Reflection 45 Man

Today I'm reviewing Reflection 45, Reflection Man's big brother. Reflection Man is one of my favorite scents; and I'm not really sure why. I'm not a big fan of floral scents for men, and Reflection is definitely floral forward. However, somehow it manages to just work. Between the powder, floral, and woody notes, Reflection Man is a modern masterpiece that gets me compliments every time I wear it. With that said, I'm very excited to see what the higher concentration of Reflection 45 has to offer. Let's get into it; Scent: The opening is powdery, aromatic, and floral. The primary notes I get are iris, lavender, olibanum, and neroli. The strongest of the notes are the iris and lavender. The iris leads the charge in the opening with a big blast of powdery and slightly earthy florals. It’s similar to the orris note from Reflection, but not quite as earthy. Right behind the iris is the lavender with a big dose of aromatics. This lavender note does have that spicy "licorice" vibe to it, but it's subtle. Up next is the neroli and olibanum. The neroli gives the opening the distinct white floral accord that Reflection is known for, nuanced with a hint of honeyed sweetness. Lastly, the olibanum adds a balsamic and slightly woody touch to the background with a rich, sweet, and warm resinous quality. I also get the jasmine in the opening with it's distinctly sweet white florals, as well as some woodiness and vanillic sweetness from the benzoin. The dry down is woody, powdery, and balsamic. The primary notes I get are iris, lavender, sandalwood, and benzoin. The strongest of the notes are the iris and sandalwood. The iris is still very prominent with the same soft and powdery accord. Meanwhile, the sandalwood has emerged in the dry down to provide a punchy dose of creamy and powdered woodiness. This is followed by the lavender and benzoin. The lavender still has the gently spicy and aromatic accord from the opening, just dialed back a bit. Lastly, the benzoin has ramped up in the dry down to provide more of the rich balsamic and vanillic sweetness. Performance: Initial projection within the first hour is very strong and can easily fill a room. Sillage matches that intensity with a dense scent trail. After about 4 hours the performance was largely unchanged. Around the 7-8 hour mark the projection was about 5-6 feet and the scent trail was still easily noticeable. The fragrance lasted about 12 hours before becoming a skin scent. When to wear: Reflection 45 is a versatile fragrance that can be worn for any season, any time of day, and for any occasion. Dress it up and wear it formally, dress it down and wear it casually, or even wear it to the office. You'll be smelling appropriately great regardless. Blind buy: If you like the original Reflection, or fragrances like Gucci Guilty Elixir (because let's be honest, they're almost clones of each other), Reflection 45 is a safe blind buy for you. Final verdict: With Reflection Man being one of my favorite fragrances ever, Reflection 45 was lined up to be at least that good. But to be honest, it fell short of the expectations I had for it. Reflection 45 opens up very similar to Reflection, but in the dry down becomes a much more balsamic and ambery creation. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but the opening is what I really love about Reflection. When it comes to performance, my expectation was for Reflection 45 to far surpass Reflection. In reality, they're about equal; both being very strong in the first few hours and lasting about 12 altogether. In terms of versatility it's the same as Reflection; they're both very versatile fragrances that can be worn anytime, anywhere. Similarly with mass-appeal; they're both about average. Most people will think they smell great, but some men may think the floral aspects are too feminine. I don't personally, but I can understand why someone else would. In conclusion, I think Reflection 45 is a masterfully crafted fragrance that adds a rich dry down to an already exquisite fragrance, but I don't think it's worth the $520 price tag. That's simply an outrageous price, and with Reflection being over $100 cheaper at $380 and having a very similar scent profile with nearly identical performance it's just not worth it. Particularly to me, since I already own Reflection. I'm glad to have experienced both, but I'll stick to my bottle of Reflection. Scent: 9/10 Longevity: 9/10 Sillage: 9/10

