This is the last arrival of my April orders. I’ve been hearing good things about SJP Stash for a long time and it’s been on my wish list for over a year. Jomashop had a sale on it, marking it down from about $30 to just under $20, so I pulled the trigger and it arrived today. I’m pleased to say that it actually lives up to the hype. Woody, nutty and warm, I think it will make for a great fall/ winter scent. And it definitely punches above its weight class.

This is a citrus aromatic built around a grapefruit opening with ginger and musk in the heart. It dries down to a woody patchouli. Its a fresh, radiant, slightly ambery citrus scent thats clean but has depth. It’s smooth and well blended. It feels luxurious and versatile, good for spring/summer/day use, but could be used all year. Longevity and projection are strong. I get 8+ hours on skin, and longer on clothes. Projects strong for the first 3-4 hours. It performs especially well in heat. The bottle is a nice heavy glass with a tiger’s eye inspired stone in the cap. Excellent if you like fresh grapefruit forward scents with a musky woody backbone. Highly recommended!

I recently gave the men’s style brand Intelligent a go when I picked up their fragrance tester set (OK, I kind of gave into the hype from all of TLTG’s glazing). What I found was a nice little line of relatively good quality inspos. I ended up using the gift certificate that came with the set to buy a bottle of Iron (which to my nose is an inspo of ADG) but they had several others that I think were full bottle worthy at that discounted price. Well today, I noticed that in Intelligent sells on Amazon and they are having a 30% off sale on most of their line. For 50 to 60 bucks, I think a bunch of their frags are worth it. For what it’s worth, here are my raw notes on all of their offerings. I have a nose that’s pretty sensitive to certain notes, and I think a few of their frags have a musk that rubs me the wrong way - so take my notes with a grain of salt. - Intelligent Platinum: nice but not quite fbw for me. Lightly juicy sweet fruits, aromatics. Kind of like Polo 67 / Coach EDP - Intelligent Silver: cusp of fbw. Aromatic woody soapy. Some bite/sourness in the mids that takes away a bit from the experience. - Intelligent Iron: full bottle worthy. Woodsy aromatic earthy green, kind of like a more earthy ADG. - Intelligent Neon: cusp of full bottle worthy. Very bright citrus. But something bitter - the musk choice? Open is a bit harsh otherwise a very hearty citrus - Intelligent Carbon: full bottle worthy? Earthy lightly rich warm leathery, very easy to wear. Reminds me of a Moncler. But super weak performance on my skin. - Intelligent Cobalt: meh but interesting. Zingy musky aquatic aromatic. Loud and kind of grating, possibly the musk choice. - Intelligent H2O: full bottle worthy? Yep it’s a sweet smooth aquatic scent, a higher quality take on Invictus Aqua. Faintly fruity. Easy to wear. - Intelligent Hydrogen: meh but interesting. Aromatic tangy musky. Something offputting and animatic - musk? orconox? - Intelligent Argon: cusp of fbw. Lightly sweet elegant aromatic lavender cinnamon and spice. Like a more elegant and refined Spicebomb EDT, but easier to wear. Also a bit like Rehab

Last of my PDM samples. I didn’t even realise until I checked today. Before trying it, I was a bit gutted to be ending on a fragrance I had never seen anyone talk about. That changed quickly once I tried it. The opening made me go “wow”. The note breakdown didn’t make much sense to me because right off the bat I got bergamot freshness, sage and lavender aromatics, sweet praline, and warm saffron. Stays the same in the mids with less freshness and the dry down becomes simpler, with the warmth stepping back and a touch of sweetness remaining alongside oud, patchouli, leather, and vetiver. It’s luxurious, warm, fruity, woody, leathery, slightly green, and perfectly balanced. Definitely a cool to cold weather frag. It’s everything I wanted Oud for Greatness to be. This also confirms my oud tolerance. Anything stronger than this feels unnecessary (sorry not sorry @Paul Bartnicki) I don’t think I can give an accurate performance estimate today as my skin is supposedly dehydrated. However, this is roughly a 7-10+ hr fragrance with strong projection for the first few hrs. The sillage and scent trail are excellent too. I really like this DNA and want to explore more fragrances in this space. I don’t want to be blinded by just this one, so suggestions are welcome. I’ve heard Widian Liwa and Ormonde Jayne Muscat sits in a similar realm. Overall, I’m giving it a 9.7/10. It smells objectively perfect. Second only to Cedrat Boise for me. Luckily it’s not popular and has no good clones, so it could easily be a signature scent. I still need to retest performance, but the fragrance itself is excellent. Points deducted for lack of uniqueness and the price tag. Top 3 PDM for me and possibly the first I purchase. Currently it’s a top 10 fragrance of all time for me. What are your thoughts on this?

#sotd... Atlas by Lattafa... I have had Atlas for 2 years now. This is an aquatic fragrance. I have over 450 fragrances and this is by for the most beast mode fragrance I have come across. Extremely strong projection and unbelievable longevity. The only down fall in my experience with Atlas is that to me and my nose, I get a Metallic scent. I was hoping the Metallic scent would fade over time, but after 2 years, no.... Even though its personally am not a big fan of the scent. I can not deny all the great things about this fragrance. From the presentation to the overall performance and longevity. I am giving this a 9.5 out of 10. Only deducting 0.5 point because of my personal taste. If you do get this, be cautious with your sprays.