Aglianico

The Reflection Man by Amouage is a phenomenon.

On the one hand, it is the men's fragrance that I personally would describe as "most fragrant" of all those known to me. As a pure fragrance, it would be due to its flawlessness a smooth 10, by the typical Amouage flacon impressively staged. In net reviews - which I take with a grain of salt - associations like "rich", "luxurious" and "affluent" are drawn many times. Kind of understandable, because: Reflection Man smells like intentional perfection, with its smooth-sweet-powerful-quiet aura. Not overloaded, but like an olfactory silver veil of enormous volume. Compared to many other highly diffusive and lingeringly potent fragrances, it doesn't slay or suffocate the wearer (like some ambered "stunners" for example). No, it's balanced. Pleasing. Very few people are likely to dislike it, the vast majority are likely to find it at least fragrant, if not "absolutely brilliant smelling". As I said, a phenomenon.

No "on the one hand" without a "on the other hand".

Reflection Man, despite its supposed perfection, doesn't work for me. I smell him very gladly, I had him, however, when I was still in possession of a "cheap" flacon, almost never worn. It didn't suit me. And I'm still puzzling over why it didn't. Maybe it was my impression that it was too heavy for an everyday scent (my opinion) or all-rounder; or too classy for the vast majority of occasions; or too long-lasting (8 hours plus, on fabric forever) and present after all; or ... Or maybe its DNA was too opulent for me as a person. Maybe I'll solve this mystery one day. One reads it here yes relatively often, that he is loved many times, but sometimes hardly worn.

How does it smell?

I struggled to describe it for a long time, until the first time I had a sandalwood oil blend (not original) under my nose. Yes, the dominant scent is a warm, beautiful sandalwood that is guaranteed not to be natural, but probably a mix of aroma chemicals like sandela, sandalore, and whatever they're all called. In addition, there are white flowers (jasmine, neroli or substitutes like hedione, nerolin and the like), without smelling too floral, and some kind of fragrances that give volume, body and longevity. Also, a slightly metallic note that makes Reflection Man at least a distant relative (anything but a twin) of scents like Pegasus or, with a little imagination, Fucking Fabulous. The closeness to Le Male is unmistakable, but then in my opinion the RM is a noble edition and at best in the late drydown I would say "hopped like jumped". The nearest twin I know is Hartley - felt 95% match, so you probably don't need both together unless you're a lover.

Verdict: You get a lot with this fragrance - but I recommend testing at least 5 or 10 ml before buying, preferably over several months. Maybe he fits. With me, unfortunately, that was not the case.

I have been sneaking around this fragrance for a long time, a little indecisive, a little hesitant, but still interested. A bit like the dating behaviour of Generation Y (Z, ...), maybe. A sharing then circumnavigated the well-known and often asked LV big question, which is: Is it worth its price? (Answer: No, but ...)

What initially made me hesitate? In particular circulating comparisons and twinning with Dior's bestseller Sauvage, the Ambroxan Owl, which takes no prisoners and with all due respect is too much for me. How much does L'Immensité have in common with Sauvage? About as much as Tzatziki with strawberry yoghurt. So a little bit, but not much, really. I even doubt by now that ambroxan alone is responsible for the sauvage-related buzz that characterizes the fragrance impression of L'Immensité after the initial, artificial grapefruit - slightly biting, but not too strong, slightly synthetic, but pleasing to my nose. No, L'Immensité is more balanced, more complex, quieter and for me much more pleasing - despite or because of this dominant note.

We are dealing here with a fresh perennial that does its job reliably even in winter. (By the way: I have always been a bit suspicious of the predicate 'winter scent': as if most people spend most of the winter outside in the cold or do not heat up inside) It is striking, certainly the ambroxane makes it so, but perhaps also a certain ginger acridity (or the illusion of one). The durability is good to very good, on clothes even some heavy oud scent is equal to it. Of course the laboratory might have helped a little bit with that.

If I had to choose between the men's fresh grapefruit fragrances I am familiar with, I would choose this one for my everyday life including my job. Tygar and Arrakis are quieter, the former much too quiet for me (although I actually like quiet very much), the (very) distantly related Midsummer Dream and Elysium Cologne are more complex, but therefore less suitable for everyday use (very subjective, of course). Even lighter 'grapefruits' like Vetiver Pamplemousse or Pomelo Paradis are pure summer scents.

Speaking of comparisons: How does L'Immensité fit into the LV men's fragrance category? While Orage and Sur la Route are special scents that stand out clearly and pleasantly from the mainstream, and Au Hasard and Nouveau Monde are more monothematic scents that you have to like, L'Immensité, along with the new Météore, is a tribute to the desire for pleasantness and the prevalent everydayness of all being. More toilet paper than handmade paper, so to speak. I like that, because I like 'wearing scents' that don't make you think. But I can understand anyone for whom that's not special enough. Fortunately, Parfumo currently lists 135,757 other fragrances for those who like them, which then perhaps better suit the - always only subjective - taste.

