LicoriceRain

Basically, raspberry tea, but the raspberry isn’t overwhelming at all. Although a unisex fragrance, I think it borders feminine. Nothing dark or mysterious about it, in fact, it’s a little too bright for my personal taste. And I’m not sure if this is a coincidence or not, but I feel sinus pressure in my head since I applied this morning. And I recall pain in my head the LAST time I wore this, too. Overall, for a more masculine tea fragrance, I prefer Bvlgari Pour Homme from 1996.

I already gave a quick review a couple of weeks ago, but I decided to give HM a complete review. (Note: HM shouldn’t be confused with HiM, a completely different, and newer, fragrance.) In my first review, I said it has a definite tart, vegetal vibe that dries down to vanilla cocoa, which I don’t think was completely accurate. Today, I am giving it a full wearing, and I can certainly smell the lemony lavender opening. And after a little while, I smell some kind of flowery-something that, honestly, isn’t pretty. I suspect it’s the iris, although I’m not really familiar with the smell of iris. When I say it isn’t pretty, I mean it smells to me like something slightly rotten. And yet, still floral. (Rotten flowers?) I am starting to smell the chocolate base notes, but I can’t really say I ever noticed any rose note. (I don’t care for roses, anyway.) That raw, vegetal vibe I detected earlier is still there, but is more floral than vegetal. The predominant smell is definitely those flowers. Strange how it smells like flowers and chocolate, but the flowers are dead, and the chocolate is bitter. I don’t think I have smelled anything else exactly like it, but being unique isn’t the same as being good. Or worthy of a place on my shelf. I THOUGHT I had found a new favorite, but I was wrong. HM is simply too floral for my taste, which is something I didn’t realize the first couple of times I wore it. But I always enjoy trying to wrap my nose around a fragrance, whether it turns out to be a favorite, or not. And I will definitely avoid any more *iris* frags, considering this, and my recent experience with the horribly bitter Silver Iris by Atelier Cologne. My journey for a new favorite continues.
Update: I can't even wear this anymore, after it giving it several opportunities to prove me wrong. There's no nice way to say it, but after that very nice initial blast of lemony lavender dies down, HM actually smells putrid to me. Seriously, vile and disgusting. This is a reminder to me that first impressions can sometimes be completely opposite of a final opinion.

Grand Néroli has a familiar, natural smell I can’t quite place. It reminds me of an essential oil shop at a mall in Dallas I’ve been to, years ago, but not sure which oil(s) give it that smell. Seems very linear to me, and although it isn’t really unpleasant, it’s strange. I don’t think I want to smell like this. UPDATE: I am certainly not sure, but I suspect that strange smell might actually be what neroli smells like. Not bad, but still linear.

Trèfle Pur opens with a nice orange that hangs around for quite awhile. Very masculine, and definitely not too floral, but more like branches and bushes than flowers. So realistic, it almost makes me want to sneeze. (Reminds me of Enchanted Forest by Vagabond Prince, minus that awful choking rum note.) The jury is still out about whether or not I like this, the drydown is quite mossy. But, as others have said, it’s more complex than other Atelier Colognes, and some will probably love it.

Whatever notes compose Ambre Nue, after that opening blast (Is that benzoin?), it smells like pure amber to me. This would work if I were a fan of amber, but I’m not. Amber smells cheap (common) to me, unless well-blended with other notes. This is why I don’t care for Invictus, either, that same amber drydown. I can certainly appreciate Ambre Nue, but I definitely won’t be wearing it very often; maybe on the weekend, around the house.