DonJuanDeCat

DonJuanDeCat

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DonJuanDeCat 1 day ago 10 5
8
Bottle
6
Sillage
6
Longevity
8
Scent
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Acqua di Giò smells like... Acqua di Giò?
Hi guys, I tried an Acqua di Giò from Armani again after a long time, the Profundo, which was released in 2020. Although there is now the 2024 version of this flanker, they still had the 2020 in the store. And I was still lucky because it was the only fragrance from this range in the store that still had the spray head on it...!!!! I mean, I understand it when the testers are used up super quickly, especially for fragrances like this, because I've been watching people spray themselves with it from top to bottom (and then vice versa from bottom to top :D) for years... instead of testing it normally, but well, I can still live with that. But then to completely separate the spray heads from the bottle is beyond stupid, I mean why the hell would you do that? And even with bottles that are still full??? Or are they only broken because someone might have dropped it... almost every bottle in the whole store? Over and over again until they've all fallen off? :D
That's honestly hard to believe, I think people did it on purpose, for whatever reason. Or at least by handling them too roughly, because the testers don't belong to them and so people think they can handle them however they want...

I'm not normally one of those people who tell everyone in a clichéd way that humanity is now going stupid at an abnormal level... but humanity is going stupid at an abnormal level!!! :DDDD
Because I don't think everyone has suddenly become extremely clumsy, have they?

But well, let's get back to the fragrance. I tried the fragrance here because I had actually had good experiences with this range in the past. Of course, there have always been outliers that smelled like nothing or were dripping with synthetics, but for the most part, there have been quite usable to pretty good fragrances among these perfumes. The Profundo here has convinced me for a long time, as it reminded me of the great Acqua di Giò Essenza, which was my favorite fragrance from the series.

The fragrance:
Basically, the fragrance starts the same way I remember Essenza: It's citrusy fresh, and the citrusy scents also smell tangy in the process, which is especially good on hot days. You can smell the bergamot well, but you can smell the great mandarin even better. Only a little later, a fragrance note is added that I particularly like in summer with citrusy-fresh fragrances, namely herbs. In this case, it's rosemary, which not only smells good and is easily recognizable, but also goes incredibly well with the mandarins. All of this is not only refreshing, but simply wonderfully summery.
The fragrance is rather less sweet, at least at the beginning. This changes a little towards the base, when the musk and amber become a little stronger. Nevertheless, the fragrance remains citrusy and herbaceous for most of the time and gives off a great scent.
In the drydown, i.e. the very late base, the fragrance basically smells the same, but is only slightly sweet. The citrusy scents are then almost completely gone, of course, but you can still smell a nice hint of rosemary with gentle, soft notes in the background. Incidentally, the drydown is quite close to the body.

The sillage and the longevity:
The radiance is quite okay at the beginning, but in my opinion it fades a little too quickly, but is still in the "okay" range. The longevity is also more average, as with almost every fragrance in this range, and I would say that it lasts 3-5 hours depending on the dosage.

The bottle:
Absolutely nothing has changed in the bottle for years, except of course the color of the bottle. We still have the handy bottle, which is rectangular but slightly rounded, has a thick glass base and no label on the front, so the name is printed directly on the bottle. The color of this bottle is dark blue without a color gradient. The neck of the bottle is chrome-plated and on top of it sits the blue, cylindrical lid, which is not magnetic (I could swear that my Essenza had a magnetic lid many years ago, couldn't I?...). In any case, a beautiful bottle that sits well in the hand.

Conclusion:
Admittedly, this fragrance certainly doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it does go back to the roots a little (at least to Essenza or Profumo). The actual original, which is "only" called Acqua di Giò, smells slightly different. For example, the herbs are less strong and the top note is also slightly different), which surprised me positively. I also like the fact that the fragrance is not as intensely synthetic as I had expected, which enhances the fragrance for me. Of course, there is a certain synthetic quality, especially towards the end, but it's not as disturbing as, for example, the rather bad Acqua di Giò Absolu from 2018.

For me, this fragrance is clearly a summer scent that perhaps doesn't stand out so much among many other fragrances, but I think it smells nice enough to try. You can use it mainly as a daily companion, whether for work or leisure, somehow it always works. You should only choose a more long-lasting fragrance if you're going to a party or something :)

Well, that's my opinion on Profundo (2020). I hope the 2024 version smells just as good! If I ever get to test it... because stupid people keep ruining the testers, argh!!!! They should really hire people in the stores to look after the testers, you could call them tester guards or something, he he!

