Another day, another boring designer with no bit of character or any sign of actual care put into the composition. This time we have Bvlgari Man Wood Essence Eau de Parfum, which let me tell you, it has nothing to do with the essence of wood or its scent. I think Morillas and/or Bvlgari's marketing team have never actually smelt true woodiness, because if this is what they consider a "woody fragrance", then they should start visiting forests on a regular basis.
Yes, this starts quite synthetic as we've come to expect by now, accompanied by sort of a sugary citrus sweetness supported by some warm, spicy, and surprisingly nutty coriander. Nearly thought I was getting cinnamon for a second, but the sweetness immediately takes a step back, leaving plenty of room for some woodiness that never truly arrives.
The cypress soon adds a touch of crisp, piney freshness, slightly aromatic and barely "green". Supposedly, it's now that the wood essence should start revealing itself, but all that you get is an airy and hollow dry/musky cedar that lacks both strength and a grounding quality. The benzoin doesn't help much here, adding tiny bits of sweet balsamic undertones and a powdery finish, as well as that faint hair fixative vibe which if anything, makes the composition seem more synthetic. Overall, there's nothing here that reminds me of wood, nor anything that would hint at a qualitative and well-put together product. Truly one of the worst from Bvlgari.
At least they were thoughtful enough to not make this nuclear regarding performance, which is usually the opposite for most designers. On my skin, I got somewhere around 5 hours of longevity, with pretty weak projection throughout. The first hour was pretty average, maybe about 1 foot of projection at best with decent but short-lived sillage, after which it would plummet down to a skin scent by hour 3.
Once more, the versatility category is the only one where boring scents such as this manage to bring back some points. And in the end, that's largely why they're so boring, because they're made to be as versatile and mass-appealing as possible. Daily wear, office shift, school hours, a short visit to your grandparents... Basically your daily activities that do not require you smelling like Areej Le Dore.
But I don't want to cut Bvlgari Man Wood Essence Eau de Parfum any slack with that. There's still plenty of better options out there that check the "simple and boring" boxes better, managing to still give the fragrance some more personality. And while Bvlgari Man Wood Essence Eau de Parfum is not the most devoid of character scent I've tried, it surely won't (shouldn't) win any awards for uniqueness. With a price tag between €100-€150, anyone who knows what they're doing will skip on this one, as it isn't even a good value fragrance for people who don't care about fragrances obsessively. Very lackluster, but very unsurprising.
