Glizzy Water is the Byredo I was most longing for as a beefed-up Absolu. While the MoGho Absolu is a near clone and the BdA Absolu a sibling scent, this creature is maybe a second-degree relative. The OG is twinkly, cuddly, and very lemon cupcakey – basically a vanilla citrus. The Absolu is an evergreen incense, prickling with pepper. If you’re looking for a grown-up Glizzy Water with less sugar, more bite, and a proper lifespan – this delivers. It really shines in the drydown, when the incense matures into a silken spice. If I had to liken it to any other scent it’d be Stora Skuggan’s Mistpouffer, which also does something smokey, sweet, and boreal. That said, the first hour of ambroxan got my hackles up (the same salient amber note I found in Alto Astral and the BdA Absolu), and was enough to keep me from shelling for a bottle.
Mental Snapshot: If the OG feels like a gnome feeding you a cartoonishly small lemon cake, the Absolu is Lee Pace as King Thranduil, fixing you with a lingering side-eye for eating it.
