Bois Impérial Essential Parfums 2020 Eau de Parfum

Everyone and their mother hyped this up and I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY. To me, this is a nuclear warfare for my nostrils. Bisch typically overdoses his works with akigalawood which isn't necessarily something bad always, but it just doesn't work here (for me).

Starts with a peppery, woody, grassy BOMB that doesn't stop projecting. You immediately get the akigalawood, basil & pepper. But it's SO abrasive it's just too much for my nose. After an hour or two it gets smoother and actually enjoyable.
If you thought about blind buying please sample before because this is a hit or miss.

A woody, fresh and clean fragrance mainly based on akigalawood, vetiver and ambroxan (ambrofix) with a green touch (basil).

The quality you get for this price is simply awesome. This one is the best of the brand but I would still recommend to try the others.

The performances are great. With 2-3 sprays you can last easily through the day. It is so strong you can fill a room but the smel is so clean that its not overwhelming.

Its a great great compliment getter, maybe the best of my collection.

Thank you Quentin Bisch for this masterpiece.

Bois imperial is, at the moment, the absolute perfection in the niche (and not only) world.

It’s only 70€/100ml
Longevity is a 10
Proyection and Sillage are a 10
The aroma is brilliant, everybody around you will love it.
It’s eco friendly.

If i would start a brand, Essential Parfums would undoubtly be my inspiration.

…. Those were my initial thoughts when I first sprayed this. Very bright, very green, very strong.

This is a mature scent in my opinion. One for specific occasions, whether formal or professional. Not suitable for just anyone.

You have to know what you’re getting into; and you have to be dressed accordingly. Button up shirt and slacks, no less. It almost gives an authoritative vibe, so you must be dressed to fulfill the expectations created along those lines.

It’s not a crowd pleaser by any means, nor is it a date night scent. This is for when you want to exude your intellect and confidence. It smells of success, but not in a “Wall Street Wolf” manner. This is more of a medical professional, successful business owner, or educational professors scent.

Very, very mature. Very masculine. Respected.

Performance is great. A lighter feeling, bright sillage trail follows a 3ft projection bubble for a good 6-8 hours.

Great scent, but very specific.

Got a sample of this, not knowing this was perceived as 'masculine' by so many people. When I read the reviews and saw the chart, stating this to be very masculine, I left the sample in the paper envelope, afraid to try it as a woman. It was lying on my table and I forgot about it untill the next morning when I sat at my table and wondered which beautyful, happy, energizing scent I was smelling (which says a lot about how it projects!). Neither 'masculine' or 'feminine' came to my mind when smelling it, just 'energy', 'clean', 'nature' and 'fresh'.
So I finally tried one spray on the back of my hand.
This is the most natural smelling scent that, at the same time, acts like perfume I have ever encountered.
Many 'clean' scents act like 'skin but better' scents, this is 'clean' in the way it illustrates nature and fresh air (not as in air fresheners though!). So maybe 'clean' is not the right word for it, maybe it is just...'natural' or 'nature but better' and still it smells as interesting as a perfume.
I get something 'chypre' aswell, but not the harsh, bold kind of chypre.
A tiny bit of soap is there, but the softest kind of soap like when you smell soap hours after usage.
So is this as masculine as being said? No, not to my nose! It is like nature not having a gender or rather: having both genders (and more) and can well be worn by men and women!
Some say this has become a bit too mainstream because, for a niche perfume, it is very affordable and therefore worn by many, but I have never smelled this on a person. I would have known, I can assure you :-).
I will wear my sample a bit more to decide on buying a full bottle or not because it is very unlike scents I already own and love, so I need some more time with it, but I already can say this is a masterpiece!

Edit: After two days of wearing it, I understand the more masculine comments, I like some changes in the development of a perfume, but this, at least on my skin, did change to 'more masculine' That's fine if one likes it that way and it still is lovely. It is hard to get rid of it when you want to wear something else for the evening. So longevity is really good :-).