Stinky journey into niche!

An uselessly long and painful journey into some niche poop (because it's poop, not because it's niche).

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Noël au Balcon by Etat Libre d'Orange

Clean green-floral opening, sharp and metallic, already fairly dull from the very beginning, with also ginger, a sweetish base of vanillin, something resinous, slight delicate plummy notes with a sort of honey aftertaste. A smell which manages to be complex but boring, confused but uninspired, not even that pleasant to be honest, basically between resinous and soapy, with a silky metallic feel juxtaposed to a shampoo creaminess. Another Etat Libre d'Orange I am sadly unable to get – for me most of their scents are like looking at someone yelling and doing random stuff behind a window (you kind of see them, but don't hear them, so the whole thing does not make sense).

5/10

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Pioggia Salata by Il Profumo

Another iodine-salty bitter and artificial scent, on a vaguely floral-ambery base. Useless as almost any other iodine scent on the market, with also a sour-bitter-rubbery accord of plastic flowers and leaves. I appreciate the short longevity.

4/10

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Charogne by Etat Libre d'Orange

At the first sniff: vanillin, ginger, a salty note, incense (well, sort of...), ambrettolide, tonka, a white-silky floral accord dusty and nice even if a bit dull, then tiny fruity hints which I guess are due to red pepper, finally suede (needless to say the leather note is a depressing, ready-made plain safraleine note). Overall a sweet-salty, chemical scent, with not enough creativity or elegance or whatever to turn this into a positive feature. This does not mean it's bad or stinky, it actually smells nice, mediocrely nice and clean. The only point of interest in my opinion is a musky-salty note vaguely "animalic" too that makes this close to a "salty sweaty skin" feeling, but as the rest is quite a big yawn, it's not enough for me. Nothing new, nothing deep, nothing provocative, nothing interesting... as most part of Eld'O scents and their trendy and derivative "avantgardeness", like an Italian way of saying goes: "nothing mixed with nothing".

5/10

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Horizon (new) by Oriza L. Legrand

Horizon opens with a nice, earthy and sweet patchouli note, on the Borneo 1834 genre but just more conventional and deprived of charme and complexity, with a dusty cocoa sweetness, rounded by a plain and elegant Iso E note of smoky woods, plus a warm and slightly humid accord of amber and tobacco. Initially pleasant, although not that original and a bit "pale", and from the very first sniff already "losing the battle" against some other more deep, raw or anyway interesting patchouli scents, without anything special to offer as added value. The worst part is however yet to come, far earlier than expected it basically collapses onto a salty, rubbery (leather? Oh...), nondescript sweaty drydown (that beloved synthetic taste of "aromachemicals overdose") with basically almost nothing left of the initial and still decent accords. Dull and clumsily rushed.

4,5-5/10

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Musk Extrême by Perris Monte Carlo

Pleasant, completely artificial, clean and soapy but desperately identical (and I mean it!) to pretty much any "white musk bath soap" – even the cheaper ones.

4,5-5/10

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I Love NY for All by Bond No. 9

The opening reminded me of Angel, a cloying tonka/cardamom note with cocoa, nutmeg, almonds, some light flowers to provide lightness and "colour", and a woody-resinous base (sandalwood?). So basically a sort of masculine woody-musky gourmand, with a prominent, persistent and incredibly sickening central "roasted" note which smells of burnt cakes and roasted caramel, on a more decent (but lighter) base of vanillin surrounded by notes of leather and coffee. The drydown is nicer – a silky vanillin-woody accord – but really not worth the plague of all that comes before.

4,5-5/10

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Wood & Absinth by Mark Buxton

In Italy we have a saying: "few ideas, but confused". Woods and incense notes, dry and linear (the usual aromachemicals), a hint of citrus, an accord of green-minty notes, quite dusty and silky. The "mood" is quite sour and dry, on a slightly sweeter floral-ambery base. Artificial, cozy, salty and "designer" drydown. Not bad (not even good, though), but uninteresting, uninspired and a bit confused too, especially in the head part.

4,5-5/10