New Michael Malul x Gents Scents "Blue Ridge" & "Terra Nova"

[Redneck Perfumisto]

The bottle aesthetic didn't do much for me and insofar as the description, it sounds more like dups of already great fragrances I own. Pass.

The bottles are a bit "B&BW+", IMO. The packaging is nice, but feels a bit "start-up" at the same time. I don't mind that - new niche brands are kind of exciting in that way.

I do get that you're taking a pass here. I have found that I have to be very selective on "new houses" just to keep the hobby reasonable. Were I not intrigued by this one for isiosyncratic industry-curious reasons, I'd be much more hesitant to jump in.

That said, I am enjoying Terra Nova quite a bit. It dries down really well, getting better and more nuanced as it goes. Whereas TdH EIV seemed to get drier and scratchier with time, this one stays very pleasant and balanced. It leaves a good sillage that I like. I'm not at all familiar with this perfumer's work for PdM. Kinda thinking I should get some samples.

 

[Redneck Perfumisto]

Funny... I sorta get the YSL Y comparison, but not entirely. But it has been a while since I've last intentionally smelled YSL Y, I get the comparison and can appreciate it. I still get a Versace Dylan Blue vibe first and strongest. Terra Nova is slightly better (I can admit that) but it doesn't hit a vibe where I'm currently at... but it's also good.

OK, this is making sense. I've been re-sniffing all the Dylan Blue fragrances, and now I need to go back and compare more carefully. Thanks for that perspective.

 

[milkbaby]

Got a chance to try these, as well as the new "feminines" mentioned.

Blue Ridge didn't really strike my fancy, but I immediately liked Terra Nova. It has a light, cedar-ish woody accord, that reminds me of the woods in Terre d'Hermes, with a touch (but not too much) of TdH Eau Intense Vetiver in the mix. It has a nice, subtle but powerful, woody sillage. In that respect it's a lot like Timbuktu. But this is its own woody accord. Probably rich in norlimbanol - not going to please everybody. Not a blind buy, IMO, but I think a lot of people will like it. It's a bit of a cigar-box odor. Very addictive.

I think Ashton's characterization of Blue Ridge as being like YSL Y is probably right. Y never really won me over. I will keep working on Blue Ridge and see if it grows on me. I am a fan of Fabrice Pellegrin's work, including Wanted, which took me a bit of time to love. There may be hope.

The feminines are both good, and "young but adult", IMO. Siesta Key is more modern girly, with noticeable fruity and sweet notes, but very light, and I can almost pull it off.

Upper East is really great, IMO. Very unisex for Basenoters. The cardamom and suede feel a lot like the iris and benzoin of Prada feminines and their more powdery masculines, while the cardamom and vanilla feels like the tonka of Chanel masculines. It's a nice one. If I had to give it a gender, I'd call it "metro". Great stuff. VERY persistent on my skin.

More later, after I've worn them a bit.

Thanks for the thoughts, looking forward to hearing your further commentary after additional wears.

Upper East is the only one that seemed interesting and appealing to me even though it's marketed to women. It makes sense now considering these new fragrances were an answer to Ashton's followers who were asking for mass appeal scents. While Jet Black Enigma didn't blow me away, I do respect that he directed the fragrance to smell like what he wanted rather than simply being mass appeal.

 

[gerbick]

OK, this is making sense. I've been re-sniffing all the Dylan Blue fragrances, and now I need to go back and compare more carefully. Thanks for that perspective.

I eagerly await your conclusion. I do not mind admitting that I could be very wrong; however, when it comes to a lot of the blue fragrances, is you pull back far enough, they do resemble each other much like other genres might (ex. fougere).

 

[Red Hawk]

So I got a compliment yesterday wearing Blue Ridge... From my grandfather. 😂 Basically I wore just a couple sprays of Blue Ridge to the gym, then went over to have dinner with my grandparents. As I was leaving I was giving him a hug, and he kind of looked surprised and said, "You smell really nice." He said he doesn't normally like when men wear cologne, but he liked what I was wearing. He knows I wear fragrances, but he doesn't wear fragrances himself - in fact he says he's kind of sensitive to perfume. But again, he liked catching a whiff of Blue Ridge off of me. For whatever that's worth, haha.

 

[ToughCool]

I’m a big fan of Ashton (Ash) on Gent Scents. Honestly, watching YouTube fragrance talk, takes up only about 5% of my fragrance time but I just think the guy is funny and doesn’t take himself too seriously while putting out good knowledge/basics of what he’s smelling. I’ve heard him talk about the line but haven’t tried anything. Not sure if they are my style but kudos to him for trying and I’ll try to get my nose on them.

