Good morning gents! As mentioned plenty of times before, not a big fan of sweet and dense fragrances, but I did get two 1.7ml samples of this one a couple of months ago, and took the chance of the colder weather we had back in Nov and Dec. to go over them. Wasn't going to throw them away, was I? In addition to that, the Invictus DNA isn't much of my cup of tea. I do like Aqua 2024, and to a much lesser extent the OG, but that's it. I had a bottle of Aqua, and it only lasted a few months in the collection before I gave it away. With that, I wasn't very optimistic when testing Victory Absolu... but was pleasantly suprised. A sweet and spicy fragrance in general, it list few notes, but several of those usually nice to my nose. The opening is without a doubt, the expected sweet-and-spicy profile I expected. From the get-go I already get an ambery nature out of it, which is very welcome. A very warm, embracing opening, with the sweetness not feeling really gourmand, which is a plus in my book. I could imagine the sweetness being a representation of the bubble-bummy sweetness of the line being there. Creamy and ambery. Depending on where you look, it lists ambergris, but I don't really get much of that, if at all. Maybe a bit of saltiness on top? Not going to state it smells like that, but I get a salted-dark-chocolatey vibe once its transitioning to the mid. I would say it happens when the spicy opening/saltiness of the ambergris/patchoully start mixing together. Amber is more prominent here, and continues to be a nice warm scent. Full dry down doesn't change much to me. Becomes greener, yes, but that was it to my nose. Creamy sandalwood for sure, which I love. Performance is great. Easy 2 hours projecting quite noticeably, and never really turning into a full blown skin scent, even after 6-7 hours. Maybe a bit too much of a performer for me, because of the scent profile. Conclusion: Do I like it? Yes, it is a very nice . Did I enjoy the decants? Contrary to initial thoughts, I did.