Mitchcraft

I really do like the clever name of this fragrance with a play on words using the notes to create it.

This was my first fragrance from the house of Lorenzo Pazzaglia, a famous chef mainly known for his famous carbonara dish of which he crated a fragrance with the same name. Not only that, this was my first ever niche fragrance.

At the time I was looking for a nice sweet fragrance with a good boozy rum note in it.I have had this smell in my mind for ages now but I just couldn’t seem to find it. When I first got this i couldn’t actually smell the rum in it to be honest, but I could smell the vanilla and an oud kind of smell along with the sweetness of the caramel. It’s a very sweet vanilla fragrance but I don’t find it cloying to the point you feel drenched in some gooey thick syrup which has been poured all over you, that you get from the likes of Vicious cacao. So I was a little disappointed that the rum wasn’t there, at first! I do wish Parfumo showed all the different kind of vanilla notes that are in this fragrance other than just stating vanilla. In fact I am going to copy and paste them just so people get an idea of how truly amazing the vanilla representation in this actually is.

Top Notes:

Bourbon Vanilla

Madagascar Vanilla

Tahitian Vanilla

Vanilla

Rum

Tonka Bean

Middle Notes:

Vanilla

Caramel

Patchouli

White Flowers

Base Notes:

Black Vanilla Husk

Rum

Indonesian Patchouli Leaf

Agarwood (Oud)

So as you can see you truly are getting an amazing assortment of vanilla in this with rum in both the top and base, so it was weird I wasn’t able to smell it at first.

Even though it’s not as sweet sticky diabetic nightmare it still is a bit too sweet for me for summertime, and now that we are getting cooler weather i wore it for the first time in several months, and wow what a change. This is on level with how Lattafa fragrances change over time for the better, but the difference being, usually Lattafa will start off harsh before turning in to something nice and smooth. Van Py Rhum started nice and just got nicer!

I could finally smell the rum notes and the patchouli was a lot more prominent also.

The best I can do to describe this is for anyone who has tried "Tony Iommi Monkey Special | XerJoff" from Xerjoff, think of that but remove the caramel note and swap it for an earthy patchouli along with amazing longevity of the rum notes. I should note that the caramel in this just lends its sweetness to the fragrance rather than actually smelling of full on caramel, to me anyway.

I thought when I got Monkey Special I had found something similar to what was floating around in my mind for months, but its boozy note doesn’t last long enough for me and then you are just left with something that is a tad boring imo. Once that boozy note left it broke my heart as the thought of “oh another basic gourmand” of which I could get cheaper from the likes of Maison Tahité was left with me. Maybe it was because of the sample atomiser I wasn’t getting the full experience which has happened to me a lot when I go from a sampler to a full bottle. I do have a full bottle of Van Py Rhum though, and with that rum in the top and base you smell it in the opening and is with you all the way to the end and it is fantastic.

So, not only did the fragrance improve in smell, but so has performance. Projection was already amazing when I first bought this, but now? Oh boy! The allure of this fragrance house for me was hearing how amazing the performance was. I don’t think there was a single fragrance he created that didn’t have mass votes across a number of fragrance websites that had projection and longevity maxing out the eternal and fills a room votes and I can tell you they are rightly so being voted this way.

So, if like myself you enjoy fragrances that perform better than the often praised Sauvage Elixir which when I smelled that after smelling fragrances from Lorenzo made it seem like just any other regular performing fragrance, then look no further. All his fragrances are Extrait concentration and you know it, as does everyone else around you.

When I first got this I thought, yeah it is nice and I will wear it now and again , but now I am looking to buy a backup bottle because this is going to be worn a lot more than I thought it would when I first got it.

I think both men and women can wear this but would be extremely sexy on a man in an alluring way to the ladies on a night out, which this would be great for such an occasion because if you wear this everyone else with what they think are their strongest performance fragrances will be destroyed by the trail this will leave behind you.

With this changes I have to update my ratings.

Scent 10/10
Projection 10/10
Longevity 10/1o

Bottle Sadly this is where they lose points from me. I think it could be a lot better for €150 per 50ml it’s a 7/10 however it’s the fragrance that counts the most, but it’s still nice to have a beautiful bottle and box for these fragrances to be kept in.

