Reviews by Darvant

Superb darkness, black mistery, severe balance. Obscure is the night, sinister that man walking away in the cold Belfast's night. Pour Homme is a saturnine, sinister, poetic juice, epitome of the top virile luxury and unconventional class. The initial angular burst is herbaceous, citrusy and aromatic, including some notes like lavender, basil, juniper and thyme. In this phase the aroma is for a while metallic, pungent, crisp and herbal. The blades roll a few time in the air anyway and the soapiness keeps rising up very soon. The yet softer sophisticated heart of this monumental fragrance is indeed woody-floral with notes of patchouli, vetiver, jasmine, orris and hints of spices. This woody heart following the initial aromatic burst links the aroma with the traditional 70's and 80's masculine powerhouse scents traits. The leathery, soapy, powdery, animalic base is rich of amber, dark olibanum, musk, obscure leather, castoreum and oak moss. This dry down is indeed warmer, soapy/leathery and really mossy. The final development is a discreetly rosey, soapy and velvety suede full of shadows (burnt incense), musks and organic molecules. Pour Homme is an eternal fragrance which will be forever a symbol of austere, moody, restrained, almost gothic elegance (despite its undeniable dry/fresh vibe). I must add, anyway, that this is not a one way concoction, it is not exclusively a formal/assertive one; the nocturnal flowers and the incensey ambery base carry effortlessly it inside the fences of the romantic and melancholy territories and place this fragrance out as a perfect one for a romantic date and a whisper of love under the moonlight.

Balmy and gentle in a way that conjures me vaguely Secret Obsession CK. The whisper of a cool spring night in the yards of a flowered green farm crowded by mysterious birds and buzzers and overlooked by an old farmhouse standing on the hill. The eyes of the owls shimmer in the dark, the crickets sound noisy. This is Jasmine Noir with its dark bottle and its blend of nocturnal flowers, precious woods, almonds, obscure liquorice and tonka. A drama of delicacy and romanticism. Superb.

This is complex, nutty-piquant virile sophistication, one of the latest pillars of classicism. I'm a lover of fragrances and own many many great scents in my collection but few of them are so able to break as well my heart. Ungaro lll is one of my best friends wherever I am and surely one of the greatest fragrances ever created. Tall, dark, romantic and conservative, as said, this masterpiece is a true symphony concert, an aromatic, spicy, green, perfect blend of lavender, aromatic herbs, vodka and citrus (mainly orange) as top notes, nocturnal flowers (princess the rose) in the middle and woods (and spicy ambergris) in the base. The outcome is a sort of nutty, woodsy, boozy, dusty-herbal, poetic, saturnine, intimate creation with a notable presence of spices and nuances of fruits, musks, roots and flowers (important notes are also orange and melancholic lily). Ungaro lll is a romance dramatically royal in each occasion, comforting for women, hypnotic in the course of the first date, encouraging in the universe of business. You'll be followed by a sumptuous, nocturnal, romantic, sophisticated wake, by a whisper full of poetry, lived life and dreams. Wearing Ungaro lll you'll embody a sort of decadent and never ending mature aura which pushes ever and ever you upward, over the top levels in these rugged routes of the wonderful life.

A super genial piece of glamour-chic modern perfumery. Alien is weird, carnal/dissonant, floral/poudre, sweet/acid, in perfect Thierry Mugler's style. An hyper fancy synth sambac jasmine's rendition. Deeply influencing in my opinion the following Esoteric by Alyssa Ashley, this scent is an interplanetary barbarian, a sort of extraterrestrial, metallic, balsamic, synthetic frozen vanilla/floral serum's smell, a space shuttle in which I detect the hand of the sadly departed Laurent Bruyere, the king of chic fragrances, working in here side by side with Dominique Ropion in order to blend this sort of perfumed Swarovski. Many assume this is a modern daily time scent while in my opinion this scent is decidedly a night time fragrance even if not exactly dark and mysterious in substance. This one is essencially a chic and sophisticated evening creation. The first burst is earthy and citric-metallic, a sort of roaring synthetic punch that becomes soon flowery in a sophisticated way. The flower protagonist is the jasmine, properly sambac jasmine, a special quality which is assumed to be a pillar of the chic-aura's effect. As well as Foetidus mentioned, this kind of jasmine has an immediate earthy-rooty undertone which, combined with citrusy notes, determines a sort of " metallurgic-floral " opening. The heart introduces an accord provided by interaction between cashmeran, a woody musky element, and the admittedly synthetic Solar note, a sort of artificial element that I can't catch in its essence but that has assumedly a sort of airy, balsamic and vanillic hispid smell. The base notes are mastered by white amber, a softly woody-musky kind of amber, a sort of airy and sunny kind of woody-powdery aroma. Alien is a very chic and modern experiment which, on a pretty daring woman, could wave out as a dangerous burst of pure sex.

