DaveGahan101

Florence, shortly after nine in the morning, in a side street, the sun lets the first houses shine, much is still in the cold shade, smoking men in leather jackets - with raised collars - disappear quickly
in the innumerable cafés, the pink newspaper under your arm, you can already hear the characteristic music of coffee grinders and the beating of the screen holders..the melange with a touch of aftershave tells you what to enjoy of freedom and life...you just have to listen carefully..you can hear the sweet melancholy of "Stellina dei cantautori" by Luca Carboni..precious..no tourist place.

This or that kind of picture triggers Tabacco d'Autore in me.
So far I haven't encountered quite so many tobacco scents..so real tobacco scents, no sweetened Shisha-Herod tobacco or pipe tobacco..but tobacco! Creed's Tabarome comes to mind..not even a delight.
Maybe it's quite good that I don't have many comparisons as usual, but can throw myself right into the turmoil.
Tabacco d'Autore already sounds like an old room with creaking wooden planks, perhaps just a scent for romantics. Fresh off we go, with the
Mixture most likely of grapefruit, bergamot or dirty lemon (similar to the top note of Citron Noir from Hermes), but behind it something warm and spicy. I immediately have a fragrance in the back of my mind: Micallef's avant-garde, but not quite so creamy. With Avantarde(Edel-Chanel-Allure PH) then not much happens anymore. But with Tabacco it looks quite different.
He doesn't choose the mainstream way, not the easy way - to put the sweetness more and more in the foreground - but we herbaceous-herbal, spicier, a hint of sweetness remains, very aromatic. Smokers should smell the black Lucky Strike for comparison, also slight leather streaks show up. That seems very mature, not necessarily life-affirming, but real, pathetic, melancholic. In the end, aftershave note comes through that is not unlike Creed's. With Creed, I described it as blunt, here I choose grown-up! At the latest now it is no longer a scent for 20 year olds, nothing for the Alder-Digga-Chiller-victim-generation, here style comes first(!) Sillage.
Conclusion: No skystormer, no heartbreaker, no charmer, solid and honest, very good durability, the Sillage just above average.

Farmacia SS-a brand that magically attracts me. On the one hand, this is due to their medical origin, the centuries-old tradition and the beautiful flacons (the new blacks above all)

For me this radiates such a seriousness as a family business without BlingBling marketing or any other bells and whistles.
In their sympathetic appearance they remind me strongly of Carthusia. Unfortunately they only had their room scents on display at Exsence 2018, so I couldn't test the series completely. But also the bottles were a real eye-catcher, had something from Dimple-Whiskey, great!
So I had to order the samples online. The anniversary fragrance 450 knew
i flee from a colleague who normally does nothing with niche scents on her hat, so I was more than surprised when she pulled that out of her pocket! So we had to do another detailed test!

I'll make it short, the scent is great! This is simply because I love fragrances like Bois d'Iris(Van Arpels), Bois d'Argent(Dior Prive), Lye(Gabriella Chieffo) or The Woods/New Level(Brooklyn Soap Company).

This great mixture of light woods, incense and powder simply appeals to me and gives me a nice, homey feeling on cold days.
The difference between the individual scents lies in nuances, Bois d'Iris is the sweetest of all, with The Woods the wood is a little more in the foreground, with Bois d'Argent it is the incense. I like all facets.
The fragrance radiates warmth and elegance from the inside out, everything about it is bright, soft, sensual. Unfortunately, its durability (as with the others) is very moderate, after 3-4 hours everything is over, the Sillage is from the beginning rather very close, also here the Van Arpels stands out a little bit. The fact that 450, like the other fragrances, doesn't take a great development is forgiven, because it smells great from the beginning, but I can't get past the bad performance, because otherwise it would suffice as a maximum cuddly sofa fragrance. Unfortunately there are no samples of the strong version "Concentrato" to order to draw a comparison, unfortunately also no Discovery-Kit current.
But the very friendly customer service gave me a few additional addresses, where you can find the fragrances, except at the 2 big online senders, in Germany. A direct comparison I will then submit here as Edit. It's a pity that this great and somehow quite unknown brand is so seldom found in Germany, even in Italy it is not often found. She clearly deserved a little more spotlight!

