MrHonest
6
Titanium Egoiste
If you've ever smelled Platinum Egoiste, you'll recognize the essentials in Legesi right from the first spray - the herbal rosemary, the smooth lavender, the green galbanum and subtley piney cedarwood. Strangely enough, it's an entirely different development on paper than it is on skin.
On paper, the opening is sans alcohol and gives off a distinct vibe of mint toothpaste. When the rosemary and sage finally kick in, it's a skip-to-my loo all the way to the public urinal. Add a dash of garlic in the mid and then wash it off with a sweet, yet herbal green lavender soap, and you've got it. Not the best development.
But on skin, Legesi bursts out of the gate with a heroic amount of alcohol and rosemary, to be quickly followed up by an equally strong soapy combo of lavender and petitgrain. Yowsa - very barbershop and incredibly reminiscent of Platinum Egoiste.
Give it a few minutes, and the soapy lavender continues to smooth out until it's joined by the sage and cedar with only a hint of florals. But those fade fast until what you're basically left with is a slightly sweet lavender body wash with that distinctly metallic PE greenness in the background. In essence, it's a modernised version of PE, very much in line with the current reformulations of classics like Azzaro Pour Homme and Drakkar Noir. Luckily, you won't hear ME complaining...
You see, I used to own PE but had difficulty getting over the sharp, almost sour metallic vibe in the mid, most likely due to the combination of clary sage and geranium. Legesi does away with both, in addition to the neroli, amber and vetiver, and simply smoothes out the composition from top to bottom, while adding a touch of sweetness to the base. But what I find most startling is the development.
From the opening spray to the drydown nearly 1 hour in, there is a distinct reshuffling of the notes. It starts off mostly bitter and green, and ends mostly smooth and sweet, with the soapiness enveloping the entire lifespan. But therein lies its greatness. Instead of drying down to some modern, sweet generic nonsense greatly favoured by this generation's compliment-seeking douchebag, it takes a turn toward the vintage soapiness of yesteryear's distinguished gentleman - the mature, yet still youthful husband, father and teacher.
And that's basically Legesi in a nutshell. No, I wouldn't say that it's a perfect copy of Platinum Egoiste, nor is it even a great one. Instead, it's simply a more contemporary one, poured into a strangely designed bottle that you can't grab by the top or you might break all of your other surrounding bottles....yeah. Already gave me a scare. But fear not - the hinged top IS magnetic and the atomizer they put in this thing is the best one yet from Armaf - smooth and consistent.
Overall, for the price this is currently going for, I'm genuinely amazed and delighted. Fantastic value, in a brown mirror plated bottle. The modern man's Platinum Egoiste. Titanium Egoiste.