Fragrance Reviews by Caltha

I expected this to be a cooler, brighter, fresher ginger than Gingembre, but actually it has the same generic warm/rich/sweet/musty/oriental/vintage DSH base. It doesn't get as sharp and powdery though, instead the ginger note lasts much much longer. Unfortunately, the ginger note in Indochine, while more longlasting, is not as true as the short-lived one in Gingembre. It smells more like what I've come to expect from ginger notes in perfume - piquant, spicy, refreshing, citrusy - than like fresh ginger root. It's warmer and more syrupy than fresh ginger, closer to the powdered spice. It also reminds me a bit of the "ginger lily" note, which gives the scent a slight tropical/exotic feel, without the pina coladas and seabreeze. I enjoy it mainly because I adore ginger and pure ginger scents are so rare.

This is DSH's generic, slightly vintage-style warm/sweet/rich/powdery/musty oriental base with an added ginger kick. I'd say crystallised ginger rather than the fresh root. I love ginger in any form so I'm happy! Unfortunately, the true ginger note vanishes really quickly and morphs into a nose-tickling, powdery sharpness instead. Also, despite "feeling like" a strong and rich scent it seems to have no sillage whatsoever, I mean not enough to feel it on yourself unless you put your wrist to your nose. Thumbs up for the rare and true-to-life ginger, thumbs down for the rest.

I can recommend this as a "budget" alternative to Miller Harris' Fleurs de Sel. It starts our harsher, colder and more metallic, but the metallic note quickly turns into a saltiness very similar to Fleurs de Sel. The herbs are a but harsher and more traditionally masculine in Rive Gauche, and it does have a cooler, more watery tone that makes it feel more generically masculine and less high end. I personally prefer Fleurs de Sel enough to pay the higher price and I don't need another scent this similar, but that said, I can really recommend Rive Gauche pour homme. Just have patience through the offputting topnote - I didn't want to try this at all after just smelling it on paper, but then I read something about it being a salty fragrance and decided to try it on skin, which I don't regret as it gets better and better.

Like so many other DSH perfumes, both in the cheaper and the more expensive range, this is a fairly dull, traditional sweet/warm/muddy/smooth/powdery oriental. Half of them smell the same if you ask me! Not bad, just not very exciting. I like to be able to pick out at least one note, it adds a certain interest to a scent.... Well, I suppose you could pick out saffron in this, the kind of perfume-note saffron that has nothing to do with the wonderful aroma of the spice, but is more of a golden, powdery sweetness type note. If you really really dig that note, why not try Cimabue? I'm disappointed that saffron in perfume never smells like saffron in food and I'll pass on this version of it.

This is intended as a masculine scent, the classification here on Basenotes is wrong. Anyway, I gladly wear men's scents, but not this! This is just horrible. It has a hint of nice spiciness combined with a disgustingly stale, coconutty sweetness and an artificially "cool and fresh" schampoo-like accord that I can literally taste. The combination is horrid.

At first I dismissed this as interesting rather than pleasing and not really me, and thought Sel de Vetiver was the only salty fragrance I needed. But I've been on a salt kick this summer and they're different enough that I'd like bottles of both - SdV wet and green, FdS dry and brown. It's herbal, but not in a green way, more like scorched herbs on scorched earth covered by a layer of salt. The salt is very pure - just salty, no scary seaweed or fake aquatic notes - and refreshing. I was a bit wary of the sage, a note which normally doesn't work for me, but this is not a dense and bitter aromatherapy-style herbal/aromatic scent, instead it's a "natural and wholesome" theme rendered in an elegantly transparent haute perfumerie way. I love thyme and rosemary and I'm always looking for herbal scents which truly smell like the living thing rather than turning sour, sharp and stale on my skin, and this is it, only with a heap of salt on top! I don't feel the "fleurs" except as a hint of tastefully restrained sweetness, but I do feel the wood and vetiver in the basenotes, which combined with the salt smell more like driftwood than any deliberate "driftwood accords" I've come across. Or like a herb garden surrounded by a wooden fence in a seaside town. This is a wonderful alternative for those looking for a summer scent that is not synthetically "cool" and "clean".

I think Cuir d'Oranger is an underappreciated leather scent (not here on Basenotes obviously, but on the blogs) which I'd pick over Serge Lutens' headshoppy Cuir Mauresque any day! I'm not a great fan of neroli, but in Cuir d'Orange it adds a nice, gentlemanly citrusy/powdery touch. Overall, Cuir d'Oranger is a lot like smooth, warm, refined leather fragrances from days past, not the more modern ultra-realistic kind that smells like fresh hides or leather chairs (which I love too, mind you) As a reference, it's more like Tabac Blond than Knize Ten, without the metallic sharpness of the latter.

I really liked Citrus Paradisi on the test strip, it seemed like a great citrusy/spicy/warm and just a tad animalic composition. On skin, however, it's too much grapefruit. Way too much grapefruit. Grapefruit must be my least favourite citrus note, it always just smells synthetically "clean" and "fresh". It's so persistent and aggressive too - I'd rather take the bitterness of lemon or orange peel any day. On the test strip, this seemed like a classy classic citrus cologne, on skin it seems blatantly modern, modern as in "I'm a Man and I'm so Fresh I only smell of Shower Gel and Deodorant!" Yes, there's a little bit of civet underneath but that doesn't really work with the grapefruit blast. The composition seems hollow and unbalanced, like it has no heart notes (where are the herbs?), only a huge top balanced on a tiny base, and the contrast between cool/aquatic grapefruit and warm/animalic basenotes is just disgusting. It's hot today but I don't find it refreshing in the least, only nauseating. You can probably find something very similar much cheaper, just go for the highest concentration of grapefruit. But I'd rather you didn't, in case I have to stand next to you in an elevator...

Jitterbug has a cute name and I'm learning the dance so I wanted to like the fragrance. Well, it does smell vintage, but there are many other old or old-fashioned scents out there that are better and have more character. Jitterbug smells mostly warm and powdery to me, with a metallic sharpness. I can't pick out any notes and the blend is not glorious enough to capture my interest despite of that. It also seems to have rather poor throw and staying power, which is somewhat surprising as it "feels" like a rich and heavy oriental. I recommend going for the real thing and grabbing a cheap bottle of Tabu instead for a similar but more captivating effect.

Upon application, Quercus seems like a nice, if rather bland, light, refreshing citrus fragrance for summer. Unfortunately, the citrus topnote evaporates quickly, leaving a nondescript, generic, and extremely faint synthetically "fresh" and "cool" man's cologne type scent.