Well then, that's it from me again, have a nice evening :)
5 Comments
DonJuanDeCat 9 days ago 15 11
7
Bottle
7
Sillage
8
Longevity
8
Scent
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The divine child, enveloped in a cloud of powder
Hi guys, here I am again, testing another fragrance from a perfumer who really wants to hear my opinion on the scent. I would have tried and described the fragrance earlier, but the lid of the sample was stuck on with tape... it took me days to open the lid!!! Hey hey, well almost, but it's often quite a fiddly job to peel off the tape :D

Anyway, today we're talking about the fragrance "Divin' Enfant" by Etat Libre d'Orange, who are best known for fragrances whose names translate into German as "Köstliche Klemmschwester", "Don't get me wrong baby, I don't swallow", "Fetter Elektriker" or "Riesiger Bauchnabel"... so "Divin' Enfant", which is only called "Divine Child", is relatively harmless!

However, names don't always have to reflect what the fragrance might be like. Maybe sometimes it's deliberate, who knows? The fragrance that bears this blatant name "Don't Get Me Wrong Baby. I Don't Swallow", for example, is one of the most innocent-smelling fragrances I've ever come across, as pure as it radiates :D

That's why I can't imagine anything at all about "Divine Child" right now, at least olfactorily. But I'm about to find out! And so will you, if you have to read my impression here! :))

The fragrance:
The fragrance starts quite soft and smooth with a sweetish direction and smells quite pleasing, which is good. I smell a powdery sweetness that smells like a mix of resins, iris (there is no iris in it at all), vanilla, musk and almonds, perhaps with a hint of lipstick scent, at least when I spray it on. There are light, fruity notes in the background; a glance at the fragrance list tells me that it's peach, which I wouldn't have guessed now.
In the middle section, the fragrance is soft and warm and I can best smell a coffee scent, of course with all the other fragrance notes that I have already described, but the coffee comes through well and is actually more reminiscent of tonka beans due to the mix with the other fragrance notes.
The fragrance also smells a little tonka bean-like towards the end, mixed with vanilla, light resins, lots of musk and a great, powdery radiance. All in all, quite a beautiful and, for me, rather feminine fragrance.

The sillage and the longevity:
The sillage is strong, even after the first spray I had the feeling of being enveloped in a cloud of fragrance. I therefore also think that you will be able to smell the fragrance for a while. That's probably why the longevity is quite good at 8-10 hours.

The bottle:
The bottle is rectangular and has a cylindrical, chrome-plated lid. Normally, everything would look quite simple if it weren't for the striking, round label, half of which is stuck to one side of the bottle and the other half to the other side. At least the label makes the bottle look quite interesting.

Conclusion:
Hm, so the fragrance is very nice. Gentle, soft and fragrant. And not at all what I would have expected from an Etat Libre fragrance. This fragrance has a lot going for it: radiance, durability and, of course, as mentioned, a pleasant scent. However, you have to like powdery fragrances, as the scent is quite powdery, and perhaps not everyone likes that.

In any case, I can imagine the fragrance as a leisure fragrance as well as a night-out fragrance. The vanilla and the resinous-powdery aura give it an autumnal and wintery feel, but as it is not too heavy, I think it can also be used in spring. Only on really hot summer days should you perhaps reach for a different fragrance.

Does the name of the fragrance match the scent? So "divine child"? No... not really, because names like that are more for creative marketing than for the fragrance. Okay, sometimes some people say that the fragrance smells divine, but that's still different from a divine child.

And anyway, what I imagine divine children to be... no, I'd rather not say that now. Even though I may not have mentioned it in my comments for a while, some of you may remember that I'm into a lot of things (which I'm sure you find bizarre) like Star Wars, video games and... comics, of course. So who would most likely come to mind when I think of the Divine Child? Of course: Thor, the son of Odin... and I'm talking about the comic book character that many should know from the Marvel movies by now, not the mythological figure! See where this is about to go? :D
Tsss... There's even a perfume of Thor called "Thor Bring the Thunder (EDP)" by Marvel (you'll have to search for it yourself, it's not here in the Parfumo database... BECAUSE NOBODY IS INTERESTED!!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaarghgrhgrhgrgh!!!!).

