Meggi

Creamy woodsy sweet. I don't smell citrus. Although pepper is used moderately, it is quite noticeable. The scent is not pungent at all, rather airy. The sand-egg, which is immediately vanilla-supported, develops a bitingly metallic touch, which roughly points towards Black Afgano. This reminds me of Arturetto Landis 'Mythical Woods', designed for the house Profumi del Forte.

Quickly, however, it is milder today, said tip has disappeared within a quarter of an hour and the smell has become soft and creamy. There's a hint of sandalwood sculpture. And besides, I can finally imagine a splash of grapefruit. Fruity - neither too sour nor snappy.

A latent muff in the underground may refer to incense (whatever the variety...), to recognize it, I must first try to. With a little distance from the skin, it can no longer be called muff anyway, but instead gives a serious, dark twist to the fragrance, which I like very much. His contribution grows day by day, but always remains cryptic and never really smoky or even scratchy. Understandable that this is sometimes called "powdery".

And indeed, the fragrance reaches its most beautiful phase in the early afternoon. Gently sweetened creaminess, dabbed smoky-dark, before a stronger weighting of vanilla may add a tinge of too much sweetness as the process continues.

"In the early afternoon his most beautiful phase" - to this half-sentence I would like to refer again extra and praising. After all, we are dealing with a fragrance in the range of comparatively clear prices (EUR 38 per 50ml), which is also available in the 10ml travel size at EUR 9.50 each. On the other hand, Hamburg's are doing well so far, especially at the back

I thank Gerdi for the rehearsal.

I had already mentioned that I am neither a hamburger nor a non-hamburger. One thing is now again rather typical for a local: I only know the Hamburg City Hall, to which the fragrance refers, from the outside, although I have been here for twenty years.

Nevertheless, the issue can undoubtedly be regarded as having been met, at least partially. An impression of time-honoured muffs can indeed be traced. I'm sure that the town hall of the Hanseatic city knows such smells. But there is always something discreetly fresh in the fragrance, a slight breeze, which is the lower limit of air movement in Hamburg. That's pretty good

But I should start at the beginning: The fragrance starts with the mineral note from Terre d'Hermès. I would only think that the rock is less clearly flanked by citruses today. The present candidate is harsher, more bitter, because the earth of patchouli quickly penetrates, at least for the time being. Favored.

The citrus note today may therefore come from the corner of rosewood and linalool instead of real citrus fruit; in any case, I have to advise orange more than it really smells.

Well, and the dark, earthy thing just creates a little bit of imagination, an impression of said muff. With all due caution. Who knows better than we do what such announcements can do. A few minutes' walk from the town hall is my favourite perfumery, Harald Lubner's small, fine shop. One of the saleswomen there also confirmed from professional experience: "If you tell people that it smells like coffee, they smell coffee. To avoid misunderstandings: 'Classic' does not smell like coffee. It would fit - politicians and administration in the town hall, working endless nightly overtime for the welfare of the citizens...

Speaking of imagination: I really have to think about the promised leather. Perhaps it will leave the sphere of the fantastic in the afternoon, after I have pondered about it long enough. Then even a touch of cumin sweat seems to be involved. Amazing

All in all, the fragrance is very stable and hardly ever leaves what it has once reached. That he's close to Ellena, let him have a look. After all, fragrances under such a heading must offer the tried and tested.

It depends on what I'm copying from, though. The other day I had 'Aqua Wissemara' (Wismar) under my nose, which smelled like a cheap drugstore broth and is much more expensive (85 Euro per 30ml!) than the Acqua-di-Hamburgs.

So, thumbs up. And many thanks to Gerdi for the rehearsal.

For over 20 years, my whole professional life, I have been working in Hamburg and living in the suburbs for almost as long. However, as a native I have never felt in the city. Of course not as a completely foreigner, but somehow in between. Perhaps a good prerequisite for testing the Acqua di Hamburg series objectively. It is possibly no less good to not actually know the 'CK One' model, which was already exposed by Mr SchatzSucher in the opening commentary and has since been confirmed several times.

I start my small test series with the 'Alster', because my employer resided for many years in Alsterdorf, in a listed Fritz-Höger-Villa from 1924 with a view of the river and of a brick building, which was somewhat run down at that time and today houses a restaurant called "Braband"

What I have experienced in those years in the company defies description. My office for example - to start harmlessly - was temporarily located in a former granny flat and I had to enter it through a wall cupboard until everything was rebuilt.

Never forget the days when the boss would get his Harley out of the garage (he lived next door) and the staff would hang enthusiastically at the window because a huge puck-the-house fly sunglasses looked just too gorgeous on a motorcycle. Or the afternoon, when a pack of policemen ran through the area and across the property, because some heavy boys had escaped from the nearby "Santa Fu" prison.

A memorable sight was also the chairman of the supervisory board wandering around the garden looking for the right entrance. However, this was nothing against the pee bottle: the accounting manager was apparently supposed to hand over a "cumulative" urine sample and had placed the litre bottle provided for this purpose behind him on the outside of the windowsill so that everyone could follow the gradually rising filling level. The colleague sitting in the very first row opposite him involuntarily commented dryly and wonderfully: "Well, at least he doesn't get his sex out on the spot...". And then there was the lady from the reception who - of course without being asked - opened her blouse to have a (after all...) colleague confirm what a great bra she was wearing.

