ScentBubble

Fortunately, in the package that "By the Fireplace" came with, there was also a sample of this fragrance here: "Jazz Club". After "By the Fireplace" had already moved me to a comment due to its uniqueness, I would now like to make an attempt herewith to familiarize the inclined reader a bit with "Jazz Club". So let's get to it.

Basically, the concept of Maison Margiela's "Replica" line aims to transport the fragrance wearer and those around him to certain places or to make him think of certain activities based on fragrance. What these are in detail - as well as other details about the fragrance - can be seen on the label, which in my opinion is very stylish and made of fabric. This concept finds by the way analogously also with parts of the clothing articles application, which are brought by the house on the market.

Let's see whether the perfumer Aliénor Massenet has succeeded in meeting the self-imposed claim.

First of all, the journey should take us back to the year 2013, and specifically to the Jazz Club Brooklyn. This is to succeed in the fragrance especially by the fact that it brings up associations with intoxicating cocktails and cigars.

"Jazz Club" opens its olfactory fireworks at medium volume with a vanilla sweetness, paired in equal parts with a very pleasant rum note. Patchouli and vetiver flit inconspicuously through the fragrance picture, which is altogether by a finely perceptible coconut touch reminiscent of an exotic drink, but without being really "boozy". So does "Jazz Club" reflect the smell - no, the scent - of intoxicating cocktails? Absolutely yes, because this is emphatically not about whiskey neat, but about - that's right - cocktails.

Let us now turn to the cigars. And exactly at this point there is a special feature: the perfumer was so prudent to take into account the in 2013 already, fortunately, firmly established non-smoker protection. The smoking visitor of the Jazz Club Brooklyn does not pursue his vice at the table, but rather goes to the door, where a few noble ashtrays and, in the colder seasons, a heater await him. When he returns to his table afterwards, he draws a light veil of scent, which can then be perceived very discreetly by the other guests. However: In the smokers' corner, the guests do not smoke a few roll-your-own cigarettes with tobacco from the corner discounter. Rather, the guests puff the finest cigars from the best growing areas.

Only for the sake of completeness it should be mentioned here that also the smell of the leather of the seating, which is usual for clubs, is found again. And indeed, the styrax resin finely woven into the fragrance picture actually provides a very discreet, decidedly balsamic leather note, which in particular, however, rather reminds of artificial than real leather. This, however, is expressly not to be understood as a negative connotation - quite the opposite.

The fragrance goes linearly into the drydown, where it then becomes much quieter. Here, however, it should be noted that he is in individual cases for the wearer after one to two hours barely perceptible and rather seems close to the skin, but for people in the immediate vicinity loosely-fluffy still six to seven hours can be well noticed, until he finally actually becomes close to the skin.

Of course, I would also like to take up the sporadically brought to the speech similarity to other known fragrances. Quite clearly are from my point of view similarities with Dolce & Gabbana's "The One". To make "Jazz Club" come across exactly like "The One", you would basically have to subtract rum and vanilla and add a few spices; however, the similarity is already quite noticeable without interfering with the scent. Parfums de Marly's "Herod" is much further away. Here would then be to remove only the rum note; however, the fragrances are per sé comparatively much further apart.

Ultimately, "Jazz Club" is a tendency gourmandiger fragrance, which can be worn except for the very hot days quite the whole year; gladly during the day, but especially in the evening hours, but never occasion-bound. The label says that it is a masculine fragrance. Personally, I can imagine that this classification was the result of an internal company vote in which "male" won out over "unisex" by one vote. To my mind, "Jazz Club" is equally wearable by both genders.

I for my part have in the meantime ordered one of the fancy apothecary bottles and am sure that I will wear the fragrance often and with pleasure. Test it should be in any case!

Thank you for reading!

A summer evening in 1988, ten young guys around a campfire, in the open air, on the banks of a river. The small town where they are at home and with it the everyday madness is only a few kilometres away. Not far away there is a large area of forest. Two crates of beer have been placed in the water on a particularly shallow part of the riverbank for the purpose of sustainable and above all environmentally friendly cooling. A bottle of vodka is handed from man to man. The filling level of the bottle decreases rapidly with each round of the campfire. A small ghetto blaster provides the appropriate musical setting. The mood is very good to exuberant according to the occasion. The social group is worried because the campfire is gradually getting smaller, which warms body and soul. The former is an effect not to be underestimated with regard to the recently enjoyed nightly bath in the rather cool river. Stealthy glances at the wood storage place lead to the sobering realization that there is no firewood left. Finally Torsten takes heart and takes the initiative. He raises his chin, looks reproachfully and demandingly into the round and asks:

"Whose turn is it to get wood?" "

After a few seconds of pointing at the person sitting next to me and hurried "Hey, I've already got today" shouts, the eyes rest on one of the two Jens' present. Jens resignedly lowers his head, stands up awkwardly and moves towards the edge of the forest. His best buddy Frank gets up shortly afterwards and staggers after: "Hey, old man! Wait, I'm coming with you!"