No it is not cuddly, but the comparison with cuddly skirt (is there still?) I would like to draw nevertheless. On the albums there were usually beautiful songs, but you had already heard them all year long, some of them really noodled. But it was handy to have them all on one CD so you don't have to change them all the time. So or so it is with Balade Sauvage, a collection of beautiful smells, which one knows however so already all, at least if one is friend of citric, ethereal smells.
The greeting from the kitchen is Petit Matin, tender, tangy fresh lemons with a green-vegetal touch, not particularly sour or tangy, rather shy in the morning, tender, slightly creamy.
A sweet and salty fig is quickly served as a second course, strongly reminiscent of Figuier Ardent by Atelier Cologne. Very ethereally fresh, like a single fig tree on a Mediterranean headland by the sea, rarely smelled such a pleasant fig, often it gets on my nerves quickly, especially when it gets too sweet. Often she moves too much into focus, occupies you, so that you don't notice other, fine facets of the fragrance anymore, Ferragamo's classic is a good example. So it needs an opponent, here it would be the citric and flowery nuances, they can't compete with the fig, but by the slightly woody undertone, it is kept in check. Similar fragrances such as Fico di Amalfi and Cedro di Taormina are partially incorporated here.
The sweetness in the background reminds me of ELDO's Remarkable People, it makes the whole thing a bit creamy and provides a further counterweight. Unfortunately I couldn't find out who caused it.
All this together really smells very pleasant, but just not new.
It doesn't have to be, it also appeals to me, because it's so easy to wear without being a soliflore, which can quickly be monotonous and boring. I would also like to keep him happy that the wheel cannot be reinvented in this fragrance segment. All citrus fruits of this world have been pressed out completely in all possible combinations except for the peel and beyond. Atelier Cologne in particular offers a fragrant overview here. What makes the fragrance exciting is its counterpart. Just Aqua Sextius shows that with his oak moss wonderful. More casual and easier to wear is of course Balade Sauvage.
Similar to Paris-Deuville by Chanel, he conveys this light-heartedness, even a piece of purity, a high degree of being cared for. So I guess they'll both have to fight for my favor next spring. In my ready-made sympathy for the Dior Prive series, I already have a hunch who will make the game. Even if he can't compete with the big scents of the Prive series, like Gris Montaigne, Bois d'Argent or Mitzah, and I don't like basic brands and doubt their inspiration, which bring out 5 scents at the same time or 10 scents in 2 years, I still like him as a perfect all-rounder, as a wonderful day scent in warm temperatures, in winter he will go down mercilessly.
Here we would be already with his big deficiency, his durability.
If I want to express it benevolently, he remains loyal to me for 3 hours rounded up, there would be like then again on Acqua di Parma level. The Sillage is really good in the first hours, there is a really good surge of good mood and fresh showers, but unfortunately it retreats too fast for me, too bad. Here then the 125ml should fit very well.

Everyday use: 10/10
Well-being factor: 10/10
Wow effect: 5/10
Price-performance: 4/10

Young boy... 1994... that's 24 years ago, believe it or not! Do you sometimes feel that way with dates that were close to the millennium, that it was felt only a short time ago..but then it was 20 years ago!?
1994..what a year, one went excessively to techno parties and later to rave parties, Mayday was a term everywhere, a term for a whole generation, zeitgeist. Marusha's Over the rainbow was a hymn, Hyper Hyper Hyper somehow too, but I put it in the fair music drawer like Cotton Eye Joe or one, two police. Despite the recent 80's, it was also a time of cuddle songs, like Love is all around(Wet Wet Wet), Always(Bon Jovi), Without you(Mariah Carey) or All for love(Bryan Adams) or the unforgettable Mhhh Mhhh Mhhhh. The birth of many actors, 4 weddings and one death, the moving man or the Philadelphia with Tom Honks, which is still extremely gripping today..the title song of Bruce Springsteen still gives goose bumps today. Apartheid was history, Nelson Mandela was free again, Ayrton Senna was killed in an accident, a Golf 2 Fire+Ice by Bogner was driven in dark purple or the rich kids a Golf 3, but then at least as a special model Pink Floyd ... some more should follow. They wore Diesel Sattle jeans in extra wide and rolled them up a bit at the bottom, Joop jeans with(!) matching jeans shirt and wide sweatshirts from Chiemsee, Oxbow, Blue System and the Poppers and a bit better Chevignon...and yaaa there was Jordan Letschkow (better we keep silent) and unforgettable scents like Heaven by Chopard, CK One, Catalyst, Fuel for Men, Issey Myiake pH, Blue Jeans and even Faconnable..the last 2 mentioned, in the at that time just hip tin cans.
Looking back on what music or fashion was about, my stomach turns today...strangely enough, that's not the case with the scents. Yes I know, that's the nostalgic look, everything used to be better and so and clearly the scents are charged with memories, with me of a carefree time, where 50 Marks were enough for the whole weekend.
But I still like Heaven and Faconnable very much today. For Heaven, I'd kill today. We liked them back then, but we didn't sound the alarm about scents like we do today.
Faconnable was re-released last year, thank God, why this didn't happen at Heaven is inexplicable to me. Facconable is somehow a fragrance that has fallen somewhat out of time, its strength, nature and durability are today in the price segment (50-60€) no longer or only very rarely to be found, but Powerhouse would be said too much. But it was completely normal at that time that scents loosely held 8 hours or at least the whole discount night (important criterion). Faconnable is an unusual mix of freshness, flowers (lots of lavender and neroli, but no 4711) mint and an extra dose of oakmoss. Fresh spicy scents were very popular at that time and not so unlike each other, see Issey Myiake, Heaven, Patou's Voyageur (great with the ship as a stand) or Ultramarine by Givenchy, but still very peculiar, today one would say character scent. I can't find any similarities to Klor cleaners either, but I can understand well if many won't like it. The pungent freshness and the dominant oak moss and musk base are not everyone's cup of tea. I like it very much, because by the smell, I can rewind into the great time with a sprayer and enjoy, indulge, wonder, shake my head, sigh.
Sillage and shelf life are great, 8 hours and more are possible loosely and the scent has not been screwed on much or nothing at all, can't see any great differences...but the comparison from the head is just too long ago, but I recognized it immediately:-)!

