JoshMonkey

An unexpected find. In Cambodia, real perfumes are marked up beyond retail price. A bottle of 125ml Issey Miyake is close to $130 here and it's $40 at discounters back home in the states. I went to my local perfume shop at the mall. This shop has a mix of fake and authentic perfumes and they are honest about what is genuine and what is not. What first pointed me in the direction of Santino was that the shop actually had Thallium sport. I liked normal Thallium so I tried it and hated it but then I noticed an interesting little bottle with an amber colored juice inside. I went with my gut instinct that this was probably an amber based fragrance because of the color. To my surprise the opening has pineapple. The coriander and citrus blend nicely. It's in the heart that you sense this is an old school composition. I would call this an oriental amber. This amber note is much like the original Paco Rabanne formula mixed with black pepper and a little nutmeg. It's not a complicated perfume but the price was perfect. I've had to use a lot of cheap $3-5 Chinese and Vietnamese perfumes ever since I lost my money during covid. It's nice having a perfume that only requires 2-3 sprays maximum with a lovely scent trail for once and I didn't have to shell out over $100 dollars on my favorite Issey or Givenchy Pi. I sprayed five sprays around my body after I got out of the shower and now I have a headache and my nose is fatigued but I can still smell the drydown which is an old school amber mixed with a clean and fuzzy musk. I can't quite recall what this reminds me the most of... Maybe the ordinary Pierre Cardin base(?) Maybe shades of Halston Z-14 (yikes). I think with 2-3 sprays, this will be getting plenty of compliments. Amber is always beautiful and sexy. The hint of spice satisfies my love for orientals. I'm still going to buy my Givenchy Pi and YSL Opium but for now I'm happy and I can save my money to buy my favorite freshy from Issey Miyake. After that, this will be relegated to the bedroom and date nights. It's worth trying for the price and performance. It's not old mannish but it might put hairs on your chest.

This review is based on the vintage formulation. I'm saddened to hear the reformulation is noticeably different. PR is a unappreciated gem in the history of men's fragrance. American men were introduced to perfumery with Brut in the 1960's. Paco Rabbane has always been, in my nose, an evolutionary step ahead of Brut for fougeres. If you can get a vintage bottle, please try it but I recommend starting with the aftershave. For me the aftershave can be worn on men of any age. PR was my signature scent through my early 20's. I would always steal my dad's PR and the aftershave. This has been one of my most complimented fragrances. No girl ever told me that I smelled like her dad. The opening burst of sage and rosemary is refreshing. The heart is masculine floral with creamy tonka bean that is balanced by the oakmoss and musk in the base. It's a little sweet but oh so refreshing. This is why I recommend the aftershave. There's no better feeling than splashing on this fragrance after a shave. It wakes you up and invigorates your olfactory senses just like a morning coffee gets your heart beating. The drydown is smooth, a touch masculine, and sexy. Performance is 6-8 hours. I'm sad that oakmoss is so significant to PR's formula. Reading the reviews, it seems Paco can't or won't invest in a proper replacement for oakmoss since it's been banned. Maybe the new formulation uses more synthetics throughout but I reserve my judgements until I get a new bottle. This perfume also brings back some sweet childhood memories of my dad picking me up as a toddler and how I always hated how is face stubble scratched my face. Ah, PR is my feel good perfume. Fingers crossed that I like the new formulation and it can invoke those memories. I have to add that I think PR is the evolution of Brut but YSL's Rive Gauche was the next evolutionary step. Instead of using a synthetic, YSL discontinued Rive Gauche. For the entry ethusiast, I recommend seeking out a decent Brut formulation, a 90's bottle of Paco, and finally an overpriced bottle of Rive Gauche. You'll have, in my opinion, the three most significant men's barbershop fragrances of all time.

