Schallhoerer

Mancera and Montale were on my black list for a relatively long time. After several samples of both brands, I had at some point come to the conclusion that Pierre Montale is not a good perfumer. I got rid of this impression only by the Aoud Café of Mancera again.

Mancera, as well as the Montale fragrances, are known for one thing. Synthetics. This is also associated with an above-average high durability, but I've never really warmed up to this kind of perfumery. Synthetics can be used correctly to give fragrances the missing finishing touch. Here it seemed to me with the creations of Mr. Montale but always rather as if the synthetic would not be decorative accessory but the main component of the fragrances.

In search of a coffee fragrance, I am then but again on the brand Mancera stumbled and have made another attempt. And lo and behold, the Mr. Montale can but what. And in this case, even a lot.

The Aoud Café starts on my skin relatively bitter, tart and right in the background with the typical "Montale Oud" DNA, which you have to like. I would argue that Pierre Montale can not create a realistic oud accord. Compared to real oud oils or fragrances that create oud perfectly through accords, Pierre Montale's oud always seems very overdrawn and almost comic-like. So we don't have an authentic smelling oud here, which is not to be expected given the pricing. However, you can identify it as oud. In the opening, we have the medicinal oud here alongside a rather dark, roasted coffee note that reminds me of shoe polish or furniture polish in places. What always bothers me about many coffee scents is the way they try to put the coffee in the center. Often, they just use 5 or 6 spoons too much sugar and we end up in Starbucks with someone trying to put my name on a mug for a coffee that is way too sweet. Am I the only one who always comes up with different names for myself on this? The difference between these coffee scents and Aoud Café is that I find the latter a pleasant compromise between sweetness, roasted aromas and a darker roast. On the bergamot in the top note, by the way, you can safely whistle. I personally can't detect it. The same goes for the peach. What I do detect, however, in the form of a certain dustiness in the background, is the blackcurrant. It complements pleasantly with the medicinal oud accord. There is no real scent progression with Aoud Café. The scent starts as it ends after a little over 8 hours. Towards the end, the oud retreats somewhat and the fragrance ends creamier than it began.

The bottle is typical Mancera standard. Here in my case still with screw thread and rather inferior sprayer. Since the new bottles with magnetic cap and pressure-sensitive sprayers are a clear update.

If there were as many coffee scents as Rose+Oud scents, my heart would skip a beat with happiness. Sadly, though, that's not the case. Therefore, the Aoud Café in the field of coffee fragrances for me so far the most convincing candidate, because it just does not focus on a too sweet coffee. In my comparisons so far, Rochas Man, Follow by Kerosene and Pure Coffee by Mugler have all failed. Only the SM Café by Prin Lomros scored with a nice dark coffee note. However, this was buried under a completely tipsy cherry note (Mon Cheri) and could not develop properly.

Some fragrances are a slap in the face. Not because they smell so bad, different or flashy. But because one is annoyed by the sheer presence of a fragrance. In this case, we need to go back in time a bit.

MFK's Lumiere Noire Homme is, in my eyes (and many others), one of, if not the most beautiful rose fragrance a man can wear. Here, the rose is so wonderfully and stylishly put on stage with tart supporting actors (patchouli, spices) that this combination simply results in a dreamlike symbiosis. Everything meshes, combines and in the end results in a tart and spicy rose fragrance that lives up to its name. And then you take this fragrance that is loved and adored by the community and discontinue it. And if that were not already bad and sacrilege enough, one tries at demand of the community at hypocritical excuses (the perfumer would like to realize himself anew).

What one makes however then, is the addressed blow in the face. One publishes a new rose fragrance, which also squints at a male target group. This is where L'Homme À la Rose comes into play.

