I pulled out the Malpaso from my HappyLand samples today and immediately felt the shift. It's darker, rougher, and far more rugged than the brighter barbershop pieces I started with. The listed notes are citrus, castoreum, florals, incense, leather, spices, woods, and vetiver, which sets the stage for something that will have quite a bit of contrast or create accords that are smoothly harmonious. What I experienced was an extremely smooth blend. And just to keep it real: I had to look up what castoreum even is. In perfumery it’s a synthetic leather note with a warm, slightly animalic edge, nothing wild, (no pun intended) just the stuff that makes leather smell more like worn-in hide instead of a new car seat. You get a quick hit of citrus up top, but it doesn’t hang around; the leather steps forward quickly and sets the tone. On my skin, the leather is the clear backbone, but what stands out most with it is spice and vetiver, not patchouli. It isn’t grassy or sharp. It’s dry, earthy, and almost dusty, wrapping itself around the leather and giving the whole thing a grounded, masculine spine. The incense adds a little smoke, the florals keep the leather from getting flat, and the spices warm it up without turning it sweet. The result isn’t polished. It's more like weathered and unapologetically grown-man with dirt on his boots. What Malpaso does for my HappyLand experience is open the house up beyond the barbershop territory I started with. This one shows they can go darker and more animalic, and it pushes my nose into a lane I wouldn’t normally explore. It’s expanding the whole ride for me, not just another variation, but a legit left turn. If you’re into leather anchored by dry vetiver and smoke, this is one you’ll feel immediately. You are going to get moderate projection that will last a few hours. As a skin scent, it will last into evening. For an evening out, wake it with a single spray.

I've been playing around with ChatGPT today as I am organizing my fragrance collection. I am still VERY new to fragrances and am looking to make things easy. So far I have a word doc. that is broken out by season so I can rotate my collection and at a quick glance figure out what I may want to wear based on the current temperature. I also asked for an excel spreadsheet (it can't create a Pivot table) so I can have ALL the information I have on the scents. I will have to figure out how to create a pivot table so I can think about what season might need some more scents compared to others as an example. Just curious what you all are doing for your collections?