My first fragrance from the house. I had heard a lot about this one, especially about how powerful the performance is. I remember doing a cap test of one of the Maison Crivelli fragrances once and my head literally flung back from the potency. I walked out of the store with the discovery set the same day. Here are my thoughts. The fragrance opens unapologetically strong and sharp. It is the kind of sharpness that feels like someone drove a fork up your nose. At first I only get leather and oud. As the opening starts to settle, I realise they were trying to create a realistic passionfruit note. The passionfruit in Monkey Special is sweet and jammy, whereas this one comes across much more natural and true to life. The tartness and acidic character of the fruit blend well with the leather and the saffron, which slowly starts to reveal itself. As it dries down, the faint fruitiness gradually disappears and the fragrance turns into something more metallic, woody, sharp, and patchouli heavy with a strong leather backbone. Performance is both a pro and a con. All the claims about performance are true, but the scent itself is not exactly what many people describe. The first 2 hours are room filling. After that it settles into a more reasonable bubble, though the scent trail remains excellent. It is easily a 12 hour performer and could even push 18-20 hours. This was with only three sprays btw. I really wanted to like it, but I am not fully enjoying it yet. I have seen many reviews saying it smells different with every wear, so maybe this time I just got the short straw. I was expecting a fruity woody fragrance, but what I ended up getting feels more like a niche version of Ombre Leather. I will not write it off yet, but my score is based on this particular wearing. I’m giving it a 7.5/10. It is a sharp leather and oud fragrance that can be slightly abrasive and very polarising. At moments it even reminds me a bit of Dior Sauvage, which is where it lost some points for me. I have also heard that newer batches may have been reformulated with noticeably weaker performance, which is unfortunate.

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