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Green tea -> Bvlgari pour Homme Soir
Black tea -> L'Artisan Tea for Two

New stuff.

Oh, yes, I'd love to smell the original Colonia.

Aventus is the new Green Irish Tweed: no longer cutting-edge, but too dependable to ever truly go out of style.

As with Green Irish Tweed, it doesn't really excite me, but I appreciate it as a...

I wonder... could this just be the Hermès equivalent of something like Dior Homme 2020?

Yep. This.

The mid and drydown is quite dry. The green-infused opening of the current Santos is my favorite part.


Yes, I've found the current stuff to perform fairly well. (The vintage stuff didn't last as...

Pasha is sweeter/fruitier than the Boucheron or Lalique.

Which is good, since the supply of bottles might have dried up by then.

Prices still seem reasonable for now. I guess we have its polarizing nature to thank for that.

Wonderful choices, all, but probably more suited to a Bond who doesn't get their style cues from Esquire and Mr. Porter.

1. Houbigant Bois Mystique
2. Heeley Sel Marin
3. Floris 71/72
4. Creed Virgin Island Water
5. Acqua di Parma Colonia Assoluta
6. Arquiste Sydney Rock Pool

Older stuff is much improved, I think.

Current stuff feels a bit flat and fuzzy to me.

It's well-made, but I wasn't bowled over by it.

I thought there was another formulation change since 2007, with the switch to refillable bottles?

I like the look of these!

Not a surprise, really, since Bentley has two hyped fragrances that are widely sampled.

The offerings of the other brands fly under the radar a little bit.

Boucheron PH feels fussy and stuffy to me.

Lalique pour Homme EDP is the best scent in the Lalique masculine lineup. Crisp and comforting. Better than the likes of Equus and White. (Second-best...

I despise the look of the Mugler A*Men bottles. They look incredibly tacky to me.

Otherwise, I'm not super picky.

Orange can be sweet, but not really in the case of Assoluta, which has an opening built around sharp, astringent bitter orange before transitioning to soapy florals, slightly spicy musk, and...

Which formulation did you try?

Maybe so, but then again you get weird things like Noir Anthracite popping up in the "mainstream" TF line.

I think the "oud fragrances will stay in the PB line due to appearance of luxury"...

Chopard Oud Malaki would be worth a look.

I've generally liked what I've tried from this house, so this could be worth a look.

Yep. And it also moves away from the "shaving cream" vibe towards a smoky-woody-amber feeling.

Nothing I've tried smells exactly the same as Rive Gauche.

The current edition of Pascal Morabito Or Black is close in feel once you get to the drydown (if Rive Gauche is Barbasol, then Or Black...

Dunhill Blend 30 is like sipping herbal tea and smoking a pipe on rainy London day. Which is to say I find it very lovable.

La Curie.

Gold cap EDT is great.

Never tried silver, but current era EDT ("Listerine" bottle) is really nice, too.

This had to sell better than, say, Oud Minerale, so I'm guessing that the reason to discontinue it really is to move it down to the Signature line, as has been rumored.

Yeah, I'm right there with ya. I had to work hard to scrub it off. Plenty of folks love the stuff, though.

Not disputing there's some resemblance, though. I'm comfortable calling Mystery Tobacco a...

I did like the drydown on this one (didn't find it harsh-smelling at all), but that cherry-ish opening is just something I can't quite enjoy.

Still feels to me like a late-to-the-party Guerlain...

Hednic has this one right.

If you look over the entire lineup, Mercedes-Benz has more to offer than the other car fragrance lines. (Look to the Benz scents created by Olivier Cresp, in particular.)

I don't really get along with the "intentionally unfinished" feeling of Le Labo's fragrances.

It's like one of those luxe furniture houses that markets trendy "rustic" furniture at a high markup.

A good deal, probably.

How well you carry off a given fragrance probably has a lot to do with how others see it in relationship to you, and how it matches (or doesn't match) with how you dress,...

I despise Mancera Red Tobacco, which is why I push back on overemphasizing that point of comparison. Red Tobacco is one of only a handful of fragrances that left me retching.

As with any artform,...

My wife has vetoed quite a few things I like, most prominently Luciano Pavarotti for Men.

