NicheOnly

This is an early contender for worst release of 2024. Yes, it dropped in December of 2023, but I'm still ranking it in 2024 as well.

From the very first moments I'm underwhelmed. "Dubai - Ajyal | Nabeel" opens with a blast of sweet-fresh candied apple, tropical fruit (melon type) and an omnipresent feeling of (slightly aquatic) muskiness. It smells *a lot* like cheapie designer/niche trash - think Kajal or better yet, think "Ambassador for Men | Gisada". It could basically be Gisada Ambassador without the overwhelming Sauvage aspects. But even the Gisada is better blended.

I'm a little bit lost as to what their inspiration was here as the only place where this scent smells as much as decent is in the vial. In the vial, I get vibes of that Ambassador DNA mixed perhaps with mild hints of the "Solstis | Fragrance Du Bois" and/or "Météore | Louis Vuitton" DNA. In the initial drydown, that mint brings a very slight bitterness which I'd relate to a scent like Xerjoff's "XJ 1861 Renaissance | XerJoff". While the musky-fruity type profile remains throughout, the on-skin blending of this scent when you smell it up-close is beyond embarrassing for a niche fragrance retailing at €255/50ml. Even Kilian produces better fresh fragrances than this (and that's saying something).

Welcome back to Release Radar. "Narcotic Delight | Initio" is my first 2024 sample.

Given that I'm something equivalent to an Initio veteran, "Narcotic Delight | Initio" instantly smelled very familiar, but I just couldn't figure out what it was. The scent opens boozy with a sugared-syrupy cherry feel. We can wipe out all the comparisons to scents like "Side Effect | Initio" and "Duchessa | Gritti" within seconds. The cherry feels present in the structure, but the scent profile is led by the cognac and the very tame tobacco. The overall structure is more akin to a Kilian fragrance than to an Initio one as I get some hints of scents like "Smoking Hot | Kilian", "Black Phantom Memento Mori | Kilian" and others. The scent feels very simple in structure to the point where I feel as if we can wipe out a good bunch of the scent pyramid to leave just the cherry, vanilla and cognac. I don't notice the hedione which has historically smelled quite synthetic and reminiscent of bad body odor in some of Initio's other fragrances.

And then the real comparison came in. If we simplify the scent down, it feels like the feminine-leaning cherry-equivalent to Kilian's "Apple Brandy on the Rocks | Kilian". Everything about this scent, especially in the drydown, feels exactly like Apple Brandy OTR: the mild fruity accord, the ever-present yet tame sweetness, the feeling of booziness and perhaps most importantly, the lack of other dominating accords. While "Apple Brandy on the Rocks | Kilian" is a fresh profile with an overt masculine feel, "Narcotic Delight | Initio" feels like the spring-fall equivalent with a mild feminine feel.

On the tertiary factors, on my skin "Narcotic Delight | Initio" is quite fleeting. It's not as fleeting as "Apple Brandy on the Rocks | Kilian", but it's still poor with average-leaning-weak sillage (max 5/10). I am expecting longevity in the 6-7 hour range. With the release of Narcotic Delight, Initio once again hiked prices with this costing €255/90ml. Initio previously used to be good value and now that value is slowly dissipating. While the lack of direct 1-to-1 competition increases value, the lack of performance brings it back down and as such, I'll give it a 4/10. "Narcotic Delight | Initio" is a spring-fall dumb-reach type fragrance, but it also has a "Flavor of the Month" feel to it and you may get bored of it quite quickly if you were to purchase it as a collector.

In a year where niche perfumery was flooded with cheap designer vanilla and many imitations of (and those taking inspiration from) "Ganymede (Eau de Parfum) | Marc-Antoine Barrois", the most unique fragrance release goes to Vilhelm Parfumerie.

Make no mistake about it, the blend quality of this fragrance is not entirely there as the scent smells quite synthetic. But it is the accords being combined where the uniqueness stems from. Pistachio has recently been a very trendy note, but this takes that note in a completely different direction. As the scent first opens in the air, it smells (on top of being synthetic) sweet and aldehydic. The pistachio note is done somewhat well and has a creamy feel to it, but everything else is quite rough around the edges, leaving me with the impression that this scent is structured like a Marc-Antoine Barrois gourmand (of which there aren't any for those wondering).

Up-close the multitude of accords is very much noteworthy. The scent is both woody and rubbery, with the styrax bringing a mild animalic flair and the driftwood adding smoky tones. The aldehyde tonalities have somewhat subsided. The overall scent structure reminds me of something like "Écrin de fumée | Serge Lutens" as there are synthetics, there is sweetness, and there is an underlying woodiness. I will note "Faces of Francis | Vilhelm Parfumerie" has little spiciness, so for the comparison to make sense, you'd have to exchange the tobacco note for a woody one to have the comparison make sense.

It's hard to rate this as the non-synthetic wafts of creamy pistachio are great, but I get those every 1-in-10. Therefore, I cannot rate it above a 5.0/10. Expected longevity is in the 8-9 hour range and the sillage is largely moderate (7/10) with potential for strong. If this was done in smoother fashion, it likely would've made top 5 on the year.

