Item Description
Despite being formulated in 1938, this fragrance is surprisingly fresh and exhilarating. A blast of all kinds of orange is what hits first, which settles down very soon into a soft orange and subtle musk. Think Limes except more long lasting. It is hard to describe or categorise a scent, but to me it conjures up the image of Dickie Greenleaf (pictured below) from 'The Talented Mr Ripley' - young, handsome, fun and full of life.
View attachment 18433
It exudes a confidence and happy-go lucky charm... indeed Clinique Happy, another Orange scent appears to be so named due to the invigorating smell of Orange, however this is a 'happier', jazzier smell - less floral, more full-on juicy. Every time i whiff the bottle it makes me feel happy, perhaps in a fickle way, but it certainly is an uplifting, refreshing scent.
It is ideal for summer and younger guys who want something fresh, charming and opulent, but that is not to imply that it would be out of place on an older guy or in colder seasons. It makes a refreshing break from the aqueous department store clones and is perhaps an ideal transitionary fragrance for someone new to Trumpers or traditional colognes. It appears that most Eau De Portugals follow a similar line, being Orange +Neroli, not unlike a traditional Eau De Cologne, such as Trumper's own, but there are differences. Personally i think Orange is a scent that should be appreciated in its own right as opposed to being mashed into an Eau De Cologne style citrus squash - like GFT (nice in itself) or Trumper's Cologne (again beautiful but smells a wee bit sharp/harsh maybe even synthetic, almost like a cleaning fluid.) It seems like with GFT and Cologne they were trying to develop this scent further and didn't quite manage to improve it, indeed neither really are as refreshing as Portugal - perhaps because they seem to have Rosemary, which can be kinda dominant over the citrus, depleting its juiciness, at least to my nose. Trumpers are indeed fond of Rosemary, but if it's here (as i first suspected - alas it seems to be the Musk) it is not evident. 10/10 for complexity - why? because it is beautiful in its simplicity. It is not a stew of citrus notes, but rather a simple, inoffensive, yet jazzy celebration of bitter Orange.
At first i thought the Orange-Orange Blossom (Neroli) - Musk were slightly discordant - the former pair rousing up in a volcanic rush of delightful olfactory pleasure, before quickly (and i mean in a few minutes) settling down into the mild inoffensive territory of the Musk. What you are left with is a very subtle but pleasant smell. Which again reminds me of Dickie Greenleaf in TTMR - a bright, sunny character whose fiancé complains that "when he looks at you, it's like the sun is shining on you, and it's glorious. And when he looks away, it gets very cold." Indeed the same could be said of the fragrance - bright and brisk, fading away all too soon. Just as Dickie dominates the first half of the film and leaves a subtly perceptible presence in his absence, so too does this fragrance leave before you want it to, but not quite go away. However, while i have been barely to smell it, save for a sniff at it's settled post-rush state, others have commented that "i smell oranges/ an orange smell" in my wake!
My advice - buy the plastic 100ml bottle if you can and splash it on at your pleasure! Though others might be able to detect it better than i can, i still favour re-applying for that pick-me-up first rush.
In short a beautiful, happy-go-lucky fragrance and certainly worth trying.
View attachment 18434
View attachment 18433
It exudes a confidence and happy-go lucky charm... indeed Clinique Happy, another Orange scent appears to be so named due to the invigorating smell of Orange, however this is a 'happier', jazzier smell - less floral, more full-on juicy. Every time i whiff the bottle it makes me feel happy, perhaps in a fickle way, but it certainly is an uplifting, refreshing scent.
It is ideal for summer and younger guys who want something fresh, charming and opulent, but that is not to imply that it would be out of place on an older guy or in colder seasons. It makes a refreshing break from the aqueous department store clones and is perhaps an ideal transitionary fragrance for someone new to Trumpers or traditional colognes. It appears that most Eau De Portugals follow a similar line, being Orange +Neroli, not unlike a traditional Eau De Cologne, such as Trumper's own, but there are differences. Personally i think Orange is a scent that should be appreciated in its own right as opposed to being mashed into an Eau De Cologne style citrus squash - like GFT (nice in itself) or Trumper's Cologne (again beautiful but smells a wee bit sharp/harsh maybe even synthetic, almost like a cleaning fluid.) It seems like with GFT and Cologne they were trying to develop this scent further and didn't quite manage to improve it, indeed neither really are as refreshing as Portugal - perhaps because they seem to have Rosemary, which can be kinda dominant over the citrus, depleting its juiciness, at least to my nose. Trumpers are indeed fond of Rosemary, but if it's here (as i first suspected - alas it seems to be the Musk) it is not evident. 10/10 for complexity - why? because it is beautiful in its simplicity. It is not a stew of citrus notes, but rather a simple, inoffensive, yet jazzy celebration of bitter Orange.
At first i thought the Orange-Orange Blossom (Neroli) - Musk were slightly discordant - the former pair rousing up in a volcanic rush of delightful olfactory pleasure, before quickly (and i mean in a few minutes) settling down into the mild inoffensive territory of the Musk. What you are left with is a very subtle but pleasant smell. Which again reminds me of Dickie Greenleaf in TTMR - a bright, sunny character whose fiancé complains that "when he looks at you, it's like the sun is shining on you, and it's glorious. And when he looks away, it gets very cold." Indeed the same could be said of the fragrance - bright and brisk, fading away all too soon. Just as Dickie dominates the first half of the film and leaves a subtly perceptible presence in his absence, so too does this fragrance leave before you want it to, but not quite go away. However, while i have been barely to smell it, save for a sniff at it's settled post-rush state, others have commented that "i smell oranges/ an orange smell" in my wake!
My advice - buy the plastic 100ml bottle if you can and splash it on at your pleasure! Though others might be able to detect it better than i can, i still favour re-applying for that pick-me-up first rush.
In short a beautiful, happy-go-lucky fragrance and certainly worth trying.
View attachment 18434
