Absent Presence

An amazing fragrance let down by really poor performance. Absent Presence is another one of those fragrances I like so much my brain kind of turns off and doesn't try to dissect it too much, so I won't describe it too in depth. To my nose, Absent Presence is a powdery woody scent with light citrus and floral touches, being overall a sweet scent that's in a similar vein to Creed's Original Santal, but not that they resemble each other necessarily. After a few hours the skin scent seems to turn into an Amber Xtreme-like smell, but unlike many other such cases, this doesn't reek like Amber Xtreme's harsh caramelized-like facet, just like the ambery side as well as the soft powderiness from the opening. This is definitely up there as one of BeauFort's "safest" fragrances but I think this may be more instantly likeable than the others, for example, the dampness from Fathom V as well as its cumin note that comes up on the dry down or Lignum Vitae having an unusual food inspiration for a gourmand in a lemon cookie. One of BeauFort's best and I thoroughly recommend trying it. Performance is a big disappointment. Projection is weak, sillage is on the light side and this doesn't project for too long before becoming a skin scent, maybe an hour to an hour and a half or so. Longevity, surprisingly, is quite good as this can last around 8 hours on skin but it's a pretty faint skin scent at that point.

I hate to say it, but I am not exactly impressed by this offering from Beaufort as I have been with others (though I hope that will change and it'll grow on me). Initial opening is strangely reminiscent of Jungle Formula mosquito spray! I know that isn't what they were intending (or at least I hope it wasn't), but it's now stuck in my head. Shortly afterwards the violet comes to the fore, followed later by a faint smoky leather; then despite the concentration seems to vanish to a skin scent quite rapidly (within two hours on me). Would I buy another bottle when this runs out? Unfortunately not...

The "safe" Beaufort. And after you're done reading all the cognoscentist reviews saying how boring it is in comparison to the other genre-pushing frags here, I'd like to direct you to two questions. 1) Does it smell good? & 2)When would you wear this? If the answers are 1)Hell yes & 2)All the time, then that's a win for both the fragrance maker and the wearer. Personally, I'd rather wear a crowd pleaser that was made by someone who created an oddity like Vi Et Armis, than someone who thought to use passion fruit with oud, and call it groundbreaking. But that's a whole other conversation.

I'm in love with this one -- it's not boring at all, like other people suggest. To me it has a similar vibe to Amouage Memoir Man: green, woody, slightly smoky. It's melancholic and it whispers of understated masculinity. The top is very green and acidic, followed by ozonic florals, followed by smoky leather and sandalwood. After sampling Absent Presence I have purchased a full bottle.

It is gorgeous, smooth and unique. It reminds me of the amazing Costume National Homme Parfum. The dry down is fantastic and warm.