Piccadilly Hero Fabbrica della Musa 2025

Continuing with my sample set from the Exclusive Collection of the brand Fabbrica della Musa. Here is the Piccadilly Hero which was released last year. All 6 fragrances in the collection were created by the German-Iranian Hamid Merati-Kashani, who has of course already produced absolute bestsellers. He has also delivered well for this Italian brand and especially for this collection. I was particularly excited about this Piccadilly Hero alongside Ile Bourbon, also because I particularly like fruity scents. Here you get a cherry fragrance, a note that has been extremely hyped in recent years. Again, you get a great cherry in the top note, but the selection of cherry fragrances is large. Therefore, I will not buy this one either, especially since I am well covered when it comes to cherry notes. Nevertheless, it’s a "half" recommendation for anyone still looking for a slightly darker cherry. It is comparable to Infinity or Lucid Dream.

Price-performance is so-so. 220€ for 100ml is steep, but still reasonable for niche. The packaging and bottle give a valuable impression. Here you get the color red, fitting for the cherry.
At the start, you get a lot of cherry. Fruity-sweet, somewhat juicy but still darker than Lost Cherry and its counterparts. This is also due to the oriental-tinged base with saffron, leather, tobacco & patchouli which come in early and are actually always present. Additionally, you get a soft praline note in the opening that provides a gentle sweetness. I don’t perceive pear & apple very much, but it is a large pyramid where not all notes are detectable. In the heart, there is a black tea note that is really cozy, and slightly floral notes make the fragrance a bit softer. In the later stages and towards the end, the fragrance is dominated by some oriental notes, vanilla, and also great soft wood notes. The slightly stronger saffron spice becomes noticeably milder and it becomes quite sensual. The light tobacco spice is also convincing, and the leather is already very soft. The pyramid sounds complex, but it’s actually not that complicated. Cherry dominates in the first hours with oriental-tinged notes, while the later hours are softer and woodier. For me, it’s a fragrance that can convince, but I still see other cherry fragrances ahead (also for less money). The scent is unisex, especially due to this spice and the dark patchouli.
Performance is in the mid-range: sillage is rather subdued after 2-3 hours, longevity is absolutely fine with a minimum of 8 hours. In my opinion, the fragrance is best used in the evening and during leisure time.

Overall, it’s not a fragrance that blows me away, but still a solid choice if you haven’t had your fill of dark cherry yet. It’s not a bargain price-wise, but it’s well made like almost everything from Mr. Merati-Kashani.

With the number of many fragrance notes, I am initially confused. I rarely encounter something like this. Nevertheless, we have a beautiful heavy scent for icy cold days.

The fragrance starts with cherry and apple, but the praline quickly joins in and gives it something sweet, slightly gourmand. Then I clearly smell lavender and tea, a lot of black tea. It's actually not my thing; I only like "Remember Me | Jovoy," and the tea in Piccadilly Hero is not comparable at all. Violet powder softens everything a little bit.
In the drydown, it smells a bit like shisha tobacco for me, and yet there's a lot of smoke, along with woody accents. The cherry is still there but has become dry. Saffron, patchouli, and vanilla are also present, with the latter being a bit more prominent and spreading a nice sweetness.
However, for me, this is a fragrance with a strong sillage; one spray and it's almost too much for me. Perhaps it's also due to all the individual notes that I can quite clearly pick out.

But I quite like the fragrance. Perfect for cold days, very heavy and oriental. My decant will be more than enough here.

P.S. I removed the Baccarat Rouge 540 Eau de Parfum vibes.