Xerjoff Sniffaroo / Samplings

Which ones have you had a chance to sample so far.

Thank you for your impressions! Can't wait to post my impression soon hopefully

I have a story regarding Irisss. I purchased the 50ml refill from Urban Retreat after falling in love with it at first sniff. I then sprayed myself liberally as I walked out. On the way to the hotel, I got a very similiar feeling to AG La Violette or The Unicorn Spell (two of the best violets out there). It turned to a powdery, green violet on my skin, so I decided to return Irisss. On the way back to Harrods, some guy came running behind me and snatched the Harrods bag from the hand and ran away so fast. When I realized I was mugged, I started to chase after him, even though he was long gone, and I started cursing and cursing. Some nice folks who witnessed the robbery, told me the thief grabbed a cab and fled the scene. The police told me that regrettably that there were no CCTV cameras where I was robbed. I returned to the Urban Retreat and told Benji the lovely SA about the incident, and he was so broken-hearted he actually got a little teary-eyed. He informed me that if the thief, or a female companion of the thief, came to return or exchange the item, he would notify me and the police. But alas, he didn't show up. So I kinda hope I don't fall in love with Irisss again, because I'm afraid I'll have to shell out another 350 GBP on it!

Wonderful reviews mysticknot - you make them all sound so incredible! I don't know how I'll manage to get IRISSs of my mind now - like an itch I know I should't scratch! The Fiore D'Ulivo also sounds divine. Thanks so much for calling our attention to these exquisite-sounding perfumes - I'll be eagerly awaiting your next installment!

cairomerta I have a question about the Refill Riserva Murano bottles. I'm loving the square design of the bottles. It says it comes with 30ml of parfum. Does it only come in 30ml or is the 50ml refill also included? What bottles come with several refills for "free"?

Benji is a joy to talk to! Sigh...I guess I'm gonna fall in love with this again! When I first smelt Irisss, I got a strong similarity to Iris Silver Mist but it quickly changed into something else. Did you get that as well?

Currently the XJ 17/17 line only comes in a few ways.

1) The murano Pochette glass. These are the smal egg shaped Murano bottles that come in 4 colors and each color has a scent attached to it. Blue is XXY, Black is Homme, Cristal is Irisss and golden color is Elle. These are 15ml. You can only get those like that

2) The other way is the Murano Collection (Not Pochette). The flacons come in amazingly decorated wooden boxes and an ebony stand. The colors are Blue, Red, Cristal, Green and Black. These you can choose any color flacon you want and any scent you want. The bottles bottles come empty but with the scent of your choice and you decant it into the flacon when you get it. The Murano is are 45-50ml because of the hand made nature of it but you get a 50ml worth of scent in a glass pour spout bottle with a funnel.

3) The reserva line which is a small boxy type with a stopper on it... I will have to check and get back to you on. They are great looking little bottles huh.

Towards fall, the 17/17 line will be introduced in 100ml glass bottles like the shooting stars line. They will have cut slab pieces put on the front of each bottle. They are beautiful and will be lower in price. I hope this helps.

OMG Mysticnot, I am seriously watching this thread. I don't feel expert enough to sample and share opinions, but I WILL be sampling these on my own as they become available here. These sound fabulous and rich, something that intrigues me to no end.

Great review on homme mystic. I love that one. It is the best leather scent I have ever smelled. I am actually really intrigued about how it developed on you. With the name homme many women shy away from it but it's great to hear that you tried it and it worked great on you!

I am actually going to be sending you another set of the entire line mystic and you can send it to the next person on your PM list. Let me know if that's ok.

I also have two more openings for a free sample set of the womens line. Just PM me your address and it will go out on Monday.

Thanks Mysticknot: I'm also posting this link to my review of Fiore d'Ulivo, which I posted last year.
http://sorceryofscent.blogspot.com/2...livo-your.html

Cheers

PS: It may also worth noting that the 4 new XerJoff Shooting Stars scents in the silk pouches are available for sale here in Europe at www.ausliebezumduft.de at a price of €200 for 50ml.