Masterly evocative scent that I even prefer over the glorious Vetiver Guerlain and the strongly earthy vetivers around a la Etro's and Route du Vetiver. In my perception this is a sort of colonial exotic vetiver that epitomizes the colonial universe with its oceanic woody ships, the spices, the epic crossings of the sea, the multicolored quarters, the islands, the elysian parrots, the white clothed traders smoking cigars, the sultry and carnal luxuriant vegetation etc. SDV is in my opinion an exotic, ozone, floral-salty vetiver, slightly citric, fruity and earthy in the top, sliding soon in to a flowery (Iris, geranium?), iodated, spicy bourbon vetiver where the vulgarity of the roots and the spices is tamed by the ylang ylang soapiness. This is the vetiver of a windy sunny day on a oceanic green coast, the iodine smell is sweetly blown on your face. At the beginning of development the fruity citric initial burst reminds to me vaguely the aroma of a mediterranean garden by coloured flowers, citrus and fruits. A touch of patchouli in the dry down enhances the exoticism of the scent and anchors this fragrance to the manly universe due to its combination with bourbon vetiver. I would wear it in a sunny, airy, busy day in Caracas or Panama City. A dreamy scent anyway. The longevity is medium for this scent that is in my opinion one of the best daily time concoctions recently (in the last ten years at least) created.

Inhaling this one I imagine a forest of pines dominating on a promontory beaten by a stormy splashing ocean in a shadowy, winter late afternoon. The dark/green threatening ocean is dreadful and deep and the waves are high and bursting. This one belongs to the ozone-marine family, probably the most infamous of the genres among the scents addicted. It's not my favourite type of fragrances for sure but i disagree with the tendency to discredit previously (as for an intellectual principle) some olfactory genre or family, since each of those owns the same basic dignity in my opinion. This is a really appreciable fragrance anyway, silent and pure in an almost transcendant way. In particular what strikes me is its" mountainous-marine", slightly prickly trail of cool breeze. I detect the presence of something like a citric-green-piney aroma combined with fruity, floral, aldehydic and peppery elements providing a smell that conjures me a frozen type of breeze from the winter sea beating on a woodsy coast. Aqua dry down turns out in terms of "firs and pines" coniferous-ambery-salty ozone effect. The sophistication of the scent is provided by some sharp flowers in the mix, may be jasmine that enters in the middle, following the fruity initial burst and as prelude to a woody-ambery-balsamic dry down. Aqua belongs to those kinds of aquatics not bad for a cool spring time evening out.

By now classic and very unique scent, by far better than the following flanckers, cult fragrance among women all over the planet earth. This juice has mastered the end of 80's and the whole 90's but still now is on the edge of the market. As well as repeatedly underlined Fahrenheit is the scent of green-floral patterns, chamomille, motor oil-gasoline and violets which ends down in to a leathery-woody-ambery vaguely resinous (and super virile) assertive accord. The note of chamomille elicits a sort of tea-like ambiental urban atmosphere while the ingenious combination of gasolinic rubber and the dominat floral violet (as combined with ambergris and lavender) affords an aura of metropolitan cool fancy minimalistic sophistication.
This juice projects a unique, visionary, almost mystic "atmosphere" (something I'd say vaguely ascetic and eastern "in its meditative take on extreme silence and indipendence" despite its profoundly western urban avant-gardism), an aura of solitude and meditation. Fahrenheit is the perfume of a unique man with a gaze toward infinity, a man looking beyond his limits in order to discover the secrets of what is unknown and indefinite. What I find marvellous is the inedited (at that time) association of the key elements (resinous, rubbery, floral, woody, leathery) which infuses its original petroleous flowery averagely dry and fresh substance. Along the dry down I detect that minimal touch of tonka bean which seems to impress the typical fresh, rubbery, gasolinic rounded effect. Very powerful (in projection) and distinctive it has a remarkable longevity on my skin. Versatile in all the situations, either in the day and night time.

