Perfume Reviews by Darvant
Aoud Lime by Montale
The austere, shadowy, sharp gentleman Black Aoud's cousin.Dark, initially sour, woody-floral aoud, absolutely magnificent and bold. The herbaceous beginning preludes to a sensational smell that is a walk in a dark thick forest, deeply breathing the woodsy balsamic air while chewing a lime candy. We have no lime in composition but aoud and lime is exactly what AL smells of. The top notes are dreadfully medicinal, erbaceous, mentholated and sharp. The pharmaceutical bitter top is soon tamed by the insertion of the rose-orris duet. The scent becomes soon sweeter and fresher, opening the door to rose-patchouli accord very exotic and warm. The rose is subdued in comparison with the superstar Black Aoud's rose, it flanks the patchouli in order to give a fresh exotic touch to the dry aromatic beginning. A spicy sandalwood places its roots in the dry down ground in order to warm and amalgamate the whole composition, giving to it texture and solidity. The usage of saffron balances back the floral sweetness with its touch of iodated bitterness. May be this is the lime effect in Aoud Lime. I really love this one even if prefer Black Aoud. It lacks in my opinion the BA's "ultra dimensional and psychedelic" daring feel to be enjoyed in the top fluorescent, cozy nights out. Anyway we are as well talking about an heavyweight in terms of refinement and boldness. To be worn in order to impress the hit of authority in the course of business meetings or for some psycho-explorative dinners in a sweet company.
Roma Uomo by Laura Biagiotti
Too much weak and fruity for my full pleasure, too kind of light soul and eternal grown baby, finally too much musky/balmy soapiness in its substance. Roma is an almost decent fruity, woody, semi-oriental scent in which the texture of woods and balsams (fir balsam, amber, benzoin, galbanum, may be a touch of vanilla) is watered down, understated and diluted by an excess of fruity (grapefruit, tangerine), citric and floral (jasmine, eliotrope) dosage. I perceive too much fruits (a sort of balmy/musky blend of orange and peach) and this is what in my opinion kills a fragrance, subdue the green texture, the elegance, the sobriety. To be worn just in late spring, (just on daily time) by relaxed dynamic souls.ADVERTISEMENT
La Nuit de L'Homme Eau de Toilette by Yves Saint Laurent
Synthetic spicy/fluity semi-oriental. A citrusy, really aromatic, spicy beginning preludes to a woody oriental (vanilla, labdanum) blend based on a spicy lavender presence too artificially fruity and sweet for my taste.I detect plenty of artificilal cardamom combined with lavender by soon. I dislike it and have tried many many times to explore and appreciate its smell on my skin. In my opinion it's generic in its vetiver/cedarwood "basement", too synthetically sweet and orangy (cinnamon/orange?), fruity (in an almost resinous artificial way) and unclassy. The coumarine/labdanum combo smells un-natural and fruity in a slightly sticky way. I'll never wear it for my nocturnal battles, madam night requires much more and the stock of my cellar is full of velvety masterpieces ready to snap for clubs as well as dark, raged dogs haunting spiteful speedy cats.