 

[Varanis Ridari]

Let me make it even spicier @ihxb01 @Redneck Perfumisto

Brands.

Please tell me you're not naive enough to honestly believe any of these perfume brands are actually making perfume. They're being contacted by shareholder's agents, who sends the brand's marketing department an email that says "We want to make some easy money. There's a new formula other brands are selling with a name attached. Give us anything consumers will think qualifies as (insert-style-here) with a different name attached and we'll get checks within a few weeks." The perfumer probably spends less than ten minutes jotting down a list based on gas chromatography of a competitor or the brand buying a similar formula from an oil house they failed to sell to another brand, and everyone will probably be laughing all the way to a bank to cash the check.

 

[Red Hawk]

Been wearing Terra Nova to work for the last couple days. It's alright. Maybe a little too green off the top for my liking. I know Ashton loves his green fragrances so that shouldn't be a surprise. There's a slight hint of a lemonade vibe off the top, but only slight. Nothing close to something like "Commodity Bergamot", which I find to have a strong lemonade vibe off the top. It does seem to change as it dries down. It gets kind of floral in the mid, then sweeter in the base. Not a vanilla-ish sweetness though, not the typical tonka sweetness. It's hard to describe; it tickles some long dormant scent memory from my childhood that I haven't quite been able to place. It's a positive memory, though. Overall I'd say it's a squarely unisex scent, maybe even leaning slightly feminine at times. It does seem to have good performance and longevity, lasting through a work day. I like it, but I can't say I'm in love with it.

Honestly out of the three scents I ordered in the 15 ml travel sizes, I've enjoyed "Jet Black Enigma" the most so far when I've worn it. That should come as no surprise, given temperatures have been ice cold lately and a warm spicy woody fragrance like JBE is ideal for this weather. I'd say it falls in a similar family as "Spicebomb Extreme", but maybe more complex than that.

 

[Redneck Perfumisto]

Let me make it even spicier @ihxb01 @Redneck Perfumisto

Brands.

Please tell me you're not naive enough to honestly believe any of these perfume brands are actually making perfume. They're being contacted by shareholder's agents, who sends the brand's marketing department an email that says "We want to make some easy money. There's a new formula other brands are selling with a name attached. Give us anything consumers will think qualifies as (insert-style-here) with a different name attached and we'll get checks within a few weeks." The perfumer probably spends less than ten minutes jotting down a list based on gas chromatography of a competitor or the brand buying a similar formula from an oil house they failed to sell to another brand, and everyone will probably be laughing all the way to a bank to cash the check.

LOL! I am not quite that cynical (not down to 10 minutes), but you have definitely hit the mark on investors, IMO, as well as trend-following, brand-shaping, and me-too-ism, which all seem very "pro" to me.

There was some kind of major cash and knowledge infusion into this operation, resulting in better packaging, more professional marketing and branding, ritzier perfumer contracting, savvy cyber engagement, and even a very shrewd downplay of the potentially problematic "London" Creedism (although it wouldn't surprise me if London, Ohio became another New Albany, someday).

All THAT cost money.

And, of course, higher prices, but IMO it actually is a better product, so at least somebody's return is real. These days, that's saying something! 😄

I'm really enjoying Upper East. This thing is stealing aspects of multiple great fragrances that I love. That one impresses me most, so far. The packaging and concept are totally in line with the fragrance and vice versa. The marketing is crafty in terms of deep industry objectives, too, while mindful of realities (talking gender navigation). And the spirit of Roudniska approves of at least one thing - It smells good! 💚

 

[Redneck Perfumisto]

OK - I've done a bit of a 180 on Blue Ridge. I got hold of a travel-sized bottle and gave myself 5 big sprays on skin. The bottle puts out nice sprays. THAT was what I needed. Same deal as Bleu de Chanel - I never really got it by just sniffing blotters or strips or the back of my hand in the store. I had to immerse myself in a big cloud of the stuff (25 sprays for BdC!) for the scent to really register. Then it was love.

Once I did that, Blue Ridge just opened up. It's extremely pleasant. I could easily wear this all the time, like Bleu de Chanel. My wife likes it, too. Kinda kicking myself for not spraying it bigger the first time.

So, my recommendation to anybody sniffing this in a store, is to spray big, if you're not impressed by the "mist on a card" that the SAs always do. One of the nice things about Blue Ridge, is that it doesn't smell overpowering if you overspray. It just smells GREAT.

