Game of Spades Ace

Alright! So I picked up on this brand after eyeballing some Bond No. 9, never been able to test of their frags, as I've never seen them so I picked this one up, along with Game of Spades: Win as well. Seeing as though for whatever reason, there is no page for the "Win" flanker, I'm going to review both fragrances in one! GAME OF SPADES ACE: This is an interesting frag. Clean, slightly spicy, fruity, it has a very fruity pineapple touch to it. Oddly, one of the most real smelling pineapple scents I've ever encountered without a doubt. How is this not a note that is listed here? Off the top especially ALL I can smell is a really clean authentic pineapple with a REALLY light touch of spice under it. As it dries down, the amber notes show up a bit more, along with a good dose of musk, but it seems to remain a very fruity pineappley adventure. The smells like section here is laughable at best. This does NOT smell like BR540, I can get literally the SLIGHTEST hint of that type of scent, but the fruity pineapple vibe, sends this into something I've never smelled. Usually you think of Aventus and its clones, or Hacivat, but this, is a much different pineapple. I've not smelled the Bond frag this is cloning, but this smells incredibly unique overall, I also laugh at the comparison to Imagination. Like what? Are y'all high? I sprayed a tester with both to verify, and no, not even for a moment do the two get even in the same realm. You'd be able to compare this much closer to BR540, and this does not smell like that at all even. Having BR540 on there, you'd almost wonder how tf people would think Imagination smells like BR540, it does not, and these comparisons are pretty much bullshit based on that alone. Longevity seems weird, or atleast the sillage it makes. I believe this is one that will grow and change a bit over the next month or so, so I will let this sit a little and come back to it all the same. As of now, I believe with how kind of thick it seems, it'll hang around up to maybe 10 hours or so. With a moderate to almost strong sillage bubble. I wore CDNIM EDP as my SOTD today, so when I initially gave this stuff a spray, I was a bit sad because it didn't seem to smell like much, but I remembered a review mentioning a pineapple vibe in this frag, so I probably was noseblind, as this smells WAY different now that I'm really testing it this evening. Most reviews say this isn't good for the summer, but I'm gunna say for me this is way more a spring/cool summer/fall frag more than anything else. The freshness of the pineapple mixed with a slightly masculine spiciness just screams warmer weather to me over colder weather. But I think this is really more an all season vibe. Night or day. This is definitely also unisex. Not overly feminine, but definitely not overly masculine. Somewhere almost in the middle making me feel it's ever so slightly more masculine than anything but unisex nonetheless. Atomizer is not pressurized on my bottle, but the quality of the bottle and cap is really superb. I feel I will come back to this review and alter it some as this ages a little bit because I feel like it will change some, and I'd like to get a wearing of it in to really try it out. GAME OF SPADES WIN: My favorite of the 2 Jo Milano frags I picked up, though Ace is still really nice. This one featuring the same beautiful bottle/cap quality AND a pressurized atomizer on this one which is a big plus to me. The opening is really crisp and clean, almost reminding me of a fizzy soda but mixed with a lot of floral notes, but also having a slight candy sweetness to it. If anything THIS one, had a really really strange similarity to BR540 in it's opening but it only hung around for maybe a minute if that. I did notice that right away though. The notes read out very floral, the opening giving my nose a good hit of the mandarin orange, but the Litchi, and Cassis are both notes I am completely unfamilar with. I assume it gives it that almost fizzy candy sweetness that I get. Hard to really say. Moving to the middle and base, I definitely get a ton of almost feminine leaning floral notes, normally I HATE floral notes in a frag that I'm using as a dude, especially the peony, but these floral's from the top that hang a little bit around mix with the peony and water lily in such a really great way making it feel a little masculine, unisex overall, but it does gain a more masculine touch as it keeps going, Ambroxen in the base boosting this one's masculinity a little bit, the praline in the base seems like it would be a really gross weird note, but it adds the perfect touch with a little musky vanilla to really round it all out. As weird as it sounds, this kind of reminds me of the smell of smarties candy. Lol. Obviously I have no list to make fun of of frags that this "smells like" here, but for me, again, this one kind of has it's own smell, and of the 54 other bottles in my collection, like ACE, this one thankfully gets it's own kind of place, which I really like since I don't like buying a bottle that makes another one feel redundant. That didn't happen here. Performance here is noticeably good. Decent longevity probably up to maybe 8-10 hours or more, with a good scent bubble around you. Didn't leave me questioning it's performance a little like I did with ACE, this one just sits really good. Both frags are sitting on my skin pretty much the same though, good sillage coming off of it. This one is definitely for the spring and summer only, atleast for me. It's just too bright and whatnot that if I wore it in the winter, It would likely be more taken as a woman's perfume. But the summer, this would be a really great little floral freshie for a dude trying to have a nice relaxing day. I feel like it would be a good summer day hanging around with the windows open, or down in your car. Just a nice vibe. Overally I'm really Impressed with these weird little Jo Milano frags. Apparantly they retail well over 100-200 bucks. (I for some reason, find this a little hard to buy but whatever), but I scored the 2 I got for a little over 100 bucks total, so i'll take em!