Duro by Nasomatto
Duro is a leathery woody (powerfully woody) juice, spicy and slightly smoky (peaty) which rides the stereotype of an unapologetic brash masculinity. Duro conteins no flowers or fruits or "fru-fru" balsams in its composition and is ideated as a scent that manages to enhance all the manifestations of masculine strength. High secular trees, campfires and resins jumps on mind. Duro is an aoud based scent, a bit balsamic, musky and rooty/earthy. Many facets conjure me more than vaguely the Montale Aoud Musk's combination of elements and (on a certain extent) MPeG Parfum d'Habit could be considered a refined Duro's far cousin. I detect (as well as mentioned) the cherry/maraschino presence on the top before the aroma starts to become drier and drier along the way. The longevity is notable though it doesn't reach the Black Afgano's peaks. It's a potent stuff with an earthy, crisp temperament. I guess there are seasoned woods, a touch of vetiver, cuoio (stout leather), aoud, frankincense (minimal) or galbanum and spices (may be black pepper) in the composition. I'll recommend it to my friend Peppe, the macho man for excellence, clothed (wrapped) by leather, rough and boaster with the girls, tanned (almost brown) in February but often and often ready to cry in loneliness against the walls, guys, ahahahah. :-)
Black Cashmere by Donna Karan
Black Cashmere is basically an incensey-spicy concoction but It's a different character in comparison with the cathedral liturgical types (Avignon) or the otherworldly spiritual dry ones (Black Tourmaline). BC is part of this world, it's chic, glamour and materialistic. You can easily breathe its smell in the best club of the city as exuded by the skin of an aspiring model and hardly inside a monastery or over an eccentric solitary traveller. It's mysterious, alchemic and dark but never mystic, ethereal, "dreadful" or austere. This scent is obscure but not dirty, naughty or gothic, therefore it's not a dangerous clubbing killer (Black afgano or Scent Intense). DKNY is an enigmatic, polite woman of the night obscure. The aroma is a complex, exotic, resinous blend of incense, dried fruits, spices (cloves, nutmeg, pepper, cinnamon, saffron), amber, flowers (rose, carnation), woods-plants (agarwood, cedar, patchouli) and only God knows what else. BC is sultry-tropical (in a darkly chic-synthetic honeyed way), warm and delicious. It's a spicy bomb, a fusion of spices on a base of woody-resinous incense. In the first part of the development the spicy temperament is prevailing and the scent expresses itself as a whirling dust of spicy incense (with floral and hesperidic nuances). After a couple of hours the dust tends to disappear converting its chaos in to a silky, woody, incensey glamour blanket. The longevity is medium on me. The scent is essentially feminine in my opinion but I don't hesitate to wear it when an intimate and confidential occasion requires its aroma. In those cases I'd have probably yet conquered a beloved of mine somewhere by a diverse more appropriate (for a first approach) scent for sure. All I need at that point is romanticism, esoteria and drama, I need Black Cashmere.
Aria di Mare by Il Profumo
Decent aquatic, airy, delicate and ethereal. You are teleported in a breezing salty and sunny day spent in front of the blue ocean's crisp waters. You can perceive the smell arousing from the salty feminine skin under the sun and the wind blowing on your face. This fragrance reminds me a lot the more renowned (at least in Italy) Acqua di Sale by Profumum Roma (but also a lot Rem by Reminiscence). It's a musky, floral creation characterized by a soapy "mild saltiness" and by the airy touch from the Dyer's Green weed.
English Fern by Penhaligon's
When you smell it you can feel as standing in the middle of an English yard in a grey serene early morning after the rain. You perceive all around a breeze of forest that is earthy, woody, slightly balsamic/minty and aromatic and is like listening to birds, and perceiving the whispers of a quiet animal universe. This fragrance features lavender and geranium in the top but the floral lavender fades soon in to a spicy, balsamic middle stage where i detect a sort of balsamic anisic note. Heavy woods, oak moss and patchouli dominate the base of this aromatic fougere. A sparkling coniferous traditional scent, a woody breeze of mountain for us.
