Dunki

Many have come and gone. Some were liked, some stood out, others were forgotten. Vetiver scents. Countless to find. Temporarily hyped, always polarizing. Not everyone likes the green herb, which I can understand. I like vetiver, have always liked it. Although not in every blend presented. Some I even find repulsive. However, there are also gems like Dior's Vetiver (unfortunately disappeared) or Sultan Vetiver by Nishane. I appreciate the straightforwardness of the scents. Little fragrance development leads to a lot of nose grinning for me, happy nose grinning.

I stumbled upon a leftover decant by chance. It was included with the purchase of a bottle, a nice member added it (thank you very much at this point). The scent and the small company were unknown to me, and that after almost 10 years of membership, oh dear…..
At some point, I randomly sprayed it on my skin, gave it some time to then "sniff" more intensely
The scent didn't take long to captivate me. Wow! Noble, pure, classic but not outdated, grown-up! Timeless, nothing trendy, just timeless!
It reminds me of a nice hotel in Hong Kong where we always stay for business. It smells very similar in the small dining room there. They often use light room fragrances in such places. Woody, green, majestic, refreshing, grounding. You feel comfortable there, very comfortable. And that's despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that the premises haven't been renovated in a long time. So not adapted to the latest 5-star standard by an interior designer, but consistently cozy over the years, designed for lingering. That's how the Vetiver Man smells to me. A very delicious mixture that withstands trends. I practically book the scent anew every year again and again. Thought in a transferred way….

What makes the scent so special?
In the old decant that I was allowed to test, 40-year-old vetiver was used. In my new bottle, it is "only" 25 years old. But I still believe that it is precisely this old herb that gives the scent its special flair. Like old barrels give good wine or whiskey a special note. More intense, matured.
Like in Sultan Vetiver, the scent also comes across as somewhat woody, musty, earthy, which I really like. Small edges and corners! Not smoothed out.
Three types of citrus fruits make the scent lightly fresh without taking a front seat in the nose. Perhaps it is the citrus fruits that make this vetiver usable for me all year round. I can wear it without hesitation in winter as well as in the height of summer. To work as well as in the evening at the club. With jeans and with a suit…. So 24/7/365.
I perceive pepper and tobacco very distantly. Vetiver and oak moss play the first violin. Stradivari ;-)
I smell nothing industrial. It truly smells like a small manufactory, like handcrafted. Thank you again to Georg for this new edition!

It would be a clear signature scent if it weren't for the limited availability. So it remains more of a VID signature scent, that is, a Very Important Day signature scent ;-)

Target audience: probably more U30, if not even U40.
Bottle: absolutely secondary. Here, only the content matters!

So, anyone who has the opportunity to get this scent and likes vetiver should strike IMMEDIATELY before the chance passes again.

I haven't always been able to write positively about LV fragrances. There are always some that are good and some that are not.... But I found Sur la Route great from the very beginning, delicious, wonderful. The scent isn't really something new. Perhaps even quite mundane, simple.

As the TV chef would say in such moments: simple food always tastes particularly good when the ingredients are of the highest quality! This could also apply here.

I've had Sur la Route for some time now, and it took a while for it to really resonate with me. What makes it so special for me?

I'll start from the back: the bottle is simple but beautifully shaped, and I love the rather heavy cap that closes magnetically and reliably. Well done. And of course, the possibility of being able to refill the empty bottle. A sustainable thought. Nice!

The whole packaging nonsense that comes with it just belongs to this luxury brand. I don't need it, but okay, it is what it is.

Now to the scent:
The beginning is quite citrusy, with candied lemon and bergamot clearly coming through. But it doesn't stay that way for long. Quite quickly, the grassy note comes in, which I find very nice; it makes the scent somehow calm. Thus, it is not just a typical citrus scent but already more than what one usually knows from summer fragrances.
Summer scent? For me, it’s not 100% that. I even think that S.l.R. can be worn almost 365 days a year. Except for a few really cold days. Then it needs to have a bit more punch.

A very light pepper (if it were too peppery, I wouldn't like it either), nutmeg, and not least the light musk note make it a universal scent. Very elegant, yet also suitable for casual wear. Calm but always present, mature but not old-fashioned.

If I had to compare it to a car: the Range Rover of fragrances. I can drive it to the opera and go off-roading the next Saturday; it does everything and still looks damn good. Okay, both are also priced in the upper league. But all in all, I think it’s worth investing here! Everything is very well balanced, and I fancy that everything is mixed quite high quality.

In my brief statement, I described a scene in Italy. It still fits today. But I would say that Sur la Route is a globetrotter. No matter where you are, Sur la Route always fits. Whether on the sunny Amalfi Coast, in humid China, or in cool Scandinavia.

Thus, I will probably continue to wear it very, very gladly. No matter where, when, and how often. Empty will be refilled. For sure.

Shelter Island has been with me for quite some time. I have always liked it, but sometimes it just takes a while to experience or better smell the (really) good sides of fragrances.
The last few days have been blessed with changeable spring weather. Sometimes too cold, sometimes suddenly intensely warm. Windy and damp dry. It had everything.
As soon as the temperatures rise above 15 degrees, I lose interest in heavy, sweet, burdensome fragrances. They quickly move to the back of the shelf, and the front spots are taken by all the bergamot, neroli, and other light fresh representatives. You surely know this ......
But especially with such "today this, tomorrow completely different" weather, I am unsure whether the light high summer scent is sufficient.

