06/01/2015
ColinM
516 Reviews
ColinM
1
Premature but promising
Nothing particularly bold or challenging here for me: like many other contemporary “dirty” scents, on my skin Holy Shit seems way more mild and mannered than one may assume by reading the notes. Initially quite pleasant, too: a sort of aromatic-woody-animalic concoction with a really well-put harmony between a leathery-tar-animalic base stuffed with lots of cloves, ultra-dry smoky woods (so smoky and salty they smell almost “meat-y”), a hint of civet, contrasting with something on top that I can’t detect precisely, but basically a sort of really graceful, velvety sage-lavender-incense breeze with some resinous warmth, maybe with a bit of vanilla. It will tame down and vanish (too) soon, but it’s nice until it’s there. Somehow close to several works by O’Driù, mostly for the same contrast between “angel and devil” – dirty/dry/dark notes versus aromatic/soothing/smooth ones. And also to some artisanal brands like AbdesSalaam Attar, just with a more modern and “dark” twist – so again, as for Cuir6 by the same house I’m thinking also of Sonoma Scents, Kerosene and that new indie family mostly for a sort of common ground of inspirations (“post-modern desolation” blended with “archaic nature”). Holy Shit smells more natural, less avantgarde, kind of more amateurish than them (not a flaw per se), but fans of these brands will probably enjoy this.
So, catchy at first but... well, a bit short of breath for me overall. Like for Cuir6, moving past the intriguing opening, Holy Shit kind of “loses” its magic soon, revealing itself as a competent, yet not completely successful sort of exercise (I guess around “contrasts” this time) rather than a proper, consistent “full” work of perfumery – at least as I like to consider perfumes. Once the nice opening moves on, you remain with an extremely linear and discreet accord of cloves, dry-salty smoked woods and a hint of civet, which means a smell at the same time “monolithic” and “basic” – kind of bland for me, in other words. Or “scarce”, if you want, both in terms of projection and texture. There’s plenty of scents managing to get the most out of a really basic but totally creative texture; this doesn’t for me, at least not completely. Mostly because it isn’t really either creative or bold/daring enough. It feels more like a really ordinary base for an animalic/leather/woody fragrance, waiting for a whole creative work to come giving it a meaning and some drive. Compare this with any vintage civet/leather scents in terms of texture and evolution to get what I mean, or even just to more contemporary similar stuff by any other brand I’ve mentioned above. Not a matter of classic taste versus modernity – I don’t really get anything “modern” here, and I surely would crave for that. Don’t get me wrong, Holy Shit is decent and surely promising, but also considering the price, kind of half-baked and maybe a bit premature in my opinion. Worthy a sniff more for the clearly nice quality of the materials.
6-6,5/10
So, catchy at first but... well, a bit short of breath for me overall. Like for Cuir6, moving past the intriguing opening, Holy Shit kind of “loses” its magic soon, revealing itself as a competent, yet not completely successful sort of exercise (I guess around “contrasts” this time) rather than a proper, consistent “full” work of perfumery – at least as I like to consider perfumes. Once the nice opening moves on, you remain with an extremely linear and discreet accord of cloves, dry-salty smoked woods and a hint of civet, which means a smell at the same time “monolithic” and “basic” – kind of bland for me, in other words. Or “scarce”, if you want, both in terms of projection and texture. There’s plenty of scents managing to get the most out of a really basic but totally creative texture; this doesn’t for me, at least not completely. Mostly because it isn’t really either creative or bold/daring enough. It feels more like a really ordinary base for an animalic/leather/woody fragrance, waiting for a whole creative work to come giving it a meaning and some drive. Compare this with any vintage civet/leather scents in terms of texture and evolution to get what I mean, or even just to more contemporary similar stuff by any other brand I’ve mentioned above. Not a matter of classic taste versus modernity – I don’t really get anything “modern” here, and I surely would crave for that. Don’t get me wrong, Holy Shit is decent and surely promising, but also considering the price, kind of half-baked and maybe a bit premature in my opinion. Worthy a sniff more for the clearly nice quality of the materials.
6-6,5/10