The Casamorati range if I remember correctly from when I enquired comes in 75ml and not refillable. Their bottle design has also changed becuase the ones they were using a while ago were porcelain and porous. There are also two other fragrances in the Casamorati range which I don't think have been mentioned yet on here, these are BOUQUET IDEALE for Women and FIERO for men, which I am very eager to try.

I'm eager to give these a sniff but honestly those 'ultra-luxe' bottles are just plain ugly, and the names are horrendous. I'm a bit worried that these scents and people's impressions of them may be built more around hype and expectations rather than reality.. but then a lot of respected noses say these are some quality scents.

I don't know though. I think Xerjoff's attempts at being ultra-luxe are cheesier, and more poorly realized, than even Clive Christian.

Any counterpoint opinions out there or am I really to believe that every Xerjoff scent is basically 'best of category?"

edit: The XJ and shooting stars colletions' bottles are ok. Those Casamorati bottles are horrible, though.

Are you referring to the old porcelain bottles rather than the new bottles? I've not seen the new ones yet for this range, but I was told they are made of glass by a German stockist.

Edit: I don't mean the glass bottle is made by a German stockist as it can read like that lmao

You are correct Craig. The Casamorati 1888 line only comes in the 75ml size. All the bottles are made of hand finished Tuscan glass, meaning all the bottles that come of the small batch assembly line are hand flames by a person to remove any defects from the bottle. They are also hand painted and even down to the celophane wrapping on the outside of the box is hand wrapped. There are 2 new ones like you mentioned (fiero in a green bottle and bouquet ideale in a red bottle) really wonderful scent.

Hi Sculpture. I would like to send you out a sample set if you would like to try the line and really see the quality in them. PM me your address and I will get it out Monday. I would like to see your impressions.

You know, Uden was the first scent I had ever purchased from Xerjoff and I was crazy for it. I actually picked it up on a trip to Harrods and it was from that one scent, that I went crazy for the line. Xerjoffs scents have an amazing way of keeping the citrus notes prominent throughout the entire development. Most perfumes citrus notes fade away very fast.

With Kobe, that is one of the most unique citrus incense combination I have smelled. It has a thick resinous feel to it but is cut just wonderfully with that pettitgrain note that once again last all throughout the development! This one has amazing sillage.

With Oroville, I was actually sent that by Sergio before it was even released so that I can sample and I thought it was such a unique tobacco scent with the carnation in it. It had a freshness in it that I never experienced in a tobacco scent before. The tobacco in it is like a fresh wet tobacco, not the dried out cigar type. Really unique take on tobacco!

I realize I use the word unique a lot when describing the line because they really do have a uniqueness that I havent smelled in perfume before. Xerjoff doesn't shy away from making a statement with the perfumes. They are not thin watery scents. You really get rich decadent perfumes with this line.

The names of the shooting stars line are based on regions where there have been known metoerite activity. The names to me are actually quite intriguing. Note some examples.

Dhofar is a region in Yemen where there is recently discovered to be rich in meteorites.

The Ibitira meteroite fell in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil on 30 June 1957 between 5:00 and 5:30 local time.

Uden was a meteroite which was witnessed to fall in the southern Dutch province of Noord Brabant on June 12, 1840, between 10 and 11 am local time.

Esquel is a pallasite meteorite found near Esquel, a patagonian town in the northwest part of the province of Chubut (Argentina)

Modoc was a Meteorite Shower at Modoc, Kansas

It goes on and on. So the names are true to the theme of the line and are actually based on locations and regions of actually meteorite showers.

Sooooo, the way to score samples is to trash the bottles? NO PROB!... Those bottles are hideous! (now can I have a IRISSS sample please? I am dying to try that one... and have already set up a savings account for it.)