Salvador Dali pour Homme by Salvador Dali
Suggestions apart this oriental fougere, due to its trademark bloody vibe, is one of the few real draculesque, almost macabre scents out there, a juice (as already written somewhere by others) to be worn with caution for secret unmentionable rendez-vous. Try to smell it, in the main part of its development at least, it's disturbing, extremely herbal, metallic (the initial smell conjures me vaguely the urine aroma), bloody, rancid (acid) but crude at once (i know the sensations are opposite but i perceive both). As soon as the base notes are set down, the scent becomes sweeter but still sinister and vintage, projecting the smell of a retro and bohemian deep lounge bursting of baroque objects, pictures, mirrors and antiques ,becoming then so tarry, churchy, leathery, old fashion and in my perception spicy, as a magic ritual potion full of wings of bat and nails of dragon. I agree who with talks about a sort of spicy/smoky/earthy kind of Cocacola effect cause this is the "taste" i detect in this phase, or better before the dry down becomes too obscure, "complicated" and rough. It's told they have blended more than 100 ingredients in a unique blend. The scent reminds me the taste of a typical barbarian sweet cake from south Italy, Calabria to be precise, prepared with blood of pork. Who follows my reviews on Basenotes knows my passion for the naughty dark potions. This one, emphasis apart, is something olfactory grotesque as an obscure hooded fellow whereof you detect under hood white eyes without a face. The problem is that this potion for 3/4 of its development is almost off-putting, strangely and marvellously off-acid. I figure in my mind some old desolate aristocratic theatre but paradoxically (it depends from the level of development) even a huge bare basement where you feel a presence somewhere behind a pillar or an heap of tires. This scent is not particularly viscous or dense but is anyway cold as a stone and dark as dark ink or better it projects the colour of its bottle, dreadful and appalling with those gigantic lips. I wear it just in some occasions, when feel in a certain mood, like a solitary dead man walking in this strange life out but i don't risk to use it on a first date for sure cause, if you get there moody and dark clothed, she could run away scared to death by your dangerously kinky aura. Going to blend itself i read somewhere it has the smell of some acid fruit and insects in decomposition down the pit of a red-violet latrine. Specially at the beginning the smell of urine and addle fruit comes to mind. In the cold, distant, separated top notes the scent contains anise, basil, clary sage and citrus-lavender. It anchors the smell to 80's and since the beginning the scent is heavy but dry-herbal. I perceive a sort of animalic vibe yet from this stage and this element is in contrast with the aromatic greeness of the first whiffs in a twisting botanic-animalic game of complexity. This corporeal feel is perceivable throughout the trip by the inquiring nose. The heart of the scent expresses nocturnal flowers as lily of the valley (providing the melancholic vibe), jasmine and obscure geranium (the coldness). The situation keeps on being for a while a metallic and impersonal affair but is destined to evolve slowly in to a sort of more obscure, deliciously stuffy, smoother, retro and decadent stage. The baroque dry down is indeed woody with vanilla, amber, dirty musk and leather which turn the scent out oriental and mysterious tough holding an averagely dry temperament. The longevity is high in my perception.
Armani Code / Black Code by Giorgio Armani
It lasts just the time it usually takes to get from home to club, second concern is that it's not naughty for aiming to be a real dark weapon for a night out, too kinda good student chill out aroma, too much gentle for my taste, too serenely mild. It's a decent oriental, good for daytime usage, woody and appealing to the mass. Not bad the couple tonka bean-olive flower that is the oily soul of the scent (the smell of olive flower is absolutely detectable may be rounded by tobacco and mild woods). Its powdery (but slightly rooty) temperament is pleasant and slightly sporty.
Cuoio by Odori
Woody-aromatic, airy, soft leather smelling, a tad medicinal and very, very sophisticated. My last expensive purchase, I saw it exposed in a show window in Rome so I told to my best friend "please, block me, refrain me to get in, please".... too late, five minutes later my patrimony counted 135 less and a 100 ml Cuoio Odori in addition. It's a pity for the weak longevity, this is in my opinion a great, great fragrance. Cuoio kinda man is a successful business mature fellow, leatherwares maniac, in brown clothed, very busy, daring, fascinatingly smiling and enveloped by a fresh breeze smelling about wet sweet woods, leather stores, high forests, moss, a touch of spirit and cleaning foam. Honey and ylang-ylang provide a touch of exotic soapiness, the note of patchouli infuses masculine earthy boldness, vetiver and siberian birch the woodsy balsamic (slightly resinous) temperament, the ingredient of ginger affords the spiciness and hints of barely prickly pungency, while the note of amber adds mild animalic powder. Whatta wonderful world!!P.S: Cuoio on my skin is an aromatic (lot of juniper berries, birch tar), piney, slightly rooty, vaguely soapy-medicinal and herbal type of leather. Airy and soapy-vegetal-medicinal for long (I suppose bergamot provides a touch of "pharmaceutical effect" which anyway I like since it's under the right level). The final leather's touch is refined and fresh, perfectly calibrated and subtle. I get a remarkable vetiver's presence around. Recommended.
