Come

To conclude my latest reviewing arc, at this point I can safely state that if we can consider Russian Adam the sultan of oud and musk, then Gardoni should be elevated to the status of master architect‐alchemist of herbals. In fact, Come represents Gardoni's “mad botanist” persona updated to 2025, yet in keeping with the supermassive (dark) green et sly animalic presence typical of Bogue: the house that never lets you forget nature always wins in the end. The opening is a surge of bitter greenery. Crushed stems, cade oil, metallic herbs, aromatic needles, all delivered with the quality that suggests he distilled half of it himself in a Milanese makeshift lab at 4 AM. Under this photosynthetic episode of controlled chaos lies an resinous warmth: pine pitch, sticky balsams, and moderately smoky labdanum giving the whole construction its neo-amber framework. As it develops, Come grows darker and more textured. After 3-4 hours, the green arch collapses into a wood-resin combination, full of embers and tarred woods. This is also when the fig, the tannic facet, and an animalic shading emerge. No dirtiness, no funk, just fibrous warmth that stretches into the nether. Performance is excellent: 10+ hours on skin, with a solid scent bubble in the first 5-6 hours. On target with what you should expect at this price point. Compared to the infernal spectacle of Tyrannosaurus Rex, Come is easily the most finessed member of that smoky-green-animalic family tree that arguably began with Bull’s Blood in 2012. The fire is moderated, the wildness is implied rather than confrontational, and the core's warmth gives it a contemporary meaning - without hitting the widely spread amberslop critical mass. In my view, Come breaks Gardoni’s vintage-tributing lineage with MEM and MAAI. By reengineering his most recognizable DNA, he’s created something that doesn't feel derivative, it is enjoyable and intelligently feral. Come is an expertly executed botanical climax: a scent that lives up to the double-entendre of its moniker by being both an arrival and a release of Antonio's creativity. Ben fatta!

Perfumer Antonio Gardoni says it best: “green is a matter of perception, not a definition”. His latest fragrance, COME – Italian for ‘how’ – I feel is his best. It gathers green in all its manifestations without being a sequential perfume: it does not have a linear dry down of discrete stages, but is a shifting whole revealed through multiple variations all at once. It begins amid the rare and unexpected – both the pretty and the vicious – and remains there. Its finest quality lies in the many hints and suggestions of green, drawn out by a perfumer who incants and summons – allowing us to peer into this tinted perspective. Green secrets. The densest wood with concealed grains of green, an iridescent petrol sheen that glints with its own unreal and hidden colour, and wild herbs at once friendly and sinister – like a sweet-smelling poison. The forgotten green of bergamot, the dark purple brink of a ripening fig, the oxidative murk of fermented tea leaves, milky timber pulp, and sap that moves from ooze to hard resin. It is never quite fixed, never quite one thing – always green in transition, either becoming or fading. And it is not merely smoke that threads through these folds, nor is it an undifferentiated shadow. More elusive still: it is a charcoal tempest, a dark haze, a dust cloud – a unique mass that becomes a veil, cloaking the greenery with soft density, darkening and modulating it with strange beauty both magnetic and unsettling. Nothing is urgent or hurried in COME. It slowly unravels, the veil lifting in shifting directions, like a stereoscope held to the nose. Scenes that appear plain at first become increasingly cryptic – traceable again and again, leading somewhere new every time.

Come opens with a tiger's growl of amber and civet, and some bright green sharpness. Then I get a ton of dry, green bergamot. Very raspy. Mediterranean or California coastal scrub vibes, like the tough shiny leaves of a scrub oak or citrus tree, with darker scratchy animalics and underbrush woods beneath. Gradually, it opens out into a breathy golden aura of amber and ylang-ylang, still a bit freshened with the dry green bergamot and hissy with animalics. It's a comfortable, relaxed ambiance, settling into pale yellow or beige. Lots of civet (which here smells elegant and perfumey; think fur-coat-and-champagne, not zoo) and accents of sharp, spiky bergamot. Completely dry, with the florals providing a plush softness but no sweetness. Honestly this beige-and-green swirl feels a lot like a fraction of other Gardoni fragrances -- 10 without the juicy fig leaf, for instance, or Mem without the lavender. But whatever it lacks in originality it makes up in beauty. I don't get the intense smokiness that some reviewers notice; on me it's more of a backdrop, part of the dark "underbrush" base. Antonio Gardoni might be my favorite living perfumer, because he works in a grand old-fashioned style, but pushes farther in the direction of "sharp and striking" than the classics ever did. All the retro lush florals and animalics, but energized with a very modern intensity, especially when it comes to incense (Lita, O/E, T. Rex), or sharp green notes (Maai, 10, Come). Come is kind of like "what if we did Bal a Versailles... but totally dry, and with a ton of green bergamot?"

