After seeing @Brett Sutton ’s post yesterday, I finally decided to try my sample of Guerlain. I have to say, I have mixed feelings about this one. It opens with a smooth blend of almond and citrus, but the most prominent notes for me are rosemary and thyme. Without looking at the notes, I honestly thought I was smelling candied nuts, bergamot, and something like beef seasoning. I expected the cherry note I keep hearing about to hit me upfront, but for me, it crept in slowly and subtly. The cherry is mild, while I get more incense and rose in the heart. Once it fully dries down, the fragrance transforms completely. You start to notice leather, woods, tonka bean, smooth sandalwood, and vanilla. There’s still a faint trace of cherry and spices. This one’s powdery, spicy, sweet, nutty, smoky, fruity, and woody. A beautifully blended, unique composition. It a bit grown-up and elegant, something mature men over 25 would naturally gravitate towards. That said, I’m not sure if I truly like it yet. I’ve sampled well over 150 different fragrance DNA profiles, and I can honestly say I’ve never smelled anything quite like this. It’s not even remotely similar to anything I know, which makes it incredibly unique. Plus, I’ve never smelled this on anyone else before. My biggest issue is performance. For an EDP, it performs more like an EDT lasting 4-6 hours with soft projection, and becoming a skin scent after about an hour. You definitely need to overspray. I’ve heard newer batches are significantly weaker and require 10 to 20 sprays, which is a shame. It feels watered down, lacking the richness it’s supposed to have. Imagine if Athair was diluted to the point where it lost its thick, masterpiece quality. Initially, I’d rate it 8/10, but I think that score could improve with time and if I get to try a better-performing batch. It’s not love at first sniff, but time will tell how much I grow to like it. I’m now eager to explore the entire L’Homme lineup, sooner than I expected.

It’s Sunday, the weather is perfect, and I’m heading to a cigar lounge this afternoon. Since I had some time on my hands, I decided to run a little nose-training experiment I’ve been wanting to do for a while. I wore Creed Centaurus on one side of my body and Rayhaan Crimson on the other to see whether the original is actually worth the price compared to the clone. I sprayed both in the exact same spots and gave myself a good amount of time to smell how each one developed. Up close, I definitely noticed some differences. Centaurus has this fruity brightness in the opening, almost like a juicy plum note that sits above the rest of the composition. There’s a sparkle to it, a clean radiance that makes the fragrance feel more alive. Crimson, on the other hand, didn’t give me that same lift. It smelled good, but the top felt flatter and the spice was stronger and a little more direct. Where Creed blended everything smoothly, Crimson came across more straightforward. But once I stopped smelling directly off my skin and just paid attention to how they moved in the air around me, the gap got a lot smaller. From a normal distance, walking around or just picking up the scent naturally, they smelled extremely close. That extra sparkle from Creed is something you really only catch when you’re examining it up close. In the air, Crimson keeps up surprisingly well. So the big question for me was whether I’d still buy Centaurus knowing Crimson gives me a very similar experience for around forty dollars instead of three hundred fifty. And honestly, based on today’s test, the answer depends on how much someone values that added polish in the opening. Centaurus is definitely more refined, but Crimson gets me close enough that the price gap is hard to justify for everyday wear. What do you all think? How do you decide when the original is worth it and when the clone gets the job done?