For the L'Homme À la Rose it does not need many words. And for one or the other, this may now seem harsh, aggressive or even offensive. But we have here simply the worst rose fragrance of recent years. If MFK had marketed this fragrance as a "cucumber fragrance", they would have done everything right. Because that's exactly what it is. An absolute cucumber in the portfolio of an otherwise actually quite stylish brand. L'Homme À la Rose seems like the first work of a beginner in his first semester. A test tube accident. A fragrance not to be surpassed in arbitrariness and interchangeability, which offers us here a shallow, pale rose water with some soapiness. If Francis Kurkdjian's goal was to create the exact opposite of Lumiere Noire Homme, then I bow to that achievement here. The fragrance lacks everything that made Lumiere Noire Homme. There is no profile here, no rough edges. Everything seems rundgelutscht and without any depth.

And the worst thing is that you would not take the L'Homme À la Rose so hard ran, if you did not know that for this fragrance the Lumiere Noire Homme was literally sacrificed. If both fragrances existed in MFK's portfolio, none of this would be a problem. Men who are aware that they are men would reach for the Lumiere Noire Homme. Real guys with quirks and profile. And the L'Homme À la Rose would have just those men who like it shallow, trivial and interchangeable. But so MFK leaves us here with only a rose fragrance for "men", to which I just do not want to count with this scent.

Some fragrances are a slap in the face. And then there is the L'Homme À la Rose. I will never forgive you for that, Kurkdjian.

We start today quite striking. 600€ for a fragrance. Some people would buy a used car or go on vacation for that. Can that be worth a fragrance that has clearly been inspired by a cheap alternative in the form of Knize Ten? I think we'll find out together today.

Xerjoff as a house should by now be a household name to everyone. No other brand has established itself in recent years in the high-priced niche area as the brand from Italy. One would like to score me exclusive and luxurious fragrances, high-quality processed flacons and prestige.

In different collections (Shooting Stars, Oud Stars, Stonelabel, etc.) one offers thereby for every taste and also every budget the right fragrance. And while the Alexandria II could inspire me with its soft and warm charisma, that looks so far at the remaining portfolio of Xerjoff differently. So far, no fragrance could really knock my socks off. Either too sweet, too playful or simply too inconsequential, many of the fragrances I tested seemed. A fragrance that I had but always on my watch list, was the Homme.

When I was therefore 2 weeks ago in Berlin and visited the perfume salon near the Kurfürstendamm, I took the opportunity and tried the Homme. On the day I left the store only with an Etruscan Water and Bowmakers, but the decision to buy the Homme stood firm.

Disclaimer. This fragrance was kindly provided to me by absolutely NO ONE. Why this note? Currently I have on Youtube the feeling that everyone either a Naxos or 10 bottles of Erba Pura raffles and the name Xerjoff and the German distributor falls in every second sentence. But I poor sausage had to buy the fragrance myself and spend my own earned money for it. In any case, there is no one behind me with 2 boxes of bottles of Xerjoff that can be raffled and thereby certainly one or the other perception of fragrances unconsciously influenced.

The Homme was created in 2007 and comes from the creative pen of Jacques Flori, who was responsible for many of the fragrances of the Shooting Stars series and has also created some fragrances for Etro.
The Homme starts on my skin tart, fresh with a fair amount of bitter-tart citrus tones. I would describe the lemon and ginger as setting the tone here in the opening. The cumin adds some bite to the fresher notes, but never drifts into "sweaty" or musty compared to cumin. This kick of freshness doesn't linger long and then the tone-setting component of Homme asserts itself. The leather. Here a very clean, not worn leather that is nevertheless very sharply outlined and absolutely authentic. Not in the form of, for example, an old horse saddle but rather a really expensive leather sofa or interior of a vintage car. In this phase of the fragrance then comes another note that absolutely fascinates me and for me makes the appeal of Homme. We have here an almost viscous note that reminds me of motor oil. As if you were standing in a car workshop where a sports car is on the lifting platform. From afar you can smell the smell of drained oil. Heavy, black and in places somewhat reminiscent of petroleum. Those who know the garage of Comme des Garcons will find a similar "workshop" DNA here. However, the one from Homme is even more authentic and seems rougher and rougher. In the later drydown, the leather then gets a soapy component to the side. The dirt of the workshop is also olfactorically "cleaned" here and the leather is somewhat tamed. So the fragrance then remains until the end. An absolutely high-quality and washed with soap leather that still has rough edges, but has left the force and dirt of the first phase behind.