Lily & Spice is really nice. I don't normally go for lily fragrances, at all, but the lily note in this one is warm and soft and creamy instead of rottening or sharp or waxy. The spices (mostly saffron) harmonise nicely with the lily rather than adding a contrast, adding more warmth without being too dry. It's like a "light" oriental, clearly oriental in feel (warm, smooth, rich, spicy) but without being heavy or animalic. It really stands out as more modern than the rest of the line. Despite my amazement at finding a lily scent pleasant and wearable it still doesn't quite feel as "me" though. I think I'd rather go for the candle, in which a more prominent and animalic ambergris note adds a very nice touch.

In the interest of disclosure, I hate lavender. I appreciate what a dr lavender note can do juxtaposed with other elements of well composed fragrances such as Jicky and A Men, but I hate the sweeter, more floral side of lavender, I find it sickly. It's like something with the pretense of being "fresh" which is in fact not fresh at all. Lavandula is lavender softened with sweet and floral notes, presumably to make it less "masculine" and "aromatic" and more wearable for English ladies who like to sew little lavender-coloured bags of lavender with ribbons and lace to put in their drawers.

At first I didn't like it. I'm no fan of rose scents and especially not of the sort of dry, aromatic, rose geranium like one in Hammam Bouquet. What saved the scent for me was the strong animalic/soapy/musty/powdery/warm ambergris basenote, which feels very traditional, very unlike modern ambers. To me the scent is intriguing, comforting and nostalgic like an old house. If you've tried Creed's Ambre Cannelle you'll now what I'm talking about.

English Fern is green in a warm, dry, herbal, aromatic way, yes, pretty much a classic fougere I think. I appreciate how the herbal notes are not overpowering, sharp, bitter or sour like they too often are. The scent feels well blended and smooth with a distinct liquorice note - warm liquorice (fennel?) not cool anise. Feels outdoorsy in a refined, traditional way, like a 30ies gentleman in a light sports costume and a straw hat inspecting his garden or playing tennis with his wife without getting sweaty. Or possibly out for an autumn walk in a cashmere pullover - this may be an autumn scent rather than a summer scent. The sillage is quite strong and the scent linear and longlasting.

Well... it does smell quite a lot like generic "cool and fresh" men's cologne. But it's well done and very agreeable, with no harsh or sharp notes. A pleasant blend of citrusy/aquatic, lightly herbal/spicy, subtly floral and smoothly leathery. It's probably the warm leather base that saves it for me, gives it some interest. My girlfriend liked it even more than I did so I gave my sample to her.

Freezing cold, artificially fresh but thankfully not so perfumey sharp as, say, Light Blue. Even my sister who likes cool/fresh scents (like Light Blue!) found it too cold. Perhaps it does smell like blubells look (because surely they don't have a smell? And if they did it couldn't possibly be so cold!): blue, fragile, delicate, but it's not something I particularly appreciate. Not horrible though, a scent of this type might easily have been much more horrible since I don't normally agree with them. Just a heartless snow queen of a scent that doesn't blend with the skin chemistry at all.

Blenheim Bouquet is very dry, very aromatic. At first I found it unpleasantly harsh but then it sort of grew on me. A little bit. At least enough to warrant further testing. It does smell quite generic within its category of dated, 100% masculine gentleman, über-dry woody/herbal/citrusy scents and lacks something to add extra interest. But at least it is what it's marketed as: traditional.

Artemisia is an extremely dull floral with some annoyingly sharp and "fresh" notes on a cheap sweet vanilla base. Yawn. Smells like a tenth of the price and even then I wouldn't buy it. Wouldn't call this related to Endymion in any way, since Endymoin is actually a decent fragrance.

It seems to be very hard to create a good coffee scent that doesn't turn stale, but the coffee in Café Noir is rich and warm, more like ground coffee beans. It's also quite subtle and blended with the other notes in such a way that it might be mistaken for a bitter cocoa note spicing up a gourmand. (A much better cocoa than in the sickening Piment et Chocolat!) Overall, the scent has a vintage feel to it - like one of those old-fashioned smooth, rich, warm, powdery orientals that instead of the strong synthetic sweetness so common today has a certain "bite" and restraint. I think the "bite" is the bitterness of the coffee note and the dry spices (pepper, cinnamon, pimento), which I sometimes have trouble with as they turn too dry and harsh and bitter on my skin, but here they're kept in check. Instead of doing funny Red Hot things the cinnamon actually smells like a cinnamon stick, an old one with a faint and slightly dusty scent. I can't really make out any of the other notes (resins, florals...) and I don't feel much sweetness from the tonka and vanilla. However, the scent does seem to turn sweeter as it develops on skin - a non-descript, almost white musk-like sweetness rather than a vanilla sweetness, which I guess is what'll linger in the end.
This might sound like a positive review, but actually I think the scent is just decent enough. It would be a star in DSH's cheaper line, but I set the expectations higher for Parfums des Beaux Art. It has a high comfort factor and I like the evocative, bittersweet vintage vibe, but it doesn't really stand out, except maybe as one of very few decent coffee scents. I do wonder if I might be anosmic to something in it though, or rather, if there's something in it I just feel briefly upon application and then quickly develops anosmia to, because it seems to have less throw and fade faster than one would expect from this type of scent in this concentration.

Yuck! Deeming from this scent, there's no difference between the "parfums des beaux art" and the cheaper DSH fragrances -- except the price! I thought it was on the sweet side but ok as a gourmandy comfort scent that didn't feel very sophisticated or expensive for about five minutes, then the chocolate note turned horrible and plasticky on my skin. I feel almost nothing of all the spices and stuff listed that would have made the scent a little darker and more interesting - perhaps a certain powderiness. Actually, I think the cheaper chocolate scents from DSH are better. At least they smell more like actual chocolate - at least almost, while this smells only like "artificial chocolate fragrance". It reminds me of my horrible experiences with chocolate scents from BPAL. The truest chocolate scent I've encountered, if that's what you're looking for, was the one from AvaLuxe, a very sweet milk chocolate type of scent but at least true to life.

Everybody seems to agree that this is the best scent from this line, and perhaps it is, at least it's probably the edgiest one, but it doesn't do an awful lot for me. It's a decent, dry/spicy/woody incense scent, yes, but I'd rather pay more for one I really love. This just seems to sort of sit on my skin and not do anything, it has a sort of chemical/cold edge that never softens or warms up. It might not mean it's a "cheap" or "plasticky" incense - some expensive incense scents have it too, so it might have to do with the incense notes - but I don't find it very pleasant.

