I am not going to give a doctoral thesis, but I would like to point out a few things, especially for some of the newer brothers here in the group. I know I keep saying certain articles and videos are advertisements, and to me, that's all they are. Whether it comes from a magazine or Gentscents, which I adore, it is still just advertising to me, as these writers and YouTube influencers have created a business out of fragrance. Even our own Antonio does not post his YouTube videos on his own group, which he created. Like Most of us here, we are Fragrance lovers who love the art of Perfumery. I started my Journey with Dupes or Clones, as we put it, because I did not have the funds to jump in immediately. But my journey started in my youth and in college, as I always had 1 or 2 of the top designer fragrances that worked for me. The reason I joined this brotherhood was the opportunity to interact with brothers and to learn from them. With like-minded people who share a love of this hobby. That being said, I will always ask what the performance is, etc., etc., because there is a bond that develops and a mutual trust, as now I am getting advice from someone whom I personally interact with on almost a daily basis. I get a real, live accounting, sometimes varying, accounting of what and how the fragrance performs with a real, live person who I interact with and is giving me thier real, live opinions!!! We all have access to magazine articles, YouTube, Reddit, TikTok, Magazines, Articles, books, etc. If I wanted info from that, I would be able to pull it up myself. I could interact with total strangers and possibly Schills in the comment sections!!! No, I joined this to get and compare real-life notes with brothers whom I trust, not strangers or salespeople, but brothers who share the same passion and who may have had a better or worse experience with said fragrances, so I can compare notes and learn!!! Anyway, just some food for thought, as it seems like we are letting outside influences take up a large portion of the group. I do not care what Mr Dua has to say or Mr Chaos fragrance!!! or even Mr Gent Scents!!! I can find all that out on myself. I dont care what the GQ or Vogue writers have to say or what brand they are pushing for more Ads, as I can read that on my own!!!

I'm already feeling apprehensive that my beloved The One EDP, one of the first full bottles I ever got, is going to be discontinued in favor of the sketchy new EDP formulation... so I thought I'd throw some on today to revel in it while I have it! Luckily I bought the 150ml so I can indulge in shhhhpraying it on thick. It's just got this magical opening of light citrus, orange blossom (bless them for whatever they use - I don't get any screech, which I get from most neroli/orange blossom notes), ginger and very light spiciness. There's something powdery sparkly to it - I get the same effect from LNDH EDT - that I absolutely love. The mids are lovely with amber and very light tobacco coming out to give some backbone to the ginger & cardamom. And... we all know the performance on this leaves something to be desired -- it's almost like the mids are the dry-down, and the scent will be gone in a few hours. Which is fine - I'll just throw something else on in the afternoon! I'd like to get my nose on the new EDP & Parfum -- I think that will help me decide if I need to pick up a backup bottle of this formulation of the EDP, or if I should just evolve with the brand and when the time comes, say goodbye to my EDP for good. Anyone else thinking of gettin backup bottles of the OG EDP while they are still widely available?