Unruh

Another test without a prior look at the ingredients. Today: "Cape Heartache" by Imaginary Authors. From the house I already had some under the nose. All rather conceptual fragrances with interesting, sometimes bold compositions. So far, unfortunately, none of them wearable for me. How does it look then at the Cape of heartbreak?

"Cape Heartache" starts very fruity sweet. Definitely fully ripe, sugared strawberries. Meh. The start does not appeal to me already. Dark smoke soon joins in. Smoked fruit. Well, you can do that. Big question marks up to this point, the concept seems odd at best. Fortunately, the scent turns a few minutes later, now I'm suddenly standing in the deepest pine. From the strawberry field in under (very naturally conceived) conifers, resinous, dark green, slightly light smoky - unexpected, I'm positively surprised.
What follows really flashed me. For lack of better words: the fragrance pulsates. At one point, the fruity strawberries are overly present. Several minutes later, the smoky, resinous, almost ethereal conifers come to the fore. Again, several minutes later, the fruits dominate again. This iridescent game lasts for many hours until the very vanilla base is reached.

I had already some fragrances with contrasting gradients under the nose, but such an interplay is absolutely new to me. Great implemented!
As the pointy-eared first mate would say, "Fascinating!" ...while Bones would just mumble a "Damn it, Jim, I'm not a douglette!" behind him.

With the men's fragrances from the house of Jil Sander I could never do much. In the last 25 years almost consistently average fresh-woody-spicy mishmash. I'll leave out Sun Men, which was innovative at the time and has unique selling points - but I don't want to smell like a creamy Nimm2 candy. And the Flankerwahn also takes hold of Sun Men hard.
Now, then, "Strictly." I got this one through a swap, and yes, I was biased. Unjustly! Finally, a designer fragrance without excessive freshness or sweetness.

"Strictly" starts off very briefly with a soft, slightly sweet pepper note. The scent then transforms into a wonderful cardamom scent with minimal hints of nutmeg. Unfortunately, the longevity on my skin is only average, after 5-6 hours a classic woody base peels out. The ensemble pleases me extraordinarily well!
"Strictly" is for me a perfectly everyday fragrance for the cold season. Somehow cozy, pleasantly spiced and natural-looking, so not at all strict, as the name suggests.

Unfortunately, this fragrance is also discontinued - I often observe this in the mainstream segment, when a fragrance is innovative in nature, but not tailored to the (predetermined) conformist taste. I will still test the "Strictly Night", according to the fragrance pyramid could go in a similar direction.

Yesterday times blindly in's sample bowl grabbed. After the test retrospectively rather out of stock...
The fragrance itself is quickly described. It starts with a lot of fruity-sweet strawberry. And then further with a lot of rose. Both really not my preferred fragrance components. However, I hold this to the fragrance's credit and saves him from the rating crash, very high-quality and natural effect. And the whole thing with the Slumberhouse-typical brute force - loud, persistent and quite monothematic, like the title-giving header full on the twelve.

Who is looking for a good, honest, sweet strawberry fragrance and Rose is not averse - definitely access! For me, however, is the nix.

After the last few years I was here only reading, oversaturated by the monotony of designer fragrances and somewhat bored by niche fragrances, it's time again for a comment.
The trigger was the commercial for "K" during one of the past football games. Strangely uniform males in strangely over-slick clothing fumbling around with a random woman under a bright Mediterranean sun - la dolce vita, virility, eroticism. And the fragrance of course awakens exactly these associations...

...not!
The fragrance starts with beautifully fruity blood orange, followed by standing foot absolutely any shower gel freshness with minimal spice. Rarely were the promise and reality further away. I imagine a more fitting commercial as follows: A workman, maltreated but happy about the day's work, comes home, takes a shower, and then, freshly showered, hits the couch, because the early evening program is about to start. The usual boring everyday ritual, before it comes later to the uninspired weekly coitus with the beloved.

Why this caustic cynicism? Well, this fragrance is a prime example of the prevailing scents in the mass market. Either sticky-sticky-sweet or arbitrary-faceless-fresh. We are all familiar with well-known representatives of the latter scent. Sauvage, Bleu de Chanel and the like. Rarely really bad, but so completely arbitrary, contourless, meaningless. I can understand that success (for whatever reason) proves them right, but dare to do something! I don't expect classic masculine hummers like 40, 50 years ago. But a little more courage. Some designer fragrances of recent years have surprised me in this regard really positive. But the majority - see above.
And what please stands the name "K"? Dolce & Kabanna? As an internationally oriented brand surely not for crown (please, please not even here so dull unimaginative). Or Krown. I don't know.

This tirade against unimaginativeness and arbitrariness in mainstream men's fragrances would have been deserved by a great many current men's fragrances. Well, "K" got it now times.
To quote one of my favorite Christmas movies: "Hallelujah, where are the Valium?"