Black Aoud by Montale
I use to wear this fragrance when the game starts becoming harder and the place I have to roam inside is supposedly populated by monsters, witches and ghosts. This juice is one of the most daring aromatic pieces of my bold collection, one of the scents I use to reserve for the most challenging evenings out, for the top parties (some of those anyway), for the most exigent and nasty dark ladies (now I'm getting older and it's becoming harder and harder to "be intimately engaged" with them, but watta passion!). Black aoud is simply attractive, it's one of the sexiest fragrances of the realm, dark, very naugthy (a bit insolent) but never gothic or excessively decadent, a very modern musky classic, contemporary but all at once exotic, deep but at the same time somewhat airy (settled the dry down), very sophisticated and western but equally spiritual and eastern. I'm in love with this (not fully natural) scent and while wearing it I use to feel tall, powerful and protagonist, ready to kill anybody daring to obstacle me and my thirst of success. Black aoud is devilishly charismatic and it carries out an archetype of wealthy, a bit nasty (though with hints of classicism) and fascinating globe-trotter. It's not easy to find the appropriate word but Black Aoud is a really hypnotic and ultradimentional-violet-airy-dark scent right for psychedelic, fluoresces, velvety, cozy, orgiastic urban venues. As well as known by everybody Black Aoud is a rose-woody-musky dominant scent with a touch of soothing leather in the mix. The rose is quite sumptuous, arrogant and darkly modern. The scent is sinister but not hardly and severely funereal as in N. 88 C&S, both are great scents but as somewhere previously said B.A is sexy-exotic and modern, N.88 is like a corpse (I mean funereal and classically stuck). B.A anyway is a rose dominant fragrance, rose as notorious masters entirely the fragrance, it emerges about 10-15 minutes after the first spray and over the shocking initial burst of medicinal aoud. Along this initial phase the scent is brooding, vintage and exudes a sort of Mitsuko spicy/hesperidic aura (in this case decidedly medicinal), the aroma of a Parisian attic, claustrophobic and full of objects, lamps, tapestries and antiques. Half an hour later, aoud and rose coexist side by side surrounded by a dust of aromatic spices (saffron?) while an hint of mandarin provides a dose of fruity freshness to the juice, understating the opening explosion of the almost pharmaceutical aoud. Going on in to the journey the rose retains its starring role, opulent and threatening, but is approached by the woody/musky texture exuded by sandalwood and labdanum. Drydown, very far on time, is pure magic, is breath taking; the show is dominated by a patchouli insertion which draws a timid (but progressively rising up) musk/moss little brother. The latter provides the aroma with a sort of airy vegetal feel of forest, while the exotic patchouli becomes bolder and bolder contesting to the musky rose the role of protagonist. Longevity is eternal, the smell persists on clothes for days despite having washed them. Masterpiece.Ps: the dry down, after many hours, is creamy (a creamy/musky amber-aoud evolution), even more musky and smooth with a fresh aromatic vibe of forest.
Black Afgano by Nasomatto
Claustrophobia in a bottle and images of medieval subterraneous prisons and labyrinths coming to mind. Gothic. Alongside of Salvador Dalì Pour Homme, Black Tourmaline Durbano and the new sepulchral Dark Aoud Montale probably the darkest scent i own. The bats circle in the misty air of the night. An obscure, narcotic, resinous blend of many elements, I figure on mind (but anybody is sure apart from the creator Gualtieri) musk, tobacco, hashish, oudh, coffee, vetiver, patchouli, may be heliotrope, precious woods, incense, leather, smoke and some nocturnal flower as the violet. The hidden floral heart beside woods and patchouli produce, in the obscure, camphoraceous, ancient wake, a spark of modern-chic sophistication. Ancient and modern tend to merge eachother in a futuristic and timeless ( gothic and alluring-chic at once) connection. I'm sure that cistus labdanum and may be cypriol oil could be included in the recipe. A starring role is played by vetiver imo (many mention sandalwood and I agree too) but is still important the role played by coffee, aoud, incense and obviously hashish (this one barely perceivable by the experts on the topic). Highly dangerous, naughty, synthetic for sure (nobody demand to nail down the contrary), I wear this scent in order to cut boldly the crowd as an hypnotic vampire in the smoky appalling night clubs all around the world. Longevity and sillage are stunning and impressive (how could anybody tell the opposite?), the scent is as much viscous that could stain fabrics for real. I agree with Off Scenter about its crudity and its exsperimental, hardcore modernism (which compromise sometimes the balance, the measure, and it is probably like that in here) even though we can't deny that this fragrance is anyway addictive, mysterious, intoxicating, dirty, controversial (for sure) and brooding. Enough for me. Black Afgano does not aim to be Boucheron Pour Homme, to replace Pour Monsieur, its goal is properly opposite. Overall in here seems pushed up beyond the limits but it's undeniable people get crazy about it, women seem submitted by its otherworldly, orgiastic, mellow cruelty. At least around me.P.S: don't believe the hypes guys, don't be enchanted by a massive marketing campaign for sure but I furthermore add anyway...don't be blindly enchanted by the trendy easy appeal of the "charge free" intellectual denigration, we are everybody able to allocate over different levels Black Afgano and Guerlain Derby.