I'm not sure if this is a very "good" scent. Probably not, probably its just another a little cheap and plasticky, soft and sweet "skin scent" (white musk) that hasn't got a lot to do with either "real" musk or "real" patchouli (although I can detect a hint of earthy patchouli with my nose glued to my skin). The reason I still like this fragrance is quite simply that it reminds me of my granda who recently passed away. I don't think she ever wore perfume, but it might have been some lotion she used, possibly mixed with a tad of mosquito repellant, just a tad, as a little edge to the scent. I find it very enjoyable, comforting, nostalgic. But I understand if others don't share my memories, so I give it a neutral thumb.

I just can't get over how New York smells exactly like some classic ladies' perfume. Or perhaps it's not reminiscent of a particular classic perfume so much as "stale old perfume" as such. You know, the kind that has been evaporating out in the light on your granny's dresser for centuries. Now, I appreciate a vintage classic, but not nondescript "old perfume". Definitely old ladies' perfume too, can't wrap my head around how this is described as traditionally masculine. True, if I press my nose to my skin, I catch a very fleeting citrus topnote and then briefly a more herbal/aromatic accord which feels classically masculine (it even reminds me of Yatagan) but after that it's just sharp/powdery and the sillage is all "granny perfume" from first spritz. Think Tabu, Youth Dew, Opium... Something rich, warm, slightly soapy and so very very powdery it's sneeze-inducing. Not horrible by any means but... why?

Incense extrême is described as a minimalist incense with an extreme concentration of frankincense extract, and it is. It's neither a murky church incense like Messe de Minuit, nor as fresh and woody like Incense rosé. Instead it's dry, dry, dry like dust or ashes, with an almost herbal/aromatic spiciness. Tauer describes it as a red scent - I'd describe it as charcoal grey. If it was only smoky/spicy hot it might seem red, but it's somehow hot and metallic cold at the same time, like smoldering ashes someone has poured a bucket of water over. Although it feels strong when first sprayed on, it has zero sillage on my skin (like most incense scents!) and either the lasting power is quite poor or it's the type of scent you easily get anosmic to when you wear it. I think probably the latter - it feels like the type of scent the nose would quickly get tired of, especially with the high concentration of one ingredient.

Le Maroc was not at all what I expected. Before I tried it and Reverie au jardin, I thought Tauer's signature was dryness and transparency, but those two scents are polar opposites to his other creations: dense and muddy and and musty-sweet, in the style of "natural perfumery", which I personally can't stand. I'm flummoxed to see Le Maroc compared to L'air du desert marocain or called "dry". To me, it's anything but dry - it's creamy, powdery, musty, dense and sweet.... Actually, I have one word for it: headshop. It smells exactly like that stale, musty-sweet mixed incense smell clinging to everything. Now, I love the dry, crisp, fresh, woody/spicy incense note in fine perfumes (such as Tauer's own lovely incense fragrances!), but that is something quite different from the smell of actual, unlit incense, which I don't particularly like. Le Maroc smells exactly like real, cheap hippie incense, not incense perfume. It doesn't even smell floral to me - floral incense, yes, but not fresh flowers. If I was to pick out one floral note I would say it was a creamy, warm, sweet, heavy jasmine - the rose is nowhere in sight, at least not any kind of rose I recognize from nature or perfumery. (Not that I mind, I'm not a fan of rose.) With my nose glued to my wrist, I sometimes get a whiff of something resembling sticking my nose in an actual flower, but it's like its buried under that headshop sillage. The scent is strong too - one tiny spray from the vial and I can smell it on the air all day long! It doesn't change much either, though perhaps the hint of real flower is replaced by an aldehydic powderiness by the end of the day. Not a favourite at all, but not downright unpleasant (like Reverie au jardin) so it gets a neutral thumb for me. At least I can see how someone might like this fragrance. Someone who wears a lot of tie-dye and smokes a lot of pot.

I really admire Andy Tauer, I do, but I just can't stand this fragrance. It sounds so green from the notes - possibly too herbal for my taste (not a fan of lavender) but worth a try. Alas, it is not green, not refreshing, not sparkling, not juicy, not like a garden at all! Instead, it's an odd, dense, muddy scent with a musty, stale, candylike sweetness that makes me wrinkle my nose in disgust. It reminds me of nothing more than Michale Storer's absolutely horrid Il Giardino, but at least that one had some berry notes as excuse for the sickly sweetness. What's Reverie's excuse? The tonka? The ambrette? The rose? The fir, which sometimes turns Wunderbaum-sweet? Where are all the green and woody notes hiding in this composition? The one note I can pick out is an aromatic lavender. Perhaps the drydown is better - I could bring myself to put this on my skin for the sake of research but not to keep it there for very long...

This fragrance is so delightful it deserves at least one review! The incense is fresh and woody and the rose discrete and natural, far from any of the soapy, powdery or potpourri-like roses common in perfume. In fact, I'd recommend this to anyone, no matter whether you appreciate rose fragrances or not! This is not a dark, murky, chilly, damp, churchlike incense (think Messe de Minuit), instead it's a natural, woody, sunny incense (closer to Avignon or Jaisalmer but even woodier and brighter) The sweetness of it is resinous without being in the least syrupy and the scent is strong without being heavy. The smoking hot and transparent feeling of it reminds me strongly of L'air du desert marocain, but Incense rosé is sweeter and not as spicy or dry. If L'air du desert marocain is (of course) a hot sunny day in the desert, then Incensé rose is a hot sunny day in a cedarwood forest with wild roses growing in it and a fleeting deja vu to Catholic mass.

I have the reverse reaction to those of you who found the opening overwhelming but liked the drydown. The opening is lovely chilly dewy green spicy very true hyacinth, but alas! it vanishes almost immediately on skin and transforms into a powdery, soapy, warm floral I could swear was carnation! I don't like carnation. For a short while, sharp green galbanum functions as a reminder of the topnotes, then that is gone to and it turns even warmer and more powdery. Boohoo, where did my pretty hyacinth go? Perhaps I could use it as a room scent, as it smells lovely from the vial...

This is not the oriental they describe it as, this is in fact a very delightful, lightly spiced tea scent. The first thing I thought was "Five O'Clock Au Gingembre Light!" It's like the cologne version of the Lutens, with the ginger replaced with citrus and the woody/musky basenotes removed. Since I already love and own the Lutens I don't really see any need for an extremely watered down version that vanishes within an hour, but if you find the Lutens too heavy or cloying it might be a good alternative. Thumbs up for the topnotes, neutral thumb for the longevity.