Of the three, Demeter Pipe Tobacco is the one that has the clearest tobacco note.

This Is Not a Pipe has more spices (suggesting a tobacco blend), and Aramis Tobacco Reserve has a good tobacco...

I got a vintage splash bottle of this in a swap and find it altogether pleasant. A sort of "tangerine sherbet" thing going on (think of Eau Sauvage's "lemon sherbet" kind of thing) mingled with a...

I would, at least as far as to say that when you look at the field of today's popular tobacco fragrances (Herod, Tobacco Vanille, Chergui, 18.21, Red Tobacco, Pure Havane, Ambre Narguile, L'Homme...

I think it's because of brand appeal. If Bentley released a $200 fragrance it couldn't really compete on the market. There's something about cars in modern society that isn't *really* perceived as...

I've seen Tobacco Oud for around $165, but only for the 50 ml bottle.

To get $1.65/ml for Tobacco Oud, you'd have to find a bottle for a little over $80. I've never seen that.

This is from their "exclusive" line.

FWIW, if you're patient, this can be found cheaper. I paid $220, which, if you do exchange rate shenanigans, gets you to 25% less than the quoted figure.
...

Chergui is too sweet for me, FWIW.

Probably. Dry, dusty sweetness, caramelized sugar sweetness, and white sugar sweetness are all very different in character. I'm bothered most by the "sugar syrup" variety. This sort of mellow, dusty...

It is possible, especially when so many "top shelf" fragrances are awash in half-baked composition and synthetics.

There's nothing inferior about the current edition of Guerlain Heritage EDT when...

I think it's only sold at Carolina Herrera boutiques.

But, as my comments above indicate, it's not necessarily "that good," just uniquely balanced. It's too expensive for what it is for me to...

Yes, I own that one. And, yes, it's brilliant.

Banana Republic Oud Mosaic - A plum-infused take on the rose-oud that beats many of the luxe options in this style in its balance and appeal.

Geo F. Trumper Sandalwood Cologne - A higher-grade...

I'm just mostly impressed to find a modern tobacco that goes dry and woody in the way that it does.

The oud is definitely part of it, but overall it's kind of unusual.

I don't care for Naxos much at all, so judge accordingly.

EDP of Lalique pour Homme is the way to go. Fuller, more satisfying composition, better performance.

The Roja consumer is undoubtedly different from the Piguet/Guerlain consumer. Roja is transparent about his desire to sell an idea of luxury to a modern consumer.

He's clearly a fan of "vintage"...

Encre Noire has been reformulated a few times, with changes in ingredients. This is a case where older bottles are markedly better.

Jaguar for Men

A vintage splash with that nice wood cap.

More gentlemanly than I expected.

I'll add that the drive to smell new things is what has led to the ranks of my collection swelling. Seeing all these bottles on my shelf gives me little pleasure (I find it burdensome), but the...

The 100 ml bottle of Acqua di Parma Colonia Assoluta I acquired last year is starting to get low, so I think that'll meet its end.

I acquired a bottle of Fille en Aiguilles that had around 5-10 ml...

I have ended up with a much larger fragrance wardrobe than I ever intended.

I wear most fragrances for escapism, to be transported to another imaginary place or time or psychological state of...

C.

I tend to buy samples based on "theme" (i.e. a group of neroli scents, or a group of incense scents).

David?

I replied to Dan who was talking about how threads have gotten repetitive and he's looking to talk about newer affordable and designer scents?

Given current events, I think fewer of us are venturing out to stores to try new stuff that's widely available. But, yeah, it's a lot of deja vu. What is there left to say about stuff like Fahrenheit...

It is. It's much better than anything remaining in the line now and was one of the more distinctive rose-ouds on the market.

(I haven't tried the All Blacks edition FragFrog eagerly praises here...

The cult of Polo seems to have taken off in a big way (as a non-Polo owner, I'm not a member). Fahrenheit maintains a level of enthusiasm, too.

Rogue Perfumery got/gets a lot of talk.

"Old Money" Luxury: Caswell-Massey Supernatural Number Six or Floris Leather Oud

"Bougie" Luxury: Tom Ford Ombré Leather 16

Same!