Kenzo pour Homme by Kenzo
Unique and revolutionary, this infamous Kenzo's is a semi-aquatic boisé fragrance, a trait d'union between chyprè, aromatic (fougère)/boisé and ozone-marine elements, a dark mossy-marine twist with its chord of dark iris, cold aromatic geranium, fir resins, oakmoss/musk and "edible" spices. The latter are heady, mild, kind of nutty and "edible" since provide an almost yummy sort of "tasty" dustiness all around. A really woodsy and mossy aroma straight from a forest standing near a mountain lake. The truly revolutionary trait (setting this juice apart from the main marine or semi-ozonic issues of the time) is its capacity to combine marine patterns and dark mossy-coniferous elements with a weird spicy/nutty vaguely honeyed mildness almost tasty and due to provide a yummy sort of "edible" attractiveness for our senses. This link arouses a sort of woody-balsamic-ozone marine spicy scent, something that, although in a different way (more properly woodsy-marine and straighforward), I detect in Bvlgari Aqva or Guy Laroche Horizon as well, I mean the sensation of standing in front of a dark-green mass of appalling water in a shadowy windy day with a coastal forest behind you. The aroma is ozone (iodine) blended with scent of wet woods, seaweeds, roots and plants (vetiver, sandalwood, orris roots, oakmoss etc), resins (balsam of fir, amber), musks, flowers (rose, lily of the valley and others), spices and fruits (lemon, juniper berries and peach), altogether whirled and spinned around by a unique enveloping breeze playing the game of the contrasts. This scent is almost dense because of the dark woods and moss and its smell is not synthetic or kinda bath soap, but aromatic, slightly coniferous and quite ozonic. This is an assertive sexy fragrance, quite obsessive in its powerful floral presence. Wearing Kenzo Pour Homme I figure myself all at once over watching the immense dark appalling ocean by the peak of a mountain.
Patchouli Noir / Patchouly Noir by Il Profumo
A palatin fragrance perfect to stand out in a gala night at Kremlin or Versailles. An artistic patch's rendition, culturally lofty, baroquely decadent and aristocratically libertine. This is Il Profvmo Patchouli Noir, one of the best elements of my heavy arsenal. I use to layer it with a touch of Habit Rouge in order to create the most sumptuous, baroque and regal fragrance ever coiceived, suitable for cerimonies at Royal Palace. In the same vein as Parfumerie Generale Coze but less spicy, more floral and more "vintage patchouli-centered" (and frankly more "elevated" as fragrance). Il Profvmo Patchouli Noir is sumptuous, exotic and mysteriously decadent as a nobiliary palace, ghostly and labyrinthian. It's a patchouli dominant fragrance whose all the other notes, hints of vanilla, cedar, mint, a touch of frankincense, cocoa and poppy, circulate around the earthy note of patchouli, in order to get it smoother, softer, luxuriant and naif. It's a pretty obscure creation, so bold and charismatic because of the accord between balsamic elements and patchouli, but it's also lush and chic because of the velvety and aristocratic sweetness provided by vanilla, supported by a glamour and oriental hint of poppy. The patchouli's darkness is enhanced by a greedy touch of dark cocoa, quite irresistible and posh. The general balance is sheer. A "neutral" and classy cedarwood is starring on the side of musky patchouli, the note of vanilla is well calibrated and licentious, spicy resins push up the general nobiliar sense of exoticism, the aromatic mint imprints since the beginning an almost mentholated-camphoraceous trail while a voluptuous floral note and a delicious amber/tobacco stress the lingering nocturnal decadence of the juice. Layered with an hint of Black Tourmaline Durbano (or with frankincense's pure oil) it becomes something spiritual and transcendent. Il Profvmo Patchouli Noir is a superb creation that manages to lord over all the other scents of the Royal House's ceremony.
