Fragrance Reviews by Leontion

Dark, spicy rose. Very smooth and almost edible but with a rich, earthy, mossy base. I find the longevity and sillage formidable - one of the rare scents that will go all day on the strength of a spritz or two in the morning. I first smelt this on a coworker - I have never known her to apply perfume at work but I can detect this on her all day and can actually tell where she has been in the building. I find that it lasts in the same way on my very dry and generally perfume defeating skin. Garners a great number of compliments. Very sexy but also very composed and well put together. The Black Aoud comparisons are accurate; however I find Black Aoud bitter, headache inducing and heavy handed. Noir de Noir in comparison is a much leaner and more graceful creature. Absolutely splendid stuff in my book and without a shadow of a doubt the best I have tried in the Tom Ford line.

Cheap and cheerful favourite from Yves Rocher. Dry and dusty cocoa (rather than chocolate) and earthy patchouli. Not a million miles from Lutens Borneo 1834; frankly I prefer Cocoon. A woody gourmand that leans towards the woody end of the spectrum and avoids the tooth-ache inducing sweetness of Angel and its like. Very cozy without being cloying.

I find this light, clean, woody musk very pleasant. Nothing particularly ground breaking. I detect a hefty dose of the cedar-ish Iso E Super. Definitely unisex. I prefer this to the women's version.

I didn't quite get Allure Sensuelle at first, it is a study in contrasts - cool, clean, savory and yet warm, woody and sweet at the same time. The patchouli, vanilla and frankincense base is both cozy and very sexy, overlaid by a jammy melon or apricot note. Suprisingly, the effect is not cloying or sweet, nor gourmand in the manner of Angel. The parfum is more subtle and refined than the EdP and the incense notes are more intense in the parfum. I find Allure Sensuelle both earthy and ethereal and the parfum has become a holy grail for me.

There are a few ambivalent reviews here, however this ranks as the closest I have come to finding anything that might be deemed to be a 'holy grail'. Bone dry, this smells to me of dust, hot coals, incense and seared wood. Whilst sheer, this is one of the few fragrances that lasts a full day on my skin - very tenacious, just as you think you've lost it, you catch the trail again.

I've become more and more interested in fragrances that do not smell conventionally "perfume-y", particularly if they manage to paint an olfactory picture. Wishing to avoid hyperbole, this opens with the sharp vegetal green tang of crushed leaves and softens to a wet rooty violet and perhaps a hint of chilly iris - a true to life floral, perfectly conjuring a midnight walk in a damp spring garden. A little unconventional, but really very pretty and wearable.

The best £10 I've spent on a frag in a long while. An initial blast of sweet fruit is tempered by a warm and slightly spicy cedar and musk dry down. It really is rather lovely and will probably be my Christmas scent this year. Doesn't last too long, but for the price you can't really grumble about that and Berkeley Square do a range of other bath and body products in the same scent for layering.