CH Men Privé Carolina Herrera 2015

Additional designations like Privé, Reserva, RVSOP, Grand Selezione, Grand Cru, or even Premier Grand Cru are meant to serve as hints at a certain differentiation, in terms of raw materials, quality, processing, aging, or storage. Especially with wines, I feel confident in distinguishing the differences, which often come with a price increase.
Whether CH Men Privé meets the suggested higher quality standards will be revealed later.
Personally, I find the suffix "Privé" has been used too often lately, especially with so-called everyday products, without any justification whatsoever. There have simply been too many Intenses, Absolutes, Ultras, Blends, or Ultimates;-) With Dior and Armani, it fits well... with Paco Rabanne, less so. Nevertheless, I was very curious about this fragrance, also because the note of whisky appears... or is supposed to appear.
Currently available very cheaply at Notino, so I spontaneously grabbed it.
I like this warm-spicy beauty, which fits very well into this season. Its sweet and spicy aromas are perfect for autumn and winter, more winter. The cardamom and tonka/benzoe sweetness combined with the leathery heart creates a very aromatic mix. In a similar, but more refined form, you can find this in "Leder 6/Fetisch." There it is a bit sweeter, which was too sweet for me at the time. I can discover even clearer parallels in Le Male Essence, where I find the spiciness a bit sharper. Unfortunately, I miss the whisky note; one can sense something alcoholic, more liqueur-like than from the Highlands. Speaking of Highlands, as a comparison for "whisky reference," I took Spirit Glen by Durga, Baraonda by Naomatto, and Single Malt by Kilian. Unfortunately, I lack the authentic whisky note of these three fragrances in CH Men Privé... to be completely honest, I wouldn't have recognized/suspected it if I hadn't read it above.
Still, it is a cuddly scent, a winter charmer with a slightly masculine touch, one can feel very comfortable with it. Especially the perfume lovers who enjoy scents like Le Male Ultra/Essence, The One EDP, 1 Million Privé, Armani Code Ultimate/Profumo/Special Blend, Givenchy Gentlemen Absolute, Ferragamo Uomo, and many more. Personally, I find it difficult to distinguish all these fragrances from one another, as the tonka-lavender-vanilla base mix is quite similar in all of them. And yet, I like this scent the most among those listed, because it is the least sweet and has a special spicy note; whether that comes from the alcohol, I couldn't find out.

Conclusion: A beautiful and pleasant fragrance that does not live up to either the Privé or the hype claim. For that, it is just too ordinary. I find the cheap plastic bottle with glued-on plastic letters and plastic field bottle cap quite terrible... just bling-bling-grotesque, as if it were intended but not executed well. It somehow doesn't fit with the upscale Privé nonsense. However, compared to Police bottles, it's a gem;-)! Very fair price, with good longevity (6 hours) and mediocre sillage. You really can't go wrong with it, so I will gladly wear it in winter, even in the office!