A fragrance for the wolves of the darkness, the scent of the young gangsters and the metals. In my opinion this is one of the darkest fragrances out there, naughty, gothic in a modern way, the goth of a desolate, gloomy ukrainian club in the middle of a cold winter season while you are roaming in black leather clothed around the dancefloor, in order to catch one of the few relentless, lonely, half drunk girls
stuck at counter. Suicide music, squallid unmodern place, disconsolate souls, smell of onions and spirits around, danger in the air. Despite the captivating youthful packaging this flanker could also be considered due for the adulthood and surely mature (though in a brash synthetic way) and bold (that doesn't mean refined), although unfortunately the praline note is a bit too much "chemical". Black xs is a sour-sweet, spicy, fruity monster sillage. The bitter tone is determined by a smell close to lemon and dry pineapple as flanked by sage, than in the middle enters in scene the protagonist, a sort of dry, cold, simil-strawberry note mixed with dark spices (cinnamon and pepper) which extends its strength sliding in to a patchouli leaves and ebony synthetic amber base. Probably the strawberry juice is hidden in the praline note which links the top with the woody ambery dry down retaining a role of protagonist. What i love of this scent is the cold aura of punk and moody desolation that transmits outside, which in my opinion is not understated by the undeniable tad of projected freshness. A fragrance for me is above all atmosphere and individual sensations, this is often sufficient to reserve a thumps up to something un-natural and unrefined still too far to be considered a real masterpiece.

Distinction and style could hardly reach higher peaks. A "patrician" piece of olfactive artistry. We are talking about one of the best business distinguished scents ever created (all at once luxurious and exotic), wearing this one you will surely close the deal. What a masterful creation Heritage Guerlain is, the last Jean Paul's giant, powerful but at same time discreet, decidedly refined and decadent although not exclusively baroque, substantially the elegance of the new millennium in a bottle (while Habit rouge represented an epic and historical archetype of elegance). Heritage is a somewhat forbidding fragrance, I mean in the sense it infuses an aura of extreme spicy seriousness and severity. This scent, as a masterly work of balancements, starts with a top of indolent bergamot, fresh coriander and citrus lavender that anchor the juice to tradition, than a spicy-floral (quite peppery, earthy and rosey) middle is the prelude to a woody, well balanced, vanillic-ambery (vaguely incensey) base with its refined spicy-rooty patchouli backbone in perfect accord with the traditional, peppery fougere opening. Pure classy multifaceted Guerlinade. Really close to Davidoff Zino (rose, vanilla/patchouli, oriental spices, sandalwood) despite I find Heritage higher in aristocratic decadence and possibly more complex. The presence of spices, first of all the pepper, is bold and mastering. Perfecty appointed is in my opinion is the link between lavender (a key note, finally freshly powdery-vanillic), tonka bean, patchouli and a magistrally modulated vanilla which represents the refined soul of a complex scent which includes in subtle touches also a bunch of restrained flowers, and an important presence of woodsy elements like patchouli, cedarwood, sandalwood, oakmoss, and furthers. A stable in my collection.
PS: Heritage is not properly a fragrance "that a man that worked in a office would wear.", Heritage is more appropriate for a galà evening at Bolshoi Theatre in Moskow (especially combining the Edt with a couple of Edp spray). Heritage is not something as Cartier Pasha, Burberry London, Canali for men or Kiton Man, Heritage is something more elevated and "cultured", something more in line with the french aristocratic grandeur, It possesses something slightly decadent and neo-classic, yet something vaguely dandy (a la Habit Rouge) in a excentrically intellectual way (for a viveur with a classy charme, sense of humor and a sense of measure but always around the world for shows, theatres and refined restaurants), being more in line with scents as il Profvmo Patchouli Noir, Malle Portrait of a Lady, Les Nereides Patchouli Antique, Fendi or Aramis JHL.