The durability of Homme leaves nothing to be desired. The first 3 hours the fragrance radiates quite strongly and potently from the skin and only then becomes somewhat quieter and then begins to become skin-tight. I could perceive the fragrance even 10 hours still without problems.

The bottle is on typical Xerjoff level. Very high quality and beautiful in the hand. Here as all fragrances of the Stonelabel collection with a stone on the front. Sprayer usual and very good Xerjoff quality. Fine dosable and also "half" sprays are possible.

With the packaging, Xerjoff is also not lumpen. Here you feel at all times that you hold a luxury product in your hand.

The price of 600€ is an announcement. At 6 € / ml stops with me the friendship. One gets the fragrance currently in the 50ml variant for about 320€. I paid for my 100ml bottle just under 440€. The RRP of Xerjoff I think is exorbitant. But also a Rolex for 8000€ is overpriced. We are here in the high-price segment where the price / performance ratio actually no longer plays a role. If you want the fragrance, you have to dig deep into your pocket. Whether one is worth it, only everyone can decide for themselves.

An alternative would certainly be the fragrance that was the godfather for the Homme. The Knize Ten is relatively similar to the Homme at first glance. Here, too, we have an absolutely striking and masculine leather scent, which is broken up by soapy aspects. And now comes the same old story. The Xerjoff simply smells of higher quality from the composition (and this is not even related to the individual components). Here, everything just seems more coherent, better intertwined and especially this "workshop phase" of the fragrance with the smell of motor oil or petroleum is missing the Knize Ten. But who does not want to raise the budget for the Homme / or can, the "drives" (sic) with the Knize Ten also good. The same applies to the Russian Juchten by Harry Lehmann, which goes like the Knize Ten also in this direction of soapy leather.

As a conclusion, it remains for me to say that I have found in Homme the leather scent that I have always secretly been looking for. As a fan of tart, strongly masculine fragrances, the Homme meets all the requirements of a fragrance for me. The "dirty" engine oil or petroleum note in the middle of the fragrance is then for me as a Fahrenheit fan the cherry on the icing.

The Bowmakers is a snapshot for wood affine scent friends. Here it resins and creaks at every second. The sawdust flies around our ears. Varnishes are applied and leave noses on the wood. And hasn't someone forgotten the soldering iron in the wood here?

The scent starts me a wonderfully authentic mixture of fresh sawdust and all kinds of glazes. I had before the first testing the concern that these varnishes or glazes could go in a pungent or even biting direction. For me, however, they radiate an immensely comforting and soothing aura in combination with the clearly perceptible cypress. Anyone who has ever been in a woodworking shop and witnessed the construction of a wooden instrument will immediately recognize this smell in the air. While I don't know anything about violin or bow making, I do know what it smells like to a luthier who builds guitars himself. And it's exactly this kind of snapshot that the Bowmakers is able to reflect in a truly three-dimensional way. The wood shavings that fall to the floor, the fine dust that trickles out of the saw and the varnish in all its viscous beauty. I know rosin from my own use in playing the guitar. If you "abuse" a violin bow and play the guitar strings with it, the most beautiful distorted tones come out. This rosin chord of different resins is wonderfully staged here, realistic and comprehensible. Nothing seems synthetic or artificial. The individual notes intertwine wonderfully and result in a composition of resins and woods. In the opening, Bowmakers reminds me of Richard Lüscher Britos' 46°N 08°E for a brief moment, but then quickly goes in a different direction. As it progresses, I smell something that reminds me of the smell of a soldering iron in wood. As if one would burn his initials into the wood or solder.

