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Brotherhood Of Scent
8.9k members • Free
2176 contributions to Brotherhood Of Scent
10h •
Iris Debonair, or “Iris, Are You There?”
Buckle up. This is a long one! Iris Debonair is another welcome step in a new direction for Creed, which I can appreciate. I had high hopes for this scent, based on the name, as I have recently been on a bit of an iris kick thanks to DHI 2011 and DHP 2014. I wasn’t expecting it to smell like either of these fragrances, but I was expecting more, well…iris! Don’t get me wrong, the iris is there, but it might as well be the ghost of an iris flower that you’re just barely able to perceive the remnants of. Like a flower that was once there, but only the faintest imprint is left behind in its absence. I find myself really having to search for it, rather than being confronted face to face with something that says, “Yep, that’s iris, alright!” But for some people, that may be exactly what they want, or all they can tolerate of that note. It’s also a very light, airy, fresh, clean version of iris in contrast to the dense, waxy, powdery iris of the Dior Homme line. To my nose, this is not an iris fragrance. This is a fresh, clean, creamy, slightly fruity, slightly green fragrance. The most dominant notes that I detect are fig, wormwood, and citrus, with a nice creamy and juicy nature. There is sort of a gin quality to it from the absinthe, but by no means is it “boozy.” It mainly adds a fresh green character to it, alongside the violet leaf. There is a subtle lavender note that further adds to the clean, soapy nature of the fragrance. But I don’t really detect any spiciness from the pink pepper or cardamom, nor do I get any amber OR wood from the amberwood, or any musk from the ambrette. Which is sort of where this fragrance falls a bit flat for me, as I feel it would really benefit from a solid woody note to give it some backbone and perhaps some musk to add depth and more weight to such a light fragrance. As overused as sandalwood can seem at times, I feel the right type of sandalwood note could further enhance the creamy, somewhat lactonic, aspect of the fragrance, while some cedarwood might add some much needed depth.
0 likes • 7h
@Raymond Reeves Lol, yes, I suppose the seasons in which those temperatures exist are entirely dependent on where you live, haha.
1 like • 7h
@Stephen DeMent It’s so hard to say. Sometimes it’s just your nose on that particular day. My nose can change on a dime! A week from now, my feelings could be totally different. You just gotta hope that your nose was having an off day on the day that it was out of your top 100 rather than on the day it was in your top 10, lol. Then again, if your nose was accurate on the day you didn’t like it, at least then you don’t have to try to figure out how to pay for a bottle of Creed or wait for a good clone to come along. Always a silver lining!
🔥
Jun 9 •
The Problem with rising Costs in the Fragrance World!!! Is It Greed?
The more I look at the fragrance market, the more I believe clones are not the only issue. People love blaming clone houses, but designer and niche brands do their own version of recycling ideas too. They just package it better, charge more, and call it luxury. Sometimes it is the same scent profile being repeated. Sometimes it is the same perfumer using a similar style for different houses. Sometimes it is a successful DNA getting copied, twisted, polished, and resold at a much higher price. Look at Baccarat Rouge 540. That airy saffron, amberwood, sweet-musky, almost cotton-candy mineral DNA became one of the most copied fragrance profiles in modern perfumery. After BR540 blew up, we started seeing that same general direction everywhere — from niche to designer to celebrity scents. Ariana Grande Cloud, Burberry Her, Zara Red Temptation, and many others get brought up because they live in that same sweet, airy amber world. Then you have the Aventus-style lane. Creed Aventus became so successful that pineapple, bergamot, smoky woods, musk, and oakmoss became its own market. After that, you had fragrances like Montblanc Explorer, Mancera Cedrat Boise, and Nishane Hacivat constantly being compared to Aventus. Some are not true clones, but they are clearly in the same successful masculine fresh-fruity-woody lane. Another example is Ganymede and Bois Impérial. Both are by Quentin Bisch, and while they are not the same fragrance, they share that modern mineral, woody, airy, slightly metallic style. Ganymede is more abstract, saffron-mineral, leathery, and niche. Bois Impérial is more affordable, fresh, woody, and aromatic. But you can smell the perfumer’s creative fingerprint. You also see it with Delina and Atomic Rose. Delina made that tart fruity rose style huge — lychee, rhubarb, rose, musk, vanilla, and woods. Atomic Rose is not the same scent, but it lives in that same loud, modern, powerful rose category. Once a DNA works, the market keeps circling around it.
