Here’s the second part of my latest round-up of mini-reviews:
Eau Parfumée Au Thé Noir from Bulgari (Jacques Cavallier; 2015)**
Excellent attempt to create oud cologne. The agar-rose-leather heart is recognisable, but never weighty.
Omnia Paraiba from Bulgari (Alberto Morillas; 2015)*
Milky spices beneath a well-rendered mango note. Very ‘palm trees by the pool’, not unlike Nicolaï Eau Corail.
McQueen from Alexander McQueen (2016)**
Innocuous, unremarkable white floral, leaning towards fresh jasmine notes. Oh Kingdom, we could really do with you now.
Eau De Sens from Diptyque (Olivier Pescheux; 2016)*
Promising orange blossom note – linked with shampoo cedar – loses conviction and dissolves into salty nothingness.
Colonia Sandalo from Acqua Di Parma (2016)*
A fresh, sweet leather-patchouli, somewhere between YSL Rive Gauche Pour Homme and Tom Ford Tuscan Leather.
Mentha Religiosa from Dear Rose (Fabrice Pellegrin; 2016)**
Arctic mint, followed by lavender-liquorice accord. Not unlike Hermès Brin De Reglisse. Warm, fuzzy, likeable.
Song For A Queen from Dear Rose (2014)*
Oversized woods and musks tagged onto a surprisingly bitter vanilla. A fairly head-chopping sort of monarch.
Eau Du Ciel from Annick Goutal (2015)*
Powdery cologne. Mediterranean citrus florals – chiefly linden – over comforting soapiness. Very cutely Goutal.
Ombre Mercure Extreme from Terry De Gunzburg (2015)**
Moreishly decadent amber, made dry and sophisticated by iris and patchouli. Very lust-worthy.
Illicit from Jimmy Choo (Anne Flipo; 2015)*
Like I’ve said before – calories are the new taboo. And there’s plenty of them in this morass of honey, amber & musks.
L’Eau D’Issey Pour Homme Eau Fraîche from Issey Miyake (Christophe Raynaud; 2016)*
Familiar aquatic-wood accord topped by goose-bumpy grapefruit. It shouldn’t work, but somehow it does.
Code Profumo from Armani (2016)*
You’d think there’s no room left for hope-crushing, coumarin-heavy, pseudo-woody personality vacuums. Clearly there is.
Narciso eau de parfum poudré from Narciso Rodriguez (2016)*
Original‘s rosy, woody musks are intact, but is this more powdery? Perhaps, marginally. ‘Soapy’ might be better word.
Nasturtium & Clover from Jo Malone (Anne Flipo; 2016)*
Well-rendered, long-lasting green note served with bitter herbs & timid sweets. One of the better garden scents.
Adjatay from The Different Company (Alexandra Monet; 2016)*
Tangy, berry-fruit leathers like this go back decades to Knize Ten, but as a heavier example, this works well.
Hermann A Mes Cotes Me Paraissait Une Ombre from Etat Libre D’Orange (2015)*
Unremarkable ambery rose. If released by another brand, I reckon it’d have been dismissed as bland & generic.
Jamil from SoOud (2016)*
Forgettable, sub-zero rose wannabe. Plastic-school-chair note at start is intriguing but then it all thins out and sighs away.
Oriento from Jeroboam (Vanina Muracciole; 2015)*
Arabian-style spices and rose over galloping musks and woods. Competent work, but we’ve smelt it all before… many times.
Origino from Jeroboam (Vanina Muracciole; 2015)*
Accord-like combo of woods, fresh juniper and body-clinging musks. Veers too close to masculine cliches. Elicits shrugs.
Legend Spirit from Mont Blanc (2016)*
Somebody must like these soulless, cardboard-cutout, woody-man-in-a-bottle cliches. Or are they being made to?
Persolaise
* sample provided by the brand
** sample obtained by the author
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