I got my hands (err... nose) on this at a perfume outlet at a local outlet... and it's not bad at all. I'd sorta call this a shot directly in the middle of Bleu de Chanel, Dylan Blue, Missoni EDP, but with enough of its own character. It comes off initially as strong, with a rush of notes, but it dies down to something wholly comfortable and different enough to probably gain a spot in my collection. Finding myself wearing blue fragrances more and more whenever I just want to chill out and lounge around the house.

I have to agree with everything you're saying here! There is a very nice, smooth complexity at first - nothing jarring - that then dies down into a VERY comfy and laid-back scent. As far as the popular "blue" fragrances, It strikes me as having motifs from all of these, and more - but in the end, it's its own animal - very unique. I even sense a bit of my beloved Wanted in there, too, but perhaps only as the style, or maybe little flickers of it in the ozonic and citrus notes.

It's quite persistent - I wore it all day, then through swimming and a shower, and it's still just humming along, holding form.

Got a chance to try these, as well as the new "feminines" mentioned.

Blue Ridge didn't really strike my fancy, but I immediately liked Terra Nova. .....(snip)

I think Ashton's characterization of Blue Ridge as being like YSL Y is probably right. Y never really won me over. I will keep working on Blue Ridge and see if it grows on me. I am a fan of Fabrice Pellegrin's work, including Wanted, which took me a bit of time to love. There may be hope.

(snip)

More later, after I've worn them a bit.

There is kind of flat, opaque, laundry-musky aspect of YSL Y that I really get here. That aspect just jumps right out at me, and now I totally understand why Ashton makes Y a comparison fragrance. I have to agree with him, that if you like Y, you'll almost certainly like this, too. But personally, I like this better. There are citric, floral, and vaguely spicy nuances that I find far more interesting here. And where do those come from? NEXT!!!

Funny... I sorta get the YSL Y comparison, but not entirely. But it has been a while since I've last intentionally smelled YSL Y, I get the comparison and can appreciate it. I still get a Versace Dylan Blue vibe first and strongest. Terra Nova is slightly better (I can admit that) but it doesn't hit a vibe where I'm currently at... but it's also good.

OK, this is making sense. I've been re-sniffing all the Dylan Blue fragrances, and now I need to go back and compare more carefully. Thanks for that perspective.

I just sprayed some Versace Pour Homme Dylan Blue on a tester, and YES - there is a really strong similarity. There is a profusion of spicier citric notes right up front with the Versace - very "stimulating", as my wife puts it. Blue Ridge is definitely more laid back, but it's a similar effect - a cornucopia opening that settles back into long-lasting freshness in a somewhat simpler pattern. Good call!

Thanks for the thoughts, looking forward to hearing your further commentary after additional wears.

Upper East is the only one that seemed interesting and appealing to me even though it's marketed to women. It makes sense now considering these new fragrances were an answer to Ashton's followers who were asking for mass appeal scents. While Jet Black Enigma didn't blow me away, I do respect that he directed the fragrance to smell like what he wanted rather than simply being mass appeal.

I grow happier with Upper East with every wear - every time I spray it. I will post my full thoughts on that one soon.

I eagerly await your conclusion. I do not mind admitting that I could be very wrong; however, when it comes to a lot of the blue fragrances, is you pull back far enough, they do resemble each other much like other genres might (ex. fougere).

Yes, there are resemblances to all of the blue men's fragrances here, and I think I'm starting to get a handle on several of them. And Dylan Blue for sure - that one is extremely evident in a side-by-side comparison. To me, the Versace is more "Italian" and "Mediterranean" in a kind of spicy energy and intensity, whereas Blue Ridge is fresher, more subtle in the spicy notes, and more easy-going. I have to admit that I'm liking that Versace more and more after spraying it again. I almost bought it when it first came out, but there was something in it that bothered me a bit - a kind of chalky opaqueness in the background - that kept me from buying it, because it seemed to dominate other notes I liked. That effect is minimal or absent in Blue Ridge.

So I got a compliment yesterday wearing Blue Ridge... From my grandfather. 😂 Basically I wore just a couple sprays of Blue Ridge to the gym, then went over to have dinner with my grandparents. As I was leaving I was giving him a hug, and he kind of looked surprised and said, "You smell really nice." He said he doesn't normally like when men wear cologne, but he liked what I was wearing. He knows I wear fragrances, but he doesn't wear fragrances himself - in fact he says he's kind of sensitive to perfume. But again, he liked catching a whiff of Blue Ridge off of me. For whatever that's worth, haha.

