MisterCJ

Everyone I know loves the smell of freshly washed laundry. It's so nice to lie down in bed after a long, tiring day. Just before you go to bed for a well-deserved and certainly overdue sleep, you snuggle up in your blanket and are enveloped in the scent of cleanliness.

This is exactly the feeling the fragrance gives me from the very first spray. The sillage is incredibly strong. When I leave my office at work and enter it again after a while, I notice this Xerjoff masterpiece very strongly. I have the feeling that while I was away, someone went over the old office cupboards and dusty files with a sponge and the whole room smells as if it should shine with cleanliness for the austronauts on the ISS to see.

When I come back to reality after a while, I see that the files are still dusty. But one bottle will definitely not gather dust: Torino 21

Just before Christmas, I took the opportunity to buy a fragrance together with my wife for the upcoming festivities. It is already very difficult to find a fragrance on your own. Now it's even harder. We-must-BOTH-love-the-fragrance.

I'm already starting to prepare myself for the coming confrontation.
We enter the store. Start with Acqua Di Gio. The first disagreement begins. She likes it, I don't. I make a cool argument and describe the fragrance as "quite OK" so as not to get tempers running high with the first scent.
She is a woman and unfortunately knows the exact translation of "quite OK". She says "So you don't like it..." and gives me a dirty look. I look around frantically and look for a consultant. A store employee sees my fear and desperation in my eyes. I don't accuse him of anything malicious, but I'm sure he knows exactly how to capitalize on my plight. It's also his job.

The dear colleague advises us and points in the direction of Jean Paul Gaultier. "Le Male Elixir" is the name of the fragrance that comes in such an elegant golden bottle. I take one sniff and think to myself "wow, that's the one!". I try not to show any outward signs of pleasure. Otherwise your expectations are too high and it would end in disappointment.
It feels like my favorite team is scoring a goal in the 90th minute, but I'm not allowed to jump up and cheer because I'm sitting in the third row of a civil wedding and have the Kicker app open.

Shivering and with the first drops of sweat on my forehead, I hand my wife the scented stick. She smells it. Silence. It feels like an eternity passes before she reacts. The tension is unbearable. My heart is pounding.
Sitting in my bearded teacher's German class and hoping she doesn't notice that I've "forgotten" my homework is a joke compared to this.

Then, after what felt like an eternity, the first reaction. The corners of her mouth move... upwards! She tells me that it's a wonderful fragrance and that it suits me very well.
Christmas is saved, oh what am I talking about... The year is saved. We decide on the bottle, pay the usual 20% too much because once again I didn't compare prices and go home happy.

Summary: I have the right woman and the right fragrance. Le Male Elixir.

Erba Pura is something very special for me. My first "luxury class" fragrance. That's what I call all niche fragrances and upmarket designer fragrances.
When you spray it on, you get a sweet, fresh note in your nose that I couldn't quite place at first (it's probably the bergamot in the top note). If you smell the fragrance again after a while, it quickly brings back memories of the "Sex on the Beach" cocktail. But not only that. Whether in the office, in the city or simply at home on the balcony. If I am surrounded by the aura of Erba Pura, I am somewhere on the beach with a cocktail in my hand.
Today I don't need expensive flights to Golden Sands. Today, a spray of Erba Pura is enough.