"He who is closer to the fire will warm up faster", says a Hungarian proverb. Fortunately, it hasn't become socially accepted until now to light a fire immediately, if one craves for its calming effect for body and soul - and this is exactly where "Replica - By the Fireplace" comes into play.

The fragrance starts out loud and clear on the masculine side, with a spicy note, which is dominated by pink pepper and juniper and of course lots of smoke. As simple as it may seem, but it smells plain and simple like around a campfire or like outerwear after a stay at one, especially the next morning - but in a pleasant way. Sounds strange, but it is so.

However, you shouldn't be deceived by this, as With the drydown By the Fireplace delivers a fabulous twist. Within a few minutes the synthetic, but also soft and musky note of cashmeran and a sweet vanilla are added. If you frown and wonder how sweet vanilla doesn't smell, you might want to try "Just Rock" and wait a quarter of an hour. And indeed, this sweet vanilla, rounded off with a balsamic note, gives the impression of holding a stick of marshmallows over the fire that has just been lit. At the latest here, By the Fireplace clearly opens itself to the lovers of feminine fragrances, almost taking their side. The chestnut, which is often mentioned, I can perceive only very easily in the background.

Overall, the fragrance ultimately remains sweet and woody, enriched with a spicy note. This makes it wearable in autumn and winter, but also on cool spring and in my opinion even summer evenings. Also as a date fragrance it will not cut a bad figure on the side of both sexes.

After about one to two hours of stronger projection By the Fireplace becomes significantly quieter and after six to seven hours of close up.

So if you like sweet, woody, smoky and yes - gourmand scents, you should take a nose full and will not regret it, I'm sure!

Thanks for reading!

Sabine and Achim are a couple for ages. It hasn't always been easy, but they have always stuck together and defied the often harsh reality. The two children they have had together are now out of the house. Marie moved into their student flat two years ago, Hannes has already earned his spurs as an engineer with a well-known company. But the house has by no means become too big as the children have moved out. Marie's room is now used as a guest room, Hannes' former domicile was converted into a gambling den immediately after he moved out. From time to time Achim has cyber-battles with mates of the same age. In the beginning Sabine rolled her eyes, meanwhile she smiles about it.

Today, on this late summer afternoon, everything is just right. The sun is doing its best once again. Both have done the budget as planned and now a little bit of Saturday afternoon. So nothing was more obvious than to pick some delicious things out of the fridge, put a bottle of wine in it, get on the e-bikes and just ride, always in the direction of nature.

Finally they find a cosy place on a forest meadow, not far from the sparsely travelled country road.

Achim pulls blanket and food out of the bicycle bag, Sabine takes the wine out of the blue cool transport box. She smiles at her husband like on the first day, hands him the bottle and asks:

"Would you like to pour the wine, honey?"

Achim is fine. He is proud of his wife, still can hardly resist her smile - and has put on "French Lover". Appropriate for the occasion, as always...

First of all, the inclined but pragmatic perfume lover can't avoid frowning and shaking his head at the name "French Lover". On the one hand, the question could arise as to which French lover is meant here. Is it about the concrete way of ... well, exchanging ideas or does this term refer to the origin of the lover? On the other hand: Even if one is quite sure about the answer to these questions, what on earth does it have to do with the scent? In my opinion, the North Americans, who are somewhat reserved when it comes to sexuality, have solved it better: Bois d'Orage - Holzsturm. That's exactly what this fragrance should be called!

Why?

Well, it starts off rather sharp green with a dominant juniper note. After a few minutes, the mainly cedar-wood phase begins, paired with subtle patchouli and naturally beautiful light, wet vetiver.

After the drydown the heavy wood storm ebbs away a little and Angelika takes over the helm - the plant mind you, a threesome would be out of the question for Sabine and Achim. The scent becomes slightly cool and distant. Even a powdery note I think I notice. The bitterness often present in vetiver is not present at any time, at least not for my sense of smell.

Even when the wood storm is at full throttle for the first three hours, which is easy to perceive here at arm's length, and becomes very close to my skin after about seven hours, it always remains a quiet but unique scent that never comes across as synthetic. This, in combination with its slightly cool aura, makes it wearable in the office all year round, although it is likely to experience its magic moments in spring and autumn. I see him primarily in the medieval, mature and naturally distinguished man and I am quite sure that after the bottling is finished I will treat myself to a bottle of this wonderful fragrance - just like Achim did!

It was late, very late. The small town where he lived had almost completely come to rest. Vehicle noises here and there, hardly audible.

Slowly he walked through the gate, set off. The further he moved away from it now, the greater the silence around him became.

Autumn had long since arrived and the nights were getting cool. He closed his jacket and pulled up his collar, raised his shoulders a little. Took a deep breath. It must have rained. The air was clean, it smelled like mother earth. The scent he had put on - he always did that when he visited this place, he only did it for himself - was in perfect harmony with what was happening and what was to happen. The top note - cypress, but above all grapefruit - which always made him smile, lifted him up, gave him strength on days like these, receded more and more into the background. Vetiver began to control what was happening, dark and earthy, sucking him into this place. The aquatic note harmonized in unsurpassable perfection with the rain-soaked, woody, heavy air that surrounded him. Even if he couldn't have heard the fallen leaves rustling, he would still have felt it, with every breath he took.

