Join The Club : Marquee
Xerjoff (2012)

Inconspicuous fruity-floral, with some fizz on top and somewhat sweet in the base.

2.5/5

Like Amouage's Epic woman, Marquee feels like a savoury gourmand. It smells delicious from green and spices. Maybe a bit less intense, but it keeps good performances.

An impressionistic creation from Xerjoff, meant to evoke a classy theater setting generally (and to the West End Theatre Club, in London's 40-venue "Theatreland" district, specifically).

Join the Club: Marquee has these fragrance notes: Red rose, violet, jasmine, fruity notes, powdery notes, vanilla, ambergris.

This is a bright, energetic fruity-floral scent that has a truly earthy, intimate quality reflecting the atmosphere of a typical stage production. There's a definite spiciness that is tucked neatly inside the floral and airy ambergris cloud, as well as sweetness and fruity pungence that resembles a food cart or concession stand. There are moments of cleanness, like a whiff of laundered clothing, that pass every so often. And there seems to be a dirty wood (perhaps the well-worn floor of the stage) that I detect as well.

Wow, I realize that, for those who are able to review several of the Join the Club outings like this one, it ends up within the mind of the reviewer what he or she gets from this. Given that Xerjoff is keeping the real notes secret, I think that it's up to the individual to truly unearth what Marquee, et. al. is for him or her.

Very courageous and impressive scent overall!

Marquee is a bit of a disappointment. It opens with a great rose-green-spicy floral accord, with quite a heavy dose of aldehydes, cloves, aromatic woods, citrus and perhaps bergamot, and overall, it smells a bit like a Mediterranean, simpler version of some classic Amouage. Quite an interesting blend of two different "realms", the Oriental sensual opulence and the Mediterranean/European more "austere" mossy/earthy inspiration. However, the aldehydes' presence is quite bold and noticeable, and to me not that pleasant, since as some of the initial notes vanish, it basically slowly takes the blend closer to some "high-line" mainstream scents (some recent Chanel's or Guerlain's), so not bad, still floral/fruity/green, but not exactly that high-quality in terms of depth, width, "interest". It evolves into a dull, clean, artificial, inoffensively elegant floral scent, with a contemporary glamour transparency. The opening of Amouage, the drydown of Coco Mademoiselle, an evolution slowly taking away your smile (ok, that's sad, it's not that bad, I just wanted to play it pathetic).

6/10

The unparalleled Marquee's velvety smoothness turns me simply crazy, I simply crave for its heavenly smooth artistic musicality, for its royal silkiness. The creation is aimed to arouse the glorious worldwide theatres atmosphere and to sublimate the characteristic perfume of the backstages with their electrifying "molecular pollution" impregnated with the aroma of the characters make up, the sits soft leather, the stage woods, the voluptuous taste of pastries and sweets offered to people. The evolution is not laborious since after the first humid, somewhat orangy, slightly medicinal and spicy beginning (probably cinnamon and saffron) I detect a solid combination of labdanum/musk, creamy agarwood and amber "supervised" by a vanilla/patchouli accord. Probably a cleverly combined floral note (rose?) is included in the general creaminess while the dry down is interested by white powder, cashmere woods, tonka bean and may be soft suede. Probably a secret touch of liqueur is included somewhere in the general smooth edible balminess. All keeps on musky, creamy and velvety till the end with a general soapiness so cozy, almost boozy creamy and neutral. I detect a vague Black intensive Aoud Mancera's vibe but Marquee is balmier, less heavy over agarwood resin and more creamy/culinary and musky. On this path Merquee is in the same vein as Costume National 21, milky, spicy, slightly boozy and glamour. The deep dry down is well rounded by tonka, may be hints of cocoa and vanilla.