London Hall

Reminds me of the Baccarat rouge. Too similar.

I'm a Texan, and I bought this as a blind-buy, jealous of you English folks are truly very lucky to have that dopamine-hit called the fragrance salon at Harrod's. I digress. London Hall opens with a hit of cumin and saffron (get any sort of misleading illusions that this will smell anything remotely close to BR540. Stop connecting all the saffron dots to BR!). It's a bit raw, and assertive, really. There is absolutely NO gourmandy sweet-treat to soften the blow. Yeah, you get some labdanum and frankincense, but these are not pronounced enough for the oncoming leather freight train. This is not a cozy patchouli. This is not an ambery vanilla. This is NOT anywhere near as great as 54. This is sharp, punky and a bit feral. If Gris Charnel were stripped of its softness, and given a set of safety pins and a snarling attitude with a pack of smokes rolled up in a t-shirt sleeve, this would be it. The top and mid notes are pretty nice, really. But the base notes are horrible. Still, as a huge fan of the house of JusBox, I am happy to have this in my collection. You can PM me for sampling if you wish. Throw me a few bucks, and I can share a decant or two.