Neroli

This is an incredible neroli fragrance. Starts with a blast of bitter Scottish orange marmalade and neroli that settles quickly into a bitter orange and neroli powerhouse with woods slowly rising in the background. I get amber and sandalwood in the base, but the orange and certainly the neroli never entirely disappear. Remarkably natural smelling throughout. 2-3 sprays are plenty, but sometimes at night I'll douse myself in it and drop off to sleep among the oranges and the white flowers. I encountered this in one of the London barbershops last spring where they had a tester. I spent the rest of the afternoon smelling my forearm. I wanted to go back and buy it but I'd already blown the budget to bits around Jermyn St and Mayfair. Castle Forbes is a Scottish concern. I knew them for their shaving creams but hadn't given much thought to their fragrances. They have at least a half dozen men's colognes and EdP's. Apparently the Scots love neroli. The lad behind the counter in Penhaligon's told me that they sell a tremendous amount of Castile in Scotland. The neroli in Castile is much softer and gentler than what we have here. Castle Forbes Special Reserve Neroli is a guy in a kilt tossing a telephone pole. A neroli strong enough to be worn in winter. Anyway, soon after returning to the States Pasteur's Pharmacy in NY had it on sale and I bought two bottles.

With only 500 bottles produced each year, Castle Forbes Special Reserve Neroli is said to use high concentrations of extractions from the Citrus aurantium (bitter orange) tree: the essential oil of the orange itself, petitgrain from the leaves, and neroli from the blossoms. While there surely must be some synths to extend the effect (aurantiol?), it is surely one of the most natural-smelling of neroli fragrances I've experienced. The drier, woodier elements of neroli are supported through a base, seamlessly through a sandalwood amber dry down. It's really become an unlikely reference neroli for me, as Castle Forbes is a bit under the radar and more familiar to the wet shave community. It's a house definitely deserving of a bit more attention.

Stunning perfume with very solid performances despite the natural ingredients. When it comes to neroli based compositions this is second to none. The notes are incomplete and as a matter of fact this is also a woody/musky scent. It will create a beautiful cloud around you, impossible to dislike if you're into orange/vetiver based creations. A perfect fragrance for hot days.

BEAUTIFUL FRAGRANCE. The immediate opening does give me more vintage/old person vibes, but that burns off rather quickly. This is a bitter orange and neroli POWERHOUSE. And that orange do be bitter. High quality fragrance for a rather reasonable price. 10/10 always hittin.

Incredible longevity, powerful projection and it's a citrus! Top of the bunch, art of perfumery at its prime.

Unfortunately, just smells like a bar of soap. Expected something different, probably my fault. EDIT: The more time I spend with this the more I like it. Still not what I'd expected but it's fresh, it's clean, natural. Not expecting many compliments for it but I love to spray it on when I get home from work, going out on an errand. Calming and simple.

Had a sample of this for over a year now and just like the first sniff I still love it. Sure the notes are simple, common even, but this is neroli with a backbone. Green, fresh, floral and slightly spicy. Not too concerned with being pretty, trendy or grandiose with a thousand notes. Just clean and straightforward. It's a mature no frills scent that also has an air of nobility that has nothing to prove. It's extremely well done and natural smelling. The absence of notes shared by so many current hits (even ones that I own and enjoy) is in itself refreshing. Unisex has the highest rating here but to me there is a texture, roughness and lack of super refinment (yet not in a sloppy classless way), that makes it lean more masculine. If I had to compare, Neroli Portofino fits the high unisex designation more than this one. This could be the hairy counterpart to NP lol. This fragrance is reminding me of my initial goal when I set out to put together a rather small curation of elegant, timeless masculine scent wardrobe. This hidden gem is one of them imo. Definitely want a bottle.

This is an interesting limited edition neroli fragrance of which only 500 bottles are made per year, and blended in the actual Castle Forbes in Scotland - by the Forbes family who has occupied the castle since 1815 and is continuing their tradition of male grooming products. It utilizes essential oils from the bitter orange tree, of which neroli comes from the blossoms, petitgrain from the young green shoots of the tree, and orange oil from the peel of the fruit. According to Castle Forbes, it "takes 1,000 kgs of blossom petals to extract 1kg of precious neroli oil" which is why fragrances like this are so expensive to make. As for the scent itself, it is a very bitter neroli scent as close to nature I suppose as you can get in a fragrance. It smells of neroli, a bit of orange, and some petitgrain - and that's about it (no basenotes to speak of). Overall it's a nice fragrance, but not worth the price since the performance isn't that great (though that's to be expected in natural perfumery) - and I ended up eventually selling this due to that. 3.5/5

There's something faintly lily-of-the-valley in here, part of the soapy impression, that makes this teeter on the boundary between "clean and freshly showered" and "feminine and grandmotherly." The good news is that I get most of that impression from where this lands on clothing. On skin alone, that effect doesn't seem to come to the forefront. "Nicely old fashioned" is a really good summary, and it plays well with other fragrances (Diptyque's L'Eau Des Hesperides in combination with this, wow... they maginify and interact like they were meant to be together). I don't get the extreme strength that others report, so a few sprays right out of the shower is a natural fit for this one: it's a fine under-the-clothes base for the day, settled down into a subtle but detectable ray of sunshine within 30 minutes of application. It's midwinter and neroli is a mood lifter. It really does bring to mind breezy, hot summer days to come.

A beautiful, beautiful blend. The fragrance feels very natural and bright, with a huge projection. I only spray it on one wrist at a time and then dab the second wrist and the neck and it feels like a lot. It fills the world around, making it much better. The scent is uplifting, as it is so full of citruses. I only feel the citruses and a bit of soap; the fragrance does remind me of wet shaving, but I am fine with it since it gives the feeling of cleanliness and is nicely old-fashioned. I think it is a very high quality blend and very unusual, too. Performance is great.

A grainy, minimalistic and airy neroli. A slight castoreum-like note, giving both animalic and leathery facets is also present. Gets darker and woodier as time passes, giving it versatility in colder months as well. Pleasant!

Not sure why there are people selecting "soft" as the silage. The Longevity is Long lasting and moderate projection for me. They knocked it out of the park with the longevity as its an all natural oil based fragrance.

Very soapy, natural-smelling neroli. For a citrus-floral, this actually lasts a while and projects a great deal. A 'dumb reach' (lol) fragrance.

Nice find for me, great performance and smell. Very fresh with quality. Best Neroli in my collection. Look forward to the new batch!