DaveGahan101

Homoelegans, a brand I had not known until now. Ernstheiter has presented it extensively in his Esxence blog; had we not stopped by the booth, I would not know it to this day. Our joint endeavor "let's test an unknown Italian brand" led us to the rather inconspicuous booth, which turned out to be a lucky find in hindsight. A brand that could serve as a prototype for the niche world, a brand with an atelier and manufactory character that somehow reminded me of JoHannes-Atelier in Nuremberg. This means that a lot of heart and passion is involved, honest, straightforward, no marketing with big, flashy signs and/or half-naked women, no frills... pure.
Tadzio immediately captivated me at the booth. Homoelegans wants to reflect the Lido in all its facets here; the homepage speaks of an embrace of the sun, salt, sea, sand, and fruits.
Yes, it is true, there is a bit of everything present. Initially, beautiful zesty oranges and limes, more like rich orange oil than freshly cut. The image of the lagoon island, of sun, seawater, and especially warm sand comes to mind, like a picnic on a blanket at the beach with a glass of champagne, casual, vibrant, Mediterranean. This sour, zesty-fresh yeast note really makes one think of champagne, but "Bollicine" remains my reference here. However, the heart of Tadzio is its warm side, its warm-spicy side, which forms a beautiful contrast to all the fresh and maritime elements. The straw flower aroma with its slight hints of Ambre Sultan, which also lightly remind one of the Sables main accord, creates a warming feeling on a picture-perfect summer day without a phone, iPad, or Wi-Fi. This spice mix has something of salty gingerbread, and here too, a bridge is built between sweet, unsweetened, and salty notes. Sounds strange, but it fits wonderfully together.
However, there is nothing Christmas-like about this scent. I believe Tadzio is not an everyday scent that one just sprays on; rather, it is a fragrance for connoisseurs who want to give it their full attention, who want to enjoy the moment, who want to let a scent fully affect them.
Over the years, I know my scent behavior quite well; Tadzio is a fragrance that I admire from afar, for its beauty, for its density, for its naturalness, for the images it evokes, for its individuality, for the perfume romance - not having a mass product in front of me... but I will probably wear it too rarely, as I am probably too simply structured in my everyday scent choices. However, if the opportunity arises to get a leftover bottle, I will gladly seize it.
The longevity is very good at 7-8 hours, the sillage should fill an office well, but does not overwhelm. For me, it is a unisex fragrance without leaning to one side; it should be wearable well throughout the year, except for the height of summer.

Great brand that deserves to be more in the spotlight... but perhaps that is exactly what gives it its charm...

Just two weeks ago, I was sitting outside in a café wearing a sweater or a light down jacket, enjoying the slowly arriving spring. And what does Dave do? He brings forward his planned summer purchases like Pomelo Sorrento and Aqua Sextius by 6-8 weeks. At the same time, ALL spicy-sweet fragrances must go... of course... it will never be cold in Germany again;-)! Today, the terrace furniture is buried under a 5cm thick layer of snow. So what does Dave think? Well, I definitely need a warming sweet-spicy fragrance in my collection. At this point, I always rely on Dior Homme... but time and again, a once loose, now quite persistent thought slips under my outer brain cortex: But you’re also missing a vital gene! Or do you sometimes feel the same way? Somehow, I always have to clear out my collection seasonally... which, of course, is not particularly wise from a business perspective. Especially since my girlfriend rightly asks whether she should even tidy up the packaging or if the fragrance will already be at the souk by lunchtime...
So, I guess I won't manage the transition to Pomelo Sorrento anymore... ahh... right... spring... Pomelo... there was something!
Pomelo Sorrento is a magnificent representative of the category of fragrances "when will it finally be spring."
For me, Pomelo belongs in the citrus fragrance category. A category that struggles every year anew. Either they are compared to toilet cleaner, are too monotonous, too fleeting, or if they last long, then they are too synthetic or boring, or perhaps too creamy, too natural. Woods or often fig are mixed in to make them appear more multifaceted, but then often due to fig, they end up being quite cloying... in short, these fragrances have a tough time with perfume lovers, but they usually do very well in the wild.
Pomelo needs neither woods nor fig, nor any sunscreen or cocktail flair. Pomelo simply requires very high-quality and naturally appearing raw materials. A grapefruit/blood orange note that is simply wonderful. So incredibly juicy, zesty, and mega refreshing. I can't judge whether essential oils were used here, but it certainly seems that way. Despite having smelled 1000 citrus fragrances, this one somehow smells different. More multifaceted, although I can only recognize the dry tea character, I am sure that the aforementioned fragrance notes have been used; otherwise, the scent would never have turned out so beautifully, and I believe a few notes are missing- which ones? No idea, but Pomelo would hardly be so multifaceted, even if you have to pay very close attention to the subtle tones to even recognize them. Or is it simply the quality of a great perfumer who creates such a wonderful result with few but high-quality raw materials?
Pomelo makes exactly one developmental course change; in the second half, the fragrance becomes cleaner, creamier, and leaves an incredibly pleasant film on the skin that you can press your nose against. I can perceive the scent for several hours, although it is more intimate, but always well noticeable. The sillage seems to be very good, as I have already been positively approached about the fragrance several times. Pomelo has no major weaknesses, if anything, the price, but here you can see quite well that if you spend a few more euros, there is still much new and beautiful to discover even in this rather worn fragrance direction.

Honey... have you seen my Dior Homme packaging;-)???!!

