The Most Festive Cologne Of All Time

First impressions: Mountain fall/winter cabin, the smell of pine trees fills the air. Fresh pine bows of garland and wreaths for the holiday seasons in every room, and doors. 2 wood crates of fresh oranges arrive, and I have just made freesh squeezed orange juice. The scent of pine, and orange is really good! Underneath there are hints of wood notes and very subtle spices. Fantastic fall winter festive scent! I can see why it might appeal to men, but I bought for me (female) to wear, and loving the pine and juicy orange notes together. 🍊🌲

Scents that evoke childhood can be very powerful. When I put this on, it feels like Christmas in the 70s and my dear and long departed Grandfather and great uncle just walked in and gave me hugs. DS and Durga did a masterful job of replicating what gentleman wore during the last gasp of class in the United States before we eschewed hats and over coats and wore jeans and hoodies. I really get more spice than anything and a bit of orange with a little of the greenness of pine. This would b

This is, without a doubt, the most festive cologne of all time.

DS & Durga is my favorite house because typically whenever I smell something from them it’s usually interesting even if I don’t particularly like the smell. Whatever this is supposed to be doesn't feel complete. It’s possible that I’m nose blind to this fragrance but all I get is some overly sweet neroli and bergamot. I get the vaguest idea of pine needles in the background, no woods, no nutmeg, no clove. The closest thing I can compare it to is the smell of one of those green Dot candies. It almost feels like a can of La Croix, there’s certainly something going on here but they’re mostly ideas that get connected through the notes on the box. For ‘The Most Festive Cologne of All Time’ I had expected it to come out swinging like Dasein’s Winter or Fugazzi’s Parfum 1 and not this whimper of a fragrance. The only good thing that came out of me getting this is that it finally killed the Durga FOMO brain worms that kept compelling me to make these purchases. Might let this marinate for a year and come back to it might just sell it but then I’d feel like a jerk suckering someone else into buying this lackluster green water. This is certainly the most smell of all time.

Because I have an unchecked DS & Durga addiction, I snapped this up almost immediately. It opens with a burst of fresh green and citrus, nearly invoking the limey sophistication of their Carlyle scent (which truly embodies the Carlyle hotel.) However the dry down is strongly masculine, which is a bit of a disappointment for me. It definitely lives up to its Mad Men holiday description but it's Don, not Betty and no one in-between. That said, I still think it's a beautiful scent, will freely share with my spouse and in the meantime always be looking for ways to ever so slightly feminize the dry down. It's not exactly what I was hoping for but it does earn its place in the library.