Dear69SoFine

Yet another juvenile and overly sweet creation by Bisch... seems to be all he does lately. Then again, this is exactly what's hot and trending. It's a tonka/vanillic fog that all the kids are chasing after. nowadays. The blending is actually a disaster here.

Perfect if you want to smell like a teenager that is trying to get attention anywhere he can. Easy pass for anyone 25+.

For the price of Bleu De Chanel parfum you get cucumber water and the safest most plain vetiver you've smelled throughout most designers, in the drydown. All the cost with nothing remarkable to show.

That's basically the entire fragrance. Considering the massive amount of ingredients Roja claims to use, you think there would be more complexity involved.

The hype here is rivaled only by disappointment.

One of the best blends from Olfactive Studios, in my opinion.

Right away you're hit with a blast of spiced ginger mixing with woods. The sequoia note actually stands out too. It's different from all your other more common woodsy notes often found in the base of fragrances. You can pick up that saffron immediately but it's tame. The spices lend a supporting role than anything else. They don't bash you over the head, just lightly sprinkled in to accentuate the star players.

From the opening through the early part of the mid is where I notice most of the sweetness. In between all of this there is an oily accord, not petrol or anything resembling violet. It's as if you rubbed some kind of oil on you, interestingly. I'm assuming this is the styrax.

The woodiness early on feels/smells oiled, lightly sweetened, and as it develops becomes significantly drier, almost musty but in palatable way. At the base I don't detect any residual sweetness apart from some cocoa way in the background behind the woods. Again, incredibly well balanced and neutral. It quite literally smells like dry, aged wood. The accompanying photograph is spot on. You can smell the age of the surrounding area. If you've ever spent time inside older cabins, this might ring a few bells.

How often do you come across a warm weather scent that leaves a lasting impression? I would argue not very often. Many citrus forward fragrances don't have much going on for them in the way of uniqueness and especially strength to keep pushing through the summer heat. You get that in spades with By the Yuzu Grove.

Yuzu is one of my favorite notes period and I think it is done beautifully here. It's very realistic, sharp, bright and even dry in all the right ways. The woody backbone is noticeable early on and helps give the scent a nice foundation from the start. You might be hard pressed to detect all the notes because they each seem to have an appropriate place within the composition. Is this extremely complex? Absolutely not, and usually, for the price, you do expect more. However, occasionally you run into something that smells so good right off the bat that it doesn't matter. This is an effortless wear suitable for any outdoor situation.

If you're going to be indoors though I would say to be mindful of overspraying because projection is substantial. For reference, I was stopped at a drive thru and after lowering my window the person working said he could smell me as I pulled up and thought it was his boss. He thought it smelled nice and caught him off guard. I also had a coworker comment on how great it smelled from like 7 feet away. I very rarely get any feedback from my fragrances, nor do I expect any or care to receive it and yet this stuff captured people's attention. The oil concentration of this is extrait so I suppose it's not a total shocker it performs well.

After sampling the whole line I was fixated on picking this one up in particular and grabbed it half off during a sale. It was a no brainer and I am scoring it a 9 based off the reduced price I paid. Had I shelled out the $220 or so price I would have knocked off a point or two here. Would I have paid full retail? Eh, probably not because I wasn't confident in its performance from the sample's weak atomizer. But I'll say this, it competes with the offerings of houses like Profumum Roma and those go for nearly $300.

I find most Light Blues to be a bit too generic for my liking. Then came along Forever with that ultra realistic, tart and rindy grapefruit pretty much nobody was expecting, so I started paying attention. But it didn't quite work for me. I love a realistic citrus and I appreciated it in that composition, however, it fell flat on my skin almost immediately after the opening leaving me wondering what else is there?

Enter: Italian Love - here that realistic grapefruit is back except it seems more refined. The grapefruit opening in Forever comes across as much drier, while here it shines and sparkles beautifully. There is a sweetness here that's not present in Forever, but it is done wonderfully and takes nothing away from what makes the citruses so lifelike. If anything the added sweetness accentuates Italian Love nicely. Admittedly, you do get a more authentic grapefruit in Forever. So if that's what you want above anything else, just grab Forever. It certainly stands out amongst other fresh scents. The problem with Forever is its magic quickly fades away.

With Italian Love I feel the opening, while obviously softening up over time, is easily perceptible the entire time its on my skin. I get increased performance over Forever as well, which is interesting to note because that one has a higher oil concentration (edp) versus Italian Love (edt). I had a feeling the projection would be stronger here, which it is. But I did not anticipate longevity to also follow suit.

To compare the two I'll use an analogy. Think of Forever as that gym goer who only works on arms and people poke fun of because he skipped leg day. Well, Italian Love has legs to it. Cardio is part of the exercise routine. It's full bodied, with the only caveat being the biceps are in fact a little smaller.

In warm weather this stuff is a no brainer. Just look at the juice color. It smells exactly like how it looks.