8 88 has the same mosquito repellant note as CdG 2 and Kyoto - must be their trademark, CdG's "Guerlinade"! Well, it sure is original, at least... 8 88 does not have the same emphasis on "dark" notes like incense, vetiver, cedar as the other two, instead it has a much more sweet and floral top and is oddly lacking in basenotes. This makes it sheerer and lighter than the other two, but also more high-pitched. I don't know what's worse really, the dense intensity of the mosquito repellant note in CdG 2 and Kyoto or the high-pitched, yes metallic, tone of it in 8 88. 8 88 smells like a lady out hiking who has had to ruin her floral perfume with mosquito repellant and gets warm and sweats away most of the mixed fragrance while the remaining traces turn even more sharp and sour...

Somewhere in between the fresh leafy green scents I love and the aromatic green scents I have a problem with. Not as musty and sharp as a hardcore old style herbal, but rather sour (which is not necessarily a bad thing) and, at least on my skin, somewhat stale green notes like fresh cut grass, tomato leaves and similar things you'd find in a garden. It's quite "true" to green growing living things, especially tomatoes, but while I love to smell real tomato plants I've realised it's not something I particularly like to smell like. I don't find this genre of green aromas especially "fresh" just because they remind you of nature. Rather the other way around actually - smell them for too long and you get a little queasy, the odour is just too pungent and, well, "aromatic"... That said, Eau de Campagne is light enough to be quite passable as a refreshing cologne for hot summer days nonetheless, at least on someone else's skin than mine, which tends to turn herbal and aromatic scents extra sour and stale.

Bel Ami opens with sour citrus, but not refreshingly sour, it's an oddly stale sourness, perhaps like old lemon juice or lemon water standing in a glass for days. Add to that dusty old herbs and spices rather than fresh ones and you get a pretty musty concoction. This smells nothing like the sweet and floral notes up there suggest (can they really be correct?) - I'd say it's a citrus, herbs, spice and leather fragrance. A pretty classic aromatic/leathery men's scent - yes, quite 80ies, but not quite as macho-extreme as some 80ies scents, this could be an older composition still I think. I have to say it walks a very fine line between the dated, herbal mustiness I detest and a pleasant spicy/leathery accord reminiscent of Yatagan. To its defense, it's actually getting slightly fresher as it develops on skin and that oddly stale citrus note disappears.
As so often with me, I get two completely different scents on my wrists and in the crook of my elbows. In the crook of my elbows, scents stick longer but they also turn sourer, sharper - those notes that tend to turn to soap or powder do so galore, herbal notes get extra musty... On my wrists, scents are fainter and more short-lived but prettier, truer to their original self, drier, fresher, spicier... Hence, with Bel Ami, I get mostly warm aromatic spices on my wrists and musty leathery herbs in the crook of my elbows!

Equipage smells expensive. Yup, that's pretty much it. Classy, classic, perfumey, slightly leathery like, say, Piver's Cuir de russie is leathery - in a dry, sharp, sophisticated way that says "gentleman", certainly not in an animalic, sweaty or sexy way! It has a chypre vibe (sort of sour/musty green in a way I've learnt to appreciate) which makes it feel rather old-fashioned, but it's lighter, cooler, more transparent, more citrusy than most chypres, so say a chypre/fougere hybrid perhaps? I don't exactly enjoy it. It's not a scent to enjoy - it's a scent to appreciate. A scent for well-groomed elderly businessmen - who of course apply it in moderation and don't bathe in it like the Axe-generation. Might remind me of Parfums de Nicolai's Vie de chateau, but it was a long long time ago I smelled that scent...

I could swear Roma had some Meditteranean herb among the topnotes - I recognize it from what you'd smell on the air on a Greek isle or something, yet I couldn't place it... I keep thinking maybe oreganon, but that's not quite it, it's grassier, citrusier, more bracing...? But I guess that hauntingly familiar yet in perfumery strikingly original herbal note is just an illusion created by the mint, blackcurrant leaf and bergamot together... Anyway, it sits on top on a very sweet and creamy base - the effect is like having a main course with green herbs and a vanilla pudding for dessert all mixed up on the same plate. Not entirely appealing. And after the herbal topnote is gone it's just that rather boring and generic creamy sweetness forever and a day.

On paper, Joy is an old-fashioned, slightly musty, indolic jasmine with an animalic undertone - not too promising but worth a try because of the legend... On my skin, it's horrible, horrible: stale, rottening white florals with sharp green compost and loads of aldehydes sprinkled over the decomposing heap to "freshen it up", which of course is doomed to fail since aldehydes aren't really very "fresh", only sharp/soapy/powdery/perfumey. It might be that another concentration is better, but I doubt I'll try it in any form on my skin again.

Well it does smell vaguely like peony. Vaguely. And very sharply perfumey. And also very much alike the non-currant bits of Grosellina. And also gone after a few minutes on the skin. Oh how I wish there was a true peony perfume, but I have yet to come across one!

On paper, and for the first few minutes on skin, this smells extremely refreshing like freshly squeezed lemon juice. No, not pure juice, rather lemon water. No rind in sight. Briefly, I wanted to own it to bathe in it on hot days. Sadly, after those few minutes all the lemon freshness is gone and it smells vaguely and faintly like some kind of perfumed sanitary product...

Ô is not "fresh" like modern citrusy/green/aquatic scents are fresh. It's "fresh" like an extremely watered down version of a classic green chypre - that is, not very fresh at all. The topnotes of citrus and cut grass are agreeable enough, but the development on my skin is in the direction of musty, powdery, stale, sour, sharp, anything but "fresh". This is like the evil twin of some great chypre of yesteryear, the pale, skinny, crooked, whiny evil twin, the Gollum of chypres. It smells like "old perfume" and flowers that didn't smell very good to begin with rottening in a vase. It gets a neutral rateness for classic style and originality and because it might work with someone else's skin chemistry than mine.

At first I thought: vile! I love the scent of freshly ground coffee beans or freshly brewed coffee, but this is old stale coffee or possibly the old coffee beans they provide in perfume stores for you to refresh your nose between scents... It gets better, meaning it gets more like the original A Men - warm, sweet, earthy - but why should you need another A Men with the refreshing lavender topnotes replaced by stale coffee? It's also annoyingly strong and possibly headache-inducing - I just couldn't get it off my skin! It gets a neutral rating for the decent drydown, which is basically the drydown of A Men. The nauseating top deserves a thumbs down, but they say you shouldn't judge a scent by its topnotes...

