Complex (2009)
by Boadicea the Victorious

Complex emerges from its bottle as a fully-blown green leather chypre with animalic overtones and an intensely bitter edge. Birch tar runs rampant here, and your reaction to this fragrance will depend largely upon how you respond to that ingredient’s smoky olfactory profile. Me, I love the stuff, so Complex is right up my alley. The opening is vaguely reminiscent of Bandit EdP, but whereas Bandit reveals floral elements after its spiky herbaceous launch, Complex is resolutely linear in course, and never veers far from its initial subject matter. After several hours of solid projection and conspicuous sillage, Complex settles into a warm, animalic labdanum drydown. As a composition Complex is bold and uncompromising, and I admire how it keeps true to its materials.

Indeed, I have only one major problem with Complex. Its name? Aramis 900.

Stop laughing.

Right now.

I won’t claim that the two scents are identical – they aren’t. But there are parallels, especially in their opening and closing movements. The Aramis too starts out as a brashly bitter, herbaceous, green leather chypre, though admittedly a bit softer in texture and less smoky than the Boadicea The Victorious scent. Ironically enough, Aramis 900 is more, well, complex than Complex in its development. While Complex is staunchly linear, Aramis 900 builds a floral/balsamic accord alongside is leather chypre block, thereby establishing a compelling structural tension. Both scents ultimately arrive at the same labdanum-rich destination, even if the Aramis does take a more circuitous route.

So while they do differ, I believe that Aramis 900 and Complex could easily play the same role in a moderate-sized fragrance wardrobe. The question for any potential purchaser is whether Complex’s relative toughness and monolithic structure appeal enough to merit spending five times(!) Aramis 900’s price. I will tell you in no uncertain terms that the discrepancy in pricing does not reflect any difference in quality. Aramis 900 may be inexpensive and in good supply, but it is a superb Bernard Chant formula and parent company Estée Lauder has treated it with superb care – oak moss and all. The bottom line: Complex is a good scent, but I’d try both Aramis 900 and Bandit before spending upwards of $250 US on it!

Complex - heavy and sharp animalic violets and leather

Complex is a mess.

It starts out sharply with animalic (in your face civet) and tarry violets accented by some bitter-sour labdanum. At this point, I get both the basil and sage together all at once.... and it pretty much stays the same with the ingredients in this chaotic blend fighting for your attention, but at the end, the violet, civet/musk, and birch tar wins. Here, the birch tar and labdanum together help create a smoky-leathery effect. It's not as sensual and enveloping as MKK, it's not a 'second-skin' scent like L'ombre Fauve, and in no way is it nuanced or multi-faceted. It's pretty surprising how it remains sharp from top to base the whole time as well. The overall impression is that the creation is rather confused, unstructured, and just chooses to go with brute force rather than intelligence. (which is just a nice way of saying "It's a stupid crap scent.")

List of notes: Violet, labdanum, leather, musk, civet, basil, sage

I rarely pan fragrances because even if I don't care for the accords I can usually find redeeming qualites that others may enjoy. That said, this is by far one of the worst fragrances I have ever sampled. I was hopeful given the notes because I love dark, animalic leather scents but Complex goes horribly, horribly wrong. The top notes remind me of the smell of the underside of an old car - gasolline and dirt. Not gasoline like, say, Dior Fahrenheit - or a 'fuel' type leather such as Caron En Avion - but gasoline. This strong gassy topnote slowly fades from gasoline into something resembling an overflowing cigarette ashtray at which point a touch of violet peers out from underneath. The violet isn't nearly sweet enough to balance the 'ashtray accord'. Not only is Complex difficult to take, but it's not original, either. The leather/violet combo is very similar to Armani Prive Cuir Amethyste. In fact the best way to describe the fragrance is to imagine the smell of someone who just applied Cuir Amethyste to their hand and then dipped their still-wet hand into an ashtray.

Unfortunately for me I dabbed on Complex right before getting in the car for a long drive, thus I couldn't scrub as I normally would have (though it did give me the opportunity to smell it long enough to review it). The sillage is heavy - the small dab overpowered the Pour Monsieur I was wearing - and it has tenacious longevity. I could still smell hints of it hours after scrubbing.

As someone who appreciates the concept as 'fragrance as art, even if unwearable' I have a high threshold for weirdness. However Complex is not an artistic statement gone wrong (such as Etat Libre's Secretions Magnifique), it is just a terrible fragrance.

This is very unusual bone-dry musky scent which is fairly and squarely masculine. It is unusual in that it is very dry and earthy in its overall character, but with a magnificent contrasting floral note of violet, which almost but not quite introduces a hint of sweetness. So, the floral note is totally masculine too. Complex is a great name for this fragrance. I believe most people will find it hard to think on something very similar to it. It could be worn during the day if lightly applied. It is probably at its best as an evening fragrance, especially for the man out to impress ladies. Sophisticated and sensual.