soon won the heart of its exclusive clientele and went public in 1944. Although it was created during a period of scarcity and post war devastation, Femme was incredibly rich, both in beauty and composition, featuring the now famous Prunol base from De Laire. Edmond discovered it in an abandoned warehouse and made copious use of it, creating the signature of Femme, and setting the path for future compositions. With a strong connection to Mitsouko, the fruity chypre from Guerlain, Femme amplifies the peach lactones, and marries them with stewed apricots and plums and prunes, creating a boozy fruit compote. Ionones, with their violet and rose tonalities, create a sepia haze of deep oranges and browns that shimmer in a silver ray of light. It’s fruity in a decomposing nature, almost rotting, honeyed; and it’s the most erotic ripe fruit accord in modern perfume history. Femme also makes use of warm spices; cinnamon, cumin (which degrades over time, making the vintage richer but also giving the impression it lacks cumin), cloves, with spicy carnation and a touch of rose and jasmine to create a tantalizing melange that feels warming rather than spicy. Rosewood, civet and castoreum, leather, resins and oakmoss in all its glory...they anchor Femme on skin for hours on end. It’s a candlelit glow, the warm embrace of a loved one finally returning home. Femme is sometimes oriental, more often than not chypre, but always gorgeous and profound. And this worn, lived in sensuality, is what makes her all the most appealing, less cerebral and more human than Mitsouko; they could be relatives, but while Mitsy was brought up among royalty, Femme had to fight her way through, gaining the experience that life brings the hard way. Femme, like many classics, was inspired by others (Mitsouko) but also inspired many; the rosewood in Habit Rouge is highly reminiscent of the woody accord in Femme. The bergamot, furocoumarin heavy in the vintage, has a dark edge just like in Shalimar, another inspiration that lends certain smokiness to Femme. Quadrille, Jubilation 25, Mon Parfum Cheri...tributes to the artistry of Edmond. Le Parfum de Thérèse; Edmond’s tribute to his own wife. There is a certain sensuality, eroticism, that Edmond knew how to infuse in his creations. He worked with many bases, he aged ingredients and created his own accords. His signature is complex, multifaceted, and never duplicated. There isn’t a creation of his that doesn’t scream elegance, carnality and beauty. And that’s why reformulations of his work are very inferior; they lack the artist’s touch. Femme was kept more or less loyal to Edmond’s formula until the late 80’s when it was reformulated to comply with the first big waves of the fragrance industry. From there on, Femme has been losing its chypre character and beauty to slowly become a spicy oriental, which is what is sold today. The complex formulation of the past, with its myriad of ingredients and accords, alchemically composed in a scarce period, as if pure magic, is now a simpler spicy peach that somehow still retains some of its beauty. It’s been facelifted, tummytucked and botoxed, but underneath there is still a glimpse of la grande vieille dame! Vintage: a spicy chypre, full on sensuality. Impecable, complex, engulfing. Not a single flaw. Modern: a less complex spicy ‘chypriental’, light on oakmoss and animalic notes, heavy on spices and cumin to make up for lost ingredients.
I'm slightly conflicted about this fragrance because it's all a little bit too 'surface' for me, with not nearly enough depth. The surface for what it's worth is gorgeous, opening with a boozy warmth which almost evaporates off like you just flambed your skin...in a good way. Then the overriding feeling is rum & raisin ice cream but less rounded out and cosy, perhaps a little thin? The dried fruit aspect of this is dominant right the way into when it settles, and that usually works perfectly with the dark, bitterness of tobacco. Sadly the tobacco in this isn't all that bitter and is quite clean, almost floral, what is sometimes referred to as white tobacco and not the 'cigar' that the name of this release suggests. I find the drydown has slightly more of a classic masculine smell, a touch of leather on amber but primarily still a reasonably lighthearted & fruity scent. I'd actually say it's unique because it isn't the tobacco trope I was expecting and to infer that's it's lacking depth might be a bit harsh? Gigar Rum is actually suited to the lovely warm weather we are having in the UK at the moment. Perhaps, it's that left turn that has thrown me? In any case I enjoyed it but it didn't quite take it to the next level and the performance is a little suspect, retreating to my skin very quickly.
My interpretation of this fragrance was that it's actually a lovely natural floral and although it goes on a little feminine has actually matured into something wearable for me. The opening has a green, lush floral effect like wild flowers but then becoming more like lily of the valley and more tradtional powdered fair in the drydown. That green opening too has a touch of fig to it which works perfectly and the drydown is actually a bit like a clean musk, soapy vetiver. It's not as overtly, indy or artisan as some of the others in this line and I think that works in it's favour giving a nice balance. Not massively strong either but clings to clothing nicely. I liked it.
This is an odd perfume. I actually found something curiously reminding me of slow explosions, despite this having a vaguely gourmand opening and in truth smelling nothing like it, they both evoke a Chinese quality. I don't expect you to understand what that means because I barely do myself! It's not five spice or fireworks (or any other stereotypes I could perhaps blunder into?) in this perfume, more a lactonic, unusual creamed fig note, which definitely opens with tonka and continues that way. Yesterday haze is a pretty apt name as there's something particularly hazy about the whole affair and does have the complimentary combo of coconut and fig and kinda creamy woods. It has a slightly plastic quality to me, unsettling and with a hint of earth... maybe why it reminds me of saffron and slow explosions? I know not to expect the norm from Josh and he's delivered something here which might not have had any impact in another perfumers hands. I'm enjoying it but it's simply not to my taste really.
Okay so there's a reason why I haven't reviewed this yet and it's because the branding of the products offered by Escentric Molecules, is so dull and inconsequential they all blend into one. I'm not even talking about the fragrances tehmselves because largely they are great and despite the seeming simplicity, most are delicately choreographed collections of aroma chemicals. Escentric 02 starts out with a sharp citrus type grapefruit and lime also dry and bitter a bit maybe juniper and pink pepper facets too. This progressed into what can be best described as an ambroxan biased, powdery, woody/amber accord with vetiver/Cedar Iso E vibes but but those less so & warmer etc... So in that respect, somewhat similar to everything from this line and pretty much Schoen too. Not a criticism in any way because they all smell great and side by side very different. To honest Escentric 02 has even more appeal to me than say Molecule 02 because it's less dry and woody and more on the amber spectrum. Not interested in owning this fragrance but wearing it again recently I thought it was alright.
I’m not going to talk about this fragrance for long...it doesn’t require it. It would be impossible not to mention Aventus or a masculine, Woods, citrus/pineapple effect in the top notes. I hate batch talk and I want to avoid that too, I will merely say that this seems a bit Aventus lite, and certainly not as smoky or full on as the Creed I have, but as I said talking about exact degrees of this or that or smokier ones or whatever is the most boring subject I could possibly think of. It has the tenacity and fixative qualities of Ambroxan or the Sauvage effect of you will? coupled with the linear top notes and lack of progression, again all not bad things necessarily. This is not nearly as ferocious and nuclear as Sauvage though and I don’t find that the smell grates on me. I’m not cynical enough to assume premeditation on any brands part when producing eerily similar fragrances but It’s not hard to guess why they might, the by product of which might be to emulate said fragrances success as well as it’s smell. The bottle is nice, slightly Dunhill-ish and maybe a bit like those cylindrical Mercedes ones?