I like Terre d'Hermes on paper, and I like the citrusy/peppery/woody concoction when I first apply it, but I find that the bracing freshness I first find so appealing really gets on my nerves when wearing it. It's oh so strong and oh so linear - might be a good choice to wake you up in the morning but you'd have to be slightly masochistic. It's "refreshing" like working out is "refreshing", or like that annoyingly cheerful and energetic friend... Some fresh scents cheer you up on a grumpy day - this one would just annoy you more if you weren't in the mood for it. But it might be that I don't particularly like grapefruit as a fragrance note, it has always struck me as unpleasantly shrill and synthetic.
I've seen people rave about the "mineral" note in this one, but they must be the same people who are all over Eau des Merveilles, because I find the scents remarkably similar, like the men's and women's version of the same scent. Yes, they do share a sort of mineralic note that's quite unusual, but more than that they share the same aggressively artificial quality - so much so you can literally TASTE the perfume in the back of your throat. (Perhaps the mineral note and the assaulting perfuminess are really the same element in the scent.) That's what gets on my nerves and makes me slightly queasy with both of them.
That said, I can definitely see the appeal of Terre d'Hermes (more so than with the slam-you-in-the-face-with-a-perfumed-piece-of-driftwood Eau des M., even though the quirkiness of the latter should appeal to me more). It's neither dull nor weird, it feels elegant rather than cheap, it's fresh without being sinus-assaultingly ozonic/aquatic, it has a pleasantly peppery wood note without being too rich and warm for casual everyday wear... If I smelt it on a strange man I'd probably think he was a gentleman with impeccable taste in fragrance (provided, of course, he didn't overapply this sillage beast!). I wouldn't want to snuggle up to him though, or even stay around him for very long. This is a scent you'd wear to impress (without seeming to try too hard), not to seduce. Might be suitable for office wear, especially brief and businesslike encounters. Might even be ok to the gym - ONE spritz MAXIMUM. Don't wear it to dinner though - I at least would lose my appetite if I had to "taste" this perfume mingled with food...

OLD REVIEW: (rating: thumbs down)
I had to try Bandit because of the history behind it and the rumour that Marlene Dietrich used to wear it. But as with vintage scents in general I just don't get it. It smells vintage to me, no more, no less (and I did get a new sample so it's not aged). Sour/dry/musty/sharp/floral/green, that kind of stuff. I can't pick out any notes and the dirty, naughty leather drydown I was hoping for never arrives.
However, a friend put some on to go clubbing and on her chemistry it was a much nicer sweet and sultry floral which suited her cabaret girl outfit.

NEW REVIEW:
Oh what a fool I was! Thank god I had two samples and only swapped away one so I could retry it, though I would probably have ended up retrying it anyway sooner or later due to the legend... I can now do chypres and I adore Bandit! I can think of a number of classic chypres that have more of that sour/sharp/musty "old lady" vibe (which I like nowadays, mind you). I have some vintage Bandit (not sure which formulation, maybe edt?) and that one is more like a classic chypre (think Cabochard), a bit sharper, more oakmoss/galbanum. The modern edp, which I now own a bottle of, is positively juicy! Green green green in a slightly sour-sweet, sunny way like grass and hay and warm animal bodies. I don't even think it's a very "dark" or "naughty" scent - well perhaps just a bit naughty due to the animalic/leathery warmth of it... Naughty as a biker and a society lady together in a meadow or on the hayloft...

I would call this "Jicky extreme" rather than "Jicky light", but I'm not sure it's more "masculine". The lavender is cooler, the citrus sharper and the animalic basenotes more obviously animalic, barnyard civet rather than warm, comforting musk. When the scent smoothens and softens it doesn't go quite as warm and golden as Jicky but more dry and powdery. I think it lacks the magic of Jicky, the composition feels more unbalanced, but it's still similar enough to be likeable and it has that vintage charm. I think perhaps some note in it deadens my nose though, it feels a bit tickly, so perhaps I can't feel it properly at all.

A powdery, aldehydic, soapy, slightly nose-tickling citrus with lavender. In the "fresh" category, not the butch woody/spicy/musky one, yet dry and warm instead of cool and aquatic like most men's colognes nowadays. Original by today's standards! Might remind me a little bit of classic citrusy/herbal scents like Eau Savage, but much more powdery and aldehydic than most of them. Not unisex though, something in it makes it feel very masculine, gentlemanly. I like it!

At first it has an unpleasantly sharp and plasticky note, but then it mellows into a decent oriental, very traditional in style, with perhaps mostly tobacco.

Generic generic generic. Why did this end up on my "to test"-list? Someone must have said something good about it. I, however, can't say anything about it at all. A bit green, a bit sweet, a bit floral, a bit fruity, a bit bla-di-dah... In fact, it's so sweet and smooth I find it a little sickening - it feels stale, without any spice or zest or anything.

Mmm, rich, varm, spicy-sweet-floral, with a distinct Caron touch. It does have that little metallic/soapy/sharp/dry edge that most of the vintage Carons have, but that only adds to the experience and makes it stand out among similar "winter evening by the fire" type scents. It also has a touch of kinky musk to add some interest.

Well, it smells like lily of the valley. Quite sheer and fresh, not as intoxicating as the actual flower. It does smell a bit artificial, but perhaps lily of the valley is just overused in different hygiene and skin products. But I think it has a certain "fresh" or "soft" quality that the actual flower lacks, a bit like they watered the actual scent down so it would be nonoffensive.

Lovely sandalwood. Not as smooth, buttery and musky as some sandalwoods, although it has those qualities as well. It also captures the spicier, drier, woodier, fresher side of sandalwood. Quite "perfumey", as sandalwoods often are, perhaps simply because the note is used so much in perfumery. I guess the rosewood adds to the "perfumey" feel too, adding a sweet floral quality. Very lovely.

Much better than the disaster called Un Cedre. It's like Feminite du bois with a violet note that manages to be simultaneously soapy, cold, grassy and candied. Something in it feels foody too, savory, like cumin, saffron or some other spice? Or do I smell my lunch cooking in the kitchen? A cool and airy scent, despite the warmer, richer spicy/woody base. Intriguing.

What is this? I love cedar and I love Serge Lutens, so I expected to love it. But it smells like bubblegum! Bubblegum spiced up with some holiday scented candle. Cheap, synthetic, muddy and just plain nauseating. I'm pretty sure the tuberose is to blame for the bubblegum accord. Alas, if Serge Lutens released a true cedarwood scent I'm sure I'd be all about it...