Integrity... what a buzzword! It is often mentioned in the same breath as compliance, antitrust, social competence, and empathy. Those who work in a medium-sized or DAX-listed company encounter these buzzwords repeatedly, often now as e-trainings... wow, I work in such an important, trendy, cool, and innovative company... oh, bullshit... of course, at a global player... yes, that’s right;-)! I often accompany these training invitations with an inner and outer groan, as every two weeks a different training pops up. Integrity... a beautiful word, meaning to align with one’s own values and to live them. In my private life, I manage this well; in the business environment, it’s quite ambivalent, the ambivalence between corporate values, customer values, colleague values, and my own. No matter which one you align with, you always step on someone’s toes, you don’t make friends everywhere; the balancing act one would have to perform here would do honor to any ballerina and Cirque du Soleil.
Therefore, I was very curious about what Zegna thinks of the term and how they implement it in fragrance. After "Wisdom" left no significant traces with me yesterday, I placed my hope in "Integrity." With Integrity, after the first spray, I can smell a nice mandarin, light sage, and a lot of musk. It takes almost a minute for me to recall which fragrance starts exactly the same way, Chanel Allure Sport Eau Extreme.
It smells really great; I like this opener. If I could smell the Chanel for longer than an hour, it would still be in my collection. Here, in the Zegna version, it’s a bit richer and smoother, very dense overall. But unfortunately, after about 5 minutes, the repetition-fragrance spoiler comes into play: the geranium. Yes, it often smells rose-like, but also likes to bring along an unpleasant companion, namely green-herbaceous plant juice, slightly cutting and sharp... and very unpleasant. This note changes the entire fragrance, somehow brings it out of balance. No new facet comes into play, so the fragrance has no chance to recover. It slowly dims down, taking away a bit of the plant juice sharpness, but unfortunately, everything else goes too... basically throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The balsamic notes that emerge in the base can no longer save the fragrance.
The longevity is rather moderate, like with almost all Zegna fragrances (exception Acqua di Iris); I can perceive it for a maximum of 5 hours, and the sillage is quite okay.
Unfortunately, I cannot see what connects the fragrance with integrity... just like in real life... ambivalent! "Adaptability" or "unobtrusive" would fit better... also "uneven."

Somehow, I find the individual titles of the new Elements series a bit flat and clichéd..and now I’m just missing something catchy like Womanizer, Frauenversteher, and Hausmann. When I look at the reviews of the series consisting of 5 fragrances, it seems not very well-known yet. This might be due to the high-price strategy, but they are already backtracking, from €250 to €205..mind you for 50ml, at least at Breuninger they are now significantly reduced.
I was somewhat intrigued by my predecessor..when I heard “stuff for a classic” I perked up and asked for samples during my last purchase. But even after the third test of Wisdom, the secret of this fragrance eludes me, let alone how one can give it a 4x10.0 rating. Yes, Wisdom is a beautiful and fine scent, smells very pleasant, citrusy-fresh, and slightly creamy. It will not possess the stuff to be a classic for one specific reason: this scent already exists: Petit Matin by Kurkdjian
Petit Matin is, for me, the finer of the two; it is a bit creamier, and has a touch more “pure” freshness. Wisdom is a little less masculine, but we are talking about nuances here. The longevity and sillage also favor Kurkdjian’s Beau. The price of €165/70ml certainly does too. So there’s really no single reason to reach for Zegna, unless you just can’t quite get along with the MFK style.
Both are great, fresh, and delicate fragrances, perfectly painted for spring and for early, relaxed hours in the morning.
Longevity for me is about 5 hours with quite low sillage...and I’m not really into gold anyway;-)!

For exactly one week now, the turquoise beauty has been in my collection, and I haven't regretted it for a second, even though the thought of the price makes me flinch every now and then.
The decision between the blue and the turquoise bottle was not easy for me, as I would have preferred to take both. After what felt like 2 endless hours, I chose Blue Turquoise.
I smell a brilliant slightly salty note that is incredibly fine and could come from Capri, Positano, or Portofino, a sun-drenched salt note interwoven with Mediterranean aromas. Although there are no citrus notes, the famous vacation feeling arises immediately and makes me think more of Mandarino di Amalfi (and distantly of a less citrusy and woody Costarela) than of Oud Minerale.
A captivating bouquet of flowers and light sweetness, which is why I think more of the blue Tom Ford than the gray one. Nothing about Blue Turquoise is cloying, sticky, or overloaded; still, its beauty is so hard to describe. It goes in a completely different direction than Salina or Aqua di Sale; against Armani, they seem like they were created by a blacksmith in their first year of apprenticeship. Also because Blue Turquoise has many more facets, the transitions are much finer, and thank God it leaves out the algae. More like a hand-painted artwork lying on red velvet than the industrial print on a concrete wall, it has charm, depth, and a lot of timeless beauty. Zauber600 rightly writes that this is not entirely new, but it smells so incredibly good; I can only agree. I believe its beauty lies in its contrasts: sweet-salty, warm-cold, masculine-feminine, fresh-floral.
In addition, from the heart note onwards, there is a very aromatic, dry spiciness that reminds me a lot of a mix of rooibos tea and rose black tea, while I associate nothing with India, perhaps also because I have never been there. This phase fleetingly reminds me of sunscreen, but it is far from Soleil Blanc or La Fenice pF. Together, it creates a very expensive but wonderful everyday scent that makes every day feel like a Friday, simply a Casual-Friday feeling, where you never feel like you are wearing something trivial; it has too much talent to enchant you.
The only small flaw is that the sillage is only strong in the first 30-45 minutes; after that, it is rather mediocre for me, while the longevity is good at 6-7 hours. Even if you can only smell light salt remnants on warm skin in the last hour. Maybe it is just too delicate for these very cold temperatures. I don't think we need to say any more about the bottle; superb!!!

EDIT 05.03.
Unfortunately, the scent is too subtle for me, doesn't last well on me, but I have faced this fate with many beautiful fragrances :-((((