BigGromus

Odd. I don't smell lyrol or any of the other common ingredients that make that round green almost-aquatic smell that usually passes for lily in lily perfumes. To me, Gilded Lily is more of a chypre: spicy, tart, and a pich aldehydic on top with a sort of flowery, powdery, almost-suede core and a very traditional straight-from-the-70's green chypre base. That being said, it smells modern, with what I'm guessing is some pink pepper/bay rose in there to give it a more common appeal.

A lot has been said about the term "modern chypre", and it's been very over-applied to all sorts of garbage that's not even remotely chypre-related. As such, I'd like to nominate Gilded Lily for the representative of a true modern chypre. It keeps the traditional ingredients intact while still bringing it up to date.

I really shouldn't enjoy Fire Island as much as I do. On cold winter days or the first warm days of spring, it calls to me and I HAVE to wear it. It's like a big summery smile in a bottle when I desperately need it (and I usually don't say things like that...)

As stated many times before, it's the smell of sunscreen on hot sweaty bodies on a beach, and is quite well done, smelling much more literally like the picture it creates than most perfumes. That being said, once the novelty wears off, I enjoy Fire Island for what it really is, a heady white floral perfume, a bit powdery, featuring a clever mix of orange blossom and neroli over big-ass tuberose, all played out over a clever musky base. There's something about the beach associations that make Fire Island more comfortable for men to wear than most big opulent florals, and I like that too.

This is a bit of a rare one, inspired by a German recipe from 1914. It's sold as a mix of leather, black tea, and lavender, but I personally don't think it smells at all like what that description makes me think of. There's no birch tar or quinoline in here that I can detect, and I'm not sure where that black tea is supposed to be, either.

It's clearly Krigler's take on an old-fashioned "oriental". It's got a classic "oriental" mix of patchouli and amber played against a dank green herbal note, so it kind of reminds me of Coromandel. Then, it's also got a fougere on top, so there's a lot of lavender and some musky tobacco-ish tonka filling out the "oriental" mix, as well as some vanilla (think Le Male). This all ends up mixing together to smell kind of like butterscotch pudding mixed with that Le Male tobacco leaf with that dark green oily herbal note lurking in the background, keeping Lieber Gustav from ever really smelling very gourmand.

All in all, I've enjoyed Lieber Gustav, but it's not really my style. Thumbs up for keeping me interested and smelling good (seriously, a mix of Coromandel and Le Male? That's got to be worth a sniff...)

It's interesting to read all the reviews of Jersey. If you're looking for a simple lavender in the Yardley style, it will disappoint. Instead, Jersey is essentially a grand old aldehydic chypre with the lavender acting as the upfront brightness in place of the aldehydes. It has a proto-Chanel base, a super-creamy mix incorporating the musk, sandalwood, and powdery soapy flowers of No 5, the carroty iris of 28 La Pausa, and their trademark slightly-funky gardenia.

In the end, I suppose it all comes down to whether or not you think they pulled it off. I personally think it's fantastic, though I can't find any fault with Persolaise's negative review either - it's just a matter of taste. Honestly, the lavender is sweetened with a grape soda smell that's a bit questionable and the soapy flowers occasionally border on laundry, but I think they pulled it off. In short, if you go in expecting a simple but fabulous lavender, you'll be disappointed, but if you go in expecting a Chanel, you may find a clever new favorite.

Despite the listed notes, 154 mostly smells leathery on me. It's got a sharp burst of lavender on top that mixes with something fruity to remind me of that "woody amber" aquatic smell, but it ends up as a semi-metallic quinoline-heavy piney leather with a healthy dose of basil and juniper berry. I think 154 is trying to smell like a modern men's designer scent on top and a classic masculine leathery woody chypre on the bottom, which sort of works, but ends up kind of unremarkable. As such, it's the kind of scent I want to like more than I actually do. Technically a thumbs up, but still kind of "meh".