Mind Games Mentor remains an all-time favorite of mine—an easy Top 5 in my entire collection. ​It’s a fascinating scent because perception seems to vary wildly from nose to nose. I’ve read reviews calling it overly sweet or complaining about a lack of coffee, but I don’t find it cloying or even particularly gourmand at all. ​To my nose, the coffee note comes through clearly, layered over rich resins, warm amber, and a subtle touch of oud. (Full disclaimer: I can’t speak to how "authentic" or high-grade the oud note is compared to the real deal, but it works exceptionally well here.)

Today I am going to wear a couple of my favorites and I started the day with this great one. I just wish it wasn't so expensive.

Part 3: The Bottles Have Landed Hey guys, Joe A. here with another one for ya’! Welcome back to SHELF CONTROL, where one man attempts to bring order to a fragrance collection that clearly stopped respecting boundaries, triggered mild family concern, and may or may not have been one blind buy away from needing a full-blown intervention! Well gentlemen… The Great Bottle Migration is officially complete! The drawers, cabinets, boxes, shelves, corners and mysterious little fragrance hideouts around the house have finally surrendered their contents. For the first time, my collection feels like ONE collection that's together, visible, accessible and staring back at me with the collective expression of, “Yeah Joe… you bought all of us.” And seeing everything together has been eye-opening! There are forgotten gems I’m excited to wear again, bottles that immediately reminded me why I bought them, obvious phases I apparently went through and more than a few fragrances quietly challenging my repeated claim that, “I don’t own anything like this...” BUT... something else happened that I really wasn’t expecting. Once every bottle was finally sitting in front of me, the question stopped being, “Where am I going to put all this?” and quietly morphed into: “What exactly am I trying to build here?” When a collection is scattered around the house, it’s surprisingly easy to focus on what you’re missing. When it’s all staring back at you at once? Gentlemen… suddenly you become very aware of what you’re NOT missing. Maybe the next step isn’t automatically buying another bottle. Maybe it’s finding the ACTUAL gaps. Rediscovering something great that got buried three years ago. Giving more attention to fragrances that never got their fair shot. Or realizing you already own six answers to a question you were about to solve with bottle number seven. And maybe that’s the biggest surprise of Shelf Control!! I built all this shelving because I wanted to see and enjoy my collection better. I didn’t realize that seeing it better might actually change the way I collect.

We all like compliments, but what's the worst comment you have heard, about a fragrance that you like?

I'm on the hunt for some new amber fragrances! 👃 I adore Amber Empire and Amber Malaki. Do you have any recommendations for similar scents? 🤔 Let me know your favorites! ✨