It varies. I love the smell of birch most of all. But I get my firewood from local vendors who sell a blend of local hardwoods including maple and beech.

Not to me. I love coming down the morning after having burnt a lot of hardwood in my brick fireplace and smelling that lingering creosote/woodsmoke aroma. I think it's delightful.

I don't.

Incendo more or less perfectly captured what I wanted, and is a lovely campfire scent that turns into a very wearable incense fragrance.

Does this guy "Tommy" have a track record of good scoops or is it just a random comment?

They're pretty similar, but OL16 has a powdery violet thing entirely absent from OL18.

Seems like it.

There are fragrances I deem to be masterpieces that I would praise to the heavens but only wear a few times a year, and fragrances I'd wear regularly but are, to one degree or another, less than...

I'd be shocked if Tobacco Oud moved. The logic for moving fragrances down a tier has seemingly been if it would do better as a mass-market release than it could as a PB release.

As a PB, for...

Lalique pour Homme Eau de Parfum

Yeah, that would be fair.

Did your review get taken down? I can't find it.

I swapped the more widely admired AdG Profumo for this and think that I got the better end of the bargain in that trade.

Gucci Guilty EDP's...

If it makes you feel better, consensus is that the PB version of BdJ is better.

I haven't. I have to be very careful with Lutens. The house's aesthetic isn't really my cup of tea.

It's smooth, but I don't find it especially compelling. Feels a bit hollowed-out to me.

I'm actually surprised it took them this long to make this move.

Stuff like Soleil Blanc or the Neroli Portofino lines have enough broad appeal that it would make sense for them to be mainstream...

Lavender is a tricky note. "Natural" lavender can often smell very harsh and abrasive (if you smell raw lavender itself it can be very sharp).

Smoother lavender notes tend to be derived from...

My 2021 resolution is to not buy any new fragrances (swapping and some light sampling will be allowed). 2020 was a year of gluttonous acquisition and I need a change of pace. But as the final...

I was given a Kaweco Sport as a stocking stuffer and, as affordable as it is, it writes like a dream.

Baldessarini Strictly Private - It has been referred to as a superior TF Noir Extreme, so my interest was peaked, but the urge to buy passed.

La Curie Incendo - I adore my sample of this (that...

CASWELL-MASSEY Supernatural Number Six
An EDC (and a historically significant one) that has been lovingly transformed into an EDP, with projection and longevity to match. My idea of a perfect...

Yep, a terrific lineup to be sure.

Look forward to your thoughts.

My wife (who loves this scent) is thrilled.

It always smelled kinda flat on me.

I've never tried Crest, either. I'm mildly curious about it, but I'm not a Polo devotee. (I've traded away both current and vintage bottles of Polo.)

Modern Reserve is nice (there's a pleasant...

Depends on your metric. If your barometer is just "I like this fragrance," then my swaps have been as successful as my blind-buys (<10% failure rate). If your barometer is, "I will regularly wear...

YSL Rive Gauche

I suppose discontinued unicorns are almost always overrated by default, but why anyone would prefer this to a decent vintage of Azzaro pour Homme is beyond me.

I'm much more willing to make "risky" swaps than blind-buys, so not in my case.

Where do "swaps" fall? I do a lot of "blind swapping."

Yes, a lovely scent.

Berdoues Hoja de Cuba
L'Artisan Premier Figuier

I don't find it saccharine.

Maybe it's just how it wears on my skin, but the salty ozonic synth-ambergris overtakes the cacao-coffee-tonka. It's certainly rooted in some sweetness, but it's a very...

The ambergris is much too prominent here for me to think of it as gourmand; that salty-animalic thing undercuts the foody associations even with the strong tonka.

Anyway, I think of this as the...

Agreed. This recommendation was what inspired me to seek it out. I sampled it about a year ago, enjoyed it, forgot about it, and now I've got a bottle of Avant-Garde on the way.

The current formulation of JDJ is aggressively dry with an aggressive, harsh faceful-of-dry-clove opening.

The opening of the original is gentler and more rounded.

Caron pour Un Homme Sport is a good affordable option.

For a more artisanal take that won't hurt your wallet too badly, Maison Anthony Marmin Sheikh Al Faransi.