This is what niche perfumery is all about. After an extremely lackluster year of market saturation, designer imitation, niche flankers, and the obsession with synthetics; "Aquila Absolute | Electimuss" is one of the limited few fragrances that stands out for the underlying product. The reason why it stands out is because the scent itself is a great example of what niche houses can achieve when they try to create something worthwhile. There is a legitimate argument that this is Julien Rasquinet's best release *ever*.

Let me offer you a short-form summary of the fragrance's evolution: "Aquila Absolute | Electimuss" opens fruity & rosy. These tones are flanked by a sweet & aromatic cardamom. Up-close you get masculine, bitter fougère type qualities which are ultimately backed by a fairly tame leather base.

Now take that description and try to think how you would recreate this fragrance with other ones. The fruity-rosy open can be viewed as the equivalent of "Rose Omeyyade (Extrait) | Atelier des Ors" which is a rose & raspberry fragrance. The scent then has the cardamom which is somewhat soft, but given the lack of cardamom-focused fragrances in the niche market, imagine a non-spicy version of Xerjoff's "Starlight | XerJoff". The bitter fougère tonalities here will be reminiscent of fragrances like "Original Collection - X: The Masculine Perfume of the Perfect Pair / X for Men | Clive Christian" and "Reckless pour Homme (Parfum) | Roja Parfums", perhaps even "Burlington 1819 | Roja Parfums". The comparison to "Burlington 1819 | Roja Parfums" is especially accurate as the tones here (especially the violet leaf accord) give off a very specific body odor-esque feel like the cumin does in B1819. Lastly, the mild leather base is much like in Masque Milano's "I-III Russian Tea | Masque" which is a smoky leather-tea fragrances with raspberry & mint.

That lengthy description is the reason why "Aquila Absolute | Electimuss" is among the best niche releases of 2023. I have seen some of the comparisons suggested by the community and I don't think any of them really do this fragrance justice. The "Tuscan Leather (Eau de Parfum) | Tom Ford" comparisons are very much in bad faith as the core scent of Aquila Absolute is driven by the violet leaf and cardamom, not the raspberry and leather. Similarly, the oud here isn't prominent and therefore comparisons to scents like "The Moon | Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle" are also off, especially since animalic is not a top 10 accord with this fragrance. While Electimuss isn't exactly known for unique product, "Aquila Absolute | Electimuss" clearly is far enough from it's inspiration to make nailing that inspiration quite difficult.

The fragrance is ultimately let down by pricing (€340/100ml) and the performance isn't exactly mind-blowing as it gives off moderate sillage on approximately 8-9 hours of longevity. (call it 8 hours on moderate sillage). This is a spring-fall & maybe winter fragrance that has aspects suiting both younger and older gentlemen. A standout for Electimuss in 2023.

I welcome the Sospiro brand to Parfumo after years of moderator tomfoolery with a review of their only 2023 release "Deep Ocean Amber | Sospiro". Sospiro has another 3 releases coming next year that they teased at both Cannes TFWA and ScentXplore, so be on the look out (one of them is a cherry gourmand fragrance).

Impressions as I go through the wear, without looking at the notes: Warm spicy & floral right off the top. I think that is violet...? I naturally started to think it was a twist on "Oud Satin Mood (Eau de Parfum) | Maison Francis Kurkdjian", sans the prominent sweetness. But then, I began to notice "Angels' Share | Kilian". At least in the air, the balsamic amber you have here is the exact same one used in "Angels' Share | Kilian", albeit it clearly lacks the prominent sweetness of both OSM & AS. In the deep drydown, the scent has a hint of cinnamon which further showcases vibes of the aforementioned Kilian. But there is something in the back here that smells dry-animalic-woody, I am guessing it's styrax.

After pyramid: I think amber is clearly the #1 accord here, so the benzoin & labdanum are prominent. The name feels like a double entendre, because the ambergris (listed as a base note) I'd say is not as evident. I did some of this testing indoors and some of it outdoors - what I'd say is that the amber here smells like "Angels' Share | Kilian" *indoors* with a hint of sweetness (but it's moderate, unlike AS & OSM) and outdoors, the amber smells more like those from Carner Barcelona.

Evolution: Aggregate scent is always led by the amber accord. Up-close it first smelled warm spicy & floral, perhaps mildly boozy (about 5 minutes into the wear). Then the styrax really kicks in at about 10-15 minutes and is noticeable for the rest of it as the initial elemi-amber combo dies down a bit, giving it a mild animalic flair.

Very hard to bring up comparables, but think Oud Satin on 0.5x strength + styrax or Angels' Share - sweetness + styrax. I'd say moderate-to-strong sillage for the first 2-3 hours and then the scent dies down, lasting around 9-10 hours. Overall, a bit too much styrax in the base which takes away from the "good, but not great" opening. €330/100ml doesn't capture my attention. I rate it a 6.0/10 - it's the epitome of average product.