KathrynA66

Just a brief review: While they do not have the same scent profile, GG reminds me of "Poison (Esprit de Parfum) | Dior", because it has the same kind of fun, party girl vibe. For me, it's a bit nostalgic in that sense, while still being modern. This is not just a fragrance for parties though.

I love almond and find the opening very pretty and enjoy the almond citrus, coffee combination very much. The middle is a white floral and rose combination, with which the cinnamon works extremely well, and the praline brings a wonderful creamy, gourmand accord. I found the drydown full of lovely woody accords, well grounded by the cocao, tonka and musk.

The performance is very good. I think a lot of people would enjoy this fragrance, especially in cooler weather.

I had really been looking forward to trying this, especially after reading Telekinetic's review, and Venenum did not disappoint. This is a beautifully done fragrance, rich and complex. I just love it.

On me, it opens with a strong masala chai, which I like very much. It's warm and cozy.
After an hour or so, I start to get the sense of the wheat note more than a definite wheat scent, but it brings something important to the fragrance, in my opinion. The rice steam is wonderfully realistic and maintains the rich (but not heavy) quality of the fragrance.

Venenum is very gourmand in the first couple of hours. As the sandalwood develops, the fragrance becomes more complex, although definitely retaining a gourmand vibe, as the sandalwood is very creamy. It's definitely not linear.

I think it is a mature fragrance, which does not preclude young people from comfortably wearing it. To me, It's more fun than serious, but I think it could be very versatile. The performance is very good, good longevity, sillage/projection is about arm's length for 5-6 hours and fades down slowly.

I have avoided L'Artisan Parfumeur because their fragrances are quite expensive, but I was very impressed with this one. I'll argue with myself over whether or not it is worth the price for a while, which will give me time to save up to buy it.

To me, this takes a while to settle into a scent reminiscent of horchata; it's definitely not a hyper-real horchata, but it isn't way off the mark either.

It opens with a real blast of cinnamon, which is rather a lot, but it settles down pretty quickly. Right behind the cinnamon is a blast of roasted almond (It's not a listed note, but it is definitely there. It's pretty but wavers between natural and synthetic in a very strange way, which I didn't like very much.

Once the milky note starts to stand out, the synthetic, chemical smell disappears, and the fragrance becomes a very nice gourmand, sweet, spicy, nutty and vanillic. It's also at this point that the projection and sillage become weaker on me.

The base is where the scent gets closest to horchata. The rice note is very well done and quite realistic. Loved that! The cinnamon and vanilla are still there but has receded into the background, or perhaps that is the horchata note they list. The almond is gone, making the lactonic cream note stand out, and like the rice, it's realistic and well done.

I don't think I'll purchase it because it goes through a couple of phases I don't like much and I found the projection and sillage too weak for my taste, although it just occurred to me (derp) that issue may be solved by spritzing in the air and walking through it. I'm not quite ready to give up on this fragrance because I love the rice note SO much, and the drydown is deliciously gorgeous.

For gourmand lovers, I think this is definitely worth a try! Definitely an autumn and winter scent.

With sincere apologies to Parliament-Funkadelic. I've been curious about Sphinx for a while and ordered a travel spray of a different fragrance, and they sent a generous decant of Sphinx Elixir along with my order. I really like it and was impressed with the scent and performance.

I thought the combination of top notes was very creative. The bergamot and davana (I love davana) bring a fresh,
green, citrusy feel, and this works very well with the civet. You get this great civet musk, without any unrinic quality. The top notes are very pleasant and last a long time.

The heart maintains the fresh, aromatic, animalic quality with the rosemary and magnolia combined with the oud and a touch of amber. The oud isn't sour, nor does it have a really strong funky accord, but "we want the funk" and the fragrance does "gives up the funk," and it works very well.

I tend not to think of animalic or oud fragrances as "green" or "fresh," but Sphinx Elixir manages to create a fresh, green, aromatic quality, which blends with the animalic notes beautifully. This isn't as funky or heavy as some animalics as a result but is still very animalic.

I love the drydown, leathery, resinous and woody. I tend to be weird* about leather notes, as they tend to go sour on me, but this is just lovely and leathery. The last note to fade is a wonderful creamy sandalwood. At that point, this is mostly a skin scent. This is definitely not a linear fragrance. *I tend to be weird, generally.

I think think this is a unisex fragrance and felt very comfortable wearing it. It also, to me, has a mature vibe (which doesn't preclude young folks from wearing it), and I think it's sexy. It's the kind of fragrance that makes the wearer feel sexy, and it smells divine on my husband. He enjoyed wearing it and likes it when I wear it. So, win!

The fragrance performs well. It lasted in a very perceptible way for about 7 hours, becoming much more intimate for the last couple of hours. Initially, sillage and projection are very strong (especially on a warmer day) but becomes more moderate after a couple of hours, when the heart notes start to come to the fore.

IMO, this isn't a casual fragrance but should be worn at night, for romantic dinners, parties, clubbing or whatever legal mischief is on trend. You'll smell amazing and not like everyone else. IMO this is not a scent that will get lost in a crowd.

This is a marvelous, semi-gourmand fragrance. I say "semi-gourmand" because, while there are definite gourmand elements from the chestnut, bran, rosemary and spices, the woody and resinous notes bring a beautiful but non-edible accord.

Regardless of how one wishes to classify this fragrance, it's a new love for me. I've been looking for a fragrance with a strong, realistic grain note, as they often get lost on me, and this fragrance fits the bill perfectly. The bran absolute lingers on me throughout most of the life of the fragrance.

I adore the combination of bran, chestnut and spices. Cardamom is everywhere these days, but it works perfectly here. It's SO autumn, but this fragrance is definitely wearable in other seasons. The rosemary is a nice touch, but I get very little patchouli, only a bit of an earthy quality. The sandalwood/benzoin/tonka drydown is very nice, even if it pulls this fragrance away from (but not completely out of) the gourmand category for me.

Bread in Chestnut is unisex. It is a cozy, natural, comfortable fragrance and performs reasonably well, although projection and sillage could be better. It smells fantastic but is quite expensive.