Les Nombres d'Or : Cuir by Mona di Orio
A waterfall of cardamom and peppery/roasted leather, too much for my taste. Sort of furiously smoky, roasted, leathery concoction very dirty and acid at the beginning, may be too much animalic and fierce for my pleasure. As already said, it starts with a spicy-citrusy accord supported by an anise-absinth addition. The accord of anise-absinth is detectable thorough the trip, providing to the scent its balsamic (licorice kind) temperament. The following development procedes with the addition of such a resinous, balsamic leather-castoreum real Niagara waterfall. The latter ends up in to an overly linear and aggressive smoky leather accord considerably balsamic and decidedly acid due the absinth as combined with a resinous support by hints of opoponax. The scents conjures up such a body sweat acidity ideally mixed with a green coniferous deodorant on a man engaged to roast meat on barbecue.
Black Tourmaline by Olivier Durbano
A masterwork of modern olfactory abstractism. Superb arid and severe churchy scent, contemplative, stoney and spiritual, the dead fragrance, as said. An orthodox isolated, sinister, woody cathedral comes to mind as well as a burnt woody shack somewhere abandoned in the desolate steppe. The "campfire-aroma" provides whiffs of burnt woods, rocks, resin of cypress and pine, frankincense, oakmoss, leather, rubber, spices and aoud. It seems to finally catch the aroma of burnt woods (carbonized dry woods) in a rainy day plus whiffs of stout leather and eucalyptol. The opening is cool aromatic, spicy, yet leathery and balsamic. This phase conjures me slightly the green Polo (but most of all Jacomo de Jacomo which is more rubbery, classic herbal in structure but less incensey). In this stage the aroma is somewhat mentholated because of the forest resins and due to a touch of eucalyptol. This first aromatic status turns soon out evolved in to something less urban, decidedly decadent, holy, not easily wearable and surely gothic. Any trace of flowers, vanilla or tasty elements around. The juice is actually balsamic, dark, tarry, dusty, earthy and acrid. I detect some remote touch of bilberry in the dry down lingering as a ghost and carring out a tad of fruity appeal as gift. The aromatic woodsy feel lasts throughout the trip anyway. This is an assertive, sombre and shadowy fragrance, the vision of an high, appalling Transylvanian old castle in a cold, windy and cloudy late afternoon. Sometimes I dare to layer it (just a minimal tad) with another masterpiece, the sumptuous Patchouli Noir by Il Profumo; the combination's outcome is a decadent, otherworldly, aristocratic, holy blend.
Blu pour Homme by Bulgari
As already said this fragrance is one dimensional, a perfect after shower (conjuring) aroma to be possibly worn before going to sleep with a sense of soapy cleanliness on your skin. A refreshing watery gingery spicy opening (plenty of cardamom) morphs soon in to a particular balmy-mossy, slightly aromatic and tobacco veined synthetic aroma which projects itself as a special soapy but at once sparkling/spicy "shower foam" type of perfume. Any trace of texture. Captivating and unique but to me unelegant, apologetic and weak. Young girls love it. Not my cup of tea.