Let me to exaggerate with emphasis, please. Habit Rouge: baroque, risorgimental, decadent, contemporary spiritual and temporal, Royal and revolutionary, anyway a fragrance to be intended as an historical and epic romance full of love stories, travels, births and deads, wars and peaces. Each time i wear HR i start to figure on mind the Hermitage's interiors or the Royal Building's halls and i feel immediately surrounded by pictures, draperies, chandeliers, tapestries and by any sort of valuables. Years ago, when my olfactory religion was monotheistic, this scent has stood in solitude on my side for more than twelve years, lording over thousands of mediocre scents out there in the clubs or in the offices and following me with its sophisticated wake indiscriminably in more than forty different countries being those cold or warm, exotic or continental, poor or rich. HR used to be the king in each situation. Nowadays, being me a bit less romantic and more disenchanted, HR stands on my desk side by side with other eloquent masterpieces, ready to snap when necessary for a special occasion. When i smelt for first time HR was at London Heathrow wasting time at duty free and my starting reaction was pure shock, i smelt something so different from the green classic fougere, or from ozone-marine, something so evocative, opulent, so boldly and deliberately retro. I had the urge to purchase it. Passing time i started to understand this fragrance which, demanding respect and reverence, required time to be approached. The HR citrus and resinous opening leads the senses, through a woody-floral middle stage, towards a sumptuous powdery-vanilla-incensed-ambery base with a leathery detectable addition and full of many baroque nuances not proper to this vulgar world. HR is like a slightly smoked orange flavored whisky to be drunk while smoking a cuban cigar in front of fire. The Edt, better the vintage formula more hesperidic, earthy and baroque (i dislike the EDP quitely but love deeply the EDC for daily time use) is the fragrance of the Opera and theaters, is the fragrance of the tight and the tuxedo, the scent of the golden domes and arches. HR's man is the anti macho, but for this not less charismatic and unapologetic, he is intellectually bold, a womanizer gentleman. I will always reserve all my respect to this melancholic creation and to all those uninterested wearers going on along the HR's golden road regardless for the contemporary styles.

A purified high quality vetiver in notable amount, imported from far oceanic islands, stands side by side with a cold and sinister continental cypress, both over a base of smoked/steamy musky woods. Any shade about something resinous, tasty or gourmand in this fragrance. This is simply a dry and obscure elegant vetiver hundred of miles far from the sunny, windy-ozonic The Different Company Sel de Vetiver, from all the dozens boisterous resinous/earthy vetivers around (Etro, Route du Vetiver, Athunis Sigilly, Mona di Orio etc etc) and from some historical spiced and tobacco smelling colonial vetivers a la Guerlain's classic one. Encre Noir is a metropolitan stuff, very contemporary, not evocative, as said industrial and nearly metallic. It's very clean and fresh. Appreciable and a bit melancholy. For dynamic, desolate spirits of the hurban hell.

Falling down the shadows this is a great, great solution. This fragrance is neither the best choice for a gala meeting or a convention nor is precisely specific for a first date with a beautiful creature. It works better in the previous phase, it's due to look for a date, to seize your unknown prey, to scout out a talented mate somewhere in a smoky downtown hellish venue. In order to catch these goals Scent Intense is truly unbeatable. Its unsettling aroma is a ghostly whiff of velvet, suede and smoky amber. Scent Intense, as said, is an avantgarde-luxurious-nocturnal-androgynous-enigmatic-dandy-pop-stylish fragrance which leans on the manly side in my opinion and is in each sense an absolutely irresistible attraction for a multitude of women all over the world. Never received so many compliments wearing a fragrance, I swear about, it overcomes all the others in the "greatest hits" perfumed parade. Scent Intense is a real magnet, a naughty potion wearing which the humble, the shy man becomes immediately a predator. This one is the perfect ultimate fragrance for clubbing in my humble opinion. Velvet underground and dark bacchanalian. Simply in its structure, as many have previously mentioned, Scent Intense is not certainly a masterpiece by the complex olfactory twists and balancements (in spite of its perfect balanced), it's not a mathematic equation of historical perfumery memory. This is nevertheless a worthy scent for its capacity to stimulate the senses, to attract people and not least due to a sort of resinous and dirty testosteronic undertone similar to a smell of arm pit's sweat (not a stinking arm pit, of course), that's because of the implementation of synthetic, ostensibly human-organic, pheromonal cystine in the cult formula. Scent Intense, thank to a "Vogue-fashion" Jasmine flower/hybiscus "acid" combo in the mix, arouses an irresistible wet chic floral aura (vaguely a la Chanel Allure but far far silkier, richer and more temperamental), a touch of glamour that converts this aroma out as a perfect weapon for clubs and battles in the obscure parties against relentless teen agers to tame. This Scent Intense's particular acid-metallic-dissonant floral/spicy undertone conjures me a similar feel projected by another scent which I love: Alexander McQueen Kingdom. It's comfortable and encouraging, very bold, an extraordinary fragrance that could be worn also by a fatal mysterious woman although I see it decidedly more suitable for men under the lens of a paparazzi camera. The jasmine-tea top note provides this ambery fragrance with a fresh crisp touch that understates and balances the otherwise usual, often boring, warm effect of the typical woody ambery concoctions. The "jasmine black tea" top is definitely the secret of Scent Intense; this tea is flavoured by some red berries that enhance the general dark atmosphere of the obscure aroma. In a second phase comes out the turn of a delicate and surreal Hibiscus which links the top with the "burnt-sugary" dry down increasing the general sophistication of the creation. This fruity-floral infusion floats, as a made of paper boat, on a sink of smoky, incensey, soapy leathery (silky suede more than leather) and woody amber (burnt sugar and dried fruits) in which the dark patchouli pushes endly the button over the masculine side like a sort of counterpart to jasmine and hibiscus. Finally, after many hours, the suede touch smells more than vaguely like a sort of expensive furry aroma. A pity for all (actually just a couple or few more) those "following reviewers" that didn't have the patience to wait the aroma's evolution or for those writing about "sugary amber" (Scent Intense is far more) or "wasps attraction" and senseless stuffs like those (actually not only the wasps appreciate this great fragrance engineered by that genius of the sadly departed Laurent Bruyere). Very good longevity and powerful projection for this cult classic scent, truly unrenounciable by all the predators of Madame Night.