And so far - not to speak of the crazy events of the actual business at all.

But I wanted to be objective. So: 'Alster' now is neither spectacular nor funny nor memorable. It is fresh, a touch of soapy, airy and light, in a pleasantly unsweet, tart way. Rather soapy than citric: The bergamot is practically fully fertilized without being bitterly astringent in return. I find the Alster to be more than just a little bit floral today and I tip on a spot of lily of the valley (!). Already after about an hour a musky-creamy-clean musk note adds to the flowery.

In the course of the morning, a latex-like condom-like note develops from the floral, in addition to a swelling contribution of sweetness... Hey, this is 'Alster', not 'Kiez'! I'm curious what they are going to bring up from the direction of the 'Kiez', maybe the thing is used then... No, a soft talcum powdered latex glove is better, here is something dusty in it.

The afternoon is basically like the morning, only with shifted weights. It can still be called relatively fresh, but just now rather in a laundry way. In addition, the floral cream provides its enormously persistent scent.

My favourite colleague (who, by the way, was asked for her opinion on underwear at the time...) was not used to the scent; she is simply used to something else from me. But when I pointed out - and this can be taken as a conclusion - that we should be grateful if more people wore 'Alster' instead of no fragrance at all, she agreed and we agreed on...

...solid.

I thank Gerdi for the rehearsal.

I was told that in his younger years, Mr. Armani was occasionally seen inspecting the shop windows of his Milan boutiques on Sundays. I believe such perfectionism indiscriminately, and it is also said to be the case at his fashion shows. What puzzles me is that, on balance, he seems to be less committed, at least for the Privé fragrances launched in recent years. The fact that the things are marketed by L'Oréal is not an objection that I would like to accept. There you can undoubtedly order what you want.

I smell a plum note that I am uncomfortably familiar with, which immediately overshadows a hint of unruly jasmine. Reminds me of the 'Ambre Eccentrico', which in my opinion was not round, where a presumably hard prunol fan had challenged me quite insistently

Well, luckily the lady with the nerve potential is a bit more reserved than she was at that time. It surrounds itself with soft, woody spice. A lot of wood, when I think about it. Together with the tobacco, which can also be ticked off, this creates a depth that touches the oudige.

The problem: The latter is only perceptible directly on the skin, on top of it a fruity-vanilla mixture quickly develops, in which certain, more or less distant cherry and woodruff hints seem to me to indicate an involvement of coumarin. Our brave Jasmin grows into a respectable, soapy opponent in the second hour, but she cannot hold out and has to give up in the end.

The pale vanilla comes out undeniably synthetic in the course of the morning at the latest, as it drifts towards the pudding. In the afternoon it thickens steadily, I smell a kind of caramel with a fruity splash (plum, cherry - coumarin et al.) and unfortunately a blob of H-cream. Tobacco is limited to a peripheral location, but at least it is noticeable and I thank him inwardly for it.

By the way, the stubborn plum note is stronger than I had thought. The very next day this wannabe fruit is still hanging around my office annoyingly.

Conclusion: I had expected more from the "blue". I like 'Bleu Lazuli' better than his brother and sister - but that's not a great achievement. I find both of them disappointingly weak overall.

PS: I am curious about the new four, which are already listed here, but at least in the Alsterhaus in Hamburg they are not yet available. By the way, I heard there that the 'Myrrh Imperiale' had to be removed from the assortment. Not a good idea.

Maritime isn't very high on my list of likes and dislikes. But since 'Copal Azur' offered me a successful symbiosis between a certain wateriness and smoke, unchecked reservations are of course invalid. The paper test at the Armani booth in the Alsterhaus promised a closeness to the Duchaufour for 'Bleu Turquoise', a well-filled tester (they are now with a dotted head; on this topic see Commi to Musc Shamal) was directly available with.

In the foreground, the resemblance to the older colleague from Aedes de Venustas (from 2014) is indeed astonishing, except that Armani was seasoned with pepper instead of clove. For the present maritime approach I am considering, besides the usual suspects, vetiver salt.

The only problem is that when I first tested 'Copal Azur', which was done without knowing the information in the shop, I hadn't thought of anything maritime at all. And since then (I own the fragrance) his contribution has been pleasingly discreet.

With today's candidate, the perfumer's hand has unfortunately slipped in this regard and I find it far too much. Within a short time, the fragrance is surrounded by a brackish, musty impression, which bites quite unpleasantly with the vanilla sweetness. A scraped, dusty, scratchy surface doesn't make things better.

In my opinion, either the Salzig-Maritime should have been added to the sweetness or vice versa. The equal weighting, however, causes me to be quite reluctant. I hardly like to smell the sprayed back of my hand in order to search more carefully for possible other aromas and so I have to stay a little on the surface. Further days of testing brought neither change nor habituation.

It doesn't help me much that the brackish mood is ultimately limited in comparison to other fragrances (especially those newcomers from the cheaper corner, which end quickly and completely) and on top of that, a gentle splashing helps in the afternoon. I don't get more than a "Goes like this" backwards for me.

Bottom line: Not for me.