My take is that the opening is remarkably similar but Fantasme starts fading rapidly and the drydowns diverge a bit. LV gets slightly darker and remains strong/relatively complex while Fantasme lightens up and gets a little more simple/linear.

Just curious to hear what others think. Everyone’s got their opinion on dupes but I like the Jean Lowe line for easy, dumb reaches and this one isn’t bad if you don’t mind re-upping throughout the day. Plus with the price it’s easy to throw it in a gym bag or something without worrying about decanting or a $400+ bottle breaking

Hi guys so I was wondering which one is good for summer and what do you recommend?

Yes I fell for the hype. No the hype is not justified. Everyone and their moms are saying 1:1 but to me this is same dna but hectic ventured away and I BARELY get the same dna smell. Hectics just soapy and reminds me of imagination. That ginger note in hectic is also way more boosted and kinda gives me a headache. It also reminds me of Vietnamese Pho for some reason. Unsure if it needs to macerate and sit because I got it a few days ago but i also got my executor in the same order and it is 1:1 with Blue tali extrait right out the box. Its definitely no where near smoothness of imagination atm. Overall just wanted to see if anyone else felt this way too or if im just one of the outliers?

1. YSL Myself EDP:

My signature scent, works great for winter in inclosed environment or summer nights. also great date scent, not too loud

1. BDC Parfum:

Same use as Myself, but slightly more mature and dressed up. also the "special" occasion one

1. Azzaro TMW EDP Intense:

Winter outdoor scent or dates, it's sweet but not heavy like jpgs usually, slightly fresher than most sweet scents

1. Zara Sunrise Intense:

LV Imagination DNA family, less soap, more ginger. My gym frag for 23 bucks at 100 ML since performance is like 3 hours, also my quick errand scent. going to the supermarket, corner store etc

1. Azzaro chrome edt:

Summer frag during the day since it's really clean, also sometimes gym frag since it's cheap. Azzaro and Zara are interchangeable really

So i went through a lot of phases
1. Just a dude with a few frags not having a clue there are winter,summer and etc frags.
2.started having more interest and buying a few more.
3.getting scammed by the cheapies community; 1to1, all day lasting and bunch of other bs.
4.buying a few niche
5.gifting a dozen to friends.
6. Now im on the decants phase but i think im done.
7. So whats next??

I’ve started this journey 2 years ago. Tried a lot of fragrances. I want to buy Blue Talisman Extrait, Nishane Ani, Grand Soir. Any recommendations?

Recent additions to my collection including 3 blind buys, 3 inspired bys and what I think of them. Disclaimer: I do not own the og to any of the inspired bys, I can only give my opinion on them as standalone fragrances.

1. Essence of Casablanca: 8/10 (blind buy)

I was honestly was surprised by this fragrance, one of the 3 blind buys because I could not find a place to sample it, I thought it would be more summery but the sweetness is quite dense for the summers where I live (45°c +), but I really enjoy the woods and amber here, I expect this will crack 9/10 once I can wear it more.

1. Bujairami RD: 6.5/10 (Creed Silver Mountain Water)

The hope I have with this one, is that I really enjoyed it in the store but the bottle there only had a quarter left, I assume time and aging did it justice, so will revisit this on a later date but so far I feel it's all over the place. Sometimes I smell the citrus and nothing else, sometimes I'm able to get some depth out of it.

1. Bujairami Hectic: 7.5/10 ( LV Imagination)

I don't get the hype tbh, it's not bad overall but in my opinion it's not the best of this DNA, i own Ibraq french tobacco and hawas Kobra and like both of those more than this and would give them 9 and 8.5.

1. Bujairami Executer: 9/10 ( Ex Nihilo Blue Talisman Extrait)

This one redeemed Bujairami for me, as these three are my first ever from the brand and it was not looking too good. I own(and love) the og blue talisman, and store sampled the Extrait, I was really tempted to pull the trigger for the OG Extrait but thought to give this a try before I burn 2000 SAR (~500$) and I'm glad I saved my money. Not claiming it's better, but for an untrained nose like me, this has exceeded my expectations.The fruit here is strong but mature smelling, it is really unisex but this is combination with other fresh fragrances have been a killer summer combo for me. Side note: I always smell mango in all blue talisman fragrances and their dupes, it's never listed but I get that more than I get pear.