In these uncertain and difficult times characterised by division, mendacity, greed, manipulation and hatred, it is easy to forget sometimes that perfumery has the ability to save your soul. It can heal, inspire, enrapture and capture if you let it. Very few have the power to truly transcend the boundary between fragrance and art and of the hundreds of bottles I own, there are perhaps four or five with that power. Reflection 45 is one of a very, very exalted few. Now, at this point in my review I'd spend some time talking about the notes and how they work together but with R45 this seems a bit redundant. It is a bit like studying a painting by talking about the colours the artist has used, which is to miss the point of what makes the piece great in the first place. R45 is an unusually complex, multifaceted thing brimming and bubbling with iris, florals, spices, clary sage, woods, resins, textures and apparently, wishes and magic spells. There are sparkles, flashes, shimmers, colours, drama and emotions, sweetness, richness, freshness, aromatics and bitterness as well. Honestly I do not profess to know enough about perfumery to say with any surety why it all works, or how. It is hard to describe: it seems impossibly rich and fine but never decadent or pretentious. Luxuriant but versatile, precious but wearable, individual but evocative. It evokes in me a calm assurance that I am capable of great things. Most of all, it stirs in me a very alien emotion: love. Of myself. I've not liked or had much time for myself for my entire life and sometimes I view my own sense of self with such a baleful derision that it is hard to function. I've been depressed most of my adult life to varying degrees and it has threatened my very existence a couple of times. My fragrance journey has been healing in many ways and I've got so much out of throwing all of myself into something worthy and rewarding. I have become a better person for starting to understand fragrance properly, and in that I've learned to love myself a little more; to be a little kinder and more forgiving of myself. There are fragrances that have the power to make me feel better about myself, to forget just for a little while all the people who have used me, manipulated me and taken from me without permission, thanks or apology. R45 makes me feel like everything is going to be okay and that I should try to give myself an easier time, because life is better than I often think it is. If you're like me, you get caught down those never-ending dark rabbit holes that stop you from seeing the wonder and beauty in the world and thus also in myself, and R45 is like opening a door somewhere and letting in the light and fresh air. Great perfumery isn't about the fragrance, it is about the person smelling it. Three Word Summary: Wonderful Is Life Layering Suggestion: why on earth would you want to layer this? Outfit Suggestion: the good navy blue suit and smart shoes, white shirt and Hermes tie, walking out of a meeting knowing you've just done something truly remarkable. Scent - 10/10 Drydown - 10/10 Sillage - 9/10 Bottle/packaging - 10/10 Performance - 9/10 48/50

Contrary to the note list Reflection 45% opens with a Waxy Orris note followed by a subtle introduction of spices & a note of Jasmine that smells matured, displaying both its White/Floral & Dark/Tobacco nuances without exposing any Indoles. This opening slowly develops over a span of 20 minutes. Within that time the Spice notes intensify, but they never become overwhelming. Notes of Neroli & Lavender follow, which then fully showcases that "Reflection Man" DNA we all love. But its different ! Neroli at 45% oil concentration, while still White/Floral, also smells Matured, & Dark with Honeyed Amber-like nuances. Lavender at 45% oil concentration smells like matured Dark Florals & Herbs. Its also cooling & camphoraceous. Like It has Dark, Minty, Menthol, Eucalyptus-like nuances. Reflection 45 maintains this scent profile for what I counted was about 6 hours. After the 6 hour mark, a not overly sweet, but intensely Resinous Amber note takes center stage. But its actually not Amber at all. .... Its the note of Neroli intensifying & displaying its Dark, Resinous, Honeyed, Amber-like nuances. The White Floral combination that creates the "Reflection Man" DNA is still present, It just steps behind the Amber accord, which brings with it Resinous notes of Benzoin, Myrrh, Frankincense, & Opoponax. This stage of the fragrance also lasts about 6 hours. Showcasing its Spice, Resinous, & Woody notes. Reflection 45 is a dark floral, spiced, resinous, musky, heady, take on the original. I have no complaints outside of its price. It performs as it should. At 45% oil concentration its not going to project more than a few inches off of your skin. But where this fragrance shines is in its Sillage. Reflection 45 is a Sillage beast. As you move everyone will smell you. Especially when sprayed on clothes. The wind will literally carry this fragrance 50 ft outdoors. You are the wearer ! Remember that ! At 45% oil concentration you should expect to go nose blind fairly quickly. The people closest to you will also go nose blind. You will not smell this fragrance in the intensity as everyone else outside of your immediate circle. FYI: You'll get the best performance out of this fragrance if you spray both skin & clothing. I go 10 sprays. CLONES: Theres only one clone of Reflection 45, & thats "AKS 45" by Yom & Layl. Which sells for $84.99 AKS 45 is a true 1 to 1 clone of Reflection 45. I know because I own them both. Now, because Yom & Layl makes their fragrances to order, AKS 45 will need a few weeks to Maturate, & Macerate. So please follow their site instructions. ... but when its complete, you will have a 1 to 1 clone of Reflection 45. Enjoy.

