Hero Eau de Toilette was bland, boring, and totally uninspiring. Even as a fragrance for people who don't care about fragrances, it still felt like it was missing some character. However, we have a new hero in town, Hero Eau de Parfum, arguably the most popular of the series. So can it manage to do what its predecessor couldn't? Well... at least it tried.
The fragrance is essentially a sweeter take on Hero Eau de Toilette, only it still starts off pretty synthetic. As that passes, the benzoin warms things up while also providing ambery sweetness (vanilla and caramel clashing) and balsamic undertones. I even get a soft powdery edge. Then some woodiness comes into play that instead of giving the fragrance a more distinct touch and a grounding effect, turns it into sweet amberwood slop. The fresher pine touches, mildly resinous, cannot save it anymore, nor the frankincense which blends in with the amber and pine; it has taken a clear direction, and one that was to be expected. Unfortunately, not much else happens. It's pretty linear, and as the synthetic nudge in the back implies, not of excellent quality either. It does have some more character than Hero Eau de Toilette, but I feel it could've done more.
For performance, I expected significantly better projection than on its smaller sibling, yet it was just slightly better. For the first hour it held a pretty consistent 2 feet of projection, but the sillage wasn't that great. Afterwards, it would rapidly settle, being detectable only if you got fairly close, and by the 4 hour mark, it was already a skin scent. Longevity seemed significantly better, however, reaching about 8 hours on my skin.
Just like with Hero Eau de Toilette, Hero Eau de Parfum benefits from high versatility, particularly because of its mass-appealing designer scent. Apart from the warm weather, this will mostly be used as a daily scent or for casual wear during the colder months. Not really that fit for more formal ceremonies, but for a teenager without the budget, this would be their Swiss Army Knife.
It's unfortunate, but as most other designer scents, Hero Eau de Parfum falls pray to the amberwood slop curse. It is just another sweet, messy but mass-appealing blend which has the sole purpose of bringing in as much capital as possible without offering much in return. You'll smell good, yes, but also characterless and boring. And I feel like it could've been different. The notes of pine, the balsamic undertone, resinous touches - there's very few fragrances in the designer scene that offer these notes. And if Hero Eau de Parfum took a different approach and didn't just drench everything in amberwood sweetness, it could've stood out. Riskier, yes, but worth it. But alas, it's always simpler to take the easy way out.