It's a good one! I was being an absolute "cologne guy" with it today, but everybody I met was all smiles. FWIW! It is a definite crowd-pleaser, IMO.

I should mention that I had an experience like yours with Wanted. An old friend of mine who never wore cologne, complimented me out of the blue when I gave him a lift! That fragrance is another compliment-getter.

Thank you, Fabrice! 😉 🤩 💙

One final note. That video by Ashton - after wearing Blue Ridge, I get everything he's saying about it. Exactly. You just have to spray enough to see it, and it REALLY helps to wear it on skin. Three big sprays to my body with a very porous shirt, and one big spray on the back of each hand. It just opened up in full glory, exactly as he describes.

 

[ihxb01]

The perfumer probably spends less than ten minutes…

The piece of information I got from the evaluator (who banned me immediately from her telegram channel after I asked her where is a perfumer on her diagram of how Fragrance Development Team works with a client and a brief): it is for FDT to decide whether to engage a perfumer or just to pull out a formula from the company’s archives and adjust it slightly with laboratory assistants. After all, in that case they don’t need to pay to the perfumer sales bonuses.

I only wish they named such perfumes correctly, like the spread butter, for instance.

I can’t believe it’s not PERFUME!

 

[Red Hawk]

The piece of information I got from the evaluator (who banned me immediately from her telegram channel after I asked her where is a perfumer on her diagram of how Fragrance Development Team works with a client and a brief): it is for FDT to decide whether to engage a perfumer or just to pull out a formula from the company’s archives and adjust it slightly with laboratory assistants. After all, in that case they don’t need to pay to perfumer sales bonuses.

I only wish they named such perfumes correctly, like the spread butter, for instance.

I can’t believe it’s not PERFUME!

Wow. You know, that kind of gels with Ashton's experience working with the company behind his "Galleria" line (which is the same company behind the "Navitus" brand). According to him, he wasn't allowed to directly communicate with the perfumers making his fragrances. And the company was known for taking rejected submissions for a fragrance from one YouTube creator and passing it off as a new submission to another creator.

 

[Varanis Ridari]

The piece of information I got from the evaluator (who banned me immediately from her telegram channel after I asked her where is a perfumer on her diagram of how Fragrance Development Team works with a client and a brief): it is for FDT to decide whether to engage a perfumer or just to pull out a formula from the company’s archives and adjust it slightly with laboratory assistants. After all, in that case they don’t need to pay to perfumer sales bonuses.

I only wish they named such perfumes correctly, like the spread butter, for instance.

I can’t believe it’s not PERFUME!

This is why I said in my livestream earlier that people need to stop assuming perfume brands ever had any interest in making art, and that people who insist they used to in 19XX and now no longer do are also fooling themselves because even then, making art was never an objective. Art only happens when an artist is involved, and not even all perfumers are artists, as some just want to make clients happy and get paid like any job with a made-to-order component.

If it checks all the boxes of if the perfumer is interested in making art, and if the creative director above them is also trying to create something artistic, and then the financiers are on board with artistic expression of the perfumer, creative director, or client (e.g. a designer themselves being hands-on), then art gets made. Rare cases where this happens and then turns out to be a big seller are extraordinary, like with classic Guerlains; but even Chanel No. 5 was just one of many formula Ernest Beaux already had floating around from his days in Russia working for Rallet and Chiris; it wasn't made as "art" from the ground up.

The only thing that changes is how much risk the financiers are willing to take, so like in the 1980's things were afforded the opportunity to be more challenging or envelope-pushing because those were huge boon times for the cosmetics industry at large. These days with perfume less of a loss-leader to bring in ready-to-wear or accessory sales, and more of the primary bread and butter product people on the ground floor buy, the belt is about as tight as these brands can make it to maximize turnover, so recycled formulas and AI scent creation are all par for the course.

I don't -want- to be this cynical about perfumes, but everything just points to the industry trying to minimize the involvement of any creatives that could harm adoption rate of new perfumes because one person's artistic stroke could be another person's deal-breaking weirdness. They'd rather fill a shelf with loaves of white bread knowing people feel safe eating it than take a chance having rye, potato, or wheat sharing some of that space, which won't change until they feel confident enough about taking chances again.

We went through this in the 50's through early 60's, then again in the 90's, they just didn't have the efficiency of industry to totally remove the perfumer like they do now. Lord help if any brand or oil house ever thinks they can just dispense with having perfumers altogether and solely rely on computers and lab technicians. We'll end up with the perfume equivalent of the AI art I see circulating on the internet, with extra fingers that shouldn't be there or huge uncanny valley vibes. Real dystopian stuff, that.

