NicheOnly

Ladies & gentlemen, welcome to Boadicea month. Very often you'll hear me refer to so-called "luxury niche brands" and I'll typically include Clive Christian, Royal Crown, Roja Parfums, and Boadicea the Victorious within said definition. Up until today (read: a few days ago), I had not smelled a single scent from Boadicea, the British luxury brand for which I'll be covering 34 scents in the month of September. The initial coverage will be towards Boadicea's mainstream catalogue which features lower prices and more simple product, but towards the middle, I'll be switching over to their more expensive and impressive product, incl. various sapphires and zodiacs.

This is the first review (and statement) of many, but it's also an early red flag. Boadicea faces numerous criticisms in the market, typically related to the price at which they sell their products. However, another criticism of Boadicea's catalogue is their lack of originality with the catalogue having numerous fragrances that are inspired by various mainstream designer and niche competitors. For Angelic, the only question was always going to be where do the weaknesses lie.

As a scent, Angelic opens fresh spicy & sweet. While I did write down some comparables in the first 10-20 seconds, it doesn't actually remind me of anything specific. I get a hint of metallic tinge from what I assume is saffron and there's a very prominent musk in the base too, making for a scent profile that is in the realm of a masculine aromatic profile. So at first, I had it begged as just that: a spicy-sweet-woody-fresh fragrances. Once I saw the notes, it was pretty easy to allocate the experience to them: the clary sage gives the scent some masculine designer DNA and it's a lot more prominent in the dry-down. Saffron isn't listed, but cardamom is and that note is commonly used in masculine aromatic scents to sweeten the deal, whether it be in designer or niche (think of scents like The Blazing Mister Sam or even X for Men). That combination of woody tones, sage and cardamom remains relevant for both the top and the heart, albeit the woody notes are non-descript.

The scent does take a turn as it heads into the dry-down and at that point, the main notes for me are the vetiver and a very prominent smell of amberwood. I find this pretty ironic, because the main comparable product that I see listed on Parfumo and on the competing websites is Amber Wood Eau de Parfum from cheapie middle eastern brand Ajmal. The quality at this stage is objectively embarrassing, not that the designer-style open was any better. We can put another 2 cherries on top of the sundae: (1) the retail price for this product is €835/100ml which is the true definition of a 0/10 value fragrance; and (2) the performance for this scent is very light, a criticism that I'll have for several other scents from Boadicea down the line. All-in-all, this scent is not only unpurchaseable, but the fact that it even exists is offensive as a whole.

Starting on the 1st of September, I will be exclusively covering samples of British luxury brand Boadicea the Victorious for around a month. With that in mind, I set myself the goal of finishing off the last 2025 samples I had on hand, those being the 6 fragrances launched by Sospiro, the brand formerly recognized as being Xerjoff's middle-eastern alternative. This is the last of the 6 samples, but it's actually a lot more than just a sample. As of the 29th of August 2025, Il Padrino ranks as the #1 niche release of 2025 here on Parfumo with 311 ratings and an average rating of 8.9/10. I'm sure I don't need to tell anyone that living up to such a standard is essentially impossible.

For those even moderately versed within the niche market, the profile of Il Padrino will be easy to understand as it primarily offers notes and accords from existing products in the market. Il Padrino opens with a sweet-spicy DNA that is extremely comparable to Initio's hero franchise Side Effect. Tobacco might not be listed, but the combination of woods, ambers and patchouli clearly offers that same feeling with the only discrepancy being Il Padrino's lack of cinnamon. That sweet-spicy DNA is at first opposed by a well-executed fruity contrast, but on my skin, that fruitiness is not as pronounced as it is in the sample vial nor on the strip. I'd say that fruitiness is a bit like the opening on Clive Christian's XXI: Art Deco - Blonde Amber, i.e. it has that dried fruity amber smell with no clear indication of what the fruit is. Comparisons to scents like Red Tobacco and Triumph of Bacchus have some legs, driven by the tobacco-adjacent nuances smelling a bit like product in that realm, but I wouldn't say those are the main comps here.

Deeper into the heart and the dry-down, the little fruitiness that you do get on skin has completely dissipated and the product that we arrive at smells even more like Initio's Side Effect. Everything about it screams Initio, even down to the poorly executed hedione base featured in Side Effect and the amberwoods that Initio has previously utilized in Blessed Baraka. Beyond the 30 minute mark, I'd say the scent doesn't develop any further with the on-skin blending lacking quality, but that is a criticism that I also have for Side Effect so I don't want to make it sound like Il Padrino is alone in not delivering a smooth execution. The performance ratings on the scent are very inflated as I get average-to-moderate sillage with around 8 hours of longevity, but there's one other thing that is even more inflated here: the actual rating itself.