COME really expands on the sweeter side of the smoky-florals Gardoni has explored previously, this time a lot more focus on the ylang and greenery (fig is especially obvious), with this slight camphorous edge. It's all wrapped up on this sweet labdanum-cade-patch bed. The whole thing nearly ends up in a candy territory for me, but with this plastic edge. Very alien just like the other top tier Bogue creations. I'm quite fond of this. Not sure a third bogue bottle will ever feel justified in my purposefully restrained collection but this does make every other smoky sample I have feel one-dimensional. It really avoids the predictability of the genre. Doesn't go for the fully scorched, indulgent industrialism of T-Rex or A City on Fire. It also completely skirts around the sweet resinous archetype of Interlude or Black Afghano and the likes. I very much see this becoming the most popular Bogue since this easier than Maai or MEM, especially for people coming over from the aforementioned niche masculine hypebeasts. Yet it does it without any compromise to the Bogue identity, it's easily a top 3 Gardoni scent. Just perfectly in the venn diagram of interesting, unique and wearable.

COME feels like walking through a forest that’s both alive and ancient, where every shade of green has its own voice. It starts dark and bright with bergamot, helichrysum and some dark green notes. Then the fig leaves arrive, thick and slightly bitter, mixing with black tea and a touch of civet that turns the air darker and more mysterious (it is not tha dark too) As it moves, the perfume gets warmer smoke, labdanum, and oud pull you deeper into its green shadows. There’s something animalic and resinous here, almost spiritual, like an old ritual happening quietly under the trees. Then it softens benzoin, ambery and honey melt into patchouli and vanilla, and that wild green becomes smoother, more human. The final part is gentle: Patchouli, woods, and tonka create a soft green glow that feels like nature breathing secretly. COME is not about beauty in a simple way. It’s about layers raw, alive, and constantly shifting. It’s the kind of perfume that reminds you nature isn’t peaceful; it’s powerful, unpredictable, and full of secrets.

A fragrance that gathers every shade of green without moving in stages – more a shifting landscape than a linear drydown. Forgotten bergamot, ripening fig, fermented tea, resin, milky woods and herbs that waver between friendly and poisonous. Not just smoke but a dark charcoal veil cloaking the greenery, where cade, incense and patchouli meet sweet florals and a vintage animalic chypre heart. The Gardoni signature base of benzoin, labdanum, vanilla and synthetic musks is magnetic yet unsettling. Not for everyone: more shock than comfort, more mystery than pleasure. Unisex, with strong longevity and variable projection, it eventually simmers into a sensual green vanilla with animalic undertones.

I'm obsessed with this. The initial blast of Cade on the opener here masy deceive you into thinking this is another LiTA or Trex adgacent fragrance from Gardoni, but this develops quickly into a less punchy medley of green, sweet and floral notes which are so beautiful. The duelling between the smokey incense in the top and the honey, vanilla and animalic side of this fragrance are an absolute delight. Totally non-linear. After a few hours this simmers to a sexy, green vanilla with animalic undertones (not at all fecal or pissy), albeit at this stage the projection also simmers down a decent amount. Fucking incredible stuff. I am likely to go for a full bottle once my 1ml sample is empty.

Like MAAI I get a lot of Ylang-Ylang which to my nose smells like banana. Syrupy, honey.. balsamic/butter.. kind of El Dorado Fueguia 1833 or Giorgio Beverly Hills. This with an anamalic touch. It is interesting and wearable. It reminds me of El Dorado Fueguia 1833 and Giorgio Beverly Hills. All in all a very yellow fragrance. I actually like the dry down of COME a lot but I think on a woman. Same vibe as El Dorado and Giorgio Beverly Hills but more artistic. Very natural/genuine. If I had been a woman I would have loved to wear this.

