Part 3: The Bottles Have Landed Hey guys, Joe A. here with another one for ya’! Welcome back to SHELF CONTROL, where one man attempts to bring order to a fragrance collection that clearly stopped respecting boundaries, triggered mild family concern, and may or may not have been one blind buy away from needing a full-blown intervention! Well gentlemen… The Great Bottle Migration is officially complete! The drawers, cabinets, boxes, shelves, corners and mysterious little fragrance hideouts around the house have finally surrendered their contents. For the first time, my collection feels like ONE collection that's together, visible, accessible and staring back at me with the collective expression of, “Yeah Joe… you bought all of us.” And seeing everything together has been eye-opening! There are forgotten gems I’m excited to wear again, bottles that immediately reminded me why I bought them, obvious phases I apparently went through and more than a few fragrances quietly challenging my repeated claim that, “I don’t own anything like this...” BUT... something else happened that I really wasn’t expecting. Once every bottle was finally sitting in front of me, the question stopped being, “Where am I going to put all this?” and quietly morphed into: “What exactly am I trying to build here?” When a collection is scattered around the house, it’s surprisingly easy to focus on what you’re missing. When it’s all staring back at you at once? Gentlemen… suddenly you become very aware of what you’re NOT missing. Maybe the next step isn’t automatically buying another bottle. Maybe it’s finding the ACTUAL gaps. Rediscovering something great that got buried three years ago. Giving more attention to fragrances that never got their fair shot. Or realizing you already own six answers to a question you were about to solve with bottle number seven. And maybe that’s the biggest surprise of Shelf Control!! I built all this shelving because I wanted to see and enjoy my collection better. I didn’t realize that seeing it better might actually change the way I collect.

Dua's version of Dries Van Noten Rock the Myrrh. This is a pretty a good dupe, very close to the OG. In the air, won't be able to tell the difference. The OG is just more fit and finished, is it worth the cost delta? That is for you to decide.

#sotd... Essence of Casablanca by Swiss Arabian... This is a very well done vanilla fragrance. It is smooth and non cloying. Not your typical vanilla gourmand fragrance. This is not overly syrupy or heavy gourmand. This opens with a burst of tart sweetness. The mid comes in with a slight powdery note before the dry down brings in the smooth vanilla. Good projection with great longevity. I went 9 hours before refreshing. I am giving this an easy 9 out of 10.

I bought Azzaro Most Wanted last year. I like the perfume. My main issue was Most Wanted doesn't last on my skin. Friend of mine got the clone from Yusuf Bhai. Every single purchase I've had from YB last till day 2 on clothes. I tested clone and OG on skin. Soon I took a shower. YB clone lasted even after the shower. So I expect 4X longevity over Most Wanted based on the performance of other purchases. Opening: Not the same. Maybe 75% similar. But keeps getting better towards dry down. After 30 mins: It's so close on my skin. I don't think I'd be able to tell them apart on air. Cost: $20 I'm blown away to say the least. It's an IFRA complaint clone.

It may be just me but I’m finding designers now a days boring and very uninspiring. I get my nose on a lot fragrances and they are almost all sweet, generic, mass appealing copies of each other. I must say I at least appreciate the middle eastern clones that add a twist, and the indie niche brands who push the envelope and step out of the typical comfort zone. I’m not saying their aren’t any designers that aren’t amazing and smell great however I am saying as a whole it feel very mid and makes me want to stay away.