Bayolea (2014)
by Penhaligon's

An awesome offering from Penhaligon's, this is a photorealistic lemongrass scent. It smells of lemongrass with pepper (combining to smell sort of like lemon-pepper seasoning), with a lot of mossy green notes in the drydown. In fact the lemongrass is so realistic that some people say this reminds them of Thai food (which often uses lemongrass in its recipes). It smells similar to Lalique White, but lasts far longer than that, having strong projection for over 4 hours. Very gentlemanly, green, and old-fashioned (in a good way). Love this stuff.

5/5

Spring meadow by Charlotte Wahlstrom 1849 1924

I do not like how this develops on me. There is something strong that I don't enjoy smelling and I worry that it may smell this way to others. This is indicative of a strong sillage, which most people would enjoy. It may be ideal for hiking, cycling or the gym, but it is a bit strong for me to use regularly. The fragrance notes list here are a very accurate description, however, on me it seems like I am reeking of Gin.

Bayolea is a surprising fragrance from the subtle house of Penhaligons. I received a sample with a purchase, and had to look up the fragrance online, having never heard of it as one to check out. Bayolea opens with a citrus dominated by lemongrass, which I wasn't familiar with and thought was fairly unique. It's a clean lemon note, with a refreshing zest that stays forward for about 30 minutes, and then plays support as the lavender, cardamom and pepper middle notes emerge. Its very clean and a bit traditional in a gentlemanly fashion, and hints at barbershop tonic. The lavender and lemongrass create a fresh, hot shave cream tone. Fairly quickly, the top fades and a cedar and musk note is revealed which produces a somewhat bay leaf tone, but not in the fashion of your grandfather's sharp bayrum aftershave. It's a much softer note, and the sillage doesn't rise more than a personal level. The maximum longevity you'll get is maybe 2-3 hours tops. The problem here is trademark for Penhaligons, most of their fragrances disappear totally at 3 hours. I like Bayolea, but won't consider purchasing it as it performs so poorly.

I enjoy the opening of Bayolea..I can really detect the lemongrass note and I've not tried many fragrances that use lemongrass so prominently and so well ..usually expensive air freshner or room spray tend to use it. I also detect musk..pepper and woods and a touch of lavender ..very uptown and classy barber shop ..only issue is that it doesn't perform as well as I'd like, after 3 hrs I'm struggling to smell anything, on a par with neroli Portofino in performance and like portofino a very attractive refreshing summer cologne.