Five

Bruno Fazzolari lists a few additional notes in FIVE not listed above. The official note breakdown includes lemon, red mandarin, bergamot, neroli, rosemary, petitgrain, sweet woods, mineral and saltwater notes. Moreover, in a Youtube interview (with Smelling Great's Sebastian), Bruno also mentioned that it contains lime and thyme. Whoa. I took advantage of a brief sale in which Bruno was offering his “Portfolio” of fragrance samples at a reduced price, and I am so glad I did. I have been wearing Five today, and, although this is just a single day of testing, it has been one of the few scents I’ve ever tried that I absolutely loved from first sniff all the way through the drydown. Already, this is gunning for a spot on my “favorites” shelf, next to LADDM, Sycomore and Coromandel. I find that all of the poetic phrases Bruno uses to describe his fragrance are bullseye accurate: “primary colors of sky and sunlight shimmer in the crisp air. Vibrant, deep, clear.... Five has an ozonic and mineral aura... bright and wakeful....” Many fragrance afficionados equate “ozonic” freshies with bland, generic and uninteresting perfumes, but the scent of FIVE is actually quite arresting — simultaneously familiar and innovative. Rather than reproducing the tropes of classic fragrances, it rhymes with them — such as the general genres of colognes and aromatic fougeres as well as specific milestones like Terre d’Hermes. For me, the overall vibe of this scent is like a cool and refreshing summer breeze on a sunny day when the air is so pristine that you see the world with extreme clarity, in high contrast and with extra saturated colors. It’s a de-haze filter for your perceptual apparatus. What does it actually smell like? To my nose, it opens with a cool, rounded, refreshing scent -- somewhat sweet, citrus-fruity and herbal-aromatic. And, yes, it is “ozonic,” but in the most refreshing way. The rosemary, petitgrain and other citrus notes are all present and smoothly blended. After a short while I start to detect a cool (vs. warm) note of cinnamon, which is unlisted and is probably a phantom accord. Eventually this cinnamon flavor is joined by another unlisted and probably phantom note: myrrh. In the drydown, I detect a faintly pungent saltiness underlying the aromatic citrus-rosemary scent that is still very much present. Indeed, the latter seems to hang around all the way through the drydown (albeit diminished in power). This is going to sound strange, but I actually think that Five eventually kind of dries down to the *opening* of Terre D’Hermes! (minus the Iso E Super) If the lovely aroma weren’t enough, the performance has been astounding for something so bright and lively. I put three sprays of this on about 11 hours ago, and it is still not yet a skin scent. It’s projecting about 3-4 inches out right now, enough to still get occasional whiffs in a favorable wind. Projection was at least arm-length for about 3 hours. Remember, this is three sprays from a 2ml sample vial. I’m sure the full bottle puts out more juice, and better distributed, likely yielding even better performance. The caveat is that this review is based on a single wearing. The perfomance of any fragrance varies depending on weather, skin, POTUS tweets, and any number of other factors, so today might have been randomly extraordinary. That said, the scent in combination with the performance make this potentially an extremely versatile fragrance. I could easily see it worn either casually or formally, from spring through fall. Will test again, but at least based on the first try, Five looks to be not only full-bottle worthy but signature scent worthy. It is pricey, yes ($95 for a 30ml bottle after the $15 discount for having purchased the sample set). But I absolutely love the scent, and if today’s test is even remotely indicative of the performance, even 30ml should be able to last a good long while.

AN IMPOSSIBLE CREATION! Something that should not exist. I hate to describe a perfume as a bomb but this is - well - a natural sweet orange and lemon BOMB!!!!!!!!!!!!! The largely lemon is helped out by arguably an almost equal sweet orange to keep it extra ordinary. A slight petitgrain over the top heightens the lemon and stops it from becoming anosomic when nose is to skin. The clear rosemary adds a slightly dark dusty depth and a herbal green vibe somehow seamlessly growing the depth and body of the citrus over the barely noticeable woods turning it in to walloping powerhouse of a scent bowling people over when you enter the room. Delishiously fresh, green undertones on an exceptionally natural citrus with easily a record breaking sillage and longevity. A nod to barbershop and old school yet clearly made for younger people. A scent that from my experience leaves me scratching my head as to how it is that a citrus can be so exceptional in performance. All done without resorting to going all soapy. I’ve tried a number of Bruno Fazzolari and I can not believe how I have missed his amazing creations so far. Especially Lampblack and Vetiverissimo. This is now my signature.

Five is my first try from Bruno Fazzolari and it does not disappoint. A citrus/herbal blend, a little bit like a traditional cologne, but modernized with the herbal side of rosemary. Neither boastful nor shy, neither too fleeting nor too aromatic, Five is a composition that strikes a a pleasant balance seldom achieved by fragrances that seem geared toward warm weather. The citrus is definitely a blended citrus, without the dominance of any one fruit, a harmony of orange and lemon. I'm often a fan of the way that petitgrain mixes with citrus and Five is no exception, as the earthy, wheaty quality of petitgrain contrasts the very fresh citrus blend poignantly, with rosemary lingering in the background to give an herbal feel that isn't overwhelmingly herbal. Five performs pretty well, as well, giving hours of decent projection and hours more as a skin scent, so certainly above the norm for a warm weather EDP. Still, its full bottle pricing of $110 for 30ml is a bit steep, so this one I' need to sleep on and try some more before stomaching the pricing. 8 out of 10

Pristine in a word, Five is not so much a modern Eau de Cologne as it is a futuristic one. Opening with an exquisitely multifaceted citrus-herbal accord, Five’s almost classic Eau de Cologne feel –bright, fresh and vibrantly spiced – is lit incandescent with a cool crisp minerality akin to aldehydes sans the soapiness. There’s brisk petitgrain, rosemary and other citrus notes present here but they’re so smoothly blended that none standalone. Later a sweetish woody cedar note joins the composition, turning almost salt-watery as it carries through to the dry down where it marries with the mineralic note. Overall the composition is crystal clear – pristine – and succeeds in lifting the tried and tested Eau de Cologne formula to new assertive, refined, and contemporary heights. Masculine leaning. Sillage is moderate, longevity is about 8 hours on me. 8.5/10

Five smells so boring that it transcends it's own simpleton scent and becomes the pristine model of all fresh herbaceous mens colognes. The orange/lemon melts with the herbs on a woody bed supported by the "mineral/saltwater" notes while allegedly neroli romps around somewhere, which to me is a shock because I usually dislike neroli in perfume. This combination of herbs and citruses DOES smell old-school, but it's fucking fantastic. If you don't like barbershop scents don't even bother with this one. But boy oh boy $125 for a measly 30 ml is roadkill!!