----------Edit after comment below----------meant this to be humorous. Was not trying to "score samples." in fact, I have no interest in reviewing samples for this thread/group as I do not have the experience to give a comprehensive review.

No that is not the way to score samples. You simply had to PM me as I made it available for the first 5 men and first 5 women who did. I have known sculpture for a while and he is well respected basenoter so I sent him samples to judge on the scents and not a bottle. I hope this helps.

I want to thank Cairomerta for his generous offer, especially after my rather rude (and definitely premature) attack of the house. I try to remain objective when I test anything, whether it be a cheap designer like my SotD Versace Pour Homme (which I absolutely love), or the ultra-expensive scents such as Amouage Dia Man (which I think is, objectively, a high quality scent, but it does absolutely nothing for me) or the By Kilians (tried STH and CI and find both to be, despite their high % of naturals, overwhelmed by the synthetic base notes and wildly out of balance.)

Anyhow, I apologize for my rude comments above. Truth be told I don't find most of the bottles nearly as bad as I did before - did they get new pictures and ad copy? Actually, I quite like a number of the bottles. I look forward to testing their contents.

I just want to say now, upfront, that if I do end up disliking or criticizing any of the scents, it does not detract an ounce of gratitude I have to Cairomerta for extending the offer. Gratitude though, does not exempt me from my responsibility to report my impressions as truthfully and accurately as possible.

Hi Mysticknot,

I hope that my last post didn't give the impression that I thought you were being untruthful with your reviews, or anything of the sort. I was just engaging in a long-winded, self-directed soliloquy. Sometimes I just like to ramble.

I'm hoping that Cairo sent some of the women's scents along. My g/f is a new and budding perfumista (she's always liked scents but I've pushed her to the dark side! ) and she tends to be more brutal than I on scents. She's not interested in breaking them down into notes and things like that but takes a much more holistic and emotional approach. She also has the best associations, such as: Grain De Plaisir (under the cap) smells like crayons, the opening of M. Micallef Aoud smells like yeasty beer while White Sea's opening smells like 'nail polish remover' (wish she wouldn't have said that as now I pick up on that!) , Les Nez Let Me Play the Lion smells like the inside of the closet she had while growing up, etc.

I'll include her opinions too. They are a nice and more direct take on things than my approach.

Anyhow, I'm not sure I want to enjoy them as much as you have, Mysticknot. I'm still craving a number of Amouage scents that I can't afford... throw Xerjoff into the mix and I'll be living on ramen noodles for the next few years!

No problem Sculpture! I appreciate your comments and no apologies needed. It is easy sometimes to look at things that are priced a certain way and automatically think that something may be fishy about the line, and I am guilty of that too. But this is the first line I have ever smelled that really made me say "this is worth every penny." This line to me, has a "holy grail" scent for everyone, in my opinion. Well balanced, unique, tenacious and daring in some of the approaches. Mystic has an honest and beautiful approach to describe scents so I am really verified in my feeling for the line. Now I dont think everyone will love every one of the scents like me and mystic do but I know everyone will find one that they just love but will also see the quality in each ingredient in each scent. Thanks again!

Cairomerta sent me a set of 10 ladies fragrances -- 5 Shooting Stars, 3 out of 17/17 line and 2 Casamorati. I tried not to read your reviews to keep the independence of opinions, but tested two of them already -- Elle (17/17) -- a fruity floriental with a very nice opening and middle parts and Fiore d'Ulivo (Casamorati) -- L'Artisan-esque but better, drooling already and more to come.

The next person after me -- to test this set of 10 samples -- will be ComDiva (but she does not know about it yet) and Evangeline (I think she was hoping to be next after us, or were you not? :-) ).

Edit: Sorry, E., I have misspelled your name.

Just some pics to feast on while sampling. Click on pics to open a link and click again for beautiful high resolution pics.

How hard it is to be objective and honest when you know it is well beyond your means? Or, better, badly beyond your means.