A masterpiece of originality and romanticism just conceived for nostalgic and decadent souls, this very complex and sophisticated fragrance conjures up left back images (by now opaque in the memory) as heavenly afternoons of the far youth spent in the gardens of nobiliar italian austere buildings, running long the tracks of green labyrinths followed on the back by shouting children (exactly as you at time). I figure on mind young ladies in white laced dressed and midafternoon's snacks consumed in suits clothed under the shade of oaks. This fragrance conjures at me images of rooms by high ceilings equiped and adorned by tapestries, heralds, trompe d'oeils and valuable crockery, rooms whereof the air was filled by the aroma of sweets and cakes. Today those glorious buildings, once crowded and industrious, are in loneliness spoiling and while lurking outside the courts you can observe just an old moody guardian no willing to talk. The juice itself starts with an aromatic-balsamic very complex (vaguely candied and spiced) blast of bergamot, lavender, orange, verbena and conifers, than slides down, passing through a bunch of floral-deeply spicied middle notes, in to a puzzling tobacco/patchouli/sandalwood-veined ambery-oriental base coloured by a solitary and tasty twist of civet. The lavender is tenacious since the beginning (providing a classic fougere initial aura) and detectable throughout. Romeo Gigli Uomo possesses a very remarcable longevity. It is a really original, romantic, creamy grassy, spicy and slightly baroque fragrance for solitary souls of the farms, a dreamy scent that manages you to plunge sometimes back in a delicate rarefied heavenly world populated by disappeared things and lost affections.

Really close to Givenchy Xeryus and Borsalino by Borsalino, Enrico Coveri Pour Homme, namely an ambery-mossy alternative to the vintage Trussardi Uomo (although the Trussardi Uomo's darkness exuded by tobacco, dry spices and incense is in Coveri missed), once was, in the past years (80's italian rampant years) a respectable leathery, mossy, ambery fragrance epitome of masculine dynamism and elusive sensuality. A starting blast of green hesperidic lavender was followed by a woody progression ending down, never without a touch of melancholic flowers, in to a somewhat leathery and ambery mossy drydown that conjures me a lot the grey final Xeryus's impenetrable virility. Good longevity for this sober soul with a touch of romantic flowers and ozone. Uncompromisingly masculine.

P.S: There are also a lot of similarities with vintage Tsar (a lot of notes in common for these two really mossy/floral scents) but while the V&A's one tends finally more towards a green/aromatic and resinous sort of woodiness (vetiver, patchouli, pine resins, cedarwood) Enrico Coveri slides in conclusion towads a vaguely leathery (smooth and secretly rubbery) accord of ambergris, tonka and oakmoss. Anyway, is Xeryus (and I'd quote Borsalino as well) the fragrance that most of all seems to share something in common with Coveri (and viceversa of course).