Fenice

Hellooooooohoooo *hectically waving like a maniac* here I am again!

Guess who is NOT out in nature in this heat and nice weather, but squatting in the cool apartment? That's right, ME! :D And guess who spends Sunday testing perfume instead of eating yummy ice cream? YAAAHAAA, ME! :D

Well, today I got hold of Percival (ok, lied, he is already since a few weeks but psssst!) and today Percival had to believe in it again and make acquaintance with my hand :D NO, not meant ambiguously! :D Smell my fist, what does it smell like? Um... Percival? Phew, thankfully not like a graveyard! :D haha.

Percival has interested me for what feels like 100 years and when I hear PDM, I immediately get curious because I like PDM a lot! So I got myself a bottling of Percival some time ago and was like then with Layton, immediately positively surprised! So tested several times, yes, TODAY also again!

Should I start or keep talking pointless stuff? I'll roll the dice, on a 6 I'll stop! Damn it, a 6!

I say, no, I hate to write it but with Percival I have a really hard time describing exactly what it smells like and more importantly, what it smells like. It definitely smells very good, well-groomed, a little sweet and indeed like freshly showered, with a very high-quality, expensive shower gel.

I'll give it a try though... I smell very faint bergamot, then I smell mandarin (kind of reminds me of MFK Amyris Homme Extrait de Parfum), pepper, aromatic notes or spices, very faintly something floral, very faintly cinnamon and faintly the balsam fir. Everything else I just can't smell, no matter how hard I try :o apparently my nose is broken.... I had tested already so some perfumes and with nearly all I could identify up to now approx. 80% of the smell notes, with Percival succeeds me this, for whatever reason, however, simply not, no matter how much I also try.

Sillage is pretty good, depending on how much you spray of it, you can still detect it a few feet away. Durability is also pretty good and thrilled me. With me somehow almost every perfume lasts 12+ hours on the skin.

I really like PDM, but I just don't like the light blue color :( I really like the dark blue in Layton better. This light blue somehow reminds me of Peter Lustig's construction trailer (Löwenzahn) and in general it kind of reminds me of old times where a lot of things were painted light blue (fences, barn doors, the one or other tractor, trailer etc.). Yes, correctly recognized, I grew up in the country :D but otherwise I like the bottle (like all others from PDM) also very good, because these are very high quality, solid and noble.

Percival reminds me of holidays every time, I really have no idea why but it just does! Every time I smell Percival or spray it on myself, I am immediately on vacation in my mind. I was as a child almost every year on vacation, although not abroad but but inland and often in Bavaria (because of the Alps, forests and beautiful nature) and exactly I must somehow think of.

As for the price: 150 € or even more I also consider absolutely not justified! The fragrance is indeed really good and pleasant and great for spring, summer, autumn and certainly winter and for office, going out, dates and what I know everything, BUT there is somehow missing that certain something, the extraordinary.

Yes, Layton is for many also no longer special and even mainstream, but I must honestly confess: Layton smells for me actually just better and higher quality, I would buy again at any time, provided that the price is right. Percival I would also buy but not for the estimated price. 100€ or at most 110€ I would pay for it, but no more.

I would really like to have reported more and would have liked to go deeper into the fragrance but my nose does not want to Percival somehow as I want :(

@!Thanks*
Thanks to MissPdMarly for the bottling :)

Finally it's time again for a review :D and this time I have myself none other than Xerjoff Amber Star vorgeknöpft!

Hachja... Xerjoff... a brand that is mega hyped just like PDM, Creed, MFK and Tom Ford, so I HAD to test what's up with this hype.

When the bottling of Amber Star arrived, I couldn't wait to finally test this, after all, according to reviews etc, Amber Star MUST be PURE GOLD, anything else would be "blasphemy". Well, let's do it!

I actually have a hard time describing the scent because this one starts off, I don't know, woody(?) and then vanilla comes in. Anyway, it smells really good and I can also understand why many here describe the top note as the "best", because it's really quite good. As it progresses, however, you notice that the scent becomes sweeter but not at all sticky sweet but pleasant. After several hours the scent develops, how shall I say? I honestly do not know, but it just smells 1:1 after Parfums de Marly Carlisle.

Unfortunately, I can not describe the fragrance in more detail, because it smells woody, vanilla and slightly spicy with me but after which wood, etc. I can not say, because I do not know and am not yet so well trained to be able to smell out exactly.

When I sprayed on the fragrance and it smelled after several hours in the drydown after Parfums de Marly Carlisle, I had wondered at first very much and thought: "Why does it smell here after Carlisle? Where did that come from? I didn't have anyone over!". Then I went through the whole apartment but found nothing, went to the balcony but there it didn't smell like Carlisle either. When I lay in bed in the evening, it still smelled like Carlisle and then I noticed that my wrist smelled like Carlisle, but I couldn't explain why, because I hadn't sprayed on any Carlisle and I don't own any Carlisle anymore. The next day I immediately went here on Parfumo and looked at Amber Star and Carlisle and could hardly believe my eyes! The base note (except for benzoin and patchouli) is identical, also the smell of Amber Star and Carlisle is identical in the drydown (base note).

