Spiced Bergamot

Hmmm...the name is a bit misleading. I was expecting something similar to holiday potpourri like FM Noir Epices, but this smells nothing like that. I would describe this as a beautiful woody spicy aquatic. The scent structure is familiar, but this is not generic and certainly not synthetic smelling at all. None of that calone or ambroxan junk that designers seem to sneak into every fragrance nowadays. If you like aquatics, but find most of them too screechy and synthetic, try this one. It's lovely and I like it very much. A bit pricey for what it is though, but worth it if it fits your style. FYI. If you buy this from the USA website, you will get a clear glass bottle and not the frosted glass bottle that they are promoting it in. I was a little disappointed about this. Edit 5/20/2022: It's funny how when you live with a fragrance, over time, perceptions change and certain notes become more prominent. Having just sprayed this on today 2.5 months after my initial review, I am indeed getting a much more prominent "spice" note. A note quite similar to potpourri like in FM Noir Epices. Food for thought, fragrances can sometimes continue to develop in the bottle. This has become quite beautiful and transformed significantly closer to the fragrance I was expecting in the first place.

**Have you ever read The Picture of Dorian Gray?** This scent is truly superb. It's amazing. It's sophisticated, it's sexy, enticing, seductive, beguiling, and conveys confident masculinity in a shroud of bewitching mystery. If Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray character were to wear a scent, this would be it. The sandalwood provides the base, and a strong base which has always been associated with masculinity. But from there it goes down a different path and the bergamot, spices, and heavy florals (carnation, jasmine) provide notes that drag the masculinity of the sandalwood down a path of candle-lit decadence and seduction. One woman described this as making me smell like a "dangerously charming vampire... that you want to let devour you anyway". It's dandyish and caddish but alluring and masculine all at the same time. It's a scent for hedonists. I seriously hope the new 'Wilde' scent by Floris is just a rebrand of this piece of art.

I like this one. It's grown on me a bit since buying it. It opens with the bergamot taking centerstage with the carnation/dianthus, benzoin & sandalwood oil blending in behind it. As it dries down the benzoin takes more of the lead role but it never totally loses it's other notes. I don't really notice the ginger but I'm sure it's blended with the carnation. Such is the sign of a well blended cologne. I get good longevity from this but it's never overpowering. I'm still noticing this 8+ hours after application. I'd say it leans a bit masculine but it's a scent both sexes could wear. Dianthus is heavy with eugenol giving it a spicy floral scent. I give it a strong like. It wouldn't be on my dessert island list but it's getting use in the rotation. Edit, 2/3/24. I read my old review & can't believe I wasn't getting the ginger. I can't say if it was me or if the juice was still developing. It was a very new release when I ordered it. It's of note that Floris appears to be rebranding this same formula, same listed notes anyway, as "Wilde" for a 2024 release. 7.9 / 10

way overpriced for what it is. the bergamot is light and not spiced, except for the ginger which is detectable. this perfume is all about the florals, the orange blossom, jasmine, and particularly the dianthus. The base notes that fragrantica lists are inexistent.