Witness

What an appreciation I have for fragrance's since it was first launched in 92'. At the time I didn't even give it a chance...my only excuse was my age. This fragrance would of been considered one of those drugstore kind! I was at a fragrance boutique carrying rare frag's, I was lucky that they had 1 bottle of 50ml packaged. I took a chance and made a blind purchase...was I glad I bought it. This fragrance comes across as whole lot of sweet/spicy fragrance. As it settles the top notes of cinnamon smokey blend and Balsam fir is well balanced with a deep note of honey/smokey vib as a base note. I'm also able to pick up a woodsy vib of sandalwood and coriander. I can just pick up a floral note of mainly lavender. Longevity and Silage is very strong lasting over 8hrs. Final thoughts, It is disheartening to me that these amazing GEM of fragrance's are no longer being made which makes it hard to find! I absolutely ❤ the deep sweet/woodsy vib making it STUPENDOUS! To Finally top this juice off which makes it a MUST HAVE is the myrrh/amber notes...absolutely sophisticated. This complex fragrance is perfect during the fall/winter months especially when it's against the warmth of your body making it very luxurious/sexy. No doubt about rating this juice...8/10. If you enjoy old school frag's...seriously this is a MUST-HAVE!!

These are the actual notes for witness according to bogart at the time... Top notes: Bergamot, lemon, mandarin orange, grapefruit, pineapple, galbanum, lavandin, rosemary, artemesia. Heart notes: nutmeg, pimento, cinnamon, clove, juniper, thyme, cardamom, celery, cinnamon leaf, cumin, cistus, bourbon geranium, madagascar ylang ylang Base notes: patchouli, oakmoss from plum trees(?? Lol), red sandalwood, labdanum, sage, fir resin, benzoin, myrrh, incense, peru balsam, oppoponax absolute, castoreum, chive, musk I finally found this for a reasonable price, so once it arrives ill do up a review on it. But thats some freakin note listing lol...chive? The closest thing ive seen to a chive note i guess is the asafoetida note in ma griffe by carven maybe. Edit: i can at least verify at this point that that note listing is pretty damn absurd. Review eventually. Smells good as opposed to bad at least. Dont spend too much though.

I got this about a month ago and have worn it several times since. I love this fragrance so much that I bought two back-up bottles as this gem has been discontinued (so they say). Upon initial application it smells like some rich liqueur: sweet and spicy and deep. Put another way, it has a sharpness about it which is tempered by a boozy sweetness. Artemisia, citrus, fir and cinnamon really stand out right from the start. The cinnamon actually smells more like cloves to me - it is nothing like the overly sweet cinnamon I have so often experienced. The fir adds a woodiness which is sharp, but not overpowering. It is exactly the right sort of wood as many other woods would be swamped by the boldness of the other notes. This is a definite powerhouse fragrance that is quite unique and offers a much more complex array of notes than, say, something like Quorum.

Cinnamony woods and tantalizing spices, yet somehow identifiable as one of Bogart's. I can see why some reserve it as appropriate only for autumn and winter. It's very nice. I also have the canned deo. Some top notes have weakened and vanished over 30 years but when liberally applied, it ends up as a woodsy base topped with sharp greens and florals, and a hint of cinnamon.

Discontinued gem for sure. Extremely well suited for winter wearing. A wonderful cinnamon note shines within this fragrance, along with the spices and balsam fir. Longevity great. A super smell to track down. Happy hunting!

بینظیر بود.یادش بخیر.خیلی دنبالش گشتم.ازون بوهای معرکه بود.دوستت دارم ژاک !

