Oh, ooOoh ...oh (mist, wood, wind and guitar) Miller et Bertaux 2012

I don't know what thoughts and associations arise in the minds of the inclined readership when reading a drawn-out "Oh, oooh - oh..." but I confess: mine were certainly not suitable for young audiences or print.
Even before I had taken a look at the pyramid, my eyebrows shot up towards my hairline, the switch of my mental cinema flipped, and images and entire sequences flickered across my inner screen, where the actors devoted themselves to activities that - well, let's say: are certainly not suitable for young audiences.
Ashes on my head.
That was certainly not what Miller et Bertaux had in mind when they commissioned "Oh, ooOoh ...oh" (the correct placement of all those "O"s is an art in itself!) - the fragrance was meant to be wild-romantic and grounded, a folk ballad, wistfully strummed on an old guitar by the smoking campfire in the evening.
Pure cowboy romance.
At least that was the intention - but sometimes the offspring becomes independent and goes further than its creators had actually envisioned...

Whatever "Oh, ooOoh ...oh" was supposed to embody: this fragrance is undeniably masculine.
Damn masculine.
The bright, hesperidic, completely unsweetened opening cannot deny that.
For a few seconds, it gives the impression that we are dealing with a kind of cologne, a cheerful summer water, as clear and innocent as the liquid in the small container in front of me on the table.
But one should not be deceived by that - just a few moments later, herbaceous-green notes emerge and transform the early morning orange grove into a late afternoon herb garden.
Very quickly, "Oh, ooOoh ...oh" loses its somewhat naive character, matures in the blink of an eye, and develops a dark, woody spiciness, strong and stable like a warm, broad shoulder.
A bit of smoke mixes in - and voilà, there he sits by the campfire, our lonely cowboy, alone with himself, his thoughts, and his guitar!
It's cool there, but not cold - moss and cedar lighten the dark atmosphere and maintain a latent green freshness, emphasized by distinctly highlighted juniper.
A little later, a body-warm, increasingly dominant leather note joins in - the cowboy's saddle or his chaps.

Up to this point, "Oh, ooOoh ...oh" follows the expectations and guidelines more or less obediently - but then the fragrance cuts the puppet strings and reveals its darker, deeper nature.
Every touch of green, every ray of light extinguishes - I would wager quite a bit that among the woods is that sparkling, balsamic-spicy, non-bitter oud that is also found in "Testostérone" by Sentifique.
On my skin, there is a very clear similarity between these two fragrances, which announces itself in the heart note of "Oh, ooOoh ...oh" and continuously increases towards the base.
Animalic-dark, woody-spicy, extremely masculine, and almost indecently erotic, yet more subdued in its presence than "Testostérone" and thus more wearable in everyday life - a fragrance for urban cowboys whose dark, wild soul has eluded any attempt at domestication.
And for the women who have always wanted a cowboy as a man.