Lemike

I know I will be stoned by perfume enthusiasts for this, but I’ll say it anyway: In the first half hour, it’s really really good! How good? Opening: Pure Havane. Minute 3 to 20: Similarity (yes, similar but always with the price in mind!) or a combination of Uomo Intense and Tobacco Vanille. After that, it goes steeply downhill until at the one-hour mark it turns into a vanilla toilet scent. Longevity on the skin is just okay, sillage has of course nothing to do with that of a perfume, and anyone who expected something different for the price probably has a hard time in other areas of life as well. For perfume lovers like me, who like to spritz at home just to smell good, AXE OW&DV is definitely recommendable. The good stuff is preserved, especially advantageous for discontinued bottles like Pure Havane, and still, you have something similar to your favorite on your nose. If you don’t forget that you’re holding 100ml for 5 euros, then it can actually be something. Comparing it to its role models or to the classics I associate with it, of course, it falls short - how could it be otherwise?

Even though the expectations were not very high, I am still disappointed. The fragrance pyramid suggests a fresh/sweet scent, but this stuff has nothing to do with that at all. While I was pleasantly surprised by the vanilla variant, this is an undefinable substance that sometimes gives off a somewhat tobacco-like scent, with no trace of vanilla or tonka bean. If they had put the tobacco into Oud Wood, a product would have emerged that would have been worth the money. Here, you get an unpleasant room scent for an hour that you wouldn't necessarily want to smell like yourself.