Very interesting bottle of juice - classy, old-school vibe with cinnamon and sandalwood blended with pine (balsam fir) and aldehydes with citrus on top. Nice complexity in a composition, indeed. A very lifted scent - fresh and invigorating. This was created in 1992, but it could have easily been 1982. A lot of notes peek through - some nice oakmoss, green notes (artemisia & basil) along with some oriental undertones...vanilla and benzoin/amber in the base. Wow. The more one keeps smelling, the more your nose (and mind) will find. While challenging, I love complexity in fragrance and this is a bottle of juice that I may notice different notes every time I wear it. I often get a nice floral bouquet with nice shades of green, but this is more spicy and woodsy overall to me this wearing. Great bottle...! Something about this that has swagger, a hipster vibe and love the retro splash bottle I got. This rating may swing a full point up or down, but I think it wears according to your mood and right now, I'm relaxed on a Sunday afternoon. Next time, I am wearing this out with a button down shirt and a nice coat. No one would think of making juice like this today - just self-confident men who have taste would wear it with a grin. **Update** - came back to this on a nice Spring day in Northern California. Low 80's - light breeze. Wanted a complex scent after doing some test from vial this morning with some rare and interesting scents. One had a nice herbal woodiness - the other was a nice oriental. So, I reached from Witness - that has elements of both. From splash, it offer a great retro-vibe, but a composition with this many notes need to be decanted into an atomizer and sprayed on to separate the notes. I dabbed on a bit and it was good - very good. But, from a spray, it was even better! The cinnamon, fir, artemisia, and wood are the base of this, but SO much is going on. Aldehydes open the top with a nice lavender and other green notes, including a nice basil. While cinnamon is present throughout the whole wear - coming from the heart, a key spice is in the top as well...coriander. The nice florals in the middle that I get are carnation, geranium and jasmine - I do not detect a rose note. The cedar is incorporated nicely with sandalwood - both warmed by a nice amber and touched with benzoin. Oakmoss is used lightly here - but carries the green notes and is a nice fixative. Good longevity. Moderate projection. Not a powerhouse, but a quality and very well-made, thoughtful composition. Amazing quality to price ratio! I do not get actual incense as note, but a smokiness/"dusty" vibe occurs with the cinnamon and coriander blending with the herbs and styrax (which is a key resin used in incense). This is an important note that actually allows the entire fragrance to open up and breathe on your skin. How smart to incorporate this with nice spices and green notes (including fir). You really do get more of an Oriental Spicy Woody here as a classification. Kudos to Dominique Preyssas! Highly recommended to use an atomizer to apply this. It separates a full composition like this brilliantly - very important to apply this as a spray. To me, a scent for all but hot summer days, but this could show very nicely on a warm evening indeed. It is a cozy, skin scent that really develops well, but is not too strong. One of the best bottles ever from the house of Jacques Bogart - 20 years old and still excellent! Cheers.

Has some early 90s hallmarks about it. A little powdery thing going on. That kind of early EDT, barbershop underpinning. It's not from a contemporary powerhouse per se and it's production value is of a certain level. So, approaching with that in mind. There is a small "cheesy" factor here I guess you could say. Not necessarily a bad thing. Initial spray reminds me of olives, or perhaps biting into an olive from a martini. Sharp. A wake up call somewhat divorced from the rest of the wear. I would say this is impressively complex. It is quite aromatic. Especially relative to price. I would wear with simple white shirt and dark colored suit or suit separates, or with more casual fall wear with lots of textures; corduroy, flannel. Wearing some nice accessories, you can really say something with this. Attire as complex as the scent. Reminds me somewhat of the first CdG, in the complexity; another warm spicy and aromatic number.

Nothing special, since it’s familiar — if there’s any connection to Balenciaga, it’s only an echo. But it’s more like a watered-down Dali or Ferre, Passion. A scent that’s masculine, contained, but not fully barbershop — more in the vein of Krizia Moods or something similar. Yet it leans toward chocolatey, gourmand territory with some fougère base. So, Ferre — I don’t see much beyond that. Pleasant; it doesn’t feel inferior to the ones mentioned. Passion with a hint of toothpaste? The effect is nice — not exceptionally multi-dimensional, but the constellation is interesting; there’s something metallic, masculine in the background. It should be compared to Passion and Ferre. Against this backdrop, Davidoff or Jules are bolder and veer into that peppery territory, like in Portos. Here it’s calmer, though still with character. A fine scent, but Balenciaga is much more serious.

