Hide the Bottle, Wear the Juice
Plum forward and masculine, this one makes an entrance from the very first spray. On my skin the dry down settles close to that opening and simply smooths out. It does need patience though. Three weeks minimum to mature, so once you get it give it a couple of sprays and shelf it for a few weeks.
Scent Profile
It's a masculine fragrance, with lavender, sage, palo santo, black pepper and sandalwood in the frame. It's best suited for cooler weather and evenings, and it makes a good date night fragrance. Sillage and longevity are both above average and I use 3 to 4 sprays. It has a similar DNA to Initio Paragon and is a good alternative if you like that vibe.
Bottle & Atomizer
The bottle design is laughable but the bottle stays home hidden away while the juice does the socializing.
Final Thoughts
The juice on the inside is wonderful. The bottle is the one drawback. This scent can be a bit dividing so it isn't the safest blind buy, but at this price point it isn't much of a risk.
This is the scent that dresses up for date night, even if it shows up in a bottle that looks like it lost a bet.
A Bouquet with a Creamy Backbone
Flam opens like a literal bouquet of flowers. On skin it dries down into a creamy vanilla while the florals tamp down but never leave. It's a slept on fragrance and it doesn't get the attention it deserves.
Scent Profile
That opening is all petals. Sambac jasmine and tonka are the standouts and both show up on Parfumo and Fragrantica. As the vanilla rises the whole thing turns soft and creamy. The opening leans feminine. Guys who want to wear it can layer it with something that has bite like Boadicea Blue Sapphire or something similar. Worn alone it's a spring and summer fragrance and layered it carries into fall and winter. Performance is average for both longevity and projection. I use 4 to 5 sprays to get there.
Bottle & Atomizer
Typical Memo Paris through and through. The bottle design is decent and the atomizer follows suit.
Final Thoughts
The best parts are that opening burst of flowers and the creamy vanilla it settles into. The feminine lean up top is the one thing guys may want to balance with a layer. As for blind buying, it isn't a safe bet for men unless you know you can pull off florals. That bloom is the first thing you meet. If you already like florals that melt into vanilla the risk drops.
It's a flower shop that turns into a bakery by the end of the day, and for the guys a layer with bite keeps it from getting too sweet on the way out.
From Halloween Aisle to Apple Orchard
The opening is pure sweetness with candied pumpkin leading the way. Once it settles on skin that sweetness calms down and a soft smoke slips in. That is where the orchard feeling shows up. Your clothes tell a different story though because they hold onto the sweet seasonal store smell from the opening. I get a really good balance of masculine and feminine from it so I call it very unisex. Four to five sprays gets me seven to eight hours of longevity.
Bottle & Atomizer
The bottle and box are pure Halloween from the second you pick them up and I mean that as high praise. The design is amazing and it sets the mood before you ever spray. The pressurized atomizer is top notch as well.
Final Thoughts
Strong performance and a fun presentation make this an easy one to enjoy. It is a fall fragrance through and through and I do not see myself wearing it much in other seasons. That is just worth knowing before you buy. I would call it a safe blind buy if you like sweet seasonal scents. The opening is sweet and easy to read and the smoke stays soft once it settles on skin.
Pumpkin Noir is Halloween in a bottle, all sweets on top with a little smoke hiding at the bottom, and it only wants to come out when the leaves do.
W Juice, L Bottle
Once the air turns crisp Noir Extreme earns its spot as one of my favorite fall and winter scents. It opens deep and rich then melts into a dense amber gourmand as it dries down.
Scent Profile: Cardamom and kulfi are in the mix with amber and sandalwood underneath. The kulfi melts right into the amber and vanilla and gives the dry down a sweet and dense weight. It is a masculine scent. Projection starts out average and then tucks in close to the skin after a couple of hours. When I know I will be out for a while a travel atomizer comes along for touch ups. Date night is where it shines and it is fit for the office on cooler days too.
Bottle & Atomizer: The bottle and atomizer are mid. The plastic cap is light and never seats all the way so it swivels around. The atomizer is as basic as they come. Not much to love there.
Final Thoughts
That dense amber gourmand is what keeps this near the top of my cold weather rotation. The way it settles close to skin is easy to work around. The packaging is harder to forgive since it does not live up to what is inside. At the end of the day it is the juice that matters; and this juice is gas!
A tuxedo of a scent stuck in a bottle that showed up in sweatpants.
Designated Layerer
Atlas doesn't do subtle. It's salty and loud from the first spray, with a marine brightness that pushes hard and keeps pushing. That projection is exactly why it works so well as a layering piece. It's loud enough to hold its own next to whatever else is on my skin.
The lemon and marine top give way to a soft iris and davana heart, and the whole thing lands somewhere between fresh and floral rather than fully aquatic. It gets compared to Orto Parisi Megamare a fair amount, and there's a family resemblance in that opening burst, but Atlas has its own thing going on once it settles. Ambergris, oakmoss and sandalwood carry the base and they stick around. This is not a fragrance that fades quietly. Hours later it's still there, still loud.
One or two sprays is all I use, usually before the gym. I don't really wear it on its own, it's always going on with something else, like Art of Universe or JPG Paradise Garden. Layered in, it doesn't fight for space, it fills in the gaps. That salty depth blends into whatever's underneath it instead of sitting on top, and the whole thing ends up rounder than either fragrance alone.
This is exactly why the bottle has one of the biggest dents in my whole collection even though it rarely gets worn alone. It pairs with more of my other fragrances than almost anything else I own.
Loud on its own, but it's exactly the kind of loud that makes a quieter fragrance more interesting.