Shooting Stars today. The rest -- tomorrow.

Ibitira -- exceptional and holy matrimony of grown up and sad irises with crisp and juicy pink roses. The fragrance that was missing on the market and in history, in general. Smooth composition, languid, lasts good 7-8 hours on me. A bit of non-sweet citruces in the beginning but with woody undertones nevertheless. Addictive base of cedar and vetiver. Morphing, constantly changing, dynamic scent. 5*****.

Shingl -- aromatic, semi-oriental herbal-floral with soft and cuddly drydown. Davana and basil (unusual, right?) notes give it depth and interesting dimension in the beginning while aniseed -- different from that in Lolita Lempicka, less sweet -- keeps the whole composition grounded and rounded. The usual, predictable middle. Tasty and somewhat mossy-woody drydown with soft patchouli, sweet vetiver and slightly bitter rhum. Not very original except that green-maroon start. Lasting power -- 4 to 5 hours. (For the similar feel, but better longevity and more pronounced woody-mossy ending, try Aubusson Histoire d'Amour). 3***.

Lua -- floriental, smelling of sweet nothings. Iris--rose--pink peppercorns--vanilla. Slightly citrucy, even less green at the beginning -- like many representatives of this genre. Summery and light. Sort of SL Chergui meets Nina Ricci Coeur Joie -- both do absolutely nothing for me, generic, regrettably forgettable. 2**.


Esquel -- fougere for women (halleluja, somebody somewhere has heard our prayers!) -- starts with a sharp, green and citrucy note that reminds me of a Dragon, skin shining in the sun, fires coming out of the mouth, ready for action. The citrus is vibrating and promising (lemon-orange), just like the reptile's tongues. Then lavender and pepper emerge to last only about 2 hours. After that the whole fragrance turns into a tad spicy green powder with shades of burnt incense, so reminiscent of sweet chalk, or Necco candy coming in a roll and tasting like chalk anyway. What happened to the Dragon I do not know -- I guess he ran away as scared by the lavender. The whole scent can be described as "distant". No comparison to Jicky, nonono. The very distant relative might be Joubert Blue Waltz. 2**.

Dhajala -- semi-oriental with an unusual galbanum start and resinous, incensy vanillic drydown. You found and quietly love Hermes Ambre Narguile. You have also tried and liked their Vetiver Tonka, but both seem too weak and not worth $250 per bottle. You regret the fact that Escada has discontinued Escada Collection which was too sweet for your absolute and undeniable liking. Look no further, Dhajala is godsent for you. In a blind test I would have said "Parfumerie Generale" for the tactful and delicate treatment of amber-woody notes in the drydown. Very smooth, languorous even, like liquid metal. And now ready? All that on a green melancholic background of leaves and herbs. Outstandingly good. 4****.

Has anyone who has tried Fiore d'Ulivo also tried Francis Kurkdjian's Cologne Acqua Universalis? I find them to share a number of similarities (ok, very similar, in fact), with FdU being everso slightly rounder and smoother and with the synthetic soapy laundry musk (cashmeran + a light lemon musk note?) toned down. In other words, I find it to be higher quality than Acqua Universalis, and seemingly just as versatile, although slightly more feminine. Even so, I'd think a man could wear it easily.

More detailed thoughts after I give it a full wearing.

Great reviews twolf! That's what I like about fragrances so much. There is something out there for everyone. It is so personal as to what someone really enjoys. I look forward to the rest of your reviews tomorrow.

Gosh Twolf - you have a way of making even the ones you don't rank highly sound interesting enough to seek out! Excellent reviews - very clear, very thoughtful, no bs. I'm also very eager to read your impressions of the others.

Thank YOU, guys, for listening. Very often I read many reviews here in the forums and in the Directory and still am puzzled as to what the fragrances smell like, so I am trying to answer this question, first and foremost.

