Yuzu, Ab Irato 09 by Parfumerie Generale, 2006

i cannot explain why, but i like yuzu ab irato. in the beginning, when i got my first sample of it, i was disappointed. i was expecting something really brightly fresh and green, while what i got was soapy and very 'quiet'. but by the end of the sample the scent grew on me. it is a quiet scent that stays close to the skin, but it is a lasting one. i especially love the way my clothes / shawls smell of it the next dy after i wore yuzu. for me it works well in the colder days and in the hot summer days. i find it very comfortable and calming. and though i agree it is not a complicated and layered scent (actually, on my skin it kind of stays the same through the whole time, which i as a rule do not like in perfumes), at the moment i am finishing my second sample and thinking seriously of getting the bottle of ab irato.

I'll keep this short. Car air freshener + hair pomade= Yuzu Ab Irato. Sexy? Trendy? I think NOT!

I love citrus, especially grapefruit in all incarnations (Aqua Allegoria's Pamplelune for instance) and there's a sweet warm hit of that to begin - I also (unlike many) like mint notes and I can smell some of that at first... (NB I don't think that's an illegitimate combination - can't you have mint leaves in a fruit salad?) But the citrus dies off quickly, moving to a salty, piney, herby heart.... It's interesting, but I don't really want to smell like this... I have to agree with the other reviewers that it evokes less walking in citrus groves under a hot sun with thyme underfoot, than kneeling over the bathtub with a bottle of Cif and a raggedy sponge. Maybe that's the mood of grim resentment conveyed in the term 'ab irato'.

Starting with an instant blast of sharp and zesty citrus fruit. At first I thought lemon zest, then grapefruit zest, then orange zest... let's just leave it a citrus zest. Yuzu, Ab Irato nearly has the character of a Penhaligon but ultimately falls some way short. There is something of an accord happening here as I struggle to pick out any more than pine from the mix. Although it's certainly complex it does feel a little too generic. As I said, snub this and sample some Penhaligons.

I cannot really make up my mind whether this is a refreshingly sharp, tart, bitter mix of citrus peel and herbs, or whether it's too herbally bitter, verging on sour and stale, with a too aggressive, cleaning-fluid citrus top. Quite traditionally masculine, I'd say, more like a classic citrusy/aromatic cologne than a modern super-fresh, fleeting, citrusy/green/aquatic thing. I think I kind of like the dry and bitter herbs (thyme and myrtle), they remind me a bit of Fleurs de sel, only the refreshing accord is citrus instead of salt. What I don't like is the, mercifully faint, minty topnote. Citrus + mint = yuck!

Pledge mixed with Pine Sol. Mercifully, does not last long.

Starts off very tart, sharp, sour and green, like a sour tropical fruit accented with mint. It's somewhat sweet at first, and to me smells like a modernized version of Centaure or L'Eau du Caporal. From the topnotes it had me thinking a full bottle was definitely in my future. As it dries through the middle notes, the sour quality remains, though it loses the sweetness and becomes more of a dusty (dusty like iris) mint scent. I wouldn't say it seems as complex as MPG's Centaure, but it does seem more complex and more interesting than L'Artisan's L'Eau du Caporal. My main, perhaps only, issue is that it doesn't last. It really doesn't last. After an hour or so, it's much fainter, though still very present, but a few hours in, it's a whisper. It is very good while it lasts.