..it's often the hardest! For this often slightly deceptive (first) impression, there are many other examples in very different areas: Fashion, art, soccer or even the acrobats of Cirque du Soleil who are unrivalled for me.
During my first test a few months ago, I immediately thought: yes, it smells very pleasant, but somehow quite mainstream. Mainstream I would like to equate here with usual. It was very difficult for me to reconcile the attribute "ordinary" with the purchase price, and here in the world of perfume it rarely works, actually never at all. The more common a fragrance is or is perceived here, the more its price or its "exaggerated" marketing moves into focus, clearly gaining more weight. People then like to talk about fooling around, rip-offs, speeches of beauty and blind following of his disciples. Creed is a very popular victim here, as if these 2 brands had invented it;-)!
To anticipate, no I don't have to talk about this "Schmodder" and this (over?)ambitious price, because I paid much less than the shop price because of the dear Mynos, so I didn't get into this embarrassment and by the way, good marketing is for me the absolute top class, not absolutely necessary for me, but every time exciting to watch, why what works when and how, demonstration lessons at apple.com;.).
Anyway, in spite of quickly putting away the scent card, the scent stayed in my back of my mind, he made some string sound without me really being aware of it.
Somewhere in the subconscious this was stored and demanded more attention. Every time I visited a perfumery I had to spray it on myself and yet I never managed to recall a similar, a comparable fragrance. I have tried Lumiere Blanche, El Born, Palo Santo, Boy, Bois Dore and Dries van Noten. Yes, everything somehow not quite so far away or not completely beside it, but on the other hand it doesn't fit at all. This wonderful creamy almond note (unsweetened) is absolutely unique for me. In the beginning as a 2-minute topping accompanied by a fresh bergamot, it quickly goes over to the warmer part, warm and spicy, homey, yes you might think of Austrian desserts while skiing, but here nothing satiates. I like to accuse the Tom Ford fragrances of an overloaded eccentricity, which often inspires me, but on some days it's quite a pain in the ass. As a result, I can rarely wear his scents twice in a row. It is so well hidden here that I would almost like to say that the art of omission was applied here. That's exactly what you notice with a Tom Ford fragrance, everyone knows his magnificent all-time classics and you can smell them out of hundreds, so you get the impression here, but there's something missing here. Nope..here nothing is missing, yes it seems slim and reduced and a little simple, exactly that is the art of this fragrance for me. Exactly this is his magic, because he is incredibly dense, intense..but lets it work easily.
What I like, which is also the parallel to Boy, he gets a masculine edge over time, before he runs the risk of becoming a little too monotonous. The edge is slightly herbaceous-spicy, could be Mysore sandalwood dipped in sage, which for me is always very aromatic-spicy, but also has such a creamy melt. The whole fragrance smells so insanely valuable, sublime-noblesse, this can be due to its iris powderiness..this is just wonderful.
I'm sure you can't make this fragrance for 50,60 Euro, because often this synthetic (fruit) sugar note gets through, gets sticky, starts to get on your nerves. It's like the difference between real vanilla pod and back vaniline (see best the comparison Double Vanilla-Eau Mission). If it has to cost 270€, I did not say, but for me it is worth every cent of my paid price.
The durability is with over 8 hours accordingly class, the Sillage quite strong, it should not have been more. However, it only shows its great class on cool days and loses its lightness on warm days. Chino, jeans, suit... anything should be possible. For me another highlight in an already very long row of Tom Ford fragrances.

Edit: 12.07.18
Now I can think of another scent relative, Tragedy of Lord George of Penhaligons, who, however, has a somewhat milder and more reserved sweetness.