It is sprayed, once, twice, three times, and after the alcohol mist has evaporated in the wide room, the velvety lemon enters the stage. Powdered, molecularized peel, oil atomized in cloud form. Its speciality is the paradox of extroverted silence. It is "blurred", blurred, out of focus, blurred. Olfactory watercolour art. Yet anything but blurred. Simply blurred. Robbed of its lace and acidic sting in favor of a pleasantly softness. Beautiful! At the same time, the unobtrusive presence of a little green-spicy-harsh creates a counterweight to the citric liveliness, as if it wanted to prove that harmony does not exclude a certain complementarity. Delicate veils of perfectly balanced ingredients are in the air, enveloping, floating, breathing around the wearer, whether in the early morning, when the cities are still in the pale light, or in the evening after a hot day. Tenderly, so tenderly, the ingredients whisper in your ear, tenderly we want to embrace you. And you ask yourself: Is this perfection? Understatement in gentle embrace with elegance and style. Filled into a slim, inconspicuously beautiful flacon, with a name on it that hints at history and costs, if desired. Or you have fallen into disrepair and can no longer resist. A fragrance that is little, wants to be little, small and yet big in its own way. A fragrance that carries the quick escape in its hereditary material. A fragrance like a passing phenomenon that wants to teach us about finiteness and the elegance of the ephemeral. Not a rock, but a long moment. One can think about that. Or sniff it out.

There are scents that are not earth-shattering, but good. Fragrances that people like to spray on themselves in the morning. Fragrances that don't make you think of a 'perfume', but of 'just smell good'. Fragrances that don't hurt financially, that don't have high artistic or other demands. Except those: to smell good, to feel good. Burberry for Men is one such fragrance. Two and a half decades ago it was quite famous, but now, in my impression, it has disappeared. Wrongfully so! /br />
I will not pray down the scent pyramid in this short commentary or search for the claimed ingredients in the fragrance. According to my nose, we are dealing with a fruity all-rounder, which is wonderfully smooth at the base and also a little bit - in the language of wine - sweet without being genuinely sweet. The initially well radiating and quite intense fruitiness gives me an abstract/synthetic impression, but not in the sense of those bad chewing gum and candy aromas that are currently circulating. More in the sense of: you can't really identify individual fruits. Let's say: Pome fruit. When the fruitiness has slowly 'evaporated' and become softer, mNnn can sniff a wonderfully mossy component. The shelf life is very good according to the Aglianico test: spray on a handkerchief in the bathroom in the evening before going to bed, enter the bathroom in the morning and sniff. If the scent is still well in the air at an ambient temperature of about 20 degrees and I have 'unadapted' it must be a long-lasting scent.
To conquer deeper regions of my heart, this fragrance would need more character. But then I would probably wear it much less often. A paradox that many perfumi/-ae might know ...
Test recommendation for all those who are looking for a work or everyday fragrance without airs and graces and can bring themselves to wear fragrances under 30,-. They can be very good.

To call the "Illusione" by Bottega Veneta an unknown fragrance or fragrances needs explanation, with 127 reviews and 54 owners about a year after its publication. Nevertheless: Somehow it seems to me, despite its potential, not to have been quite "hit" here, almost as if it is silently gliding along the edge of visibility.

The "Illusione" is similar to its somewhat better known predecessors in the BV men's segment (the pour Homme range and the - male - Essence Aromatique), AND yet is fundamentally different from them. This also needs to be explained.

There are similarities in the resinous components - to a certain extent the trademark of the BV men's fragrances, more so than a partial leatheriness (which is not present in "Illusione"). Such a resinousness is central to my nose in "Illusione", but without dominating unpleasantly. An abstracted (needle) woodiness. Furthermore, a beautifully integrated citric combines all the above mentioned scents, although in my opinion this is much more pronounced in the Essence Aromatique. In "Illusione" it hides behind fir needles and soft-warm woodiness. In any case, you should not expect a clearly recognizable, prominent lemon like in some classic colognes. And there's another unifying element: men's BV fragrances "match" incredibly well with the brand's design appearance. A visit to a store is recommended for this - where you can also test the wonderful Parco Palladiano range.

However, there are also differences. The "Illusione" has an "unvanilla", unobtrusive sweetness, which I personally like very much, and which I prefer to the pseudo leathery base of the pour Homme series. I really mean to smell the vetiver mentioned here as a very subtle, soft component that "grounds" the resinousness. And all this is surrounded by the soft woodiness mentioned above ... Not spectacular, not avant-garde, but very beautiful and very good to wear, especially from spring to autumn, at work, but also just like that. Somehow the average mark here is justified: The "illusion" doesn't stand out, it's not an aha-experience, it's just really well done "mainstream". And maybe that's exactly why this is the fragrance I wear most often by now.

But he is also ...
... more Arvo Pärt than Andrea Bocelli
...more tango in Finnish woods than Italian tarantella. But in summer under a blue sky.
... more suits than "casual".
... more less than more.

A walk, meditation, early morning dew, clarity, groundedness. Unpretentiousness, understatement, simplicity. Peace of mind. A "business fragrance" like Prada L'Homme and yet quite different

My respect for BV, not to cut into their own flesh by a release overkill like some other companies (although I am aware that this is now only a brand in a performance-oriented large corporation). Five men's fragrances in the "mainstream" sector in seven years - that is pleasantly manageable.

I admit that every sprayer stings me in the olfactory heart, because I know in advance that this beautiful fragrance will not last long unless I go on a close contact with myself. But hope dies last: maybe one day the "Illusione" will be available in a more intense, long-lasting version, just like the original pour Homme. In any case, the bottle is a real eye-catcher.