Daffy089

To be honest? I find it a mystery why this fragrance from Initio is flying so under the radar.
Not in the general niche perfume sector, but when you read through the mentions of Initio in forums, someone only brings up "Paragon" much later. Somewhere between "High Frequency" and the "Magnetic Blends," it gets mentioned, long after the usual suspects "Oud for Greatness" and "Side Effect." Even here on Parfumo, it seems to be rated quite poorly.
Fragrance, longevity, sillage - everything rated below 8. On Fragrantica, in my opinion, it is rated more realistically with 4.25 out of 5, which is like an 8.5 out of 10. There, the longevity is described as "long-lasting," which aligns more with my experiences than the assessment here on Parfumo.

Based on the ratings here on Parfumo, I probably wouldn't have bought it. If it weren't for the nice salesperson at the Brückner perfumery in Munich. Since my Torino 22 was unavailable, but I really wanted to take advantage of the 20% promotion last week, I looked for alternatives. Unfortunately, it's often the case with perfumes that I am particularly drawn to the more expensive candidates (the salesperson immediately offered me the Clive Christian Hedonistic for testing). However, since I had already spent far above my self-imposed perfume budget this month (to take advantage of the sale), it had to be a financially smaller option than the 550 Euro Clive Christian fragrance. When I asked him which Initio I should buy if I already own Side Effect and Atomic Rose, he immediately replied with "Paragon." Said and done, and I don't regret it.

A wonderful fragrance. Typical Initio and Parfums de Marly DNA. So if you like the scents from the house, you definitely can't go wrong with Paragon. Sweet (not too sweet) plum with woods, along with a lovely sage note and sandalwood. At times, the scent reminds me of a Tuscany vacation and the smell in the alleys of smaller towns. It’s probably this light red wine, wood, and sage scent that evokes these associations.

On my radar, the fragrance has definitely appeared more than once. I've also already got my family hooked. Maybe the rating of the fragrance here will soon change in the "appropriate" direction. May it not just be mentioned in 14th place in the Initio ranking. Top 6 should be achievable.

Generally, one hears and reads that BR540 smells like a dental practice to some. I honestly can't understand that; in my practice, it smells different during the annual checkup. However, I am open to suggestions for medical practices because if it smells like Baccarat Rouge there, I would be a regular patient.

The problem I have with the fragrance is different. I simply can't smell it. Not "just a little," I can't smell it at all on myself. I can clearly perceive it on people passing by in the city, but my brain completely blocks out the scent on me. I know that this can definitely happen with fragrances that contain a lot of Ambroxan and ISO-E Super. However, my brain manages it with Another 13.

I love Baccarat Rouge (or at least what I can perceive on others). For me, it's a fragrance that is often copied, but the copies never come close to the original. I hope that one day my nose will stop filtering it out when I wear it, so that not only my surroundings can enjoy it, but I can too. Until then, I have to annoy the people around me with 10 sprays of BR540. Hopefully, none of them are afraid of the dentist.

...sounds way too negative to describe this fragrance. Okay, I'll try it differently: the scent is simply beautiful. Oh dear, that sounds even worse.

Somehow, when I was testing Grand Soir while strolling past the MFK stand in my local perfumeries, I never quite knew what to make of it. Next to it were the classics BR540 and Oud Satin Mood, which you could smell even from a distance. Somewhere, when it was available, there was always a bottle of Grand Soir sitting inconspicuously at the edge of the stands, in stark contrast to its more famous brothers.

To test the entire range of the house a bit more thoroughly, I ordered some samples directly from MFK (by the way, a really good offer). Grand Soir didn’t really stand out. It was nice, but we know what that means.

Then it happened that I bought Lira by Xerjoff during the Black Friday sale at a department store in Munich. I opened it and found that the bottle looked scuffed (the packaging material had partially melted onto the bottle). I wanted to exchange the bottle for another Lira, which strangely had exactly the same flaw. So there I was, the last hour of the BF sale, looking for an exchange item. Nothing really appealed to me until I came across MFK (the brand was amusingly not on sale). At the MFK stand, there was actually Grand Soir available (which is a rarity), and due to the hype it gets here, I decided to grab it.