Back in 2023, Parfums de Marly released Althaïr and to this day, Althair is rated highly both on Parfumo and in the general community. However, when Althair came out, the ratings were even more inflated: I notoriously remember the time when Althair was in the same situation that Il Padrino is now as Althair had ~400 ratings on a 9.0/10 rating. I was among the first 100 to arrive at the scene and one of a very few to highlight that the scent itself, a poorly-executed laundry detergent orange blossom & vanilla ice cream combination inspired by Club Black and/or Sculpture, was miles off the true estimate.

Alas, we arrive at an epiphany: as far as the Parfumo community is concerned, Il Padrino is 2025's version of Althaïr. That isn't a criticism of neither scent, but rather the community as a whole, esp. those offering quantifiable assessments. To put it more harshly, the semi-casual audience/community rating fragrances on here is full of useless hacks who think sensationalist coverage of product is a rational approach to rating product. Fragrances feature an overt selection bias - when I started my journey, I assume I would've placed mainstream niche products in the near-flawless tier as well, driven by the conceivable upgrade from mainstream designer. You can only rate something relative to what you've experienced. However, the community on here is at a more advanced stage than any day-one beginner and with that come expectations for objective coverage, especially since the broader fragrance community (read: influencers) has a tendency to abuse ratings. Ultimately, I find myself wondering whether the people on here are actually making any progress in their fragrance journey, allowing them to find product that is actually flawless or near-flawless, or if they are still stuck in the same beginner stage that I was in approx. 5 years ago.

Back in late February (of 2025), I blind-bought Kilian's Angels' Share Paradis, a highly anticipated flanker of the brand's hero franchise Angels' Share Eau de Parfum. While the gap in ratings between the EDP and Paradis is insignificant for the Parfumo community, in the real world Paradis was a significant let-down that couldn't even get buzz after the brand invited two dozen influencers to the opening of their Milan boutique in late March and gave them all both bottles. And unfortunately, I feel like the end result won't be that different for Angels' Share on the Rocks as the EDP continues to rule the roost.

The latest Angels' Share on the Rocks opens as a contrast between the signature DNA of the EDP (the sweet-spicy-boozy scent) and a very prominent citrusy-fruity contrast, primarily smelling like gourmand lemon. This specific lemon is the one that I recognize from Amouage's Outlands. That is to say the scent opens sweet-spicy-citrusy-gourmand. There is a very noteworthy lack of intensity in the spiciness, likely from a serious downsizing of the cinnamon note. This feels like a key discrepancy between the EDP and the OTR version. The aforementioned lemon note carries into the dry-down for a few hours I'd say, but the scent ultimately lands at the doorstep of the EDP version, just with a significantly lighter feel with noticeably weaker performance.

When I compare my experience with Angels' Share on the Rocks in the 3 wears I've had with the listed notes, I'd say the primary notes here are the lemon and cognac with moderate ambers and mild cinnamon. For me, the listed aldehydes and the ice accord are hard to notice, but the oak is more evident when you go looking for it on the skin as the scent trends towards it into the latter stages of the dry-down.

Unlike with the Paradis version, the weaknesses of Angels' Share on the Rocks aren't necessarily related to blending. A key negative of the OTR version is the performance: the EDP and Paradis both have strong openings into more moderate dry-downs while the OTR version opens below moderate and ends fairly weak. In some ways, it does feel like that was the goal as lightening the structure enabled the brand to sell a summer-wearable version of Angels' Share Eau de Parfum, much like Nishane did 2 years ago with Ani X.

Relative to the original Angels' Share Eau de Parfum, the OTR version doesn't feature a single advantage outside of the aforementioned summer utility. With Paradis, albeit the final product lacked quality in the dry-down, the vision/idea was worth something. With Angels' Share on the Rocks, the idea is lazy and the execution doesn't have enough nuance to justify owning this version. Originally rated as a 7.5 before revising down to a 7.0 and now a 6.5, this version is average-to-good as a product, but largely off the back of the EDP's success. If you're interested in a summer wearable version of the EDP, give it a try. Otherwise, steer clear.

The 2025 coverage is still alive and kicking, continuing with Italian luxury house Royal Crown and their Esxence premier, that being Nima. And unlike most of the other fragrances where I'm among the first to cover it, here I am literally the first. So if you're wondering whether this is good or not, I'll make the call for you.

I have an official sample from the brand and I've gone through 2 wears, one in February and one now in August.