Onda Parfum Extrait by Vero Profumo
Exotic, evocative, a bit colonialist and divinely rétro. Onda is a weird wave of pungent and animal fruity passion which starts as a punch of ostensibly disinfectant-like and bitter type of "uriney" aroma in order to become one of the strangest floral-fruity masterpieces of olfactory universe. The dry down conjures me just slightly Etro Messe de Minuit although Onda is less incensey and more articulated, earthy/hesperidic and woody (thanks to vetiver, patchouli and woods in the base). Several olfactory nuances arouse apparently in mind a sort of more acid and less airy The Different Company Sel the Vetiver because of the combination of bourbon vetiver, patchouli, fruits, ylang-ylang and spices. Ylang-ylang and the hesperidic presence are noticeable and provide throughout a sort of soapy/exotic and spicy vibe which is really evocative of far oceanic islands. Anyway Onda is pretty bold and recognizable, exotic and all at once slightly baroque and decadent, I would say a tad art nouveau and Rococò. In the general alchemy there is a plenty of earthy woods and roots (a starring vetiver, cedarwood and patchouli), citrus, leather (a key element weirdly combined with hesperidic, urinous animalic and soapy elements), floral notes and spices. Spicy leather, floral notes, mysterious fruits, luxurious hesperides and honey represent the core of the entire creation. A role of protagonist is indeed played by the central accord between passion fruit and honey which, supporter by spices and above all by the "pharmaceutical" ginger, determines that particular pungent, ostensibly soapy/medicinal (but basically natural), "artistic", exotic/baroque aroma characterizing the fragrance itself. We are discerning about an unisex but leaning over the feminine side creation. Neaby Royal Pavilion an eccentric white dressed woman (I see a white-laced dressed Doris Lessing) talks about her african glorious left back memories.
Blu Notte by Bulgari
A dark, light, powdery, slightly "rubbery/shower-gel type" aroma which neither disappoints me at all nor soars higher and higher on the path of olfactory masterpieces. Decently articulated by the accord of iris and vodka, this is darkened by the implement of dark chocolate turned out slightly bitter by the effect of the galanga among the top notes. The right dosage of (dark) chocolate prevents it by sliding in the gourmand dangerous territories. To be experienced, sometimes.
Heaven by Chopard
A by now discontinued sort of bracing aroma of bath soap or sport deodorant with a masculine strong undertone, a perfect after shower useful to stroll refresched around home or along your quarter streets but undue for any sort of date, office work, or special occasions out there. It is surely lacking texture and distinction. Similar to a discontinued manly Byblos Uomo, Heaven is a kind of juice that reminds the early 90's "gymnastic type" of fragrances. The creation features notes of lavender, musk and tonka surrounded by flowers and woods.Musk and amber well round the dry down imprinting a good dose of warm (salty/sweaty/organic in vibe) virility.
Paco Rabanne Pour Homme by Paco Rabanne
An aromatic-mossy-spicy barber-shop classic which, after a watery, green, almost balsamic initial burst, settles down in to a sort of petroleous, mossy/shadowy, tobacco flavoured and slightly soapy type of smell. A wonderful rosemary plays a noticeable role arousing a touch of mediterranean, breeze, salty/mild, coniferous aroma of pines of the coast. Clean, discreet, conservative but for many unappealing, a bit "laundry/soapy/bath-foam" type and out of these infamous times.
Serge Noire by Serge Lutens
Ethereal, gothic, crepuscular and contemplative, this is the scent of a nocturnal flight by a magical tapestry or a phantasmagorical broom over the sleeping suburbia, this is a love declaration in a 19th century's parisian dawn, expressed inside a dusty (by decorated wallpaper) loft full of books, tapestries, antiquites and lamps. Serge Noir, as said, is a complex blend of smoked incense, dry woods, camphor and spices as cumin, clove, cinamon, pepper. A touch of not listed, resinous aoud is hidden somewhere in my opinion while the cumin, on the side of mystical incense and amber, performs all its usual "soaring" power. Probably one of my two-three Serge Lutens's absolute favorite. At the end of the ghostly night of faires and witches you'll rescue your beloved and swear to her your eternal love.
Silver Black / Onyx by Azzaro
Fresh spicy fougere that reminds to me a sort of less watery kind of Drakkar Noir, although better equipped and much more solid. Nice scent for spare time out in summer evenings of North-East Europe (a past experience of mine in the Baltic area few years ago). The fruity starting is the prelude to a spicy very aromatic, a bit balsamic, heart (coriander, cardamom, caraway, juniper) which slides in to a woody musky base. Unfortunately not so distinctive and unique, this is not the kind of scent particularly beloved by women.