There have been many surprises on my fragrance journey, most of them have been destinations of disappointment. Witness is not one of them. A strong and charismatic fragrance that warms your soul. Cinnamon, pine, artemesia, woods and incense is what I get as the main players of this masculine beauty. It has a mild sweetness that lures you in for what will become a dark, mysterious and smoke-filled burnt offering to those around you. I am in love with this fragrance. A true gem that can still be discovered, but buyer beware............not for the timid.

A classic woody spicy fragrance with strong performance and good aroma quality. It creates a good nostalgic feeling, but it may not be popular these days. Anyway, smelling such a scent is very memorable and for those who still remember the old hair salons where men used to go every day to fix their faces, it will be a bridge to the past. Also I agree who said “autumn in a bottle”. 👌

I think the last reviewer is describing a different fragrance (?). This is STRONG stuff ! It smells exactly like a Christmas pomander, full of dried bitter orange peel/ lemon peel with all those Christmas spices added - and of course pine resin. I like it and it's got character, but find it hard to wear...it's a bit too much.

Great juice..sorry it's gone! Real cinnamon, not the chewing-gum kind..woodsy with slightly detectable pine notes.... quite sweet...only one problem (for me anyway...)...I can't think of an appropriate time or place to wear this beauty! Certainly a Fall or Winter fragrance...you will be sorely missed....

Much too light, much too generic, so disapointing for a J. Bogart fragrance!!!

This is a curious one! It reminds me a little of Halston Z-14 and a little of Van Cleef and Arpels Tsar. Spice and cinnamon are the two notes I get most strongly - but then there's that x-factor that the incense also imparts for me. I'm never quite sure what to make of it. I can smell the pine/fir... it smells mildly Christmassy to me. And there's a hint of floral, too. Is that the carnation note? Normally I don't like carnation - it's what spoiled Tsar for me - but here it's restrained. A very nice scent! Not a powerhouse like Bogart Pour Homme, which is nuclear strength. But I like the strength of this one. I'll have to get a bottle! A few hours later: No, I won't. That carnation-incense accord, which becomes pronounced with the passage of time, is a deal-breaker for me. As the hours passed that accord kept "coming at me" (to use my wife's phrase). A pity.

Aldehydes a pump and orange juice with all possible and impossible Canela existing on this planet, whether in wood powder, tree, roosters, stems roots etc., all together and mixed in hyper doses, master and absolutely horsy. A highly potent elixir of mass destruction and even with just a spritz is indispensable very sparingly to use it without destroying itself and / or make the flowers wither, the children cry and the elderly come in a coma in an instant only. The Attar are salsichas3 water before him, Chanel No. 5 Perfume and their aldehydes becomes Eau de Cologne in his presence easily, and I dare say that no Montale N-U-N-C-A even have the proximity of the power of this bottled weapon 8 trillion megatons! Its opening is a firm kick and well placed in the Orange stomach, aldehydes, coriander and basil that disturb the unconscious and tonteiam any being that breathes, snatching him from the earth and putting it who knows where; this opening is almost a "ad infinitum". Their environment has a vast notes, but the most prominent is the Cinnamon in all its forms processed as possible, as living Carnation you and I, a rustic Honey mixed with aged Roses and many white flowers exuding the aroma Indole by all sides, so you can not escape it. After 24 hours it begins to want to show their final claws, is when it becomes more opulent designing leagues and leagues an aroma of resinous mixtures that give it a whopping dusty feature is the Styrax + Benzoin + Amber + Pork + Moss Oak = %*#@_§°!, which still gives it a balanced end, convincing it came to be a perfume and not a pump, is a sweet vanilla incense smokes environment and causes it to resist until the end of his "infinite" progress, saying: "it was worth it, I survived." ?! Fixing and projection I leave to the imagination of you, I can not have more imagination after using Witness! ∞ ∞ ∞ "ad infinitum" [...] Word of the day: without word... (day 42)

