Esprit du Roi (1870)
by Penhaligon's

This one opens up with a standard woody, citrus accord. Some tomato and raspberry leaves join in and later a littler geranium. There are some aldehydes in there and some florals join in the heart as well. In the base, some hints of vetiver, sandalwood and musk come through. There is a lot going on in this fragrance from start to finish and overall it comes through as sophisticated and easy wearing.

9th February, 2012.

HEAD NOTES: Citrus Accord, Bergamot, Mandarin, Cedrat, Mint, Tomato Leaf, Davana Essence, Aldehydes, Cardamom Absolute

HEART NOTES: Clove, Egyptian Geranium, Madagascan Ylang Ylang, Jasmine, Honeysuckle

BASE NOTES: Vetiver, Cedar, Sandalwood, Patchouli, Raspberry Absolute, White Musk, Ambergris, Oakmoss, Africa Stone

... and a partridge in a pear tree. So many ingredients, such wasted potential.
On me, this is a overly "bright" and quite generic fresh-spice scent. Like many drugstore scents, a heavy hand with aldehydes dominates and ruins this. It is supposed to be a "lush woody citrus" but none of those aspects really are presented.
Given the price and promise of quality which does not appear, I find this to be very poor value and I do not recommend it.

21st January, 2012.

Bertrand Duchaufour's 2011 re-working of Esprit Du Roi revisits the fougère territory of the previous year's Sartorial, but with less cleverness and a diminished sense of fun. The intention seems to have been to build a masculine around the idea of sourness: there's a feisty grapefruit at the beginning, followed by a tangy, not entirely appealing herbaceous edge which probably comes from the raspberry leaf absolute (all rasp; no berry). This in turn causes the hay aspect of the coumarin to come out in goosebumps, which ultimately causes the temperature of the whole to plunge to sub-zero depths. If you get up close - and I mean really close - you can detect the faintest growl of an animalic base, but otherwise wearing this feels like being on the receiving end of a chilly glare from a boss with a distressing love of performance management.

10th November, 2011.