Reviews by 2nosedtwin

Smells like an advanced hairspray but acts like a real perfume. Its crisp and light but with a profound intensity that really shines. Works better on the skin than on a blotter. Wears a realm of 'vintage-perfume' charm upon its sleeve while managing to stay a pure, simple and very amicable experience. Just good.

Richwood - Xerjoff
It must be an absolute joy for a perfumer to be able to work for Xerjoff and have instant access to shelves full of absolute top-notch first class raw materials- it must feel something like being a kid in a candy-store without having to pay.
Richwood begins with a tight and austere character and the vanilla shimmering through, you can already feel the depth and class of the raw (natural) materials being used. Especially the iris abs in here is one of the best I ever smelled in a perfume, its absolutely spellbinding. Fresh-soapy, earthy-cool, waxy dried-lemony with a lively bright fraicheur and a stern but 'wide' concentration which echoes a very bright sparkle of livelyness. It flows extremely well with the thick creamyness of both the godly mysore sandelwood and the vanilla, which shows a smoky-earthy 'base' and a very round fluffy gourmand-sweetness. The transitions of notes and tones are very smooth, I like the way how the floral-section slowly rises up after the slightly herbal-peppery start, (safron?), tropical fruity ylang-ylang with a urinic-animalic undertone, a splendid cool yet warm rose and an indolic-jasmine, its all just floating so extremely well and the perfume opens up in character here in a more bright and friendly tone. On its way to the dryout I catch a smoky oolong-tea note and a spearmint-anise bitterness which make a good counterweight against the slight 'clogging' sweetness that grows more powerfull. The dryout has a nice natural fresh-sour bite and a resinous-coolness that further enchances its character. Richwood had my heart skipping a few beats here and there and was such a joy to smell and wear, plus I treasure its unique unisex personality. Richwood is stellar stuff and perfumery in optima-forma.

Hypnotic Poison - Dior
A perfume wrapped in an ultra-soft and smooth-velvety plucheness, round, thick and so smooth, you actually wanna stroke and hug it- extremely comfortable as it is. It delivers straight off the bat with a fresh not-sour 'blackberry on cocosnut'  tonality that quickly blows up big and soft like an aircushion. Violet-leaf, helitrope, lactonic-vanilla, indolic-jasmine on musk, and a slight smoky, clean (ceder)wood with hot-rubbery and camphorous undertones of burlap, create a very harmonious and very recognizable scent-profile full of personality and character. Extremely well blended, it feels like the accelerarion of a Bentley, effortless but very high performance at the same time. A classic.

Gucci - Gucci
A high-pitched and tightly woven, 'frozen' white floral perfume with a harsh feel, in a good way, and a peculair camphor/resin 'metallic' rigourness that gives this perfume a great backbone. The note of honey is dominant, giving it a shiny sweet sparkle and a 'sun and beach'-vibe, making it a bit more laidback. The dryout is a an oriental base with the sticky-sweet of honey, some bitter-animalic notes, (beewax?) and maybe labdanum, musk, vanilla and patchouli, creating a powdery-sweet and waxy-earthy contradiction. It has great force and bite but sits fairly quiet on the skin. Almost thumbs up.

Man - Calvin Klein
A strong, bold and hard-muscled perfume with a spartan and assertive character. Kicks off with a fresh herbal-terpenic blast of rosemary, juniper and lavender that strikes as very natural. This setting continues with a note of slightly camphorous pencil shavings, oily gasoline and a coumarine/fresh hay tone that gets really cranked up in volume. In this, a note of warm nutmeg and a chalky-herbal waxy-cool spearmint join the party, that seem to temper down the loudness of this perfume. The dryout adds a dry and warm incense-cypreswood in the mix with a little smokyness and a dark raspy tone while the sweet- and softness of sandelwood keeps it in balance. Also here, the terpenic-camphorous force keeps up its volume, although not as dominant as in the middle. Man smells as how metal feels- hard and solid and complements men who know exactly what they want in life and how to get it. Very solid stuff.

A nice and simple, unpretentious scent with an 'electrified' vibe that imparts some clever accords of sizzled iced-gin, cocoa-tea and a green vetiver-cederwood floating on sweetly musk. Impressions of pencil-shavings at the start with maybe some clary sage, dark waxy-inky notes in the middle and a de-terpenized cederwood-like 'gasoline&ashtray' tone. Not much development, quite linear but harmonious enough to stay interresting. Reminded me a some of CdG pour homme 2.

Crave - Calvin Klein
Lightweight and abstract scent, stripped of any kind of attachment or heavy burden, very freefloating and airy. Comes in with a splash of cold watery freshness that morps into a chalky-green tonality and dry-cool herbal waxy notes. Kind of reminds of the smell of cleaning out an aquarium, a transparent green lichen-like scent. Gets a note of soap, fresh sweat and a green pepperminty flavor thats really nice, showing great display of harmonic sour, bitter, and sweet tones. Dryout is a manifesto of clean soapy-musk with a fresh-indolic milky vibe and a green-vetiver one with a slight musty waxy-earthyness covered with a sandal-vanilla sweetness. Very refined and smelling almost just as lightweight and airy as the start, its fluffy and a bit misty. Its has a cool and sexy quality and radiates equal amounts of attraction and rejection. Crave is a little masterpiece, forgotten and overlooked, I think its brilliant.

Guerlain Homme - Guerlain
A classy perfume: calm and confident with a dignitive charm. Kicks off with a cool lime-anisic vibe that morphs into a minty-pine tonality and a soapy bitter-herbal lavender with slightly floral facets. Impression of icecold white rum/vodka which later gets a boozy-spicy tone supported by the liquorice and a note of fatty sheep-wool. The dryout is very smooth, refined and multi-faceted as many notes pop up and interact with eachother. Some raspy sweet tobacco, whiffs of gasoline, creamy woods, salty vetiver, earthy patchouli, cool incense, indolic-urinic musks and the tiniest sight of vanilla. It alltogether shows a magnificent display of warm vs cool impressions that creates great harmony. Also, the dryout seems to 'echo back' the fresh 'rum-on-lime' start which integrates a great natural fraicheur into the structure. Somehow I had a lot of flashbacks to Amouage Dia pour homme while sniffing this, and although that one is a lot more incense orientated, they share the same kind of cohesive soft- and richness through and through. Topmarks for this one- its a great storyteller that captivates its audience without a slightest effort and without the slightest need for showing off at the same time.

Air edp - Kenzo
Light and transparant scent with a dry herbaceous feel being toned down by a cool note of aniseed and spicy nuances of caraway. Reminds me of how the air smells after a rainstorm: slight earthy, cool and damped. Moves on in a rather generic way with the slight raspy green of vetiver against a soft and quiet semi-sweet amber background. Air smells simple, in a good way, with a meditative an easygoing feeling.
Mild thumbs up.

Encre Noir - Lalique
Beautiful and very competent perfume that paints an 'ultraclean vetiver with ragged edges still-life' with little but efficient brush-strokes. The opening is green and cool with a 'fresh' paint and small inky note that reminds me of a mix of basil and styrax but probably is just due to a high-quality cypress-wood oil. It is a steady factor with waxy-herbal, resionous nuances and whiffs of fresh pine-needles that fits the vetiver perfectly. It creates a tight and steady theme of dark ink that alltogether meets the earthy nuances of the vetiver with a clean, light-smoky and soapy-soft woody-amber base. The dryout is warm and cool at the same time which gives it a nice tension and a sort of 'calm' energetic sparkle. Very nice work.