Base note Amber Star: Bourbon vanilla, sandalwood, benzoin, opoponax
Base note Carlisle: vanilla, patchouli, sandalwood, opoponax

Anyone who owns Carlisle and Amber Star (both), spray you both times and wait several hours, the drydown will be the one and the same!

If I had to test blind, I wouldn't be able to tell if the scent was from Parfums de Marly or Xerjoff. If I didn't know it was from Xerjoff and someone gave it to me to smell blindly and told me it was from Parfums de Marly, I would believe it immediately, because Amber Star could very well have been a creation of PDM from the smell. If PDM created this and the price was reasonable, I would buy the fragrance without hesitation. Exactly if Xerjoff would sell for a maximum of 220€ as 100ml, I would buy immediately.

@!SillageDurabilityBottle Since I am torn, on the one hand yes because of the top and heart notes, as these are really very nice. On the other hand, no, because it smells in the drydown simply 1:1 like Parfums de Marly Carlisle (base note).

Those who value the top and heart notes: Yes, there I can recommend Xerjoff Amber Star.

Who puts value on the base note: No, since I would reach for PDM Carlisle, is much cheaper (with promotions / discounts) than Xerjoff Amber Star and smells 1:1 like Amber Star in the drydown (base note).

General recommendation: NO! Not because of the fragrance, which is really good and pleasant (I could not find the urine note mentioned here from time to time simply), but because of the price: Even if the fragrance is good, the flacon and box very nice and high quality, that just does not justify the price of 660€ or 330€ or similar per flacon. Even if both bottles cost 300€ each and the box 60€, that still doesn't justify such an astronomical price. Even considering the milliliter number of 50ml each, I find the price in no way justified.

@!Heartbreaker Many thanks to MissPDMarly for bottling Xerjoff Amber Star :) a very nice person!

Who thinks now: "Why Flop?" here a short story about it:

As so often I was bored and watched a few YouTube videos, among others I somehow found a video of Marc Gebauer talking about perfume with Herbert Stricker (I had to google who that is), both of them came up with the topic of Creed Aventus and from then on it became interesting. Herbert Stricker (who by the way was already working for Xerjoff, if I read correctly) then said: "What many people don't know: Aventus was a flop in the beginning." When asked when and why, Herbert answered: "When I don't know anymore, right at the beginning, nobody wanted to buy Aventus". Besides, it seems that Herbert doesn't think much of Creed and their Aventus, he didn't say that directly but you could hear it very clearly through the flower, he literally mentioned that there are millions of dupes of Aventus, which don't smell exactly like Aventus but are very close to it or go in the same direction / pick up the same topic. When asked why Aventus always smells different and doesn't last as well, he replied: "Once the money machine is running, many people think Now we can lower the production costs and then offer worse to make even more profit".

At this point I would like to mention that I did not take over his words completely 1:1 but by and large he said exactly what I wrote here.

In principle Herbert mentioned exactly what many people including me thought for a very long time and with him you can be sure that he doesn't talk bullshit, because he has a good reputation and it is not necessary to say anything deliberately bad.

Even if you look at many honest videos and reviews about Aventus, you can see that Aventus is compulsively liked only because of its (unjustified hype) - keyword: followers! Also you can see very clearly that Aventus is everything but the "King" and even less a "can opener" or "panty-dropper", because the majority of the ladies don't like Aventus and it is mostly the gentlemen who think Aventus is good.

But now let's get to the scent!

""Top note""
Aventus opens with a nice pineapple note, but as usual it doesn't last very long. Afterwards apple, bergamot and black currant spread out, whereby I personally smell mainly bergamot and only minimally apple and currant.

""Heart note""
After some time, about 10 minutes, the top note slowly fades away and the heart note emerges with its notes of birch, jasmine, patchouli, juniper berry and rose, whereby, at least for me, the bergamot from the top note can still be perceived. In the heart note I only smell the birch minimally (is said to have been much stronger in the past). Jasmine, patchouli, juniper berry and rose I can't perceive personally, but it seems to be up to me or my untrained nose

""Base note""
After a few hours, when the heart note fades away and the base note with ambergris, oakmoss, musk and vanilla makes its way to the top, Aventus becomes clearly astringent but still remains in a good balance. Personally I only smell ambergris and musk from the base note on. I personally don't smell oakmoss and vanilla at all!

""bottle""
I like the bottle in its hip flask shape very much and it looks high-quality and beautiful. The flacon is an eye-catcher in any case.

