III-IV Tango Masque 2014

I stumbled upon this while looking for something else but the moment I sprayed it on my hand it made something click in my brain. The sweet spiciness is just addictive. In the opening it feels to be boozy and classy with a middle eastern perfumery vibe. It creates a lovely spicy scent bubble around you that it is just to die for. Definitely my favorite from Masque Milano. The performance and silage is above average, 10+ hours. If you like ambery sweet spicy fragrances I definitely recommend this. By the way, the atomizers are amazing.

Tango starts out with a spicy opening that has some bite. It slowly smooths out as it dries down. The appearance of the rose note is very evident but it doesn't stay pronounced for very long. It retreats somewhat and provides more of a smooth and creamy texture to the fragrance. No worries about the cumin - no sweaty scent at all. As it evolves further, it sweetens up just a bit and the resins and amber come to the front. There is also a slight powdery touch. Overall though, it's a slightly sweet, with mild spices, amber fragrance.

Longevity is good, with Tango down to a medium strong skin scent at about the 8 hour mark. Projection is on the milder side although stronger for the first hour.

All that said, Tango is a nice amber fragrance BUT I prefer the two ambers I already have: Ambre Sultan, which is warmer and spicier than Tango and Molten Ambra which is a little sweeter and smoother than Tango. I'd put Tango in between those two. For myself, though, I prefer the two extremes.

A sweet amber with a prominent note of old wood and a touch of tar reminding me of old ships. A warm sultry spice accord that raises like the heat trapped inside the wooden barrels and pavement stones after the sunset. Patchouli and tonka beans flirting with each other within a chocolate encounter. A soothing touch of rose petals and a burning sip of Port Wine.

The story of this tango refers to the ports somewhere in Buenos Aires or Montevideo bringing the romanticized image of shipping. Where the hot air is infused with an exotic mix of tarred wood, spices and chocolate. Where the port wine drinking crew member amuse themselves with a tango dance while trying to escape from boredom between hard work and passing out drunk.

The sillage of Tango is quite modest, the scent keeps close to the skin. As probably any intimate moment should be.

Somehow I keep to get a lot of flashbacks coming from the works of Serge Lutens. An old wood infused amber from Amber Sultan, sultry spices from Vitriol d'Oeillet, silky coolness of rose petals from Santal Majuscule, chocolate pathouli from Borneo 1834... Well, I guess being a fan of Serge makes my mind to use his works as reference points...

A pleasant burst of amber, warm, spicy almost floral sweetness. A peppery aspect keeps the top dancing and sparkling on the surface of a rather heavy, gloopy, treacly, darkly faceted amber. This starts as a really promising dark floriental, but all too soon the interesting parts give up their battle to stay afloat and sink below the smooth amber surface and lie there, occasionally surfacing but then finally resign themselves to the deep amber depths. This is lovely if you like huge sweet spicy ambers but the beginning was the best bit. The drydown begins too soon and leaves a memory of the dance, but is soft and pleasant. An ambery spice like powder, with a cumin body nuance, and long lasting. There is a very slightly rubbery nuance that lingers in a sort of liquorice sweetie way. Then after a short while, an amber spicy talc. Clean and peppery.

It took me a while but I've come around to appreciate this fragrance. The bergamot gives the freshness, and the ambers/resins give it a nice deep sweetness. The florals give it a softness which make it a well-done composition.

However, the cumin gave it an animalic edge and the jasmine sambac added some musty sweatiness (personally, jasmine sambac is one of my most, if not the most, disliked notes.)

At first, I didn't like this. The cumin/jasmin combination wasn't overbearing but it was enough for me to put it aside. But I decided to give it some time and I see the potential. (Note: it smells better in the air than up close.)

The drydown is where this fragrance shines. This scent profile is reminiscent of most chypres from the past. A bit of nostalgia hits when smelling it. And yet, it's modernized to not make it outdated.

I'm glad I gave this one a chance before disregarding it.