Recently, I tested the Varvatos in the beautiful, cherry-red, shiny bottle at a luxury perfumery in the center of Vienna. The bottle enchanted me, so I had high expectations for the scent. However, I was severely disappointed.
The fragrance starts off sugary-sweet, berry-like, with a slightly synthetic feel and background woods. This heavily candied berry scent is not really my thing. I almost mistook it for the brother of Jaguar Red.
But then something unforeseen happened. I can hardly explain what occurred from the fragrance pyramid. Out of nowhere, a very strong, penetrating, unpleasant chemical note emerged - at first, I thought it was synthetic oud, which is almost found in every modern perfume these days. But no. That wasn't it. It was much worse. The piercing note somehow smelled like the chlorine in heavily disinfecting cleaning agents. The fragrance changed its character, mutated into a penetrating chlorine bomb, and remained that way. Rarely have I smelled such an unbearable, respiratory-irritating, unpleasant scent.
Nothing for the faint-hearted. Something only for men who want to smell like the work gloves of cleaning company employees - like chlorine cleaner, sparkling clean, right? - if such men even exist.
The longevity is above average - practically forever and hardly washable, with a correspondingly strong sillage.
P.S. On the paper strip I took with me, I detected some maritime notes behind the penetration, but only the next morning when the scent had weakened. I didn't smell them on my skin.
Yes, that's true, there is a somewhat unusual undertone in the scent. However, I didn't really notice it smelling like chlorine. I've only worn it twice so far. It does remind me a bit of Armani Acqua di Giò Profumo. Maybe you'll like that one better.
Jilly 7 years ago
Mydarkflower 7 years ago