A great addition to the Brit family. I like the original well enough and love Brit Red with the rhubarb topnote. Gold is somewhere in between. It has the cool feel of Brit, so cool I almost detect anise, but I guess it might just be cool florals. Like the rest of the Burberry line, it has a distinctly "perfumey" quality, and that implies a certain coolness.
Gold also has the gourmandy, spicy, rich basenotes of Red however. It's never too sweet or heavy, just a lovely, smooth oriental with vanilla and woods. I could swear I get a pinch of patchouli as well.
I see Dolce Vita among the recommendations below, and I can definitely understand why. They share that quality of smooth, cosy, mature oriental, neither girly sweet nor elderly heavy.

Sweet, smooth and rather bland. Not like a fruity/floral or insipid vanilla, it's sweet, smooth and bland in a rich, adult, floriental kind of way. It smells like "warm mature woman" to me, perhaps simply because a lot of mature women wear it and it's released when they get warm... The spicy/woody/dry basenotes add some interest, but not enough for me. Overall, it's just to perfumey - it smells like nothing but perfume. I can't pick out a single note and I don't think that's a good thing.

I don't get no 5, I just don't. It's the sharpest, soapiest, most powdery and aldehydic fragrance I've ever encountered. It's hardly even a fragrance, at least it doesn't smell like anything pleasant or recognizeable, it's more like the sensation of a drill up your nostril. A drop of this to another fragrance could add an interesting vintage touch, but on it's own it's just an assault to the nose. I'll admit that it softens slightly with time, but it's still mostly just sour, sharp and soapy. Like an annoying tune played entirely in the treble.

I'd classify this as a smoky/tarry/rubbery fragrance - I guess the oud does that. I can pick out most of the notes listed - cardamom, pepper, vetiver, wood, vanilla... - but it all adds upp to a warm, spicy, boozy, almost medicinal rubber/leather aroma. A bit like Bulgari Black on steroids, perhaps? Black is far too soft and wimpy for me, but Oud Wood isn't. It does seem a bit fleeting for a scent with so much character though... And I sure hope it's not the cause of my headache!

Japon noir starts out with a sharp, cool, clean citrus/ginger accord, almost with some cleaning/hygiene product vibes. Then dry, woody spices (nutmeg and clove?) start to dominate. At this stage the scent feels weirdly flat and muddy, like hitting a few random piano keys close to each other, creating a false chord and then repeating it over and over without any melody to accompany it. I thought it would stay like that, but then the melody did appear: sweeter, fresher, brighter notes of jasmine and vetiver accompanying the spices. At this stage, it's rather interesting and exotic, enough to keep for further investigation.

What an interesting orange blossom! Neither Turkish delight nor cleaning fluid, but a third face I haven't encountered before. It's powdery, but without all the usual gourmandy sweetness, and the result is dry and smoky. It reminds me of leather and lapsang souchong tea, but the scent is still firmly dominated by orange blossom, just an orange blossom with leathery and smoky qualities. I even get a dry feeling in my nose when inhaling it, like inhaling dust or smoke, but it's not unpleasant. The ad with the dude bathing in that disgusting white fluid is all wrong, he should be rolling around in a pile of white powder instead!

I confess that I'm seduced by the Baudelaire name and the über-kitsch white torso bottle though. I might not have liked the scent so much otherwise.

It does indeed smell blue, like dark blue velvet. The velvety quality is more of a suede accord I think, and the scent is rather heavy on the leather without ever being harsh or raw. I get perhaps a trace of bergamot or other citrus to freshen things up slightly - the leather and bergamot combo is lovely, much like bergamot-flavoured black tea. The scent is just too velvety smooth and well blended to pick out any more notes, but perhaps some fruity and/or floral sweetness, slightly powdery?

Candied violets (huh? must be the orchid) with some "fresh and clean" hygiene product/men's cologne notes. Where's the patchouli? Where's the skank bloggers are talking about? Nothing at all like the appealing list of notes. Seems faint and fleeting too, not that I mind.

I'm an amber fan, but I prefer my ambers dry and powdery like desert sand. This is more of a syrupy, resinous amber. It even reminds me of pine, pine sweetened with vanilla! Don't get me wrong, it's still an easily recognizable amber scent, it's just a certain type of amber, and not my favourite type. It feels a bit too thick and "gooey" for me, gourmandy with some rather sharp wood notes thrown in. A bit unsophisticated, to tell you the truth.

Sweet, but not with an untolerable cheap and childish vanilla sweetness. It's more like "adult candy", rich and boozy. The tobacco is not just tobacco leaves but has a smoky quality too, which also makes the scent a bit drier and less gourmandy. Like smoking cherry pipe tobacco or perhaps a sugared clove cigarette.

I'm not a great rose fan, but I like this one. It's not sharp, soapy or potpourri-like like most roses, instead it's smooth, powdery and sweet. If that sounds pink and frilly though it isn't. It's a rich, dark, crimson rose with spicy/incensey basenotes of oud and patchouli, just as I prefer my rose fragrances.

I'd call this a "musky chypre" or "musky fougere" in the vein of Jicky. It does not have the distinct lavender note of Jicky, the herbs are more vague and mossy, but it shares the combination of green herbal notes and a sweet, soft, animalic warmth. Like Jicky, it's also a bit "perfumey" in feeling, in a sort of old-fashioned way. I like it.

A woody and spicy scent of the strong and boozy variety, like liquid wood concentrate. It almost has a gourmandy quality of cherry, marzipan or bitter almond. Quite original!

The worst side of neroli: pure cleaning fluid. Sickening.

What others have already said: a waxy, tropical white floral with sharp, plasticky, blue cheese-like overtones.

Interesting, a modern chypre with citrus and herbal notes. I like the spicy undertone and the florals are not too sweet and heady for me. In fact, this is not a predominantly floral fragrance at all and certainly not the big white floral it sounds like. I don't find it particularly "dirty" or seductive either, more dry and aromatic.

I'm not entirely sure Caprifoglio smells like honeysuckle. To me, it's more of a neroli scent. It has the disctint "naturally artificial" odour of neroli. A sweet and heady floral that smells quite "perfumey".

Pleasantly green and citrusy, but unfortunately quite artificial smelling. It also has ginger, and I'm a sucker for ginger so that's what saves it for me.

What a bizarre scent. It opens with a mosquito repellant accord that's almost interesting, a little spicy, and not entirely unpleasant. Next is soap and schampoo, so much so that I can taste it in the back of my throat. Then it quickly mellows to a dull, fruity schampoo scent. The hygiene product vibe is what makes it "masculine", other than that it's mostly sweet and fruity. In this stage it's not unlike other sweet/fresh generic men's scents so the only anarchist part of it is the topnote. Meh.