Come is Italian for “like”, or “as”, which obviously tells you nothing about the perfume. It certainly doesn’t tell you that this is a big, nasty, green, leather perfume. A friend of mine with an excellent nose and memory for perfumes pointed out that it is very similar to Gardoni’s composition T-Rex for Zoologist. Having only smelled the new formulation of T-Rex, which is a complete mess, I can certainly see the overlap but I haven’t smelled the original T-Rex formulation; the comparison seems very apt and I can fully accept his observation. So, if you miss the original T-Rex here’s an alternative that is less crudely reptilian in personality. The opening is a whollop of bergamot and the watery green leaves of figs. There is a gently urinous and fruity facet from the fig that is part of the “nastiness” as you smell it draping over enormous earthy honey, fecal civet, and leathery animalic notes. It smells and feels very classic, very old school, and very rude and lewd in the way those big ol’ stinkers used to smell. The greens and bergamot are the first to dispense and reveal another classic structure facet of florals and sweet earthy resins. Parching and rough jasmine indoles and exotic yellow-floral ylang-ylang notes mix and mingle with an excellent cistus labdanum that is pink and fleshy rosey, and plenty earthy amberic resinous. The amber resin accord is pushed along by sweetened vanillic benzoin. Come stays in this Oriental amber vein for the rest of its life on my skin. Thoroughly enjoyable and interestingly shapeshifting from striking greens and threatening animalics to earthy, vanillic, resinous warmth without missing a beat. What’s more is that it is stylistically a bit different for Gardoni, it is one of his more easily legible perfumes; the kitchen sink approach is there, but what was thrown into the sink has better definition than past Bogue perfumes. Perhaps not standing out quite like Mem, Maai, or O/E - my favorites from the brand - but very solid, and, to the greater point, just good fun to wear.

Unusual woody aromatic scent with both a green and animalic vibe to it with the typical Bogue DNA of the heavy benzoin base. The perfume opens with notes of bergamot, fig, immortelle and ylang ylang. The heart is incense, tea, patchouli and cade. The perfume has a heavy civety drydown with additional notes of synthetic musk, benzoin, labdanum, vanilla and tonka bean. I am quite frankly a bit mixed about this. While it does fit what a Bogue fan craves, the powdery heavy animalic drydown has a grandmotherly vintage floral animalic chypre vibe to it that makes it a bit unsuitable for me to carry off. The scent is unisexual with moderate to heavy sillage and very good longevity. With the exception of diehard Bogue aficionados, others need to tread with a bit of caution. It intends very clearly to shock rather than please.

What a set of transitions this perfume goes through. The beginning phase, which lasts about an hour after first spraying it on skin, is pungent. Verging on toxic, to my taste. I’m not a big fan of burnt Cade oil though. I put this on when I got up for the day at 5 am. My husband had fallen asleep in front of the tv, with all the windows open. When I came into the room he sat up after a few minutes and commented that one of the neighbors must be burning trash. At 5 am. lol. I say this not to be offensive to anyone that enjoys this stage of the perfume but just as a warning to the uninformed. It’s a lot. And it projects out from the wearer for this first hour a long way. Anyway, as mentioned, after an hour a dramatic change occurs. The fragrance becomes much gentler, green, almost fresh, with hints of sultry white flowers trying to push through but never really managing to come to the forefront. There is an underlayer of animalics just beneath the green that provides a sense of shadowy depth and keeps the perfume from heading off into freshie territory. The fragrance is now wearing much closer to the skin, and the sillage it casts is now minimal. Which makes sense because after about 4 hours total it becomes a powdery sweet, slightly resinous skin scent. Absolutely delicious in my book, but with no presence other than to someone directly sniffing your skin. This last phase is about 3 hours so in total you get 7-8 hours with the slightest tinge remaining on the skin even longer. The perfume really takes you on a journey and for me was lovely for the most part of its duration but I’m not sure I could get past the first hour again. I can’t rate this because I hated the beginning, liked the heart, and loved the dry down.

Individual perception is a wondrous thing. Especially when it comes to fragrance. This latest offering by Gardoni is in a word - REPELLENT. I don't scrub fragrances often but 3 times I have tried this and all 3 times have had to wash it off.. I would hands down wear Secretions Magnifique over this. I am a huge fan of MAAI, MEM, 20 and 10. But COME exhibits none of that mastery. How to describe this scent - headache inducing smell of spilled gasoline of your hands that won't go away. Disappointing 😥

Definitely has some similarities running through this to T Rex or Lita, but way less dark and smoky. It's warm, inviting, creamy, rich, floral and sweet. I think if you liked what was lurking in the background of T Rex, you'd probably be drawn towards this.

Dirt, rotting wood, and the piercing smell that comes from riding an old dry rotted tire swing as a kid. Dry, musty, phenolic, rubbery as hell. Interesting, would never wear it tho

Wow....sounds like a must for me...... love the notes listed