At this point i own over 50 fragrances, i have traded a lot, and i have tried probably hundreds of fragrances at this point. Usually i'm always a pro-clone guy. Paying 10 times less for something very close to me is worth it. In my years of collecting and testing there are only two fragrances that stand alone above the rest, and they are the only fragrances where i can't justify getting a clone over them: Dior Homme Intense, and this beauty right here. I proposed last year. I've been thinking about which fragrance to use in the wedding since then. I thought obviously my favorite DHI, but since i use it for every wedding i wanted something different for MY wedding. So i went to the most high end niche store in my country to look for something special. Ended up leaving disappointed many times, i tried tons of fragrances (probably costed the store a pretty penny, i don't think they were happy to see me many times), but could never find the one. Everything to me wasn't worth that much money. I had clones that were similar or achieved the same thing. Then they showed me Reflection and Reflection 45 (they were one of the last ones to show me because i didn't really want to test em, was thinking oh great an overpriced Le Male and a super overpriced Le Male). I tried probably all of Creed, PDM, Amouage, Initio, Kilian, Roja, Ateliers des Ors, Casamorati, Bond N9, etc. But i fell in love. With both of them. However Reflection did actually seem like a niche and more expensive and luxurious Le Male. It was still great, i still loved it, it was different enough from Le Male for me to want it... but not different enough to justify the price difference. But Reflection 45 is a whole another beast. It is in the Reflection/Le Male family, but thats about it. Its denser, less fresh than Reflection, much more luxurious and powdery. I can't really explain the difference in notes because i would be doing it a dis service if i said it only has more benzoin and tonka and had more strength. The differences make it the perfect fragrance, and the only one that can share the throne with DHI, i never thought i'd find another one that made me fall in love so much as DHI did. Because its worth a pretty penny i didn't just pull the trigger. It has almost been a year since i first considered buying it. I bought samples, tested it some more, to be sure, and my opinion hasn't changed. So today i finally pulled the trigger, and i don't regret it. 10/10 and im happy i found the frag im gonna use for my wedding soon.

Flawless Craftsmanship and Quiet Luxury The original Reflection Man was one of the niche world’s quintessential "clean white shirt" fragrances. However, with the "45" version, Amouage has taken this familiar DNA and completely rebuilt it with flawless craftsmanship. I have always had a soft spot for the dense, skin-clinging nature of Extrait de Parfum formulations; and with an incredible 45% perfume oil concentration, Reflection 45 is the perfect embodiment of the "quiet luxury" aesthetic we so often look for. When you first spray it, the bright neroli and lavender from the original greet you once again, but this time through a much richer, more resinous filter. That slightly soapy vibe in the opening quickly settles down, and the introduction of myrrh, orris root, and cedarwood pulls the fragrance into immense depth. It doesn't scream or aggressively project, but when you enter a room, it creates an aristocratic aura that instantly makes everyone feel the high quality of the cashmere sweater you are wearing. An Unbiased Take: The Pros: Thanks to the 45% oil concentration, it is completely free of any synthetic harshness, boasting a structure so rich and smooth that you can easily get lost in its layers. The longevity is simply unbelievable. While its high concentration means the projection sits closer to the skin, it continues to live with you for days on your clothes. It is a fantastic signature scent for a mature man who knows exactly what he wants and has a well-established style. The Cons: If you are looking for a room-filling, "beast mode" projection that gets noticed from meters away, this dignified structure that prefers to stay close to the skin might disappoint you. Additionally, its wearability is quite restricted; it certainly doesn't pair well with shorts or a basic t-shirt. It paints a rather "formal" profile that demands you dress the part. Unfortunately, the hefty price tag makes it accessible mostly to serious collectors. In short: This isn't an experience crafted for blending into the crowd, but rather an elite, slow-motion journey designed for you to carry your own standards and refined taste on your skin. instagram.com/etatelierparfum