Today’s SOTD was Michael Malul Ginger + Mist, and honestly this might be one of the easiest warm-weather reaches in my collection right now. The opening hits with a sparkling ginger and citrus blast that instantly reminded me of an ice-cold ginger ale or ginger tonic. Fresh, fizzy, uplifting, and super clean without smelling like a basic shower gel fragrance. What I like most is how smooth the ginger is here. It has some spice and brightness, but it never gets harsh or overly sharp. The bergamot, lemon, and pineapple give it a slightly juicy freshness while the woods and musk in the drydown keep it modern and masculine. It smells airy, clean, and relaxed, but still refined enough that it comes across more niche than designer to me. As it dries down, the fragrance gets softer, woodier, and musky with that modern akigalawood/georgywood style underneath. It keeps the fresh vibe the entire wear but turns smoother and creamier after a couple hours. This is the type of scent that just works for casual wear, gym, errands, office, or anytime you want to smell fresh without choking people out. Performance on me is solid for this style of fragrance. I get around 5–7 hours with softer projection after the first couple hours. Not beast mode, but honestly this scent profile works better being more controlled and easygoing.

Decided to steer away from the MM set as I ordered a new one to do a side-by-side and check if my set was faulty. While I wait for the parcel, I thought I’d dive into some older unfinished discovery sets. I stumbled upon the Maison Crivelli ones and randomly picked Hibiscus Mahajád. This was one of the four from Quentin Bisch in the set, so that got me excited. A very linear fragrance that doesn’t develop much. It has notes of hibiscus, blackcurrant, Damask rose absolute, hibiscus tea, vanilla absolute, ambrette seed absolute, leather, vanilla, cinnamon, pomegranate and spearmint. The tea and spearmint disappear once it dries down, so it becomes more of a proportion shift. Beautifully blended with enough space to smell the individual notes. It’s a beautiful fragrance that wraps you in a pink cloud. Very well balanced and high quality. It definitely has that Quentin Bisch influence. This man has me in a chokehold. One unfortunate thing about Maison Crivelli is the performance on me. I’m jealous when people say they get 10-12 hours with massive sillage. On me, it’s a modest 6-hour fragrance and stops projecting after 90 minutes. Compared to other MC fragrances, this one lasted and smelled better on me. Funny enough, my duvet that caught a hint of the perfume had better performance, as I could still smell it after 9 hours. Maybe using it as a fabric scent makes more sense for me. Even with “bad” performance, it’s still a solid option for many. If you like Delina or its flankers, you should try this. If anything, it almost makes it redundant if you already own Delina. Both by Quentin Bisch, maybe that’s why. I can rock unisex or even 60/40 feminine fragrances, but this one is a bit outside that. Around 65/35 in my opinion, so it’s a pass. Now I need to strategically make sure my girlfriend likes this so I can buy it for her and still get to smell it. All that said, I would still give it an 8.3/10. On my skin it didn’t shine the way it was supposed to. It smells like a high-quality version of a generic designer “pink” fragrance. Beautiful, but not groundbreaking or inspiring. If your partner loves rose, they should try this.