I am also wondering who were the other 4 women and 5 men who got samples from cairomerta? And why are they not writing anything? And if the leftover samples have been spoken about -- since they were free, it is only fair that the sample recipients should do something to pay back for cairomerta's enthusiasm and efforts, as well as spreading the buzz, he is trying to make it his business. Please?

Casamorati today. My understanding is that XerJoff found the older fragrances, sniffed them, fell in love and decided to relaunch them using modern ingredients and available technologies, trying to recreate the original formulas. My both samples carry the name Casamorati (since 1888) on top and XerJoff on the bottom, they also show that these are in Eau de Parfum strengths.

Fiore d'Ulivo -- floral Eau de Cologne despite the words on the packaging, in the most traditional style (which is far from being too exciting!) -- simple, natural, summery, optimistic, makes one feel clean, cool and refreshed -- that's what the whole genre is about -- and with the mostly traditional components used:
-- citrus (lemon, lime);
-- florals (jasmine, magnolia, lotus and olive blossom);
-- amber, woods, musk.
Hold your horses, though. I am not a fan of Eaux -- you have tried one, you have tried them all -- but Creed, Guerlain, Chanel and even Mr.SL now can't all be wrong, 4711 still sells well in Germany, and Colognes are being enjoyed more than ever these days, especially during the dog days of summer. Fiore d'Ulivo has phenomenal tenacity and ultimate projection, very well structured and is certainly pleasant overall. The citruses are light, bright, sun-drenched, and not so very green (no sharpness, bite or zing), the florals are aquatic, transparent but linguering. Olive blossom is a totally different story, as a note it begs for wider use in perfumery (I thought), I recall it as an element of older classic Guerlains, however they pair it with brusque bergamot, perky petitgrain and green verbena. Here olive blossom is persistent -- somewhat sweet, smells slightly oily but more on a herbal side, a bit peachy-honeyed even. Upon settling it shows different tonality: gentle but never soapy base -- a tad of amber, a bit of cedarwood, a smidgen of musk -- still optimistic, citrucy and sweet. Not very unique, but BEST among the equals. 4****+.

Wow - four stars is quite wonderful! I was hoping you'd have something good to say about Fiore d'Ulivo as that's the one I've been most hopeful about. The best among the olive blossoms is something I need to smell!

Thanks Twolf!

Got my samples from Mysticknot the other day and am waiting for my sinuses to give over before testing 'em. (with pollen counts high, I may have to just go for it.)... so you'll be hearing from me on the scents in the next few! ... and I have another tester waiting for me to pass them on to them. So just hold on, the reviews are coming! <smiles>

Bouquet Ideale -- oriental-woody. Once again, it is not my style and I do not want to smell like this on a regular basis, but I would like to keep some of it on hand when everybody is done and there are some leftovers erm... left over.
If you are looking for a gentle, romantic and delicate fragrance -- steer clear, please. I was thinking about this fragrance for three days and I still fail to find exact words to describe it. In any relationship winks, smiles and foreplays are important. In Bouquet they are non-existant. Animalic lust of musk and intolerably beautiful femininity of vanilla keep me sniffing my wrist. My sample box smells of it and I suspect, will be smelling of it long after I send it on to another person, so if we are speaking about longevity -- it is days, not hours (wet chores included).
It starts with a sharp and tart woody note I first thought was a combination of pomegranate and cedar, tantalizingly delectable and statement making in its unpleasantness. On second application, I got a different aspect of that wood -- more acidic than cedar, without dryness and pencil shavings, still thick and heavy to a degree -- and upon reading the notes I figured out it is what they call "papyrus"; and a different aspect of fruit -- it is still red, but now I was thinking more of cranberries covered in confectioners' sugar from lilamand.com (I will check the name of the Website and edit my message, if need be), powdery and light. With this contrast, the florals come into the foreground -- where Ms.MK feels rose and iris, I smell jasmine, honeysuckle, magnolia and maybe, some sort of spicy rose (saffron? ginger? allspice?), all surrounded by a cloud of vanilla. The floral components are not pushy, they are assigned supporting positions, but they are not making the fragrance go sideways into the totally floral territory. neither are the spices -- they are there, but their purpose is to introduce vanilla. Now, how much vanilla and what type? It is lightweight and almost edible, but it does not go gourmand, like in Hanae Mori or Keiko Mecheri Loukhoum. It is not straightforward and broody like Profumum likes them. It acquires incensy and somewhat smokey undertone in the process of wear, but never goes dark or overbearing (like in Shalimar). Instead, it is now that musk and mellow soft cashmeran joins it -- and many of you know that I do not "do" musks -- and together they penetrate every pore of the skin and every cell of my brain, leaving me mesmerized and craving for more.
Bouquet Ideale is constantly changing, never screaming and saying volumes. Sweet dirty bits.
4****+ again.

