Shanghai Shades

This is a very smooth version of Tuxedo, but with a enhanced violet note. I own The Tux, and it seems to be very similar, but not as strong. I will macerate for a few months and report back. Thus far, I'd give this a 7.75 out of 10. If you own any version knockoff of Tuxedo, this will be redundant. I would have liked to see them be a bit more daring like they did with Mykonos Sunset... That was a daring frag that doesn't have a lot of versions of it... Tuxedo is so overplayed in the clone market, that this was unnecessary... Even if it is a nice clone that seems to be well blended, and use of decent oils.

#895 in my "Tour de Fragrance" Guys. Trust me. Get this scent! It's masculine, spicy, potent, sexy as hell. Not really a rose scent. On the Oriental side for sure, but also very "barbershop." Nothing to do with Shanghai. Most scents of this nature also feature agarwood and have "Turath" i.e. "Heritage" in the name. I love this juice and I'm ordering backups. I think this is very versatile. You can get away with it in any setting, but like any oriental, don't overspray. It's only $34. Unless you really despise oriental scents you should just get it.

I have to investigate further, but I THINK this is a dupe either of Dior Fahrenheit or Dior Sauvage, based on how I vaguely recall Fahrenheit smelled. I actually have a bottle of Fahrenheit in my collection, but it's a VERY old bottle (the first nice cologne I ever received) from around 1989, so it does not seem to smell like it's supposed to anymore and is not good for comparing to Shanghai Shades. I have Sauvage and Shanghai Shades both sprayed on each of my arms, but I also have a dozen other colognes on me trying to do the same comparison with them, so everything's starting to run together. Will report back. Whatever the case, the various pepper notes in Shanghai Shades are photorealistic and predominate throughout the life of this fragrance on skin -- so much so that I honestly can't smell any of the floral notes. In that regard, I respectfully disagree with @JusttheFactsMan on the categorization of this frag. I do not think this is a barbershop fragrance at all. I associate barbershop with vetiver and other really bright accords that smell more like shaving cream and after shave. Shanghai Shades is the exact opposite: spicy and "dark." So much so that I swear I smell a hint of tobacco in the dry down, even though it's not a note. A nice spicy oriental frag, although, to be honest, I have no idea on what occasion I would actually wear it. I can tell it will probably be the kind of cologne on my shelf that I look at and think, "Ooh, I like that one.... but I think I'm going to wear [insert any niche fragrance here] instead."

Not sure why I like this, but I do. Doesn’t smell cheap. Doesn’t smell synthetic. But it does smell like a masculine leaning semi-sweet, violet on rose on vanilla perfume. The air around me is heavenly. Even up close on skin it smells really nice. It’s in the neighborhood of Moustache and Turathi Brown, but it still does its own thing really well and I do prefer it over those. Glad I blind bought it last year.

Verryyyy similar to YSL Tuxedo, but with a little bit more violet