Okay then,... I'll come to the end of this comment and wish you a nice evening, until next time :) And please read some comics! :D
11 Comments
DonJuanDeCat 15 days ago 15 8
6
Bottle
5
Sillage
6
Longevity
8
Scent
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Like freshly brewed fig tea
Hey guys, welcome to a new fragrance description from me. A dear perfumer was kind enough to send me a sample of this fragrance here, "Fig Infusion" by "Essential Parfums" and has actually been complaining for days that I still haven't described it, hey hey :D

Soo, there are two scents in this fragrance that I personally quite like. The first is tea. Most of you who have already read some of my comments know by now that I really like tea fragrances and therefore always like to try out new tea fragrances. Tea simply has a very special fragrance that smells really wonderful to me, especially black tea, although other tea fragrances are of course also great for me. I also like drinking tea, but... WITHOUT MILK!!! Ha, I haven't written this here for ages, but tea with milk is an abomination for me, buärks... igitt!!!! Milk is more than okay in coffee, but in tea.... Nah nah, stay away from me :D

Anyway, the second scent in this fragrance, which I also really like, is fig. However, fig is also a double-edged sword for me: on the one hand, there is the sweet fruity fig, which smells pretty great and I also really like this fragrance. However, there is also a type of fig that quickly smells quite dry and stuffy, which I don't like at all. It's hard to describe, but the kind of fig I quite like is in fragrances such as Philosykos by Diptyque or Fico di Amalfi by Acqua di Parma.

So, now that it's been clarified that there are two great fragrances in here for me, I'm naturally curious to see what the fragrance smells like :)

The fragrance:
The fragrance starts with a slightly sweet fig, which smells quite nice. There are citrusy notes in the background, which of course go well with the fig. However, the citrusy scents do not smell like the pulp of the oranges and mandarins mentioned here, but more like the slightly bitter peel of these fruits. Then, after a minute or two, a wonderful (albeit slightly faint) tea fragrance hits you, namely black tea, which smells as if you were smelling a packet of dried, i.e. not (yet) brewed tea leaves. Anyone who knows me here knows that I particularly like tea fragrances, so I really like the top note of this fragrance.
A little later, it continues to smell of tea and figs, although the tea is now a little weaker again. Floral scents are now added.
Towards the base, the citrusy scents disappear more and more, leaving the main part with figs and tea. In the background, the fragrance seems to become a little softer or creamier. And as time goes on, a fragrance note is added that initially feels slightly woody and spicy, but eventually turns out to be cedarwood, which incidentally is also very fitting with the rest of the fig and tea mix. A pretty nice fragrance!

The sillage and the longevity:
Unfortunately, I find the sillage quite weak here. Perhaps the fragrance comes into its own a little better on warm days, but I have the feeling that others would have to get quite close to you to be able to smell the fragrance on you.
This also results in a short shelf life of only a few hours, but at least you can spray the fragrance again if you want.

The bottle:
The bottle is rectangular and has a simple, square label with the fragrance name on the front. The lid is black and cylindrical. Even if the glass of the bottle is certainly of a higher quality, it is visually quite boring for me, based on the typical 0815 niche fragrance bottle design without any real recognizable features.

Conclusion:
Sooo, I quite liked this fragrance. Because as I said, I like tea and fig fragrances, especially when the fig smells nice and sweet and not stuffy and dry (this can happen very late in the base, but by then the fragrance is over anyway :D). And the cedar at the end rounds everything off even more.

However, it is a bit of a shame that the fragrance is quite weak in its radiance. For me at least, I had the feeling that the fragrance became quite body-like very soon after spraying it on. But that's the way it is sometimes with summer fragrances and who knows, maybe its radiance is actually better on warmer days. Otherwise, I would recommend the fragrance more for your leisure time, if you like the scents listed. It is simply too weak for going out. Incidentally, it is also suitable as an office or work fragrance because it is subtle and won't get on anyone's nerves.

So... that's all I've done with this fragrance... all that's left is a fragrance from Parfuma. Let's see how long I'll let her grumble this time before I test the fragrance, he he he :D

Well then, have a nice evening everyone, see you next time :)
8 Comments
DonJuanDeCat 1 month ago 18 12
5
Bottle
4
Sillage
5
Longevity
5.5
Scent
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A night in Paris?
Hi guys, I'm here again to write a fragrance review, which of course you have to read as usual. Hm, it kind of sounds like I'm forcing you to do it, but of course I'd be happy if you read it :D

Today it's about "Paris Gecesi", which sometimes (at least in newer fragrance packaging) can also be found with the English name "Paris Night" and no, it has nothing to do with the revealing video that Paris Hilton shot with her boyfriend many years ago (yes, admit it, we all know what's meant, don't we? :D) But I hope you'll keep reading anyway, even if nothing revealing is to be expected here anymore... *sigh* :DD