I love dry fragrances, but this is too dry even for me, or perhaps dry in the wrong way: harsh and sour. Spices like cinnamon and clove do that to me, and I'd say this is a spice scent rather than an incense scent. Sure, I can feel the incense too, but it doesn't really remind me of a church or temple like some other incense scents do. It's more like smelling a sack of woodchips with cloves mixed in. Only, that would smell good, but on my skin scents like that turn sour, like the woodchips and cloves were wet.

This is ridiculous. A cedar so soft and fleeting it hardly reads as cedar. A vaguely "fresh" and "cool" and "clean" cologne with perhaps a slight woody vibe. I love cedar so it was quite a disappointment, but I guess I should have taken the "eau" in the name more seriously...

Pretty dull. I had hoped for a more sparkling and refreshing bergamot-based cologne, but instead I hardly get bergamot at all. I'd say this is a neroli-dominated fragrance, soft and sweetish and vaguely reminiscent of cleaning fluid. Neroli has such an artificial scent, even when it's perfectly natural. It can work in a rich, heavy, oriental/gourmandy fragrances but I don't think it works at all in supposedly refreshing colognes.

Upon first spray I was very disappointed. I had hoped for the lovely dry patchouli of the original Prada with less sugar added. But alas, no patchouli in sight, just watery blandness and fruity sweetness. It was actually even sweeter than the women's version. But then it developed a nice tarry/smoky/leathery smell, unfortionately with the bland fruity/watery accord still in the background. After that the cardamom, vetiver and perhaps a trace of the patchouli kicked in, giving it a very interesting spiciness. This is one you DON'T buy for the tempting topnotes. Try to bear with them for a little while, it will get better...

This is not Prada tendre, this is Prada sucré. The original Prada with the lovely dry patchouli note turned down to a minimum and the vaguely fruity sweetness amped up to maximum. It's not a heavy gourmand, it's rather blandly sweet, much like stale pear flavoured soft drink. Dull but not exactly gross, so it gets a neutral thumb.

To me Prada smells just like the "fake jasmine" common in Sweden, where it's mostly too cold to grow true jasmine. A soft and pleasant white floral, somehow warm and cuddly like florals seldom are. Like the rest of the Burberry line, it has a "generic perfumey" feel, but perhaps a little less so because it's so true to an existing flower. I would wear it if it was this or nothing.

Well hello Coromandel! Prada has the same combination of dry, earthy patchouli and a weirdly 7-up-like topnote. I'm amazed a patchouli scent like this can survive among the fruity florals, and I like it a lot. Coromandel might be a little finer, especially in the drydown which is a little fruity/sweet on the Prada, but Prada is better value. And did it first.

I have tried the vintage and new versions of Shocking, and while the vintage is all powdery oakmoss, the new is all powdery, soapy roses. Yup. I much prefer the old one, but it has some citrus topnotes that have turned plasticky with age and I'm a bit disappointed it's not more "shocking" - as in animalic.

Duel is lovely and refreshing, not as the generic aquatic stuff, but in a refined, classic way. I thought I detected bergamot and mint, but none of the notes are listed. I normally don't like mint, but the minty touch in Duel is nice and dry, something like AvaLuxe's Moroccan Mint Tea. It might be the tea notes I guess. I don't smell tea per se, but I like tea and I like Duel, while those who don't like tea don't seem to enjoy it. This is a light cologne-type scent and longevity is rather poor, but it certainly is pleasant on a hot day!

I like a lot of vintage juice, but not Rochas Femme. It's too cuminy for my taste, with sharp, soapy notes (aldehydes?) and bitterly powdery notes (oakmoss?) Overall it's quite muddy, but that doesn't mean subdued, it's muddy with piercing topnotes, and it also smells quite flat and plasticky, which might be due to the age. I like the drydown better, it's dry and warm and woody with a pleasant bitterness. Not worth the wait though.

Mitsouko smells like Mitsouko, very distinctive and memorable. It's a vintage-styled chypre but it still stands out form the rest. It is a bit musty and "old lady-like", but I don't mind that in the least. It's also less "dense" than other vintage chypres, with bright aldehydic/citrusy/soapy notes. I get the powdery bitterness of oakmoss and the juicy sourness of hardly ripe fruit, but most of all the notes just blend together into something very unique. I think my version is the detested reformulated edt, but I really like it and I might like other versions even more...

This definitely smells like it was made in 1912! While i usually appreciate vintage chypres and the likes this is too much for me. It's just a muddy jumble of sharp and musty notes, I can't make out anything except maybe some bitterly powdery oakmoss and some piercing aldehydes. The flowers feel plasticky and flat and weirdly dense and I think I can detect some cumin too. In fact, it reminds me a bit of Rochas Femme, which I don't appreciate. And this is the extrait too.

Dzongkha took me by surprise! I expected something sheer and cool and meditative with incense and tea, probably dry and not sweet but still on the "pretty" side with the fruity and floral notes. Instead I get pretty much straight up chilli peppers! I love fiery and peppery perfumes so that's not a problem. Still, I wonder what causes it? It's not the first time I find pepper or chili in a scent that hardly even have spice notes listed. I think it's the sharpness of vetiver combined with something else, maybe the incense and wood, that does it. Maybe the cypriol, whatever that is? The cardamom alone is hardly this fiery!

I really hated Coup de fouet when I tried it several months ago, and now that I try Poivre extrait I'm not sure if it's that much better or if my taste has just developed. I think Poivre is smoother, richer, more well blended, less sharp and thin. It's basically the same scent though, very dry and spicy in a little musty, old fashioned way. The description says pepper, which I usually like, but I'd say it's clove and cinnamon, which are too dry for me and turn sour and sharp on my skin.
I wouldn't blame anyone for liking Poivre, I can see how it's a quality fragrance. It has the unmistakable Caron base - coldly metallic and warmly rich at the same time, with a distinct vintage vibe to it. Poivre is well blended and luxurious with honey, carnation, roses and lots of spice, and it might be lovely on someone with a skin chemistry that softens it just a little. Or it might seem lovely to someone who's a fan of carnation and clove in a scent. I'm not, and on my skin the spices turn unpleasantly dusty and bitter.

Just as lovely as everyone says: smooth, buttery soft, dark wood with musky and spicy hints and a touch of powdery sweetness. The violet lends it a cool air, like a forest after the rain, but the scent is mostly dry like leather or black tea or perhaps coffee beans. Enchanting.