Price for a fragrance that smells this good and has the kind of performance it does is a 9/10 losing a point because of the bottle and box.

I have been dying to write a review for this as it has been available in the discovery kit and through free samples for a good while now, just so that I can share with people the pure joy this fragrance brings to me.

I honestly think this is Aaron’s next Hard Candy which is his top selling product at the moment. This imo is either going to take that spot of bestseller, or be up there with it. What will help with that is also the price. The 50ml is a very reasonable £99 which is not a lot for what he has on offer here!

Just look at those notes!

I smell this and I think of a store full of bright, vibrant candy all over the place kind of like Fred and George’s store in Harry Potter full of fun things aimed at kids just having a great time with the kids begging their parents to buy them everything , or you know what? Forget that, this is a candy factory where everything is free and the kids can go wild eating all they like and my 42 year old mind is right there with them, acting like the inner child that this fragrance wants me to be. So forget a store, this is watching Willy Wonka, but instead of the chocolate river it is the scene with wallpaper that tastes like candy treats and they will have you floating like they are at the end of the movie with that peppermint breeze just lifting you off the ground full of freshness.

In all honesty it’s more like George and Fred Weasley used their magic to combine the two, imagine that!!!


The best I can do to give you an idea of how this snells is, you know how everyone said about 1 million elixir, if someone could capture the opening of that scent it would be amazing. This is what Aaron done but then some! He doesn’t just capture the opening though, he adds to it with this juicy sweet fruity notes that are just mind blowing, but then he goes and adds peppermint to it to give it this fresh sweet pop to it all. Today I wore 1 Million Lucky for the first time in a while and I definitely get a similarity from that also. It’s like he took the best parts of Lucky & Elixir , and then done his own thing and it is so addictive.

His opening is more of a juicy, sweet, fruity opening kind of like a lovely blood orange kind of smell but has that same sort of vibe that 1 Million Elixir has, but obviously the quality here is 1 million times better than the actual 1 Million Elixir opening ;-)

I think the amber, vanilla, patchouli and tonka bean is what is also giving the 1Million vibe but I am surprised the peppermint is a top because it acts like both a top and a mid note as it will be with you well after the mandarin orange smell has faded and the other juicy treats are being sent along the factory conveyor belt ready for you to devour.

I should state that the peppermint is not like Sedley, where the spearmint dominates. No, instead the peppermint shares the smell of all those other notes.

If his Hard Candy is a deep chocolate kind of candy gourmand, this is like another level of candy gourmand. Jolly Ranchers would be my closest attempt to help you understand, but they just don’t even come close to explaining how amazing this actually smells. This could have easily been named something like Slut Candy and been part of the Candy flankers. Because you could easily spray this all over someone and have the urge just to lick it off them. The peppermint is like those minty hard rock candy canes you get at Christmas, that just helps lift the other sweet delicious notes that are in this off the skin.

Having been able to sample this for roughly the last 2 months, Slut Elixir has been my most anticipated release of the year, and finally the 10ml and 50ml are here. It will be a 50ml for me.


It is perfectly unisex by the way.

Scent is a 20/10

Projection is not crazy but it’s good 8/10

Longevity: if you get this on clothes people will think you have definitely been swimming in Willy Wonka’s river, but instead of chocolate it’s like this hard toffee kind of smell that is not overly sweet, do not worry about that. I hate stuff like Vicious Cacao but I love this. You can wear this in winter or summer no problem.

His 50ml bottles are always a 10/10

If you love candy you will absolutely love this.

I find HUGO fragrances to be quite a hit or a miss these days. Luckily HUGO Iced is one of the former, being a hit imo.

As someone who drinks a lot of tea to the point that when family members go on holidays or small trips to local sight seeing locations which often have gift shops, or for Christmas and birthdays, they will often present me with all sorts of flavoured teas. So, it is surprising that I only own one fragrance that has a prominent tea note in it. However I think HUGO Iced makes up for the lack of tea fragrances as it is a good one in which the tea note can be easily found as it is not mixed with an arm’s length list of notes to go with it, thus allowing the tea note to shine, or in this case brew. The other two notes complement it well as I feel this is blended nicely.

