Patchouli Argent

Nice perfume! I got this as a free sample from my other FDB purchase and it seems to be discontinued. So I tried it out and read the other reviews and interesting that I had been researching Xerjoff Richwood today and someone commented on the similarity. In another post I saw someone (Kafkaesque) saying that Richwood reminded her of a Burgundy 1er Cru. That is what is interesting because to me the Patchouli Argent has the smell of a Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru like Les Amoureuses - wet earth, roses and chocolate. I love it but I think it is too feminine for me. Certainly happy I have a free sample! My wife will love it to go with the Siberian Rose I just bought her.

I really like this one & I'm not usually a fan of Patchouli. There's something about this I find addictive. I respect FDB for discontinuing this vs reformulating it. It truly is something special so why ruin it? It's not your usual earthy patchouli & I think it's blended to perfection. I loaded up on this before they discontinued it so if anyone is looking for a 100ml bottle hit me up. I have 3 extra bottles.

So. Clearly I did review this back when I received a host of samples from this brand to have a really deep dive and figure out just how much I resented their whole, Middle east meets French, Oud centric, fleece folks, 'borrow' Tom Ford Private blend aesthetic, Swarovski encrusted LUXURY shtick! But I kinda quickly discovered I couldn't. Or perhaps I resented them more because they were just so mellow, easy going and sort of quite faithful to a certain, Frenchness in the main. Most stuff I tried was quite lovely really, without ever standing out or compelling me to own a bottle, this one was so much in that category that I'd forgotten to review it until you lot were lucky enough for me to find a sample vial and pop some on, several years later. Patchouli Argent is a fairly straightforward oud/rose/patchouli affair, it's deeply faceted, well made, quite dark and evolving but it's something else too, it's a bit dull. Sorry but it's true. I like that the rose isn't chintzy or cheap smelling or too bright or fruity, I like that the darkness dominates without murkiness, I like that it's NOT a patchouli dominant fragrance in the true sense (some people have made the comparisons to the dior and TF 'true' patchouli's which I don't get at all but hey) but there's a presence and clever use as a leg in the rose oud tripod and I like the ratios at least. There's some little notes which emerge from nowhere, a sort of musky, sweet sumptuous thing, then a kind of mild floral skank, a little like ambergris, mild saliva on skin effect, either that or I have an infection in my wisdom teeth again? LOL Yeah I dunno, it's fine, it's nice, it's good. There's many many worse in this category and perhaps you can take something from the various dessert trolley of vibes which pop out.

This is not a pure patchouli, but rather a chypre. It is sort of a homage to the great rosy chypres of the 1970s like Coriandre and Aromatics Elixir.

Very bold, very straightforward, knocks trees down in the forest (literally because it's oud based). I've smelled it before, somewhere else, long time ago. I almost get a slight classing vintage vibe from it. Very mentholated patchouli, woody smoke and rose.