Step by step by step. Moonlight. Shadows. Silence. The night calmed him down, gave him security. Security for what he wanted to do - had to do

The way - he didn't need to see it, he knew it already. He had walked it many times. Alone. He had to walk it alone.

Schematically she was recognizable, the silhouette, everything towering over everything. He stopped one last time, took a deep breath. He continued his way, step by step, until he stood right in front of her.

He had reached the instrument.

The big bass guitar stood in front of him.

Momentarily his time travel into the past began. He stood in the rehearsal room of his band, right in front of his 412 box. The tubes of his rectifier were pumping, giving everything; doing what was expected of them. He felt every single touch of the guitar directly in the pit of his stomach. And the smell was there again - a smell he had only been able to perceive in rehearsal rooms before. Overturned beer bottles, cold cigarette smoke, dust, plastic, wood. Hard to put into a few words, but every rock musician - scent friend or not - was able to describe it all of a sudden. The bass player, his buddy, his friend, stood diagonally in front of him, as he always did. Tall, calm, eyes closed, completely at one with the music.

He smiled - how long had it been?

Over eight years. My God, how quickly time had passed

EIGHT. YEARS.

More than eight years ago, he was ripped out of life by a terrible car accident. Single-car accident. Game drive.

His family had had a very special gravestone made for him, one that did justice to him. An oversized bass guitar, bigger than all the other gravestones around it.

He could no longer recognize them for a long time. Tears smeared his eyes. He had crouched down and heard himself sobbing. But it was the only way to bear it, the only way to live his grief. He could be sure that he was alone with her as long as he wanted it, needed it

Time went by, he didn't know how much. It was completely indifferent to him - like many other things when he was in that place. Absolutely indifferent. Only the moment counted

Finally the tears dried up. The breath calmed down. He slowly straightened up, stood still, took a deep breath and raised his hand to say goodbye. He made his way back.
Step by step by step.

For Schulle. I miss you, my friend. Every day more.

Okay, I admit it - I have another expensive passion: guitars. So far, these have been used from time to time at some rock concerts where I played in different bands. Basically you only need one guitar to play on. Logo. Maybe a second one, for the slightly different sound, plus a third one, as a backup. As a hobby guitarist of the lower category you really don't need more than that. But I have more of them, some more. Expensive parts. With each one I have at least one story. In my prime, I grew up musically with bands like Metallica and songs like Master of Puppets. Downstrokes, played fast, hard and precise. Just rockers. Privately I'm more the type of "Lonesome Rider", and that with pleasure and conviction.

Scent-wise - I admit it, too - I am rather a sweetie. Gourmand, fruity, preferably vanilla, with some intentional runaways to warm, odd and naturally leathery corners. The emphasis is clearly on "corners", I don't spend much time in "niches". But this is not out of principle, but always based on personal taste and to a certain extent also on the size of my wallet. Everyone, as he likes it. I like it like this.

So, to recap: Rock musicians, pragmatic, independent, willingness to invest in costly hobbies basically exist. (By the way, I am of the opinion that a hobby is only a hobby because it costs something - that's only by the way)

So this guy is strolling through the perfumery and sees a fragrance called on the Zadig & Voltaire shelf

J U S T R O C K.

Okay.

What's the point of this?

Another perfume that only got its name as an eye-catcher and has nothing to do with it in terms of smell. Yawn!

Shoulders tightened in the leather jacket, broad grin, half condescending and disparaging, the other half amused. Right eyebrow and upper lip slightly raised.
Of course I had to test it.

Left back of the hand exposed, right hand on the spray head, off you go!

Smoke. A lot of smoke. Incense. The vanilla-creamy sweetness of the tonka bean lifts off and on to the head and wants to be noticed. Vanilla itself announces itself, but doesn't want to get past the incense yet, leaving room for it. On purpose.

It immediately catapults myself onto the stage. In front of me the celebrating people, heads move to the rhythm of the bass drum and the palm-mutes. On stage itself the smell of steam from the fog machine. Stroboscope. Glaring spots of the lighting system. Sweat, on the face and hands. Hoping that the plectrum doesn't slip out of your hand or the high E-string breaks.

Smell?

Okay, as time goes by, the smoke clears and the vanilla announces demand. Is let onstage, stay and play second fiddle - uh, guitar. But the smoke sets the tone. That's got to be enough for "scent development." But, let's be honest: The scent is called (pause) JUST (pause) ROCK! (pause). Any questions? No, right?

However, he is - just as we musicians are - flexible. Well, I wouldn't wear it in the middle of summer, but otherwise at any time and for any occasion. In addition, it lasts quite long - eight hours at least - and cannot be ignored, but without being too much of a Ka... too much. Durability and Sillage are - at least for me - in the ideal range.

In short - if one at all, then this can become my signature scent. Just him. Also because he is modest - note the low purchase price - but mainly because he does one thing:

ER ROCKT!

Thanks for reading it!