I like to use this on days when I don’t want to be wearing my usual attention grabbing fragrances. I don’t say that in a way to mean that it doesn’t smell nice, but rather that it is a subtle scent, very easy on the nose making it good for things like appointments at the hospital or doctors where you may wish to wear something that won’t impose on everyone around you, and even if they do smell it, it’s not going to be harsh. It is very mellow. It is also good for times when you want to give your nose a break, or if you are already on a break from fragrances to reset any nose blindness, but you remember that you have an appointment you forgot about. In those moments this makes for an easy reach that won’t disrupt that break too much as the projection is not strong, not to say that you won’t smell it on yourself, you will, but the notes are not the kind that are going to have you going nose blind to them any time soon even if you overspray. It does have great longevity though. I put this on yesterday for a trip to the hospital at roughy 13:30pm and at 11pm I was still getting small whiffs of it coming from my skin amazingly without over spraying. I can actually still smell something reminiscent of it when i make movements as I write this the morning after. That is probably because of the break I am on which I do find allows me to smell fragrances for a lot longer than usual after a break for 5 or more days.

HUGO Iced is also very good for hot days as the name suggests. Spray this on in sweltering heat and you will indeed get a nice cooling effect from it.

For the price of this I think it is great. You probably won’t find it in the silvery bottles anymore but rather in the urn like shaped bottles instead, which is what I got. I am unsure why HUGO does this with other fragrances also where they have the same fragrance in two different types of bottles, but I don’t mind it in all honesty.

I am at a place in my collection where I can appreciate all kinds of fragrance and although I usually prefer loud attention grabbing fragrances, I also appreciate fragrances like HUGO Iced that while cheap still smells good and has a laid back soothing feel to it, and while before when I first bought and tested this, I wasn’t really sure when and where I would wear it at first, but it has definitely found a place in my collection that it can be used for and has been worn multiple times, and each time I wear it I welcome the smell and am glad to have it on me again.

I could see this being a signature scent for some, the perfect cup of tea you could say, and even if it isn’t your cup of tea there isn’t much to hate about it. It really is a pleasant smell that if someone else was wearing I would be happy to be around them all day and with its good longevity that will work.

This is definitely one of the HUGO fragrances that I do recommend, and it may not end up in your favourite fragrance of all time list, but I also don’t think it would end up in your most hated fragrances list either.

Another reason I can see this being appealing is that if the sound of taking a break from fragrances, even if it will allow you to enjoy them even more so at the end of the break, but you feel you can’t go a day without, then this is one that you could wear instead of taking a break as I have worn this twice during my break in the last week and I am still feeling the benefits that I would of if I had not worn a fragrance at all. So be kind to your nose and it will return the favour and allow you to smell things for longer, and remind you of some notes you forgot were in some of your favourite fragrances that you wear all the time. Like a cup of tea that us Brits love when we are feeling down or in need of comfort and regeneration, tea is always the go to drink we offer our loved ones when in time of sadness or just to relax, and in kind I offer this tea fragrance as a way to do so but from the form of scent instead of taste. So, I hope you will join me and have a soothing, relaxing spray of tea.

Score time.

Scent 8/10

Longevity 8/10

Projection although not massive you will smell this on yourself so a 7/10

Bottle is fine imo, nothing amazing but not ugly either imo. 7/10

Price 10/10

Hi,

Those who follow me will know that I have recently been picking up quite a few of Aaron’s fragrances as he sells them with a friendly 10ml bottle that allows you to get a good price for good quality products.

He recently announced that he would be stopping selling a number of his products and in that list was Onyx. However, he also announced that he would be having a 40% off sale for a few of his fragrances.

When I saw there was a plum note in this I knew i had to get a 50ml because if I ended up loving it to be left with only a 10ml bottle, I would have kicked myself for not picking up the 50ml, which was included in the 40% off sale, which only applied to the 50ml bottles at the time.

