Sorry boys for being absentee for quite a while. But I have to brag about my Friday haul. Spent a few hours at the South Coast mall with my buddy @Aditya Choksi. Not included in the pic is a decant from Aditya of some ATH Water. It's really nice, gentlemen. Finally pulled the trigger on some Chanel Coromandel and a couple other goodies. Obviously the samples were flying from the sales people. Fun times!

I'm in the CA desert in the dead of summer. It's hot. HOT!! That being said, if I sprayed one more citrusy or freshie frag, I'm going to turn into a bergamot! I needed a serious change of pace. After much thought, it seemed that Roja Aoud was the logical choice. That's right! ROJA AOUD! I mean what the heck... And besides, I really have a thing for "rose/oud" these days. It's one of the great combinations in fragrance history. Not to mention, it's nice and cool in my house and my car is air conditioned. If you've never got you nose of Roja Aoud and you're into rose/oud, this stuff is a must try. That's presuming you're good with a very refined oud note. The opening is magnificent. It's polished with a nice little citrus sparkle that quickly gives way to one of the great rose notes in the business. The rose is not sweet, instead, it remains elegant and a bit dry, perfectly complimenting the oud. The oud itself is smooth, clean and woody, which is contrary to what I usually prefer, it's not animalic, or smoky. As it dries down, the fragrance somehow becomes richer and more enveloping. The sandalwood, patchouli, and ambergris are exceptionally smooth. The transition is gradual and everything is integrated into a composition that feels effortless despite its complexity. The performance is excellent. What a great fragrance. It's absolutely in the top 95th percentile of my collection. For what it is (rose/oud), it's a: 9.75/10.0 and that's plus or minus .25%

Slightly synthetic strawberry, wood, leather and caramel, I love it! This is a fun frag, can be a bit youthful for the first 20 min, then the fruity notes settle and the wood and leather bring this up to age. Not offensive in anyway, but it is a try before you buy and suggest try a couple of full wears before deciding, I wasn't too thrilled in my first wear, but by the time I finished the sample, I had to order it.

Guerlain is one of the few fragrance houses where the designer line still carries much of the character, history, and quality associated with the name. I am separating this from the more expensive L’Art & La Matière collection because Guerlain’s regular line deserves to be judged on its own. These are not simply cheaper versions of the private collection. Many of them are important fragrances with their own identity, and some have been around longer than most modern fragrance houses. The strength of Guerlain is that even its mainstream releases usually smell like they were created by perfumers rather than assembled by a marketing department. You frequently get real development, recognizable materials and that smooth Guerlain vanilla, amber, powder and tonka-bean foundation. The fragrances often have a slightly dressed-up, mature character, but mature does not have to mean outdated. Guerlain simply refuses to smell like every other designer brand chasing the same blue fragrance customer. The L’Homme Idéal collection is probably the easiest entry point for the modern fragrance buyer. The almond signature gives the line its identity, but Guerlain has been able to take that idea in several directions. The Eau de Toilette is fresher and more versatile, while the Eau de Parfum brings in that cherry-like sweetness and darker amber character. The Extreme is richer and spicier, and the Parfum pushes the line further into a deeper, smoother and more luxurious direction. Even when the individual flankers overlap, they still feel more thoughtfully composed than most designer fragrance families. Guerlain currently describes L’Homme Idéal as its first almond fragrance for men and continues to build the collection around that central signature. Habit Rouge is a completely different experience. This is classical French masculine perfumery built around citrus, leather, spice, vanilla and amber. It was originally created in 1965 and remains one of the most important masculine fragrances in Guerlain’s catalog. It can initially smell old-fashioned to someone raised on Sauvage, Y and modern sweet designers, but once you understand the style, you realize how much character it has. Habit Rouge smells elegant, confident and unapologetically adult. It does not try to make a grown man smell like a teenager at a nightclub.

Has anyone who has been taking GLP-1 found that they have had a stronger interest in fragrances? I guess my deeper interest in perfumery grew when I started taking the drug. Your thoughts? From the article: For some GLP-1 users, a positive effect is a growing interest in gourmand fragrances. According to NielsenIQ, perfume sales are up 23% as people seek ‘sensory inputs’ they no longer get from food. Similarly, Mintel reported a 24% increase in gourmand scents. Trendalytics reported a 266% increase in social engagement for gourmand perfumes compared to last year. An Appellation article states, “One theory suggests that when sugar cravings fade, the brain may seek out scent-based ‘pleasure signals’ as a substitute. In this way, indulgent-smelling products might offer a non-caloric form of comfort or reward.” https://www.happi.com/exclusives/glp-1s-unintended-side-effects-will-fuel-new-beauty-products/