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Greatfaults
1
Lavender Rant
Performance: This performs well. It is a borderline loud projector for the first hour, then a medium scent bubble for 2-3 hours, then a substantial skin scent for the rest of the time. Last 7-8 hours. I've been able to get whiffs after 10 hours, and this is on skin. I haven't tried on clothes, but it probably does even better.
Scent: I think this is a decent scent, but I don't like it, mostly because of the opening parts of the scent.
There's a typical kind of lavender note in men's fragrances that's different than lavender notes in women's lotions and body washes. Next time you go to the grocery store, smell the lavender Dove body wash and compare it to the lavender not in some men's fragrance you have. It's quite different! The Dove lavender is floral and fresh in an almost minty way, while the lavender note in men's fragrances is this dank, almost mildew-y moist smell. I don't get why fragrance companies insist on using this dank lavender accord rather than a more feminine one because the feminine one smells better flat out, on men and women. The lavender note here is present for the first 2-2.5 hours, then it's gone and the fragrance becomes much better. The way the lavender note combines with the leather and fir balsam is just not good in my judgement. It smells like someone who rolls their own cigarettes and puts lavender in them. It smells like a freshly unsealed room of a man who lived with his mom in the 70s. Maybe it's the sage note doing this, or maybe it's the orris butter, but I think it's the lavender.
Lavender rant over. The drydown of this fragrance is much more enjoyable to me. There's a sweetness among all the manly notes that comes out more in the dry down. The fir balsam is very balsamic. It's not like smelling a pine tree but instead more like fir balsam sap; the green-ness is removed and all that's left is this camphorous-ness. I think it works to counterbalance the sweet leather. What about the orris butter? Girl, I don't know. I know what an iris note smells like, what a orris root note smells like, but not a orris butter note. If Systemshaak's review is correct and orris butter is a fermented oil of the orris root, then maybe I can individuate the orris butter note. There is a very noticeable fattiness to the fragrance. You know that smell of Crisco or un-rendered tallow? Somehow acidic and bitter at the same time, but to a very delicate degree? That's in this fragrance. Does it work? I'm not sure.
Overall, I think this just isn't a scent for me. It smells too decadently manly. I think the drydown works, but the opening just doesn't come together for me.
Bottle: It's alright. the badge on the front is plastic, and that's a bummer, but the flip cap is pretty cool and functional because it's not floppy. And the sprayer is very respectable. It's a 75ml bottle so that's a bit sucky, but who really cares if it's 75 or 100?
Top Notes 
Cardamom
Grapefruit
Green mandarin orange
Heart Notes 
Orris butter
Provençal lavender
Sage
Geranium
Base Notes 
Fir balsam absolute
Leather
Frankincense
Patchouli
Merlotsupern
TheSmeller
KimJong
Topfpflanze3
Gr8guyh
Nik604
Chrispello