Game of Spades Ace This, upon first spray, I said yeah this is Baccarat Rouge all the way. But after a few minutes, I realized that it is a twist. I've never smelled No 4 Apres L'Amor by Thomas Kosmala but I've read that it's a twist on BR 540. It's the same with Game of Spades Ace. After an hour or so, I go nose blind to BR 540. Then after a while, I can smell it again. With Game of Spades Ace, I can smell it for a longer time. Ace has more citruses, making it a tad brighter. After an hour, the spices in Ace really come to the forefront. It's a deep, rich and warm spiciness that's quite addicting. It's not loud like Erba Pura. The screechy element, to me, isn't there. What's loud is the spiciness and I'm okay with that. It doesn't smell as metallic and woody as BR 540. This one is a smooth kind of spicy. The amber blends well with the creamy sandalwood. There is a slight and very faint resemblance to Another 13. I am wrapped in a small scent bubble and I get whiffs of it throughout the time. This will fill a room when you just spray it. It's rich, smooth, woody, but warm and spicy. It's more spicy than woody. The citrus in the beginning is beautiful and helps to uplift the ambers and musks. The musk is soft and warm. I love this fragrance. I see that it has been discontinued and re-released as Game of Spades Platinum. People have said that Platinum is an updated version of this. I have yet to smell Platinum, but I'm sure it's good. This fragrance creates a gray and mysterious mood. It exists and makes a statement without saying much or anything at all. I think this is an acquired taste. It's for those who are quiet but loud in their presence. This can also be worn anywhere at any time. I love this fragrance. I love this DNA.

Game of Spades Ace – it's like I'm winning at life, even though I'm probably just bluffing. Almost gave up on this brand after Wildcard almost killed me, but Ace saved the day with its smooth bergamot drydown and my totally real 10-year plan. It's got that Après l’Amour vibe, but for the kind of people who hack wifi and sell fake kicks for a mil. It's a subtle scent that whispers, "This guy is about to get away with it." Perfect if you want to smell like a beautiful lie.

To me it smells very manly, but smells very metallic, animalic and amber-ish , it’s easy to wear but i think not everyone will like it at first instance. It definitely is a perfume that will make everyone that smells it, curious. Ages for me definitely between 25-45. Also I’ve received more compliments by men that by women.

I just received this by accident as part of an an online order. It is far more expensive than what I was supposed to receive so I'm going to keep it. This reminds of a VERY spicy earthy less citrusy or pineapple version of SNOI. I'm not really digging the weird citrus and pineapple scents because I dislike those accords in SNOI and Hacivat, but wafts of spices and vanilla and sandalwood keep popping up. The citrus in this is not my cup of tea and I find it to be revolting, but the rest of the scent profile is very impressive and feels very complex and sophisticated. I think this will be a great cold and cool weather fragrance that will cut through the air. If you lived in a big city like NYC, this is the kind of thing you would want to wear when you are bundled up and commuting to work and moving through large crowds of people. It has strength and has a very strong scent oil concentration due to it being straight up parfum.

I purchased The Series 1 Coffret. After opening the sampler I can easily say I have never been more disappointed with the quality of fragrances in my life. I have to assume I either got a box with fake or ruined samples. These fragrances got ratings higher than most every classic ever created. I tested Wildcard and Royale on my skin. They are simply awful. The opening of Wildcard was ok but the drydown is just putrid. The scents don't match the notes listed in the box or on Fragrantica, Some of the samples smell so bad and are so headache inducing that I refuse to spray any others on my skin. I have tried all 9 on spray strips. they either smell horrendous or have no scent at all. Rouge Extrait had no scent whatsoever. I purchased this from a very reputable online retailer so I'm really confused. I contacted Jo Milano to try and ascertain whether they thought this item was authentic. They never responded. They can go fuck themselves. I hope for their sake this isn't the real deal because every scent in this box is shit.

The substance on skin looks oily. Long lasting. Smells like bharara king, all haramain erba pura vibes. But more mature because is nose friendly. Less ambar =less femenine. Tuned down, less sinthetic. more organic feeling. Less sillage. But good enough. Sweetness laying back. Floral, sweet spicy. Warm mellow. Cozy. More personal. Not overwhelming. Drydown with less ambar. And more creamy sandalwood. Good on warm and cold weather. Not for hot days but wearable.

Smells like a more unisex or even masculine version of Armaf Untold (BR540). Without any of the cotton candy / carnival sweetness, to my nose. It smells darker with a red wine note. Also smoother. So far, I do prefer this over Untold. But, I was expecting a dupe of Another 13? I don't know what that smells like anyway. Great frag. 7/10

Smells like GODDESS (gardenia blanc) from Aaron Terence Hughes. ATH made his first