Before we get in to the smell of this I have to mention just how amazing the 50ml bottles are. The atomiser along with the pressurised bottle is amazing, I have never seen anything like it anywhere else prior to when I got my 50ml of his also to be discontinued, Maverick. It’s like this very fine mist particles of fragrance with so much pressure that you can hold that atomiser button down for so long, and it still continues to spray a very fine narrow angle so it’s not spraying past the edges of your wrists or arms for example, and to top that off it comes with a lovely magnetic cap which we all like a bottle to have lol. I am going to make a video on the atomiser and bottle to start accompanying my reviews along with adding them to previous reviews as well as future reviews, because I know this is not my last purchase from this amazing house.

Let’s get on to the thing you are all here for, the smell of this beautiful fragrance. As someone who has only recently started my niche collection after I bought more than enough designer fragrances, oud is relatively new to me. There is only one bad experience I have had with it, and I know I will catch some flack for this but also some sympathy as others have posted about sharing the same sort of experience. Yes it’s Xerjoff Alexandria II where I had a physical reaction of feeling sick from the smell when I first tried it. Please bare with me though before you leave as I often take the sample out when there are visitors to get their opinion, and it is mostly like mine for first time smelling it. I have however noticed that with the more times I take it out for a spray, I seem to be getting used to it. I know you’re wondering why I am bringing this up when talking about Onyx. The reason is there is a stage in Onyx that smells remarkably like Alexandria II just less powdery but other than that it is the exact same smell, and I don’t know if it is the lack of powder or because I have been getting used to the sample I take out every so often which has lead to me being able to enjoy that kind of smell when it comes in Onyx. Maybe I will spray Alexandria II one day and be able to fully enjoy it because i do love the dry down.

Now that I’ve got that out of the way let’s delve in to the rest of what Onyx has to offer.

The opening. I was very surprised with it, because to me this smells so much like a real rose has been presented to me, and the reason for my surprise is because Aaron has said in his videos that when using rose absolute, he likes to manipulate it to smell more like a sweet jam kind of smell, but here it is unmistakably the smell of a real rose. Along with it comes the smell of oud which doesn’t seem to bother me at all in this fragrance. Somehow it adds to the feeling of the rose being real and you are standing in a garden that has had fertiliser put down and I don’t mean that it smells like manure in bad way.

After a while the rose starts to give way and this chocolate smell appears in its place, which again smells like real chocolate. You still have the smell of oud with you, but the smell of vanilla and plum begins to move in also, creating a sweet, almost gourmand scent which is not a sickly overly sweet kind of smell from the likes of Vicious Cacao, but more like his Maverick fragrance which feels so natural and delicious, but not in a way that will leave you craving a sticky, sweet treat that will destroy your summer diet you have been on.

Performance. I put this on last night and 13+ hours later I am still smelling reminders that i wore this yesterday, even though I have sprayed on Bleu De Chanel EDP this morning.

Projection is great a 10/10

Bottle is a 10’/10 (video coming)

Price. Now this is a problem because although there is a 40% off sale it is being discontinued and Aaron has stated he is not delivering to anywhere outside of the UK until he sorts out a better deal with a courier. He has said in a live stream last week that he hopes to have this sorted by November at the latest, but to keep an eye out at Maxaroma and PerfumeUSA I believe the 2nd outlet was which he spoke of.

Scent is a 9.5/10 as I wish the chocolate was dialled back just a bit, but it doesn’t last long before the vanilla and plum kicks in. It’s a nightmare to try get a .5 when using your phone to rate things so even though it says 10/10 my actual score is 9.5.

This would be great for many occasions. Summer nights are fine but the chocolate stage may be a bit much for some in hotter parts of the world. It will definitely be fine for all other seasons though.

Enjoy

I used a similar title for Bleu De Chanel as it was the one being borrowed from, but this time I feel this is now from the perspective of the borrower. I don’t say this as a jab at it, not at all. As someone who enjoys blue fragrances I like what is happening here which I will explain along the way. And with that I say,…

Good morning everyone. It is time for another test from the discovery kit of Parfums de Marly, and today’s choice is Percival.

I am just going to jump right in to what you came here for, the scent.

Instantly I get a good strong smelling fragrance that reminds me of a number of blue fragrances I either own or have tested. Some designer, some indie and some niche.