As always, I like to test my knowledge by spraying scents without looking at the accords or the scent pyramid, not that there are any accords here anyway since I'm the first to arrive at the scene. On both occasions, Nima opens with a very prominent unlisted yellow floral note accompanied by a strong spiciness and moderate ambers with perhaps some mild medicinal flair. Within Royal Crown's own catalogue, Tzar is the fragrance that comes to mind which also has that Xerjoff's Opera style ylang-ylang. Yellow floral is clearly the leading accord in the open and the scent primarily showcases floral-spicy-sweet-resinous qualities at first. When I smell it up-close, the same accords remain the leaders, yet the base has a more evident woodiness now. I would assume that the notes are primarily centered on ylang-ylang, nutmeg, amber and probably oud.

Obviously once I saw the actual scent pyramid, my vision somewhat fell apart. The core profile throughout the wear remains a woody ylang-ylang fragrance with light tropical nuances and pronounced spiciness. In an attempt to allocate my experience to the notes, I would say the scent is built on a base of oud/gaiac, amber and mate absolute. The heart would include the sweetening accord (honey, vanilla and saffron) as well as the non-yellow floral tones. It is worth noting that the ylang-ylang implied in the top is not the only floral note you are getting here: I'd say the iris is also very prevalent, bringing a clean and mildly soapy quality to this scent's on-skin profile at around 30 minutes in (with the note lasting all the way through). The top notes would likely be the ylang-ylang, but also the lighter throwaway parts of the scent pyramid, e.g. the pink pepper and coriander.

Final accords: spicy-floral-resinous-sweet-woody

Overall, this is not Royal Crown's most impressive in terms of originality. I would say that this is very comparable to Casamorati's Casamorati - 1888 from a structure standpoint. The scent is well-executed (which you should expect from RC, given the price) and the complexity is quite noteworthy. On my first wear, I wrote down that the performance was quite average, yet on this second wear, I am getting performance that is rather strong (the opening is particularly intense). Utility wise, more oriented towards fall-winter with a slight-to-moderate masculine lean, particularly due to the heavy presence of spice. Definitely not contending for release of the year since I rank fragrances inclusive of cost and originality, but without those parts, this would be among the top 3 as I write this review in mid-August.

Another day, another Harrods exclusive. However, this time around I feel like the product isn't underwhelming, it's just a bit simple by Amouage standards.

Reception opens with a fairly intense spicy-sweet-resinous feel where, based on my notes without looking at the scent pyramid, I detect incense and/or labdanum opposed by cinnamon and/or cardamom. At first, the scent appears fairly strong, yet not particularly complex note/accord wise as the aforementioned notes essentially cover the whole experience with the aromatic notes listed, incl. the coriander and pine, having very short stints in the opening. Overall, it feels fairly simple & even linear with the accords initially reminding me of a scent like Xerjoff's Golden Dallah. The primary comparisons that I had for this in the opening were various cinnamon-clove combos (e.g. Clive Christian's E: Gourmande Oriental), yet this scent steers away from that resinous-spicy feel into a more mainstream territory in the heart.

And that territory is the one offered by scents like Eight & Bob's Agneta as well as Kilian's Intoxicated. That is to say the subsequent dry-down loses the resinous qualities and goes into a creamy-spicy-sweet-woody heart. At this point, it becomes fairly clear that there's no actual cinnamon or cardamom here, it is indeed coffee. That coffee is opposed by the oriental notes (incense and labdanum) as well as the notes giving Reception a creamy & woody feel, likely the cashmeran and gaiac wood.

I've actually gone through a full-wear on this, incl. outdoors in summer weather, and the performance is leaning below average after the initial blast. I am placing it around 6 hours of longevity as I am writing this review, but would say there's more potential on the downside than on the upside. Harrods has this scent listed at €450 which is the same price that other Essences fragrances (e.g. Outlands) are listed at, but given the competitors this scent has, €450 feels a bit rich.

Final accords: creamy-spicy-sweet-woody-resinous

Lastly, where does Reception product sit in Amouage's offering? Well, it certainly fits within the Essences collection where you have other more mainstream examples of Amouage products, esp. with scents like Lustre that also feels like an alternative to scents like Bois d'Ébène or even Gris Charnel Extrait. Furthermore, it's an example of Amouage's catalogue leaning in a safer direction under Renaud Salmon. For me, it's somewhere in the middle: the scent clearly lacks a wow factor, the originality isn't there, and overall there's very little depth here to allow me to appreciate it as an Amouage product.

It's definitely Amouage, but in a way, I guess it's also kinda not.