It's definitely a BdC flanker, and to me, it's almost like this is a different version of the Parfum that never got made, almost as if the perfumer made a handful of renditions and this one, because it's got some smoke, leather, and a small touch of something animalic, wasn't picked as the final version. To my nose, it's worlds different on strip versus skin, as on strip it's almost in between the EDP and the Parfum and very little of those dark notes come across. On skin (mine, at least), much more of those dark notes come out, especially when smelled up close. In the air, it's very close to the Parfum, and I'd say that if you have the Parfum, this is redundant. Personally, I've always wanted a bottle of the Parfum, and now that we have this, I may actually spend the extra money and get L'Exclusif. In the end, it has all of the characteristics of the Parfum, but it's slightly deeper, more interesting, and, most importantly, it actually projects. On my skin, the biggest drawback of the Parfum was that it didn't project or have much of a sillage to speak of, after the first hour or so. With this, the performance is much, much better, and if the Parfum had this kind of projection, I would've bought a 5oz years ago and never looked back. In my opinion, this is the best version of BdC so far, and probably what the Parfum should've been in the first place.
