Perfaddict

Leonard pour Homme, leather chypre par excellence, introduces itself with spicy olfactory fanfare – basil and thyme prominent in the fore. When the lovely screeching recedes a bit, wormwood/artemisia attains prominence. Smokiness also emerges, i guess, from patchouli and cedar oil among other ingredients of the frag. Perhaps because I live in the tropics and naturally exposed to direct heat sometimes, it is not long into the wearing that the animalic castoreum and leather ingredients ascend into my conciousness. Resinous labdanum sings in harmony with the smoke-sodden leatheriness to deliver an accord that may be a bit scary to the Acqua di Gio crowd. There is not a smidgen of sweetness in this frag. Baroque pipe organ music and the eerie sound of ghosts and crazed bats seem to be the appropriate sound track for LpH.

LpH is similar to Van Cleef and Arpels pour Homme, but less flowery. It also reminds me of Francesco Smalto pour Homme, but is a bit more herbal and oily; Trussardi Uomo without the tobacco notes, or a more resinous Bel Ami. In all its darkness LpH is not a room-strafing powerhouse like Trussardi pH. Lph has amazing longevity. 9+ hours after applying I still get authoritative whiffs of leathery darkness.

Eau de Iceberg pour Homme (one of the 74 Series), a shape-shifter bottled, is basically a light vetiver/labdanum fragrance, laced with lemon and other supporting citruses, with clean musk in the drydown. It is not a room-filling fragrance but remains quite noticeable, playing close to the skin at low volume. With less-than-parsimonious application (4+ sprays) it is long-lasting in this manner. Sometimes this is what i want in a scent.

Eau de Iceberg pour Homme is a competent release and will get lots of wear from me.

Medicine. Beautifully fragrant medicine of the cough-relieving kind. That is the initial impression I get from Duro. More so than the similar medicinal association attributed to YSL’s M7 (which, to my nose, is more of what they have in common than outright smell). This impression stays with me for about 2-3 hours before the real beauty of Duro begins to emerge, without much evolution however. There must be something in the oud and its interplay with what resins are in Duro, that give off the mineral-like medicinal accord. Duro is woody and at the same time leathery and, with ambient warmth, slightly animalic. At times I get accords similar to wood-smoke doused by a very light drizzle. This is one frag I really love.

Duro is the brute it is widely said to be. Its longevity is phenomenal (18-24 hours). Certainly, being extrait strength, a little goes a long way and needs to be applied with slight trepidation. I do not think the nose(s) behind Duro, or any Nasomatto for that matter, had mass appeal in mind when it was conceived, blended and bottled. It will only appeal to a niche of fragrance users. I feel privileged to belong to that niche.

This is one very good scent. Quirky, but good.

The kola nut (a bitter-sweet fruit common to Nigeria and some other tropical countries) when crushed or masticated does not really smell like cola, the soft drink. Rather, it has a dry/bitter smell which is well reproduced in Bluff. Together with the central vetiver theme, the combination of star notes makes Bluff a unique vetiver scent worthy of attention.

Bluff has good sillage, though not a room-filler, and lasts quite well (easily 7+ hours on my skin)

I rate Bluff quite high.