Well the family drama continues with more injuries requiring me to be driving more then I probably should be with my own shoulder rehab. Therefore after finally getting back to home tonight I decided on A2A. A frag that I hope by this point most people are at least familiar with the name and house. A beastly frag that will scream it’s presence it caution isn’t used in sprays!!! Animalic due to the civet here also. Complete love for me. Not for the faint of heart or blind buy safe imho.

This has been on my wanted list for almost a year now. Yes I'm a big Joop fan and this is one of the few bottles I was missing from the collection. Wow represents a massive pivot for the brand. If you know Joop for the nuclear strength, pink, candy-sweet bomb that is Joop Homme, you will find Wow! to be a completely different animal.The bottle tells you everything you need to know before you even spray it. It resembles a vintage whiskey flask or an apothecary bottle, filled with amber liquid.Where the original Joop! Homme is a loud club scent, Wow! is a "jazz bar" scent. It is mature, boozy, warm, and sophisticated. Ironically, this is one of the most subtle, refined, and polite fragrances Joop! has ever released. It is classified as an Oriental Fougère, but it behaves like a woody-spicy fragrance with a distinct "boozy" character. It opens with a very brief splash of citrus (bergamot) that immediately gives way to a warm, spicy cardamom. The violet leaf adds a slight "airy" or ozone quality, which prevents the spice from feeling heavy or dusty. It smells expensive and niche-quality right from the first spray. This is the best part of the fragrance. The fir balsam creates a resinous, pine-like sweetness that mimics the scent of an oak barrel or aged whiskey. It’s not a literal alcohol smell, but it captures the warmth of a dark spirit. The vetiver adds a dry, earthy woodiness that keeps it masculine. As it settles on the skin, it becomes creamy and powdery. Cashmeran is a synthetic note that smells like musky wood and feels "velvety." The tonka and vanilla add sweetness, but it is a dark, roasted sweetness rather than a sugary candy sweetness. As an edt my only contention is the longevity which is moderate at best. Unlike the OG, you can expect 5 hrs at best with this. Projection is moderate to Intimate. It projects well for the first 30–60 minutes, then settles closer to the skin. It creates a polite "personal space" bubble rather than filling a room. Unlike other Joop! scents, you can wear this to work without choking out your colleagues, so it's completely office safe. Additionaly, I picked this up yesterday at the Chemist Warehouse for a measley €29. It smells significantly more expensive than it is. If you put this juice in a Tom Ford or YSL bottle, people would happily pay three times the price. It lacks the harsh, metallic "cheap cologne" smell found in many budget fragrances. The spicy/woody profile needs cool air to shine. Perfect for Date nights, semi-formal dinners, or office wear in the winter. Wow! is an underrated masterpiece of the budget category. If you want to smell classy, masculine, and warm without spending a fortune, this is a blind buy worthy of consideration.