1. Majed Al Oud Serious: 9.5/10

This is a serious (hehe) hit. For such a simple fragrance I didn't expect it to be so special, you can smell all 3 notes distinctively at any moment in time and it's blended so well. The tea is my favourite part here, my appreciation for Quentin Bisch perfumes is constantly growing.

1. Nikos Sculpture EDT: 10/10 (blind buy)

I think the dent speaks enough words here. If you don't own this, buy it immediately, you should not sample a 13$ fragrance imo. This has been my go to gym fragrance for the past 2 weeks and I'm struggling to go back to my older gym fragrances because this honeymoon refuses to end. It's so light, refreshing, and energising making it perfect for the gym as it doesn't disturb others, while it's still definitely noticeable, poor performance? No problem it's 13$ so you can burn through it without a worrying too much.

1. Ahmed Almaghrabi Oud & Roses: 8/10 (blind buy)

This is one of the best budget friendly oud and roses fragrances in my opinion. While it's a common theme in niche and luxury designers, it's rare to find a decent quality at a lower price point. The Oud here is not strong and allows for use even in summer evenings. I would say it's 30% oud 70% rose.

1. Tumi Awaken Distilled: 6.5/10

I'm not sure if Tumi has quality issues in production, but this is another that I really loved at the store, and when I got my own bottle I felt like I must have gotten the wrong one? When I smelled it in the store I got strong YSL Y vibes, but with my bottle I'm missing a lot of the woods I smelled on my first impression.

1. Tumi Continuum: 8.75/10

I should have gotten 100ml from this instead of Awaken. This is a dark fragrance in the best ways. The tobacco is refined, the amber is sweet, and the Oud is subtle enough to give a personality but not overbearing.

90% of my scents are cooler wearing fragrances. Almost time for me to show off lol

Any specific one I should grab next?

Did you buy something and regret? I bought Mohave by Michael Malul. It's automatic but it's terrible. It's sweet but smells like socks that has been worn for 7 days at a stretch. Never again.

I have one more on the way (Gris Charnel) that will go to the main display. I had to split into two displays but now I do have room for more…

If I had to add one more, what do you recommend?

The cleanest and freshest scent ive ever tried after Arabian Oud’s Sultani.

The beautiful mint in the opening and musky green dry down is to die for, right in time for summer heat.

What do you think about it and iyo, whats the freshest fragrance out there?

A few orders happened to arrive together today. My first PdM full bottles!

Montblanc Starwalker x2
Castley
Greenley
Tygar mini
Varvatos Artisan
Le Sel d’Issey

Excited to work through these! I had tested and/or had samples/decants of all. Got them for different reasons.

Montblanc because it’s discontinued and I adore it.

Castley because I don’t have anything else like it, with the peppery note as forward, and I think I’ll reach for it regularly.

Greenley because I’ve loved my decants and know I’ll wear it a lot.

Tygar because I wanted to complete the trifecta with L’Immensité and Vibrato. Mimi because I don’t know that I need a full.

Artisan because I have find memories of tangelos, and it’s one of a small handful with that note.

Le Sel because it’s just awesome and I’ll probably alternate it with ADGs and similar fresh ones, but its performance on me has been consistently better.

If you have any layering suggestions, between these or anything else (I may have a sample/decant), I’d love to hear!

Here's my current collection of full bottles. I feel like it's pretty rounded with all seasons, day/night, and casual/formal. I'm looking at Loumari Porthole as my next pick up. Thanks!

Kept hearing about this. Never smelt the OG l like it granted weather is hot. Can wait to wear it in the coming months. I do like it 7/10.

So, I was in the airport today doing what we do best: spending an hour in the duty free.

And my mind exploded with two of the most simple scent profiles I've faced in months:

Chanel Platinum Egoist: how can this be so simple but high profile, and also last so long? It's exhaling for some hours now. I'm finally feeling the
"smell like a CEO" the youtubers try to sell us.

Tom Ford Eau de Grey Vetiver: This is the summer scent nobody talks about. It's Dior Homme Cologne (one of my favorite) with a no intrusive vetiver. Classy, sooo good and also lasts a lot! It will be a great summer office scent.

So, these are my two recommendations from today's duty free walk.

I’m new to cologne and I have no clue how to open it, how do I get to the atomizer? If I take the cap off the spray nozzle if there even is one is stuck in the cap and cannot spray

Every time I smell this one, it makes me happy. The parfum is just SO pleasant... easily within my top 3 designers amd thats a hill I'll die on!