8 likes • Jun 10
Lots of great wisdom and insights here. Well done and well said. We need more originality and new ideas in the fragrance world. Definitely need less greed. I find it insane how garbage the packaging is on so many huge designer and niche houses, yet there are many “clone” houses with great quality fragrances that match the OG almost perfectly, and yet still take the time and effort to create beautiful packaging and unique bottles (Afnan Turathi Electric and Arabiyat Prestige Kohl Opulence come to mind.) As for flankers, I’m so sick of these fragrances with 8, 10, 15, or more flankers (*cough* Boss Bottled, *cough* Stronger With You, for example). That’s why I actually have a lot of respect for some brands that have massively successful, hall of fame type fragrances, that have resisted flooding the market with flanker after flanker. The best example is Chanel’s Bleu de Chanel. They have an EDT, EDP, Parfum, and L’Exclusif, and that’s it (at least thus far.) Dior has gone a bit overboard with their Homme line, yet have shown quite a bit of restraint on their, arguably, most popular line, Sauvage. And say what you want about Creed, and you could say plenty of bad things about them, but they have also shown restraint on one of the most popular fragrances of all time in Aventus, with just 4 or 5 flankers that I can think of. While Versace is pushing it with the Eros line, they could have gone nuts with their Pour Homme line, (I actually would love an EDP, Parfum, or Elixir of the OG Pour Homme!) but they didn’t. Putting out any more than 6 or 7 flankers just comes off as lazy and greedy, in my opinion. It’s like if Da Vinci created the Mona Lisa and then created 3 more with slightly different color palettes, and 4 more with slightly different background imagery, plus 2 more featuring a bigger smile, and one more of her facing the right instead of the left. Art enthusiasts would be like, “Well, these are great, but…can’t you paint something else?” More houses need to take their wins as they come and move on to their next big hit. We need more original art and less variations.
May 17 •
Fresh scent for a Sunny day.
Going with this fruity, metallic, and fresh scent on a pleasant sunny day keeps you smelling fresh throughout the day. I hope my fellow brothers and sisters here have a great day.
2 likes • May 19
Great pick! I haven’t tried Art of Universe, but the Blue Talisman DNA has pretty much been my signature scent for the past several months. Afnan Turathi Electric is a killer dupe and Arabiyat Kohl Opulence is an amazing “inspired by” fragrance that takes the Blue Talisman DNA and adds some extra masculinity with a mild leather note that is just awesome. And I’m not really a fan of leather notes, but that stuff is excellent! It adds a bit of amber to it too. Makes the overall scent feel a bit darker, more sophisticated, and more masculine, all while keeping that familiar fresh, fruity, clean backbone of the OG. Great value for the money too.
2 likes • May 19
@Erick Tai My pleasure.
May 16 •
How Much?
Let’s discuss— if you as a Scentmelier had to layout all of your fragrances from your shelves like this, what would you say is the worth displayed in front of you? Mine is at $2800 roughly over the course of three years since joining the group and yes 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I do keep a spreadsheet of all fragrances I purchase just to have this conversation 🤣🤣🤣🤣 as my fragrance guy asked me to join him in doing this.
3 likes • May 19
Ooof…man. I’ve got a record of saved receipts, but have never taken the time to add them all up. Even though most of my collection is still decants, I would guess that I’m probably somewhere around $2,000, maybe a bit more.🫠 Although, over the past year I have sold somewhere around $750-$1,000 worth of fragrances, as well. A couple I actually made some money on since they were discontinued after I bought them. Still, it’s easier to just not think about it. 😂
May 3 •
SOTD: Arabian Horse by Alexandria Fragrances
Alexandria Fragrances Arabian Horse: The dupe that outdoes the original. And considering that the original is PDM’s Herod, that is saying A LOT, because I LOVE Herod. Herod, like many other great fragrances, has unfortunately dealt with some reformulations that have slightly altered the scent and hurt the longevity quite a bit. Arabian Horse is an Extrait de Parfum, so that’s already a big improvement, performance-wise. They are about 85%-90% similar. But Arabian Horse is denser, more ambery/resinous, and more tobacco-forward. This being my favorite tobacco note in any tobacco fragrance I’ve come across. It’s just sweet enough with a little smokiness while never smelling ashy or like a cigarette, or a night club. It has a nice, dark woodsy base that dries down into something that is absolutely to die for. (If you’re into these types of scents.) It’s warm, cozy, and comforting. I also have to mention that it is superbly blended! Herod is a bit more woody, a bit more spicy, a bit sweeter, and a bit lighter. The use of Iso E Super doesn’t help its longevity issues, as it seems to disappear before it actually does sometimes, due to anosmia. The modern formulation of Herod that I currently have, lasts about 4-5 hours (used to be an easy 8 hour or more fragrance!) Whereas Arabian Horse will get you a solid 8+ hours with solid projection and sillage for about half that time. The skin scent that lingers is an absolutely gorgeous amber, woody combo. I think it’s the slightly bolder use of amber/resinous notes in Arabian Horse that tips the scales in its favor for me, along with performance, of course. It also seems a bit richer, more opulent, and upscale than Herod. Honestly, fragrance houses should be wanting to make their own versions, or dupes of Arabian Horse. That’s how great it is.
1 like • May 3
@Raymond Reeves They sell a 10ml travel size for $20 so you can give it a good test drive before committing. https://alexandriafragrances.com/products/arabian-horse
1 like • May 5
@Raymond Reeves You’re welcome! Let me know what you think if you give it a try.
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@jordan-filley-1113
I'm 35 years old from Northern Michigan. Learning about and collecting fragrances has become a wonderful hobby and a source of great joy for me.
Active 3h ago
Joined Mar 4, 2024
INFJ
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