I want to start this review asking who actually rates the bottle design lower than a 6? This bottle is genius. It's modeled after bamboo. The purple cap is classy. It's a beautiful bottle design. Now on to the scent and I like to use relatives to help describe perfume because I think it's the best way for a reader to connect and imagine what it might smell like to him/her. The relative fragrance I choose is another favorite oriental favorite of mine and it's Givenchy's Pi. Perfume strength is about the same as Pi. The opening of Opium leans heavily on anise sweetened with blackcurrant whereas Pi goes for citrus. The heart of Opium is a lovely blend of anise, black pepper, and ginger. Think of a market in Thailand. Pi goes for a woody heart with burning incense which is very masculine and alluring whereas Opium is gourmand in comparison but the two change on the drydown with Pi becoming a delicious vanilla dessert and Opium becoming more sensual alluring with cedar and balm. On the drydown, Pi goes strong with the vanilla and spicy incense and Opium develops a fougere like powder note that is classic YSL. The drydown of Opium is more complicated than Pi. Opium has just enough vanilla and the notes are always changing back and forth from spicy, sweet, and powdery. My favorite of the two is Opium because it leans less on vanilla and more on ginger and cedar and it is far from gourmand.
The opening and heart of Opium brings back memories of Thailand and the slight medicinal note reminds me of the balm I used on my shins for kickboxing. Opium is overall very well balanced as all classic YSL's seem to be. Pi becomes too sweet for me but it is the more sensual of the two. I don't believe you should limit yourself to using Opium in colder weather. I dare you to start using this on very hot days because to me that's when it smells it's best. Jacques captured the essence of Thai cuisine and culture with Opium and there's no winter here. Ginger smells best in the heat. So don't just wear this for fall or winter. Pi is a better cool weather fragrance but Opium can be worn in the heat.

Of fragrances with soft spices and cedar to be rather airy and fleeting. Sometimes you can't smell it but randomly you get a whiff in the air. I think Issey did better with Wood and Wood but that doesn't mean this is a bad fragrance. It's just hard to choose over the original and the other flankers. I've tried this three times and I loved it each time but the heart of cedar and water is come and go. The base is not strong enough. This fragrance needs more to it and I think that's what Wood and Wood does better. I think I could spray my usual 4-6 six sprays for light scents and it would wear nicely at my work but I've yet to do that because I've only tested it in store on my skin. I would only know the after I save to buy the original, Nuit, and Wood and Wood first. These are so much better. Nuit is the best flanker they have. The suede accord and tonka bean dry down is lovely. Tonka bean would really help elevate Eau Cedar but here we only have vetiver and a touch of patchouli. Save your money and buy Wood and Wood instead. It's opening is refreshing and the heart lingers much longer. Sorry Issey but water isn't a fragrance I care for.

My friend imported bottles of perfume from Australia. I had originally ordered Invictus Legend from her because my bottle was running low. Invictus Legend is one of the few good blue scents but I digress. She insisted I test this instead. It was the first time I recognized violet in a fragrance.

We all must take a journey along in fragrance to find the notes we love the most and what combinations of notes we love for any occasion.

Burberry Touch is a tapered bottle resembling an exaggerated v taper of a man in a suit with broad shoulders. The cap is wooden and nice. There really isn't alot to Touch. The name suggests it's purpose. You have a light citrus-floral opening. Some call it soapy, but on my skin and not on a card, it smells nothing like soap or bodywash. On my skin the citrus dissipates quickly. Next there sits the beautiful 'cool sensation' of violet balanced with white pepper that's further accentuated with cedar. Creamy tonka bean rounds out the vetiver and musk in the base. Base notes are important because they affect sillage and longevity the most. The perfumer carefully crafted this perfume in a way that let's the cool violet linger ever so sweetly with a 'touch' of powder (the synergy of violet and tonka bean is key) waft from my skin for three hours in 90 degree heat and 30% humidity. After three hours, the violet sits closer and creamy tonka can be smelled. I have no issues with projection or longevity with Touch. Projection and sillage is a proper arms length, even in the harsh heat and sweat of Cambodia. Now my bottle is empty but I keep the bottle because the violet note clings to the cap and is so soothing for me to smell. I already loved tonka bean but I had no idea how much I love the note of violet.
Now my perfume journey has me seeking other violet fragrances. Thank you my friend for suggesting this fresh beautiful floral fragrance. It's almost unisex. It was 20 years ahead of it's time and to me it is timeless.