Razastan

The bitter almond is harsh; enough to make me steer clear of it at first, especially smelling the bottle or on blotter. But as the poisonous aspect disappears (just milliseconds on my skin), this turns very pleasant. Synthetic, absolutely. But the velvet accord makes it very smooth and the musk is very cosy (still on the brighter side). Clean but not soapy.
Can’t find wildberries or white blossoms at all though (not that I mind). The Minimalist, The Thinker and The Ritualist are all true to their bottle color (the one really swaying from this is The Dreamer which is as far from the blue bottle as I can imagine and also my least favorite in the series).
Found the wildberries. There is a sweetness/tartness in the first half, but only as background noise. Tonka takes over the sweet part in the second half and makes it dryer. And after a few more wearings, I’ve found a vague light floral aspect in the start/mid.
Very versatile, not nessecarily minimalistic (too warm and cozy) but very easy in a good way. I'm not much for layering, but it probably suits well for adding soft warmth to something more edgy.
Feels a bit like something from the white series from Initio. More feminine than masculine if I had too choose between one of them. But absolutely an unisex clean skin scent, very focused on the velvet note and crystal musk note.
Longevity and sillage is below average. 3-4 hours in it's a skin scent. So I would say it's way too expensive for what it is.
The sprayer is actually very good though.

An extremely pleasant, high quality and well blended musk fragrance. Aldehydic start (and I could swear that pink pepper is involved?!). Discreet florals, discreet wood, discreet incense. And just a pinch of very well fitting ambrette to soften the jasmine and transfer everything smoothly to musk by its silky and light powderyness. Pressing your nose against the skin there is a slight animalic touch as well. And speaking of skin: it’s definitely not a beast mode fragrance, but it stays close to you for at least 8 hours. Quite different from my other bottles in the Le Gemme line.
Is it groundbreaking or exciting? No. But very well received as an office fragrance or just that one bottle when Myths Man is a bit…much.
Way too expensive at full retail though and I would never recommend it at over 400€… But I scored a 100 ml for 130€ and at that price it’s a solid 9!

Whisky. And wood. And whisky. And wood.

An oak barrel with whisky, but not the boozy, fruity kind. The dryer, maltier one.
The naming of the scent is confusing: if there’s oud in it, it sure doesn’t show itself up front. There is no classic oudy cheesy barnyard smell whatsoever (and I do appreciate the dirtiness of the “raw” oud like in Amouages King Blue!) and the woody part is more of an old branch your dog picks up from the ditch and adopts.
Though it has a sourness to it that might come from the oud, I feel like it’s more in line with a raw (not pipe!) tobacco note?
Nevertheless I quite like it - it’s far from anything else in my collection and for the odd occasion when I want to smell like a newly cracked cask of Speyside single malt, it’s perfect. Powerfull sillage for the first two/three hours, slowly settling to a long lasting skin scent that matches the fall vibe well.
Worth noting I blind bought this (in search of Daring Saffiano also from The Collection) for close to 100€. I would not pay full retail for it. Highly recommend sampling if you want a bit of an outlier in the woody category, but definitely not a crowd pleaser.
Oh, and the bottle is…a bit bland and “cheap”. Good weight but no magnetic cap and the label just looks a bit low budget. Doesn’t match the price level in my opinion.

Syrupy - but not cloyingly sweet - apple & cinnamon pie. Starts with tart pineapple and synthetic peach. The apple is crisp but slowly transforms into the pie-stage in the heart.
Ends up with the pie with a small sesame visit and a sweet, dark vanilla and tobacco sauce on the side. I’m not sure, but there’s probably a glass of rum somewhere in the room as well. Great longevity and all in all a sweet and spicy goodness in a smooth and luxurious package, perfect for the colder season.
The Superfluide version is slightly…colder and fresher with less honey. Might be the fir in it that makes it a tad bit greener and lighter? Maybe a pinch more rose in Fluide? Whereas the Supermassive holds a deeper and spicier vanilla in the drydown and is a bit nuttier and velvety overall (the heliotrope and saffron mixing it up?). Both very good but Massive takes the win due to the darker complexity (and longevity).
I will probably end up with one of their smaller 11 ml bottles soon…