06/15/2015
ColinM
516 Reviews
ColinM
1
Decent Oriental spicy scent
No offense for the Germans, but so many German fragrances of the last 20-30 years share something really similar in my opinion. A sort of penchant for loud notes, spicy sweetness, and an overall feel of cheapness. Wolfgang by Joop is partially no exception, although it smells better than other fragrances I have in mind thinking of German “cheap-os” (some Boss and recent Baldessarini, or stuff by Aigner, Lagerfeld, and Joop themselves). Somehow slightly similar to Dunhill Desire Red at the beginning, but with a couple of different notes, notably a sweet Oriental powdery-nutty-spicy accord that seems comprising cinnamon, tonka, also something powdery and slightly honeyed (it may just be cinnamon playing tricks, though). Imagine this blended with lavender, a “laundry” musk note and some conventional balsamic-woody structure topped with citrus and orange – more orange than citrus. So in short at its early stages Wolfgang is basically a sort of Oriental spicy scent on the powdery-balsamic side, topped with a fun sweet-citrus note smelling more like orange candies than orange fruits. The evolution is unexpectedly really nice, bringing Wolfgang to a spicy cinnamon-vetiver drydown (similar to the cloves-infused vetiver note in Loewe7) which is really enjoyable – sharp, simple, refined, almost minimalistic, still sweet but silky and mannered. Not bad overall, besides Desire Red (slight similarity and only initial, though) it also reminds me of some aspects of Jil Sander Background, specifically the medicinal-balsamic side which I find almost identical here, just less loud. Tacky sweet-Oriental opening, nice spicy-woody drydown; not bad overall, but nothing particularly recommended either for me.
6-6,5/10
6-6,5/10
