...is that you end up wanting a bottle of bloody-well EVERYTHING you sample
My order came in today, and here's a quick run down:
SMN Acqua di Cuba
This scent is just beautiful. Recommended to me by someone on here, whom I can't remember offhand (thank you to you, sir), it starts with a very sharp and fresh lime sherbet smell, which quickly burns down to the scent of pure lime peel oil (kind of flatter and warmer), and sharpens back up again in a few minutes to the smell of a fresh-cut lime. Overall, this opening is the most complete rendition of a lime scent I've yet encountered. About a half an hour in, and the tobacco and spices have really warmed up, with the lime still pulsing gently on the top. This is by far the most gentlemanly tobacco scent I've encountered - very smooth, very addictive.
Penhaligon's Violetta
I'm fortunately not the kind of man who's afraid of smelling like flowers (cos I'm not a big sissy), and I do see a bigger bottle of this in my future... I don't think any better way exists than this to crown a shave with Trumper's Violet soap. I have to say, though, that it's not that far removed from Trumper's Ajaccio Violets (at least to my nose). It's noticeably smoother, but I guess violets are violets (I'm open to correction on this, though).
Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille
Oh sweet lordy, how am I going to afford all of this stuff? Any of you in the market for a lightly-used kidney? This juice is just amazing... I would have preferred for it to be a bit heavier on the tobacco, and lighter on the vanille, but I still love it. I visited an artisan vanilla processing plant here in South Africa some time back, and the guy who did the tour explained that the vast majority of perfumes featuring vanilla notes are using synthetic accords (you don't say...), because authentic vanilla accords for use in perfume can only be achieved with some sort of CO2 extraction method which is frightfully expensive. I would guess that this is what TF has done, because the vanilla here is very, very realistic, and totally unlike the "vanilla" which features in department store type stuff. Lovely!
Mazzolari Lui
Wow, just wow. This stuff is so simultaneously elegant and vulgar, it's hands-down the most intriguing scent I've smelled to date. I was expecting it to smell like something that Paulie Walnuts would wear, but I was way off - this is Vito Corleone all the way. Elegant and well-dressed, but there's something kind of vile in there, like the smell of crushed insects. This is something I would definitely wear if I wanted to intimidate someone... I'd just have to be careful not to intimidate myself, though - this stuff is that shocking.
Idole de Lubin
My nose is a bit blitzed at this point, but this is also a beautiful scent. It has a very strong Arabic / Turkish theme to my nose. I haven't checked basenotes, but a fresh, sweet rose is the clearest element that I can discern at this point.
Serge Lutens Fumerie Turque
I come from an Hellenic background, and Greeks in South Africa have a bit of a reputation for opening up corner shops (euphemistically known as "cafes")... this reminds me very much of smells from my childhood, of Greeks sitting around melamine tables, sipping kaffe ellinika and talking at the tops of their voices; of big wooden containers loaded with sweets and fresh fruit, and ancient video game cabinets pocked with cigarette burns. Having said all that, I don't really get much smoke or tobacco with this one (not yet), it's more like a memory of smoke (like the smell of a cigarette burn on linoleum...). The main theme that I'm picking up from this one is a very pleasant and nostalgic musk - I will definitely be exploring this one further.
That's it for now. I'm sure I wasn't the only one to exploit TPC's Thanksgiving discount? Let's hear what you gentlemen snagged!
My order came in today, and here's a quick run down:SMN Acqua di Cuba
This scent is just beautiful. Recommended to me by someone on here, whom I can't remember offhand (thank you to you, sir), it starts with a very sharp and fresh lime sherbet smell, which quickly burns down to the scent of pure lime peel oil (kind of flatter and warmer), and sharpens back up again in a few minutes to the smell of a fresh-cut lime. Overall, this opening is the most complete rendition of a lime scent I've yet encountered. About a half an hour in, and the tobacco and spices have really warmed up, with the lime still pulsing gently on the top. This is by far the most gentlemanly tobacco scent I've encountered - very smooth, very addictive.
Penhaligon's Violetta
I'm fortunately not the kind of man who's afraid of smelling like flowers (cos I'm not a big sissy
), and I do see a bigger bottle of this in my future... I don't think any better way exists than this to crown a shave with Trumper's Violet soap. I have to say, though, that it's not that far removed from Trumper's Ajaccio Violets (at least to my nose). It's noticeably smoother, but I guess violets are violets (I'm open to correction on this, though).Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille
Oh sweet lordy, how am I going to afford all of this stuff? Any of you in the market for a lightly-used kidney? This juice is just amazing... I would have preferred for it to be a bit heavier on the tobacco, and lighter on the vanille, but I still love it. I visited an artisan vanilla processing plant here in South Africa some time back, and the guy who did the tour explained that the vast majority of perfumes featuring vanilla notes are using synthetic accords (you don't say...), because authentic vanilla accords for use in perfume can only be achieved with some sort of CO2 extraction method which is frightfully expensive. I would guess that this is what TF has done, because the vanilla here is very, very realistic, and totally unlike the "vanilla" which features in department store type stuff. Lovely!
Mazzolari Lui
Wow, just wow. This stuff is so simultaneously elegant and vulgar, it's hands-down the most intriguing scent I've smelled to date. I was expecting it to smell like something that Paulie Walnuts would wear, but I was way off - this is Vito Corleone all the way. Elegant and well-dressed, but there's something kind of vile in there, like the smell of crushed insects. This is something I would definitely wear if I wanted to intimidate someone... I'd just have to be careful not to intimidate myself, though - this stuff is that shocking.
Idole de Lubin
My nose is a bit blitzed at this point, but this is also a beautiful scent. It has a very strong Arabic / Turkish theme to my nose. I haven't checked basenotes, but a fresh, sweet rose is the clearest element that I can discern at this point.
Serge Lutens Fumerie Turque
I come from an Hellenic background, and Greeks in South Africa have a bit of a reputation for opening up corner shops (euphemistically known as "cafes")... this reminds me very much of smells from my childhood, of Greeks sitting around melamine tables, sipping kaffe ellinika and talking at the tops of their voices; of big wooden containers loaded with sweets and fresh fruit, and ancient video game cabinets pocked with cigarette burns. Having said all that, I don't really get much smoke or tobacco with this one (not yet), it's more like a memory of smoke (like the smell of a cigarette burn on linoleum...). The main theme that I'm picking up from this one is a very pleasant and nostalgic musk - I will definitely be exploring this one further.
That's it for now. I'm sure I wasn't the only one to exploit TPC's Thanksgiving discount? Let's hear what you gentlemen snagged!