No, Paris Night is a fragrance by the Turkish cologne manufacturer Eyüp Sabri Tuncer, which now offers a whole range of colognes and is best compared to brands like 4711. In general, cologne is a very big part of Turkish culture and whenever I visit relatives there, I'm always offered a cologne! Unfortunately, 90% of them are the usual lemon cologne instead of something more "exotic", but what the heck :D
Luckily, a good friend brought me some sample versions of these fragrances from her vacations, so I can try other fragrances and of course introduce them to you :)

By the way, the original name of the fragrance is Paris Gecesi, which means Parisian night :)

The fragrance:
It starts with strong, resinous notes (such as incense and benzoin), with a hint of oakmoss. The fragrance is also quite sweet, which could come from the vanilla, even if you can't quite smell the vanilla itself yet.
After the big, resinous cloud of scent has lifted a little, I can smell something like the DNA of every Sabri Tuncer fragrance or colognes in the background: citrus notes. Although they seem fresh, the citrusy part is very weak here and therefore remains far in the background.
A short while later, you can smell floral notes, mainly roses and carnations, mixed with a little patchouli. The oakmoss also seems to be a little stronger now.
The sweetish note, which I identified as vanilla at the beginning, is now clearly actually amber, because you can smell it quite well now too.
Amber, resins in general, some clove and light patchouli are ultimately the main base notes, and combined together they all smell quite good, especially for such an inexpensive fragrance. However: much later, after most of the fragrance notes have faded, the scent leaves a not particularly pleasant residual scent on the skin (but especially on clothing, where it can even stay for days), which is best left to go away when you wash or shower the area.

The sillage and longevity:
The sillage is, as usual for colognes, quite weak, as the fragrance is intended for oneself anyway rather than to attract the attention of others. Of course, this fragrance is a little heavier than a usual cologne and therefore the sillage is better than that of the citrusy or fresher variants, but on the whole, the aura is rather weak. The longevity, on the other hand, is unusually long for a cologne, but as mentioned, a large part of this longevity does not smell particularly good in itself.

The bottle:
The bottle is cylindrical and made of glass. It is interspersed with vertical grooves (quite different from the photo here on Parfumo), which are interrupted in the upper part of the bottle, where there is a smooth area where the label is attached. The bottle is finished off with a cylindrical lid, which is also grooved and chrome-plated. It all looks nice and for the fact that the fragrances are inexpensive, the bottle doesn't even look that cheap, at least if you get the fragrance in a glass bottle, as there are also PET bottle flacons that actually come across as rather cheap.

Conclusion:
Okay, I don't know why the fragrance is called Paris Night (or Paris Gecesi), but I also don't know what Paris smells like at night. Well, Paris is supposed to be the city of love or lovers, and since I'm not really an expert in love matters, I've never been to Paris with anyone to be able to tell what Paris smells like at night :D
The last time I saw the city, I was there with a relative who lived in a somewhat run-down neighborhood, where someone had torched a garbage can on the very first night and there was a lot of noise with police sirens and such... yep, definitely the city of love!... :D

But back to the fragrance: yes, it's something different from the typical lemon cologne and the incense-vanilla-patchouli combination isn't too bad at first. However, the whole thing has a slight, synthetic touch, even if it doesn't seem as cheap as it might sound. However, the fragrance quickly reaches the base and beyond that, the scent no longer smells particularly good. I don't really like the late drydown in particular, which is also the reason why I rate the fragrance lower.

In any case, it's the same with 4711 fragrances: you shouldn't expect too much, but there are some really nice scents among them. There is now a large selection here too, so you can definitely try out various fragrances, as it doesn't really hurt (your wallet) if you make a mistake. That's why it's great to have such small sample bottles, although they are probably more difficult to find here in Germany. I think you have to reach for the 4711s here...

In any case, the fact that this fragrance lasts a little longer means that it can also be worn as a casual daytime fragrance, as long as you like the above scents, the season is almost irrelevant here. You won't bother anyone with it,... not even my little cat is bothered by it, though she is also a bit weird as she sniffs EVERYTHING, even onions (not cut ones :D), and yes, I know that onions are harmful to cats, but as long as she just sniffs them and moves on, everything is okay :)

So, I've just talked for ages again, but that's it now, so I wish you all a nice evening, see you next time :)
12 Comments
DonJuanDeCat 2 months ago 16 9
8
Bottle
6
Sillage
8
Longevity
7.5
Scent
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Jump into the waves
Hello fragrance fanatics, welcome to a new fragrance review from me. This time I have put my nose into the fragrance 23NAO - North Atlantic Ocean by Agua de Surf! As you can tell from the name, it's a brand founded by surf lovers, so it's no wonder that here comes a fragrance that bears the name of the North Atlantic Ocean.

