No Rules

I've journeyed full circle with this fragrance and I've got to say that I've arrived at a happy middle ground. I like it quite a lot, after initially being bowled over by it, I think I was a little hasty. It opens with a super smooth, cosmetic leather note, not dissimilar to iris/orris but then becoming more patent/faux leather and plastic like. I attribute that perhaps to the saffron, having that plastic nature but with smooth opulence and non of the earthier character. It has sweet facets but not in a traditional sense, this is a fragrance with quite an artificial feel. I don't know whether it's the generally creamy, powder of the heart of this fragrance, the sweet custard vanilla nuances or the aldehydes in the opening but something says oreintal chypre and Chanel to me. Not any specific Chanel....just the overall vibes. It's kinda fresh but has warmer substance too, and although vanilla is not listed in the notes nor is tonka or benzoin or anything vanilla like I'm still inclined to believe it's there. It's more clinical and less dirty than real vanilla it's more of a vanillin, which I love anyway. It also has a quality I like to call, 'carpet shop' new carpet complete with a hint of rubbery underlay. This was how I described Amouage Honour Men but I don't think these two are all that similar. I thought the performance was going to be a let down but it's actually a secretly tenacious scent. I have reapplied it but not because it was flagging, more to remind myself of how it opened for review purposes. The drydown gets more diffuse and opens up, becoming a bit like Boucheron Jaipur homme or something of that ilk. No Rules is a very interesting fragrance, unique but not quite as special as what I initially thought.

Opens up straight up musky and faint lavender forward, but then becomes very birch-forward, with a backseat lavender supporting it, while having a vinyl note upended by the birch (a pleasant smelling, soapy birch/vinyl frag)...but for the life of me, I shudder to think that the overall interpretation is something sour yet so sensually dirty, almost reminiscent of sour c**, or a down dirty party scent from a man who wore a clean frag....even though I'm aware that it's the combination of all the individual notes. Now I'm not so sure whether I should be repulsed by this or teased by this profile...I think I'll take the latter. Honestly, this is what Secretions Magnifiques should have been, and whatever other bias they wanted to do with it, but maybe not as sour. Furthermore, this is probably a GOOD nudge in the erotic direction from the Jazz Club by Maison MM (arguably, the Magnetic 1 Blend) scent profile. Now I realize the name of this is no coincidence--I guess it's a matter of time whether I should feel pressed to buy a bottle of this, knowing the vinyl+birch note toys into a completely different interpretation of the fragrance...truly a perverse fragrance, but I'm almost sure it's just me.

An interesting one, super clean yet filthy musk would be the main description. It is kind of "punk". Opens very bright aldehydes smelling very clean with an edge of synthetic/plastic which I guess is the vinyl. Then shortly after a really funky leather starts coming through. The leather note is kind of gross in this, so if you smell up close to your skin its a pretty repugnant scent. But in the air, this works into the very clean and bright aldehydes to add this interesting tinge to what is a clean spiced lavender. It's here where I can see how people have said it reminds them of Le Male. It's not the same notes as Le Male, but it's a similar style where you have this clean fragrance over the musk lurking underneath. As time goes on I'd say the funky leather musk starts to drop off a bit but the aldehydes stay and you get a soapy clean scent more for the length of the journey, which is quite a while. A nice progression and an interesting twist.

Try it for yourself. Do not pay attention to the reviews. It’s very different maybe even odd but also a pleasant fragrance. Should test on skin or clothing not on tester strip. Sillage is very nice and intriguing. You will stand out in a good way imo.

As you can see, many have feebly tried to associate this unique fragrance with others, and have failed- because no other perfume smells like this. I can say that this odd scent is more for the collector; not the person looking to smell like everyone else. If you like pedestrian scents like Aventus, or Bleu de Chanel, your first line of order is to get off of Fragrantica, and rely on your local fragrance expert at Sephora or CVS- I'll let you decide. And so, I digress. The opening Saffron is short lived, but the vinyl, lavender and leather all interplay with one another to create this dance. Not a safe blind-buy, but fragrance wisdom shows us that no fragrance really is.