Fragrance Reviews by rex

Supposedly to contain the highest concentration of Vetiver on the market, VE has the sharpest and bitterest opening on the planet dominated by an ozonic, raw vetiver, pepper and a hint of bergamot followed by a dry woody drydown devoid of any sweetness. Unfortunately longevity and sillage on human skin are very poor and frequent reapplications costly. To get the most of it, spray it on your clothes as well, where it wonderfully stays for several days.

This one was my signature scent somewhere back in the 80ies and the 90ies. It was probably one of the first scents I wore in my life. After many others and amongst them some really highly praised and expensive niches I gave it a retry, found it to be unchanged and thought "Wow, why even bother with something else?". This feels still so good with its herbal, anisic, minty opening and it's dry musky drydown. For me Azzaro PH is one of the best five male scents ever and probably the sexiest of all time. To get all this for half the price of any Creed not nearly half as good is the best thing of all.

Two minutes of heaven followed by two hours of boredom. Avoid it if you don't plan to walk around with an atomizer in your pocket.

Guerlain Vetiver. Easily one of the top five male scents of all time, even after it's infamous reformulations. But I swear that the day Guerlain decides to relaunch it in its former glory, I will throw away all my other colognes and wear only this till the end of my days.

Very good aromatic fougère with a decent amount of sillage and moderate longevity. Nice boddle concept with that cute splint to prevent the can from leaking. Quite affordable for a niche too. All in all a clear thumps ub. But where's the sea?

This has been said to smell like many things: Urinal cake, cat pee, semen. It is an oxymoron. Clean and dirty, fresh and sweet. Wonderful and disgusting. Clove and citrus in the opening and a wonderful musk and amber in the drydown and, yes, unmistakenly a discreet but distinct urinal note thanks to that infamous civet. I think it's true that you have to be european to really appreciate this marvel. We like things that are on the borderline between delicious and disgusting. We eat things that people from other parts on the world would'nt even touch (sausages made of blood, snails, internal organs, chesse that smells like rotten corpses...). No wonder it's a huge seller around here. Bourdon deserves a medal for making such an wonderful, anachronistic fragrance and not only walking away with it, but creating one of the greatest succes storys in modern perfumery. Apply it lightly and it won't fail you! (Semen, by the way, according to a Professor of mine back in medical school, supposedly smells like chestnut blossoms...)

Whatever Vetiver is in there dissolves after a fraction of a second only to be replaced by the most sickening synthetic amber that will stick on your skin for days. This is badly made and overpriced niche at its worst. I'd rather walk around in any Hugo Boss fragrance you can name. Hideous!

An unbearable, never ending, cloying sweet amber and vanilla that won't go away despite furious washing attemps.