 

[ihxb01]

Lord help if any brand or oil house ever thinks they can just dispense with having perfumers altogether and solely rely on computers and lab technicians. We'll end up with the perfume equivalent of the AI art I see circulating on the internet, with extra fingers that shouldn't be there or huge uncanny valley vibes. Real dystopian stuff, that.

We're almost in need of a retronym for perfumes that was before. Something like the conventional/analog perfumes.

 

[Red Hawk]

By the way, here is the video where Ashton talks about working with the company behind Galleria/Navitus. Not the best experience for him, it would seem.

 

[tspencer]

Last year the brand Michael Malul collaborated with Ashton Kirkland of the Youtube channel Gents Scents to release a limited edition fragrance "Jet Black Enigma". This year that partnership continues with the release of new fragrances "Blue Ridge" and "Terra Nova", as well as re-releasing Jet Black Enigma as a part of Michael Malul's regular fragrance line.

Blue Ridge:

Top Notes: Citron, Italian Mandarin, Blackcurrant
Mid Notes: Lavandin, Ozonic Accord, Cedar Leaf
Base Notes: Patchouli, Leather Accord, Sandalwood

Perfumer: Fabrice Pellegrin

Terra Nova:

Top Notes: Bergamot, Lemon Leaves, Golden Lotus
Mid Notes: Violet, Sandalwood, Ambrox
Base Notes: Black Amber, Patchouli, Tonka Bean

Perfumer: Hamid Merati-Kashani

Ashton asked his audience what kind of fragrance they would like him to make, and the overwhelming answer was: a blue fragrance. So, that's what Blue Ridge is. The name comes from the mountains of Tennessee where Ashton lives. Terra Nova is sweeter, but also mass appealing. Ashton emphasized that mass appeal, wearability, and versatility was the point with these fragrances. He says up front it's not for someone looking for really artistic and challenging fragrances.

The listed price is $140 each for 100 ml/3.4 oz, but you can get a 20% code for the Michael Malul website so the effective price is $112. A little pricey for me, but definitely more reasonable and affordable than certain other "YouTuber fragrances" (including Ashton's own previous Galleria line). I've been a viewer of Gents Scents for a couple years now, so I'm tempted to pick these up. I'm especially tempted by Blue Ridge in particular; I just love the name because I'm from Virginia so I feel a connection to the Blue Ridge/Appalachian mountain range as well.

Edit: Also, there is a limited run of 15 ml travel sizes for sale on the Michael Malul website for these frags and Jet Black Enigma. Price is $14.95 each, which seems really reasonable. I may just go for those rather than the full sized bottles for now.

The question really is, how good are the perfumers and how much to do you trust Gent Scents as a Creative Director? Basically, a youtube influencer used his clout to pull in contemporarily popular perfumers who are known for their work with Parfums de Marly (I'll give Fabrice Pellegrin more credit for his body of work over Hamid Merati-Kashani though). I don't own any Parfums de Marly scents. Parfums de Marly is priced and marketed as a "niche" brand but the scents are nothing I would consider 'niche'.

The Parfums de Marly scents are made with cheaper ingredients and smell like they belong with $50-$90 designer brands in my opinion. So, I'm already not holding out much hope that these fragrances are going to be anything special. I'm always skeptical that the fragrances are "contrived" as an excuse to make money off of an influencer's popularity rather than it really be a scent made because it's always what the influencer wanted from the start.

For instance, if an influencer became famous on youtube, but that influencer had been going to school to become a perfumer or to learn about perfuming and they always wanted to make their own perfume and dabbled in creating before they were famous, then I would be intrigued and think it's not just a money-making venture with no serious artistic intent behind it. But when it comes to all youtubers who managed to get their own fragrances made I haven't bought any of them. I haven't seen a single one yet that I believe is someone's dearest attempt at art - FIRST - and money 'maybe'. I think these are a grift and come from arrogance, entitlement, greed and not from a better place.

 

[ErroneousFact]

Lord help if any brand or oil house ever thinks they can just dispense with having perfumers altogether and solely rely on computers and lab technicians. We'll end up with the perfume equivalent of the AI art I see circulating on the internet, with extra fingers that shouldn't be there or huge uncanny valley vibes. Real dystopian stuff, that.

People say that's how they made Paco Rabanne Phantom, and it smells true.