What can I say, I did this fragrance a great injustice. It is simply AMAZING. It is addictive, and I catch myself spraying it way too often over the last few days. For me, it has no scent development; it is just linear beauty. The vanilla is beautifully crafted, yet not as cloyingly sweet as it can be in other fragrances. Furthermore, it smells like woods on my skin; perhaps that comes from the labdanum. All in all, a fantastic scent for cold days, completely unisex, and in terms of price/performance, definitely one of the best fragrances from the house and in the niche world.

A very fine fragrance, even if it might not be my favorite from the house (I consider Oud Satin Mood a masterpiece). But at least a very good second place emerges for this stinkingly boring evening. Sometimes boredom can be nice.

...more specifically, the one I love so much, L'ombre dans L'eau.

Last week, I was at Oberpollinger to test the fragrances from Nasomatto. Unfortunately, the highly praised Baraonda was not my cup of tea at all; it has a rather strange touch. Duro and Pardon were more to my liking, also highly praised, and I can somewhat understand why. But none of them convinced me 100%. However, since I was somehow eager for a new scent, I wandered through Oberpollinger and ended up at Xerjoff again. Unfortunately, there is never a saleswoman around, and the stand is brutally picked over, with hardly any testers and even fewer full bottles for sale.

Accordingly, my eyes drifted left to the Initio stand. I don't even know why I had never focused on them before. Close ties to one of my favorite brands, Parfums de Marly? Check! Great longevity? Check! Amazing scents? Check!

So there I stood in front of the stand and, of course, started with the two Oud classics of the brand. After that, I tried Side Effect, and I was blown away by how good it was. Even better than the supposed bestseller, Oud for Greatness. It really doesn't get much better than Side Effect.

But then came Atomic Rose. Wow, absolutely insane! For me, one of the best rose fragrances (aside from the classic Oud Rose combo). It strongly reminds me of the aforementioned L'ombre dans L'eau, just somehow stronger and more long-lasting. I love Diptyque, but the longevity of most of their fragrances is unfortunately quite poor. Here, as a Diptyque lover, I have found my home. L'ombre dans L'eau is one of my favorite scents and would be my number 1 if it weren't for that terrible longevity.

Atomic Rose gives me the same feeling as L'ombre dans L'eau. A rose garden on a rainy day. Not too sweet, absolutely unisex, and a longevity that is out of this world. It was still detectable on my wrist the next day.

I, of course, immediately got Atomic Rose from a small perfumery, as no one at the Oberpollinger stand seemed to feel responsible for me, and the lady at the stand next to me didn't even want to get the perfume out of the cabinet for me.

Side Effect is also on my list, as well as probably all the other Initios too.

A clear recommendation for those who want a fresh rose scent with performance like on steroids.

The review directly below me is certain: "The best gourmand on the market!"

I'm not so sure. I don't know all the gourmands on the market, and maybe there's an even better one out there. However, I am sure of this: it's the best gourmand I have! And that's undisputed.

In my review of Angels' Share, I already mentioned that I originally wanted to buy Angels' Share or Oajan, but it ended up being an AND. Yesterday, Oajan was finally delivered (as always, a disaster with Hermes, just dropped off somewhere at a neighbor's with a note saying it was personally delivered to me, even though I wasn't home at all).

Tested side by side and crowned Oajan as the clear winner. The two go in a similar direction, but Oajan takes the lead. Angels' Share has this alcoholic punch, but the rounder and thus more everyday-friendly one for me is Oajan. The spices (especially cinnamon), the soft honey, and the flowers create the perfect gourmand for me. Originally, I also smelled apple & my mom always said it smelled more like plum. Now, with the apple-like Angels' Share next to it, I also pick up plums in Oajan (strangely, they are not listed in the notes). And by now, I also smell the flowers very strongly; it's odd, they never really stood out to me before for all the cinnamon apple.

Longevity and sillage, as is often the case with PDM, are fantastic.

So: get yourself the best gourmand for me and then off to the Christmas market with it.