The Perfomance is then with me a double-edged sword. While wearing my sample I was not satisfied with the durability. I could perceive the fragrance often already after 1-2 hours barely and a radiance was as good as non-existent. In the meantime, however, but a bottle has moved in here with me and this performs but significantly better on my skin. 6-7 hours, the scent is thereby perceptible while he radiates the first hour quite strong and then withdraws and becomes much more intimate.

The bottle is minimalist, slightly retro in appearance and with a decent weight. The sprayer of my copy is unfortunately not very good. Since only a rather short and small spray comes out. At the price I expect there simply more or a better sprayer.

The Bowmakers has me contrary to my first assumption very quickly under its spell. This mixture of essential aromas of the varnishes and glazes paired with the dry sawdust and woodwork results in the sum of a wonderfully authentic fragrance experience for fans of wood and resins

Zoologist as a brand could not convince me so far. The niche house with a focus on fragrances of animals and their environment has many unique fragrances in the portfolio, but none of them was really wearable (see my review of the new Rhinoceros). With the Tyrannosaurus Rex, however, the brand has succeeded in creating an epochal masterpiece in the olfactory sense.

Who knows me, who knows that I like it a little more extreme. Be it smoky, dirty or particularly leathery. A fragrance must set a statement for me. It is not enough for me personally, just clean and smell like fresh laundry.

In the opening we have a pungent smoke note, which smells absolutely authentic in its kind of burning campfire. I think that here the fir and the bay leaf in interaction with the pepper create this impression. In general, I find it very difficult to separate the individual "rock layers" in Tyrannosaurus Rex. Where this bothers me in other fragrances because it often seems like a mishmash of scents, in this case I really feel it's an artifice. The individual ingredients are so perfectly interwoven that you can recognize them with a lot of patience and a good nose, but when smelling superficially rather wins an overall impression and easily loses track. Who likes, for example, the smoke from "№ 03 - Lonestar Memories | Tauer Perfumes", which will almost certainly also come here to his taste.

As it progresses, the smoke then retreats somewhat into the background and leaves room for the heart note to unfold. As the fragrance pyramid to infer, this phase of the fragrance seems floral-angehaucht. To me, though, it's more like all these plants are hanging upside down and are already past their "prime". This slightly floral-herbaceous phase then gives way to the basic DNA of the fragrance of resins, the still monothematic smoke in the background and very late towards the end a minimal touch of sweetness.

Sweetness is an interesting keyword here. So far, an excessive sweetness has bothered me in many tested Zoologist fragrances. That was the case with the Musk Deer (which would otherwise have been very nice), of course, the Bee (which for this perfectly implements the theme of its fragrance) or even the Snowy Owl (which in my opinion but completely misses the point). Here, though, in the Tyrannosaurus Rex, I'm grateful for that minimal sweetness. It takes away some of the fragrance's brute force in the late drydown and lets it fade out more relaxed.

I then get quite a strange association in the later part of the fragrance. Here smells the Tyrannosaurus Rex then in places like WICK VapoRub, so this ointment with which you rub at night if you have a cold or the feeling to get sick. Probably this association comes from the resins in the scent. I, in any case, find this phase insanely pleasant and soothing, which may sound somewhat blasphemous with a brute elemental force in the form of this fragrance.

The durability sets new standards here, by the way. With a spray (more I would also not recommend anyone) I come without problems on 16h and even longer. Even after a thorough shower, I could still perceive the basic character of the fragrance the next morning. On clothes, the scent lasts over a week. This is therefore not an office fragrance (unless you have a single office) and certainly not a fragrance for dates and if, then rather as a stress test. I also don't see the scent on a woman. That's not meant to sound chauvinistic or macho, but I don't know any woman on this planet that I could imagine this scent on. This is an absolutely brute masculine fragrance that needs to be worn by men who are also aware that they are men. What this fragrance exudes, the wearer must also exude. Otherwise, it looks like a disguise