According to the description, this fragrance is reminiscent of both the cold and salty seawater of the ocean and the typical vegetation of coastal areas, such as sea cucumbers that grow on the rocks of the coasts... ha ha, that was a joke, I KNOW that sea cucumbers are animals, after all, I know a lot more about animals than plants :D

Anyway, the whole thing sounds quite nice, after all, you have certain associations with something like that, like a great vacation and such. Yes, I'm sure most people are already wishing for summer anyway, now that it's still cool and rainy... sigh, I'd rather have fall because of Halloween, which I love so much and recently put up some great decorations and carved a pumpkin. Well, I had to hand over almost my entire supply of sweets to sticky, squishy children's hands on Halloween evening, but what the heck, it only happens once a year! :D But I digress, once again...

So back to the smell of surfing. Well, I don't know anything about surfing. I like jumping into the waves in the water, but then I often lose my glasses (fortunately only cheap glasses, if I don't have contact lenses to hand and therefore have to go into the water with glasses). The fact that this always happens when the waves cause a good friend's bra to slip and expose her and I can't see ANYTHING but blurry skin on an otherwise very interesting part of my body because of the lost glasses is much more tragic... *sigh* :DD And of course it always has to happen to ME... I really need to get contact lenses again!!!

Soo, let's smell what this fragrance smells like. Or rather, I smell and write, and you read and criticize me :D

The fragrance:
I smell sage, black pepper and a fair amount of oud at the beginning and wonder why a fragrance named after the North Atlantic contains oud... but the oud soon fades, even though the fragrance doesn't smell aquatic (yet) despite a certain freshness. After a few minutes, however, this actually changes, giving the fragrance an aquatic touch, and together with the ambery sweetness, it doesn't smell bad at all. The oud is now more in the background, but a somewhat earthy note emerges with the vetiver, which fits in well with the rest.
As the fragrance progresses, the oud returns a little and smells about as intense as the vetiver. From the middle section onwards, woody notes also emerge, which become more intense over time and also smell very good. These woody notes can then be clearly identified as cedar wood. Due to the distinctive cedar, however, the fragrance seems more masculine than unisex to me.
Towards the end, the fragrance remains woody and sweetish due to the cedar and amber, and a little later it becomes a little more earthy and tart... I think after the sweeter notes have faded, you can smell the oud and vetiver better again.

The sillage and the durability:
The sillage is okay at the beginning, then weakens a little, but is generally more intense than most other summer fragrances. This is probably due to fragrance notes such as oud, vetiver and woody scents. So you can certainly smell it for a while when it's close to you. I would put the longevity at eight to ten hours, which is pretty good.

The bottle:
The bottle is rectangular and has a thicker base. On the front you can see the name and brand, as well as the logo in the form of a fish silhouette. The lid is particularly beautiful and creative. It appears to be made of stone and is slightly bent. Some blue has been added to the top of the bent area. This means that the lid represents a cross-section of a coastline, which is pretty great and creative! All in all, the bottle turned out really great precisely because of the lid.

Conclusion:
Soo, first of all two things: the fragrance smells fresh, but doesn't necessarily remind me of the North Atlantic or the ocean at all. It smells much more like one of the shower gels that I actually quite like using: Duschdas Noire, which has quite an intense cedarwood scent. Perhaps this is also due to the slightly synthetic aftertaste of the fragrance, which reminds me of a shower gel.
Secondly, precisely because of the cedarwood and the slightly Barbarshop-like aura, I would say that the fragrance is for the most part more masculine and therefore suits men better than women.

Otherwise, as mentioned, it is a solid and fresh (although not quite as fresh as citrusy fragrances), woody summer fragrance that starts with a few scent notes, but then "specializes" more in cedarwood, amber and some vetiver in the base. It can be used mainly in spring, summer and even in fall as a daytime fragrance, as it is a little too unspectacular for going out.

So you can give it a try if you like woody and aquatic fragrances. And that's it from me again, I wish you all a nice evening! See you next time :)
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