I'm not a fan of rose scents, but I appreciate some dark and rich and sultry ones like Black Aoud and Paestum Rose, and also the simpler and truer Ce soir ou jamais. That said, Anglomania is not good enough to make me forget about my rose phobia. It has some honey and spice added, but it doesn't give it enough depth, it's still a relatively "flat" scent. The rose note is also quite sharp and soapy to my nose, not the kind of rose I like. Not downright bad but a little overwhelming, think of the people around you (and of your own head) and don't overdose if you wear it. I'll pass.

Brit smells very generic perfumey (Burberry perfumes seem to do that) but unlike most generic perfumey scents I like it. It's comforting and pleasant, although strong and sweet and synthetic enough to give some people headaches I'm sure. It's a white scent, softly powdery with vanilla, white musk, white flowers... Not the ordinary white flowers like jasmine, lily, muguet, but something like honeysuckle, heliotrope, white rose? It says white peony and perhaps that's why I like it, I love peonies. It's also vaguely gourmandy, perhaps a bit much so for my taste, and I think I detect anise and perhaps a pinch of other spices too? All in all one of the better department store offerings, although I like the more original Brit Red with the rhubarb topnote better.

I have a weakness for tea scents and this is a good one, somewhere in between green and black tea, with hints of citrus, greenery and wood. Not quite as green and fresh and "sparkly" as it sounds from the notes, more dry, but still a refreshing tea scent.

This might actually be one of the most disgusting perfumes I've ever smelled, like an attempt at creating something "dark" and "mysterious" gone horribly wrong. Stale, watery, decaying lilies on a raw, thin, pseudo-leathery base with perhaps a hint of musty spice. Yuck.

From the notes, Dolce Vita sounds too sweet and generic for my taste, a fruity floriental, but I actually enjoy it a lot. It wraps me in a sweet, soft, rich floral/gourmandy/spicy/woody cloud. It does smell like a very feminine and sexy and voluptous woman in perhaps her 40ies, which is not me at all, but I still like it. I'm impressed that it's so not me and yet I want to keep it and wear it. Can't give it more than a neutral thumb though, it's not that original or interesting and it does lack a bit of sophistication in its gourmandy sweetness.

I just don't like this one at all, I find it downright unpleasant. A spicy/fruity/floral, overwhelmingly sweet with weird soapy/plasticky/stale notes.

I can see how this was originally a perfume to scent cigarettes. It does smell a bit like cigarettes or cigarilles with a flavour: unlit tobacco, but sweeter and softer. It's syrupy and powdery and quite heady and I can't really pick out any notes except for the tobacco-y feeling of it. Tobacco isn't even in it, just a long list of other notes. Like Mitsouko, it could perhaps be called a fruity/floral chypre, very classic and glamourous in feeling.

Very likeable, very refreshing, very green and citrusy, without any jarring or artificial "fresh" notes. I'm not sure it's interesting enough to buy for me who love dark and complex perfumes, but for someone who doesn't really like perfume or who's sensitive to strong smells this is the ideal scent. Unlike so many "fresh" aquatic/ozone scents people mistakenly believe can't be overapplied this one really can't. I usually use a swipe or two from the sample vial, but I've been pouring L'eau all over myself all day. No, it does not have much "throw" or "longevity", but that's not a matter of quality, it's just not that type of scent. For what it is, it's lovely!

Jules smells like generic Man Juice. Not like today's bland, aquatic colognes, but like an old school harsh, bitter, heavy, spicy, leathery concoction. I could appreciate the woody dryness of it if it wasn't for a certain cool or metallic note that feels very generic men's cologney and annoyingly aggressive - almost like mosquito repellant. Yeah, Jules has a lot in common with insect repellant, only a little nicer and deeper and more smoky/leathery

I have smelled Mayotte, not Mahora. Anyway, it's far too much of a blah-di-dah tropical white floral for my taste.

My sample is labelled "Violette de madame", and I guess it's a new edition from the Guerlain boutique. It's a cool violet, not too sweet, with an old-fashioned sopay/powdery/candied vibe too. I get a green, aromatic note in the top that reminds me of geranium, but perhaps it's just violet leaf. The basenotes are warm, musky, powdery and almost kinky - cumin perhaps? Not my favourite violet, but I like the dirty drydown.

It feels like a classic chypre, but not "dark" or heavy or musty or sharp or any other such things associated with vintage chypres. No, this is a fresh, light, floral summer chypre with aldehydic powdery/citrusy/soapy topnotes. It has some of the juicy greenness of Cabochard, but it's not that bitterly green/woody at all. It reminds me of Vega - they are both classic, refined scents with aldehyde top, floral middle and woody base, but Sous le vent is greener and spicier, without the almost tropical white florals of Vega.
Simply put: a lovely scent. Cheerfully green and summery yet refined enough for the office and with vintage-type character enough to make a statement.

Very classic: sharp, soapy aldehydic topnotes, white floral heart and creamy, boozy sandalwood base. I'm not well acquianted with Chanel no 5, but I think there are some similarities, especially in the strongly aldehydic top and characteristic sandalwood base. I can see why this is called Vega, the topnotes smell a little lemony in a sunny and bright fashion and the rest of the notes are also very bright: white florals, powder, soap and cream. Not normally my style, I'm definitely not one who wears this kind of buttery, waxy, tropical white florals a lot, but this is so refined and classical I'll make an exception. I enjoy the distinct vintage style of it, although I think my sample is the reorchestrated version.

I find red ginger to be a vintage-styled floral, heady and a little boozy and spicy in a sort of old-fashionedly "tropical" way. Not bad, but not overly exciting either, a bit "perfumey".

Mmm, this is definitely the musky sweet, buttery soft face of sandalwood, not woody dry at all. The top and middle notes add some spicy zest but mostly it's a smooth, sweet scent. I even wish they would have gone a little lighter on the vanilla since it's on the verge of too sweet for my taste, but absolutely not cloying, more like so rounded it almost lacks interest. Almost. Then I get a whiff of spicy rose or coriander or zesty tangerine and my interest is renewed.

I like the notes I can pick out with the nose glued to my wrist: zesty citrus, herbs, spices, woods... Too much of a generic men's scent for my taste though, especially in the throw, which is sort of flat, bland, cool and almost aquatic in the way I really don't like about a lot of scents in the men's department. It feels well done and classic and if you'd like to wear something that is absolutely inoffensive and attracts no attention this is probably a good choice.