Moonstone Bleu

Billed as a Sartorial inspiration/clone. Ordered this after I saw posts claiming Sartorial was being discontinued. It is not. It IS going through a re-packaging, however. With whatever reformulations come as a part of it. I have another bottle on the way, we'll see. With that said, let's move on. I picked this one up for about $20 online. With reasonable, but not very high, expectations. To say that I am pleasantly surprised would be an understatement. Moonstone bleu has a very cool bottle and cap combo. Normally I wouldn't mention it, since I'm not too concerned with the presentation of inexpensive offerings (although they tend to out-do most of the niche houses). This is very close to Sartorial. And, despite what others have said in previous reviews, this is very comparable to if not stronger than the currently available bottlings of Sartorial. If you have not owned or have no experience with Sartorial, this won't matter. Everyone will say 'it's not blended as well' or 'it isn't 1-to-1' blah blah blah. It is very, very well executed for a barbershop fragrance, even IF you were to take the Penhaligon's reference out of the conversation. This is a very specific barbershop shaving-cream old-school profile that not only holds up today, but it does so in style. This isn't for the kids. Technically, this is where the middle-aged dudes like me win on all fronts. I can wear the newest, trendiest stuff AND rock this as well, since I am a proper gentleman. Not too many younger guys pulling this off. It isn't for everyone. But it sure is for me!

* Brilliant fresh/aromatic fougere hybrid fragrance * Very complex for a "blue freshie" * Great blend of sweet, citrus, fresh, herbal, woody and vanilla notes * Great for younger and older users * Great for warm weather and outdoor activities * Unisex * Good performer * Nice presentation * May come off as fabric softener to some noses * Way too much competition in the "blue freshie" market * Underrated and underappreciated Fragrance World's Moonstone Blue is a purported clone of Penhaglion's Sartorial, which I have never tried but has identical notes. This is brilliant cross between a typical "blue freshie" type of fragrance and an aromatic fougere. It blends sweet, citrus, fresh, herbal, woody and vanilla notes together that come off as watery and metallic. The latter will definitely remind you of Jaguar Classic Black. You'll find specific notes of cardamom, lavender, citrus, oakmoss, patchouli musk and vanilla that will stand out her. This is great for warmer weather and outdoor activities. Both older and younger users should appreciate it, it's totally unisex, and performs well. Presentation is nice. This is very much underrated and underappreciated, but this is likely partially due to a ton of competition in the "blue freshie" market. Certainly it has Y and Bleu de Chanel vibes to it, but it's unique and complex enough to make it worth getting a hold of. Highly recommended.

Nose Note #696 I wanted to try this so badly... But it's not what I expected. I saw that Sartorial is compared to Lavande 44 by Rania J which is my absolute favourite lavender scent. And I must say it is similar!!! The first seconds are not good, but after a few minutes, man... It is similar to Lavande 44. It's not as soap-like and herbaceous, but it's good. It's a very manly lavender-heavy scent. It's slightly honeyed. Not exactly sweet, but you can pick out the honey note. Smells very clean, but not soapy like Legend or Fierce, for example. It will probably take me a dozen of wearings to really dig into it. But so far I can say that the quality is extremely good. It's a complex scent. I'd say it's not a safe blind buy. Especially not for women. For men - well, just expect a super manly scent, not very modern, more into the old school. Upd: used to be a 8/10. Definitely a 9.2/10 and above. Man, this is just a masterpiece for me. A very decent replacement for my Lavande 44. 9.2/10, but definitely not for everyone. A scent for a serious man

I'm having trouble placing the smell itself. It's very clean, very fresh, and I get compliments, but I couldn't compare it to anything. It does conjure up fond memories, however. As far as performance goes, it's pretty insane for something at this price point. I sprayed it once and my girlfriend could smell it from the front door of our house 40 minutes later. I applied it today at 430am this morning and just got a compliment at work at 515pm. Updating my review after a few weeks of wear to mention that this is probably one of my biggest compliments getters, someone says something nearly every time I put it on; one woman asked me to help her find a bottle for her husband. Editing my review a third time to reiterate: if you want attention this is the smell for you. I get compliments from men and women every single time I wear this.

I have got it today, the bottle was hot but I wanted to try it in any case. I'll update once It cools down and mature some weeks but as a starting point it is quite impressive. At the moment it is very persistent, classy, powdery and sweet like a blend of floral and vanilla scent. There is nothing metallic, aquatic or whatsoever. As it stands right now I highly recommend it