 

[Varanis Ridari]

People say that's how they made Paco Rabanne Phantom, and it smells true.

It is, except actual perfumers modified the AI results to make it wearable, so it wasn't 100% skynet fragrance.

 

[Red Hawk]

The question really is, how good are the perfumers and how much to do you trust Gent Scents as a Creative Director? Basically, a youtube influencer used his clout to pull in contemporarily popular perfumers who are known for their work with Parfums de Marly (I'll give Fabrice Pellegrin more credit for his body of work over Hamid Merati-Kashani though). I don't own any Parfums de Marly scents. Parfums de Marly is priced and marketed as a "niche" brand but the scents are nothing I would consider 'niche'.

The Parfums de Marly scents are made with cheaper ingredients and smell like they belong with $50-$90 designer brands in my opinion. So, I'm already not holding out much hope that these fragrances are going to be anything special. I'm always skeptical that the fragrances are "contrived" as an excuse to make money off of an influencer's popularity rather than it really be a scent made because it's always what the influencer wanted from the start.

For instance, if an influencer became famous on youtube, but that influencer had been going to school to become a perfumer or to learn about perfuming and they always wanted to make their own perfume and dabbled in creating before they were famous, then I would be intrigued and think it's not just a money-making venture with no serious artistic intent behind it. But when it comes to all youtubers who managed to get their own fragrances made I haven't bought any of them. I haven't seen a single one yet that I believe is someone's dearest attempt at art - FIRST - and money 'maybe'. I think these are a grift and come from arrogance, entitlement, greed and not from a better place.

Again, you kind of have things backwards and are jumping to conclusions without really listening to how this collaboration came about. Ashton didn't "use his clout to pull in a perfumer". The perfumers actually work for the big flavoring houses - Givaudan, Firmenich, etc. Ashton mentioned in his video about working with Galleria/Navitus that it's very hard to get those big flavoring houses to pay any attention to you as an individual, they only work with larger brands. In this case, Michael Malul. Ashton says that Michael Malul *offered* for him to be creative director on some of their fragrances. Same with Galleria, the company initially approached him with the offer to develop a line of fragrances. Now, did they only do that because Ashton was an "influencer" with a large established audience that the fragrances could be marketed to? Sure. But let's keep the facts straight about who initiated what.

As for the perfumer, there's actually a different perfumer credited with each fragrance. Yes they've done some PDM fragrances, but they've also worked with other brands (ie Fabrice Pellegrin was credited with "Azzaro Wanted").

Do I trust Ashton as a creative director? Well I'll just say I like Ashton enough that I'm interested to smell what he might come up with as a creative director. The guy is obviously a big fragrance connoisseur, if the wall of fragrances behind him in every video wasn't enough evidence of that. He's talked about how he collected fragrances long before he started making videos on YouTube; he's even mentioned being a member here on Basenotes. I've learned about fragrances from watching his videos, and I've enjoyed fragrances that he's recommended. I think it's pretty cool for him to be working with a fragrance brand and getting his name/YouTube handle associated with these fragrances. I also appreciate that he makes gestures at trying to make the fragrances more accessible to his audience, like how Michael Malul is doing this run of 15 ml travel sizes basically at cost. That makes it a very low barrier of entry to check out all three, and so far I'm pretty pleased with the purchase.

No one is passing this off as high art. You don't have to be interested. But it's really cynical to accuse Ashton of arrogance and grifting for daring to work with a fragrance company as creative director with the intention of *gasp* making money. I hope you don't have anything in your collection that can be found on the shelves at Sephora or Ulta, if that's going to be your attitude.

People say that's how they made Paco Rabanne Phantom, and it smells true.

Well, the robot bottle makes sense now!

 

[tspencer]

Hmm,

This is a rather interesting discussion because with the rise of "influencers" in social media in the modern age, it appears that social media has become the "new media" of this age and when it comes to fragrance as an industry, in order to continue to make the profits they are accustomed to, it's now "adapt or die" for them. So, my perception is that this is only the beginning and we fragrance enthusiasts are going to see this become the "norm" where fragrance influencers (and influencers in general) will be a conduit for pushing fragrances in the future. I don't wish this to be the case, but I'm just reporting what I am foreseeing. So, people, we better get used to seeing this type of thing grow into the future. It's where the future money is at and that's obvious.

That being said, as fragrance enthusiasts, we can support real fragrance artists who start their own small businesses and small houses that support lesser known talent. It's up to us to support the 'niche world' of perfume. The little guy artists count on communities like ours.