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I’m curious if anyone has ever gone to Scentxplore just for fun i.e. not as an industry insider or as press. I see they have general admission tickets that start a few hours into the day but I’m wondering if that means it’s insanely crowded and anything for sale has already run out by the time you enter https://scentxplore.com

Broke up with my gf and needed some retail therapy to help recover. Both of these were love at first sniff — didn’t even have to work through the decants before knowing I wanted (needed?) these in my collection

Dior Homme Sport is a Goldilocks scent IMO. Very versatile and can be worn dressed up/down any season or reason. Smells fresh and clean but the sharp spicy pepper open may be off-putting to some. Well blended and the projection is good off my skin for 3 hours or so. Sillage is noticeable for another 4.5-5 hours before becoming a more intimate scent. Woods and amber come out in this phase of the dry down. Everyday signature scent worthy if you like the citrus/woods/spice profile. Have to be in the mood to wear Dior Homme Sport as it doesn't capture my attention like others in the collection. Easy 8.95 / 10.00

I’ve been enjoying watching the development of House of Cosmo, a heavily hyped new house that launched a year ago at Scentxplore that had a burst of hype and then kind of went quiet. I did end up buying a full bottle of Polaris and I really enjoy it, and I enjoyed a bunch of samples I got from them as well, although to me they weren’t full bottle worthy. They recently launched an interesting concept, a set including one fragrance Dark Matter that will be in their regular lineup (and which is a reformulation of something they tried launching last year but decided to redo) and another fragrance Lux Prima that is a limited release just with the set. Dark and light, in one box. I got my hands on decants of each and here are my first impressions. Dark matter is… interesting. It has one of the most brutal opens of anything I’ve tried in a long time - but I’ve learned to have patience and not rush to the sink to wash things off and give it time to develop. After about 2 minutes, this settles down into a very rich lightly dark fruity, woody tobacco scent. There’s some Davana, which gives it some of the herbal depth I get from boss bottled absolu; some dark juicy berries which give it some much needed light sweetness; some sweet lightly smokey incense and powdery tobacco; and a woody backbone with an Oud accord that’s pretty smooth (and almost certainly not real Oud). I find myself surprised that I’m enjoying this as much as I am, but I can’t say this is full bottle worthy for me. I just ordered my first bottle of Jubilation XXV which to me is a better entry point for rich warm dark berry woods. But I gotta say, this is pretty interesting and if I had a much larger collection, I actually would consider getting bottle of this. Lux Prima is meant to be the polar opposite of Dark Matter. This has one of the brightest, sharpest citrus opens of anything I’ve smelled in a while. I’m immediately hit with a fruit basket of juicy orange and grapefruit, but there’s a mineral sharpness that reminds me of TDM Eau Givree. It doesn’t have the bitter timur from that one, but it does have some bright ginger and a crisp moss that gives it some tang. The biggest thing that sets it apart is the Yuzu note - it’s very juicy here as well, making this a very bright and uplifting scent. On top of it all, there is this bright and airy musk that lifts this to another level. This thing is a beast, it is projecting like crazy from just a few sprays on my arm. It is a very, very happy and uplifting scent, perfectly named and perfectly matched in the set versus Dark Matter. My first entry point for Yuzu was Superz Budapest Unique Blue, which I enjoy a lot. If I didn’t have that one and Lux Prima was sold as a standalone bottle, I can say it would’ve given that Superz a run for the money. I wonder if they’ll decide to release Lux Prima into their regular rotation because it does seem like a bit of a winner to me.