La Nuit des 300

Love it! Got myself a sample and I’ve been really enjoying it. It reminds me of Je Suis Le Plus Grand M.A. by D’ORSAY but this one is better imo. Also Boy by Chanel come close to this but I feel like this is more modernize version of it like modern fougere style. Yes it’s a bit synthetic which I usually don’t like but this one has been blended perfectly. It’s clean, it’s citrusy, little bit creamy and really chic but very effortlessly. When I smell this perfume I imagine someone really cool, stylish, decisive and confident. I will prob got myself a full bottle of it.

I purchased a sample from Lucky Scent. I wasn't sure how I'd feel, but I ended up purchasing a bottle (and a discovery set). To me, the scent starts off as a blast of bergamont baby powder. Feminine & clean, and also perfectly unisex. Then it slowly settles into a gentle powdery amber that melts perfectly into my skin. Simple, pretty, and clean. I can't imagine it offending anyone, and not sure why it's not getting more loves. Totally into it.

To pay homage to Hellenic culture, Hellenists Parfums this time chose to celebrate the heroic night if 300 (male) soldiers who strenuosly resisted the immense Persian army at the Thermopylae. Their sacrifice (they lost) allowed Hellenic arm forces to organize and win the war. As story repeated itself (at least accordyng to Ancient Greek phylosoply), we have another mythical group of 300 men. Thebes was home to an elite military unit of 300 warriors, known as the Sacred Band, which consisted of 150 pairs of male lovers. This professional, merit-based unit was formed around 378 BC and was considered nearly invincible for several decades, playing a key role in ending Spartan dominance in Greece. Their final and most famous "night" event (though it was a battle fought during the day) was at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC, where they fought to the last man against the forces of Philip II of Macedon and his son Alexander the Great. All 300 fell where they stood rather than retreat, a sight that moved Philip to tears. They were buried side by side at a site marked by a giant stone lion monument. It is to the latter that This scent pays homage to. It aims to replicate the bonding, the contact, the fear, and the courage of those soldiers. This bonding is argutely represented by an exploration of musks, the material that evoces intimacy per excellence. And @hellenistparfums chose the right parfumeur for the job: Maurice Roucel. From Musk Ravegeur (original formula) to Dans Tes Bras, to the more chemical Outrageous, roucel knows its way around synthetic musks. Whay I recognize, hidden in the scent, is a sort of "fougere structure" with an herbaceous lavender and a strong (at least in th eopening) aromatic artemisia and a base of tonka and semi-clean patcholi. This framework is dressed with musks: clean musks evolving towards a more animalic, carnal dimension. First, the neatness of clean linen, then the warmth of skin, sweat, and desire. Beware this is different from Helmut Lang cologne which possessed a gorgeous big floral heart. Lovely. Consider following me on IG @alexolympia6

Wow, this one really takes you on a journey. The opening is soapy and herbal, with the aldehydes and artemisia edging out everything else. It eventually moves into a super clean lavender. This is were it feels most masculine-leaning to me, reminding me of classic fougères. After a few hours, what’s left is a very sweet musk. What a ride! A very fun fragrance.

The five fragrances released to date by Hellenist have been very touch and go for me, with Les Bras de Morphée being the clear standout. The title of each one is linked to a classical Greek myth or legend, but something about the artistic sensibility of the house feels out of sorts to me: sanitised like white unpainted marble in a corporate boardroom, devoid of the chthonic violence and eroticism I associate with Hellenistic culture. La Nuit des 300, the latest offering, is inspired by the night before the last stand of the 300 Spartans during the battle of Thermopylae. I was not sure what to expect from such a logline, but nothing about this musky fougere scent evokes anything adjacent to the image of 300 warriors enjoying a final night of passion as they prepare to die facing the army of Darius of Persia. It leaves me scratching my head. The opening is woody and slightly peppery, bergamot joined by a bitter earthiness like dried bark and leaves. A key note in the top that I thought was ambrette seed turns out to be Ambrettolide, a synthetic musk with a powerful diffuse nature. The muskiness grows sweeter as the fragrance develops, with lavender, tonka and artemisia. The dry down is a clean, creamy, skin-like sandalwood. At no point do I detect anything overtly dirty or sweaty, but neither is La Nuit des 300 a typical barbershop fragrance. I cannot point to anything precisely bad about it—Roucel's handling of the synthetics here is gentle and tasteful—but it lack the strong character that its name promises.