Overall rating: * * * * Smelling Jacques Bogart's Witness for the first time is a bit like discovering a mint condition Honus Wagner baseball card stored in a tupperware container in your grandparents' attic. After the initial burst of excitement, two questions come to mind: "How in the hell did your grandfather come by this little treasure and why didn't he tell you about it before?" Why, indeed. I had never experienced Witness before finding it tucked unpretentiously behind the Yatagan and Caron Pour Homme at a local perfume shop. To call this a forgotten classic verges on understatement. The fragrance itself is a masterful blend of wood, incense, cinnamon, and citrus. I could swear there is tobacco as well, but the note sheet disagrees. Today, I am wearing my all time favorite Jubilation XXV Amouage, and yet I find myself stealing whiffs of my elbow joint, where I applied the Witness some 5 hours ago. Witness reminds me of another favorite of mine, Havana by Aramis. It has that same lazy sophistication, but more substance. It is missing the boozy rum notes of the Havana--addition by subtraction in my opinion. I'll go bit deeper into looney-land and say that Witness compares favorably L'Air Du Desert Marocain. They both have a slightly bitter cinnamon and incense heart. But where LDDM is dry enough to cause windburn, Witness is moist and deeply satisfying. Highly recommended. Scent: 5/5 Sillage: 4/5 Longevity: 4/5

If there was ever a fragrance that captured the beautiful essence of the New England autumn season it's this one... by far! It's literally an "Autumn in a Bottle" kind of scent with the most masculine cinnamon I ever smelled. I can't get enough of it. Probably because autumn is my favorite season -- the spices, the foliage, the crisp air, deep blue sky, pumpkins, and expectations for Thanksgiving. I fell in love with Witness not because it's a so-called panty dropper (it's not). Not because it brings tons of compliments (it doesn't). And not because it attracts female attention (it won't). I fell in love with Witness simply because it's fall in a bottle. Before Bogart Witness was added to my collection I thought Chanel Egoiste and Bvlgari Man In Black was my two fragrances that reminded me the most of fall. Not anymore. The only issue is Bogart Witness is discontinued and prices are getting out of hand on ebay. Some sellers are asking $50+ for a 3.4 oz bottle. Thus this is not a blind buy. The only reason you should pay that much is if you already know and love this fragrance, and you couldn't imagine it not in your collection.

Let's be honest—not all of us are waltzing off to black-tie galas. For everyday life, when we simply want to smell good, we don't necessarily need the fragrance of a Lord Fauntleroy. Elegance may not be our style at the moment. Masculine and pleasant—yes. Quality ingredients—definitely. That's where a fragrance like Bogart Witness comes in. It's not fancy. Not all dressed up and buttoned-down. Instead, it just feels right when paired with everyday clothes, doing everyday things. Make no mistake—it's unquestionably old-school. Charming, nostalgic and old-fashioned in the best sense. The cinnamon-carnation-incense accord, which seems a bit intense at first, leads to a dry-down embracing a 1990s masculine sensibility. Yes, for a certain kind of traditional, confident, what-you-see-is-what-you-get sort of man... this witness has nothing to prove. NOTE: If you happen to own Witness, you may also find it's the perfect Christmas fragrance—friendly, warm, and festive.

I've been into men's colognes lately and hearing Witness described as Autumn in a Bottle, among other glowing reviews, I had to try this. Well, it's not autumn in a bottle on me. It goes on very old style but same-y men’s cologne, with the top notes very distinct. It smells familiar and 100% masculine here, not even remotely something I could rock without smelling like my man hugged me and left his scent on me. Drying to mid notes, it’s more coriander and cinnamon wood with pine,with the coriander fading off and getting a woody outdoors vibe as it dries towards full drydown. It DOES smell a lot like a pine cone, actually. It’s not quite natural enough to be a unisex scent, though, leaning distinctly masculine in the overall melange. and NO, UK-rain, I am describing the same fragrance you are reviewing. This is how it wore on my skin. It is clearly different from how it wears on you, but that doesn't mean either of us is wrong.