In principle, out of desperation, I have therefore repeatedly reached for Shelter Island. But out of desperation, it became more of a kind of affection, a realization that even today the bond fits, which worked so wonderfully yesterday and brought me a lovely light breeze all day long.

Shelter Island is for me a perfect balance of fresh aquatic notes, beautiful wood that doesn’t weigh too heavily, and a soooo perfectly fitting lily, almost slightly rose-like.
It is for me not a Mediterranean aquate but rather a robust Atlantic or even North Sea breeze that has been captured here. Not softened but with a strong wind that brings the salty water to the shore and leaves its spray lingering in my nose.
It is the blooming coastal area all around with forests and flowers, which combines with the air coming from the sea into a finely tuned air-scent mixture and immediately transports me mentally to this place. Sitting on the cliff with a view of the open sea and rustling trees behind me.
And it is this light but still noticeable oud component that makes the fragrance so wonderfully usable even for temperatures below 25 degrees for many weeks of the year.

Shelter Island will certainly never be a mainstream fragrance that serves as a basis for countless imitators. But that is exactly what I love about such fragrances. To be a bit edgy and different. And yet wearable and not too niche.

In short: in search of the perfect "between the seasons" fragrance, I have settled on Shelter Island. I will surely use it often well into summer and then also in autumn when the golden October brings beautiful sunny days again.

Anyone looking for a distinctive aquate with great longevity should definitely stop here and test it. Maybe you will find yourself on the cliff again and dream the day away.

I've never liked rose scents. I've always left this floral fragrance line aside. Even when reading the comments and notes for this new Creed, I initially thought that one could ignore every sample. Then it happened that I had to place an order at my favorite fragrance house again, and what should it be, I asked for a small sample of the Creed Mayfair/Windsor/Rose Reload.

A cautious spray from the mini dispenser onto my wrist. I cautiously sniffed past it. And there it was again, that aversion to rose...... It was clear, I thought, I set the sample aside and focused again on whatever else.

Max 10 minutes later, I was of course still aware of it, even more clearly, stronger sillage?! But: where was the typical rose scent that I didn't like at first? Why did I suddenly like it? I went through the list of notes again. Top note: completely gone. Eucalyptus? No. Orange? Maybe a hint. Cedar? Yes, but only barely. So is it rose after all? A new breed?? I don't know!!!! I have no idea what makes me so satisfied here, but I must admit: I like it better every day. There must indeed be a successful balance between top, heart, and base notes. I don't delve into the individual ingredients, but all the musicians together play fine music in my "ears"

Plastic, heating fluid, rheumatism ointment.... and what else has been mentioned here, I can't recognize with blooming imagination either. No matter, every nose smells differently. I like the combo. I find it more noble than everybody's darling Aventus, of course more feminine, but many (popular) men's fragrances are feminine here. It suits every occasion and surrounds the wearer with a long-lasting pleasantly fragrant unobtrusive scent cloud. The rose without a thorn.

Price? Exaggerated. Like so many fragrances here.
Bottle? An old acquaintance but with, I think, a nice label in gray flock.

Conclusion: I have no ranking for Creed fragrances. And if I had one, the ranked ones would probably change their places weekly, as in any ranking. Today it is my number one! And as a newcomer, that's quite an achievement. Therefore, a clear test recommendation for men (and gladly also for women).

With leather fragrances, it's a bit of a dilemma. Too much emphasis on the animal hide often makes it harsh and (for me) hard to wear. Too little, and the scent drifts into the often so arbitrary.

I had the chance to test Rudis in my favorite perfumery, and they gave me a 1.5 ml sample. The testing went neutrally/uninterestedly, and the sample, like so many others, initially lay untouched in the dark cupboard for a long time. At some point during the waning winter, boredom struck me, and I sorted my samples. Rudis caught my attention and was immediately applied to my wrist.

What followed was something I hadn't experienced from a leather fragrance in a long time. A harmony of well-measured leather note and all the other nuances. These fruits, incredible! The light incense, mhhhhh. It surrounds me from start to finish with a consistently very high-quality blend. A perfectly tuned collection of various directions. While I can't discern a significant scent progression between top, heart, and base notes, it doesn't bother me. On the contrary. I perceive the different components repeatedly from beginning to end. Thus, the blend remains constant.

I generally don't like rose fragrances and only a few that contain rose. But here, even the rose component makes me happy. I believe that the addition of fruits/dried fruits creates the perfect balance, thus giving the rose the right place in the scent progression. Without rose, Rudis would be missing something essential.

Longevity: top
Sillage: sufficient........

Not crucial but not unimportant for collectors: I find the bottle really super elegant. The red lacquer and the beautiful cap look like a bottle from a pirate ship.

Such perfect harmony and variety I have only known from Amouage or Kilian so far. Unfortunately, Rudis is extremely expensive, which likely caused my Souk attempt weeks ago to fail. However, I have now acquired 5 ml through a nice Parfumo member and will manage with that (for now). Would I buy it again without a Souk participant? One should never say never.......