The lavender definitely brought thoughts of Sauvage and Luna Rossa Carbon. Sauvage because of the strength of it, and Carbon because I am getting a little soapy smell from it. I get Dylan Blue from the violet but of a higher quality. I am also reminded of Legend, but not from Mont Blanc as listed in the similar tab, it maybe does smell like it but I don’t own that so can’t attest to that, I do however own Legend 2023 from Aaron Terence Hughes which I smell here. I also felt like I was getting a little bit of 40 knots from Xerjoff. All of this probably sounds like a mess but it’s not, I am just giving people an idea of what to expect. It doesn’t smell like one of these fragrances on their own like a clone or something but rather that the notes are reminiscent of the fragrances mentioned. Though it is not listed in the notes there is definitely ambroxan in this.


Being a lover of blues I would have loved to have found this at the start of summer, because I love blue fragrances and this is way up in my top 3 blues from what I am smelling so far.This is the kind of blue I have been looking for, for a while. Even though I say I would have liked this at the start of summer I should mention however that this is a blue that I feel is very versatile and can be worn all year round especially because it is very strong and could cut through the cold air in winter without problem.

If like me you are looking for a good quality blue fragrance to add to your collection and don’t care if you have smelled similar blues already this would be one to add to your list if you like the fragrances I mentioned. It’s not as unique as 40 knots but it has that kind of quality to it.

If you are someone looking for something new you have not smelled before and already have a few blues you are happy with I think you should pass on this. Especially if you have Luna Rossa Carbon or Sauvage as the lavender is strong in this one. To you I would say try something like 40 knots by Xerjoff which to me is Xerjoff’s fresh blue take on their Naxos fragrance.

After roughly an hour the strong lavender and soapy feel starts to tone down slightly and the violet takes its place giving me a closer resemblance to Dylan Blue. I am not saying they smell the exact same, just that is what the violet reminds me of but without the incense and some other notes that make Dylan Blue what it is. It’s close to the shower gel kind of blue is what i am trying to say and projection is not as strong as it was with the lavender up front. This is something I have noticed in Parfums de Marly fragrances, there are notes that like to dance around one another taking turns in the spotlight and when you think one of them has gone for good it will pop up with a cheeky grin saying hello now and again and if it was a strong protecting note that took its strength with it when it left it brings it right back with it during these periods when it pops in and out every so often.

A while later something strange happens, the top note of mandarin orange starts giving off a slight sweet juicy smell to it which is a nice welcome that was totally unexpected.

Once that has all happened I feel like the projection starts to fade and another surprise happens when the lavender that we smelled at the beginning comes back and brings that strength with it once again.

So I have a little more to add here. I thought I was imagining it earlier but after a 2nd application with more sprays there is actually a mint in this and it actually helps cool the skin which I presume comes from the balsam fir. I thought I maybe had sprayed Sedley by mistake, but nope, Sedley’s spearmint is unmistakable. This is Percival for sure. I am getting a very fresh, cool mint with ambroxan and I think the cinnamon is just there in the background also giving this masculine feel to it. This phase of the fragrance would be great for a very hot day. Shame that it’s grey overcast here today lol.

There is not much more I can say. Do I like this? Yes absolutely, I can see a number of my other blues not being used as much when I get a full bottle of this, oh yes this will be a full 125ml purchase for sure. Unless there is a sudden change like I had with Greenley yesterday which ended up leaving me with the smell of an Aventus profile for the entire day but instead of the smoke being accompanied with pineapple we had apple instead which made it a non purchase for me which is a shame as the first 3 hours were gorgeous.

So far as a first impressions Percival has everything that I like from a blue in it , and the little dance of notes popping in and out makes it a little more exciting than the regular blues and of course the quality is good. I just beg it doesn’t turn in to a smoke only fragrance that I will be trying to scrub from my hands and wrists all day. I don’t mind smoke if it is mixed with some other notes, as long as it is not just smoke and a single fruit note all will be good.

I will come back if there are any drastic changes that make me change my mind, but so far this fresh blue scent is smooth sailing.

And I can come back and say that I did discover there was that further stage with the mint and cinnamon I spoke of and not a single bit of smoke to be detected. It’s a good day for Percival and a good day for me.