Bentobox

Opens with a nicely done combination of ginger and citrus but an artificial smelling spicy sweetness starts creeping in after you blink twice. You can easily recognize the cardamom, but it's being chased by these godawful, wannabe ambery nuances like in most spicy sweet scents on the market. Some time later the citrusy sweetness burns off and gives way to some much needed aromatic touches. Minty geranium and herbaceous clary sage keep the scent on the 'warm weather appropriate' side of things, and also give it most of it's character in the line of forgettable releases. The drydown is recognizably 'The One' but with more woodyness than sweetness and no tobacco. And that's it. Performance shouldn't be fully judged from these small sample vials, but so far seems bad.

I've never considered the original or any of it's flankers good, or even just interesting releases (must admit, haven't smelled all 10 of them). Last year's EDP Intense might be my favorite thanks to it's nutty, leathery smelling mid and less polite sweetness but in the end a few wears were enough. Polite... Sums up the whole line in my mind. And this fits right in.

Based on the official, carded sample I received with an order.