No. 88 (1981)
by Czech & Speake

I feel compelled to offer this as a warning: DO NOT BLIND BUY!

I'm not able to elaborate on the development of the fragrance because I can't get past the opening. Very stuffy like a dark room that hasn't had any fresh air or light for years, saturated with rose pot pourri. Not for me.

A high quality scent but definitvly not for me. It's seem that the fragrance react strongly to the chemistry of my skin, making it projection enormous maybe too enourmous for me.

As every review talk about his scent, I will not but I will suggest not to blind buy this fragrance but to test it before.

Also, I would suggest to wear it for formal occasion if you are in the 20th. You may be able to wear it everyday if your older. As teflondog said, it's not a chicks magnet and I strongly suggest you don't wear it at a club. My experience told me that club chick don't appreciate that fragrance because it can be a little soapy or too sophisticated.

I would have gave a thumb down but I think my body chemistry make it worst than it is and someof you might really enjoy this fragrance.

Beautiful, but devoid of life.

No. 88 is one of the few fragrances that has frustrated me to the point of not being sure whether I should write a review. Reviews are always subjective things, but in the case of No. 88 the frustration it elicits from me makes me wonder if I have some sort of bias against it.

No. 88 opens with a lovely combination of bergamot and geranium: the bergamot is round and full, and the geranium is lush and fiery. At this stage the fragrance is full of life and possibility.

As the heart of No. 88 opens up the rose and other flowers temper the fiery geranium, and begin what I hoped would be a transition into lush flowers.

Sadly, the flowers are not lush. There is one of each kind of flower. They have been cut and placed in a very expensive vase. They have no connection to the plant on which they grew, the earth in which the plant stood, or the sun and sky above. They are elegant flowers providing no more than a hint of life in a room that is too elegant and understated.

From fiery and lush to too elegant and understated in less than ten minutes is very frustrating.

And then the base arrives. Cold vetiver, sweet sandalwood, and a recently soaped saddle. Elegant and understated once more, and devoid of life.

How can so many beautiful things smell so constrained and restrained?

No. 88 is for those individuals who like their sensuality and sexuality under glass. If you are passionate about life stay away from No. 88.

And for the comparisons between Black Aoud and No. 88 … I don’t even know where to begin. Black Aoud is rippling sensuality and sexuality. Black Aoud is a lush, moist rose still connected to the earth and the sky. No. 88 is a corpse.

Drakkar Noir disguised as the Scarlet Pimpernel. Or is it the other way around? It's a Foppish powerhouse scent. Yes, I know, another 'Wow what a contradiction' review.
Allright, mate. You figure this one out!
One of these days I'll understand the army of thumbs up for Bois du Portugal, Tam Dao and this one. Scents which I find to be OK, but no great shakes. Then I shall attain satori, or write a book like Luca . . .

It may be a beautiful scent but it smells like every headshop on the West Coast of the USA. Very cheap incense producers have copied this scent perfectly or is the the other way around?

intrigue and mystery . . . I like this one alot - good sign is that it is always sold out