XerJoff 17/17 today, the sample says they are in parfum/high concentration (75% volume) and the cardboard they are attached to contains the description of the fragrances in both English and Russian, both with spelling errors.

Irisss -- good quality iris on the base of benzoin and frankincense, quite simple and cozy. There is nothing really much to say about this, there are green irises, musky and rooty irises, sweet and luminous irises, gourmand powdery irises, citrucy irises and many more varieties on the market, only the lazy one have not come up with some sort of irises in the recent 7-8 years. I like irises in general and can find creamier, woodier, warmer/cooler irises -- depending on the mood -- elsewhere. 2**

XXY -- the description says it is woody and ambery and I do not find it very accurate: it is more of a floriental with fruity accents to my nose. Peach, sweet synthetic patchouli, ylang-ylang, other flowers, vetiver, a bit of amber. It is contemporary in execution and relatively pleasant overall. It dries down to sweet dry woods with vanillic undertones. The whole fragrance seems lacking both shape and depth, can be used as an accord to build other frangrances upon. 3***.

Elle -- once again, I politely disagree with its description as "floral", it is a perfect example of a fruity floral fragrance, because fruit and not flowers play the decisive role in Elle's perception. Simple composition again, berries -- jasmine -- musk with sparks of leather-patchouli and benzoin-opoponax (tonkiphora balm). My favorite part of it is its opening, and I wrote "berries" because of its fruity essence, but in fact it is more than one note and find it rather delectable. The closest it comes to is quince jam -- google "quince" if you do not know your aiwa -- producing the same effect as Garcon Manque by Des Filles a la Vanille. For another delightful -- and cheap! -- fragrance with quince, please PM me. 3***-.

First of all I'm loving your reviews!! Keep 'em going
I'm one of the guys cairomerta sent samples to, but unfortunately I live in Qatar and it usually takes a reasonably long time for things to arrive here, but once the samples come, I'll post my thoughts ASAP!!!

Yikes - nothing gets by Wolfie!

Your description has me practically drooling over Bouquet Ideale, yet I'm strangely intimidated at the same time. But that sounds like a vanilla that even I can find attractive. Elle sounds good to me also - again, your way of describing fragrances makes me keenly interested to sniff even the ones you don't particularly care for.

I'm enjoying this immensely - that's all of them though, right?

Good point, scent, and salam and shukram.

Yes, Ms.E., this was all, all ten of them. I wrote to ComDiva a week ago -- she is a long-standing BNer and it was her Wardrobe where I saw the first mentioning of XerJoff, so I thought she might want to sniff them all now that we have a chance (once in a lifetime chance, perhaps?) -- but I have not heard from her yet. People from Boston MA and surrounding area, please call her and tell her there is PM waiting for her, if you would kindly?

Thank you cairomerta for making it possible. You guys please leave him positive iTrader feedback once you receive his samples, it is a request.

Thank you so much Twolf! I really appreciate your words as well as your reviews. The female forum is full of such eloquent women I must say. The reviews here have such passion and are such a joy to read! I look forward to everyone reviews!