""Durability & Sage"
The durability and sillage is sometimes good and sometimes not so good, it depends on which batch you have, even if I don't care much about it.

"Conclusion" "
Aventus is undoubtedly a good perfume but definitely not worth its price! Also Aventus is NOT a King and also NOT a Panty-Dropper. There are many, clearly better perfumes than Aventus, even if one includes the meanwhile hundreds of Dupes (dark number unknown). The hype about Aventus is also more than just exaggerated and unnecessary, and the constant analysis of every new bottle is also exaggerated! I'm sorry to have destroyed the illusion of the Creed fans at this point.

Aventus is good, but nothing more!

I know, many would probably like to beat me up now and probably also like to delete the text here and many will probably also click on "not very helpful", because I took the insolence out of myself and criticized their darling and wrote the truth but I don't mind all that, because you have to be fair and honest for once and not only praise but also criticize.

With this in mind: Merry Christmas and a happy new year I wish you all!

I don't really know how or where to start...

Carlisle... A perfume that has interested me a lot for over a year, not least because of the strangely many good reviews and ratings. Can so many noses be wrong? I always thought not. Well... dazzled by the many good reviews and ratings, I ordered (must have been in the middle of the year) a bottling here on Parfumo and a bottle directly from a well-known perfumery. As dazzled as I was, I thought that if I liked the bottling, I would have the bottle in the house. Yes, naive of me, very naive indeed! I don't know what possessed me to think and act that way

But since I was seriously ill at that time and had to digest several serious blows of fate, I left the bottling and the OVP bottle, which is still foiled to this day - understandably so.

But for some time now I have pulled myself together to finally test Carlisle and was surprised, negatively surprised...

With me, Carlisle starts incredibly violent with a very heavy portion of menthol and nutmeg and something else unpleasant (saffron?) I don't know. I actually have to think of a cold or flu-like infection, as this strong menthol smell reminds me of ointment, cough drops and spicy cough syrup for adults. Unfortunately, this strong, unpleasant smell remains for me for a very long time - much too long!

In the later course the smell diminishes a bit and reminds of a mixture of Layton and Herod but still remains unpleasant for me. Where my beloved vanilla now is or remains, I don't know.

I have not unpacked my bottle but have seen photos here and on the internet - I like it very much! The flacon is like the others from PDM, very massive and heavy.

Sillage and durability are violent (similar to MFK Grand Soir) and can certainly be smelled from a few meters away.

Even though I like PDM a lot, Carlisle was unfortunately a mistake for me. It may smell nice from a distance, but from close up I find it just unpleasant.

Carlisle causes a burning in my nose, slightly watery eyes, a slight headache and somehow even discomfort

I personally just don't get warm with Carlisle and will probably sell mine

Carlisle is very high quality and worth every cent for someone who likes this direction but I'll stick with Layton and Herod.

.... That's my thought over and over again when I take out Tonka Imperiale to sniff it, even though I'm sure I'll look like a full nest every time I do so :D

Actually I could save it but NO WAY! Some time ago I got Tonka Imperiale together with Spiritueuse Double Vanilla and Cuir Beluga as bottling. Yes, yes, I have already mentioned this twice (see Cuir Beluga and SDV) but I like to repeat myself, muhaha :D so... Where was I now? Sniffing? Oh hell yes!

Every time I spray it on, I sniff Christmas! You know those wafer things they serve at Christmas? That's what I keep thinking about because that's what Tonka Imperiale smells like on my skin! I really don't know why, but Tonka Imperiale knows very well that I like Christmas and that's why it reminds me of it with pure intention? Away with you, you evil Tonka Imperiale, you must not read my thoughts! :D Haaaalt Stop, now I'm writing! >br />

Right after I spray it on, I smell holy... no, wait, we just did that I smell almond, rosemary, a touch of cinnamon (where does cinnamon come from, wtf?) tonka bean and very faint incense. Later the rosemary gets weaker, but the almond and the spicy one stays and slowly something woody comes through but whether it's cedar or pine I can't say, I'm not trained enough in this area. I do not sniff bergamot, jasmine and tobacco

Unfortunately I can't say much about the sillage and durability. The durability is on the skin some hours (as with SDV and Cuir Beluga).

Just like the others of the series (they are all the same) I think they are pretty nice, although there are certainly more beautiful ones, but they are still nice to look at

Final words! Final words!
Since Tonka Imperiale smells Christmassy, I think the fragrance from October - end of December fits perfectly. After that and before that, but best of all in the BEFORE Christmas and Christmas season

I can recommend the fragrance with a clear conscience, even if there are stronger ones for the price. Guerlain has done a good job here!

So... Now I'll leave again, because I can't think of anything else :D

I hope my description was not quite ready for trash :D adios