No 31

I bought every man in my family a bottle of this for Christmas 2013 and it was received well by all of them. It is a beautiful scent that can be bought off the bay for less than twenty dollars. It is an amazing deal, if you are okay with the generic refill bottle it comes in. As for the fragrance itself, the dry down is beautiful and I think it is very unisex. I decided after testing my husband's bottle I needed one of my own. It has a very sweet and comforting and mature dry down, perfect for cooler evenings. I can not distinguish one note from the other because it is very well blended. I do find it to be a heavy scent, perhaps that is the cedar while the vetiver makes it smooth. Overall, I am glad I found this lovely gem and I am even happier that there are a lot of good smelling men in my family. Sillage is moderate, and the longevity is yet to be determined.

As soon as I took the cap off it smelled like Carven Homme. When I sprayed it on, the one thing clearly missing was the rosewood note in CH, which is fine by me (I've already got a couple of "masculine" scents with strong rosewood). What is not listed in the notes is a vanillic/ambery quality. It's not too strong and the scent is a little sweet but certainly not sickly sweet. What's great is how natural it smells relative to the current prices. Carven Homme is not the "cheapo" it was a few years ago, so this is a great bargain for me. There is no strong fougere accord and no animalic quality. It is strong but not the monster their Sashka Black is. If you want to avoid the iso e super nightmares and generic laundry musks, as well as save a bundle of money, this is one to consider "blind buying," IMO. UPDATE: I'm well into the drydown and the wood is just a background hum. In fact, the wood seems to be more in the top notes, which is surprising. I don't get clear vetiver but there is a very mild resinous/balmy quality. Some have said it's similar to Le Male, and it seems like tonka plays more of a role over time, but it's definitely not a Le Male "wannabe." In fact, I could understand it if someone said that it lacked character! It's a bit musky and I never got strong geranium, though the spice quality is clear, if not dominant. If I had paid $70 for the 100 ml bottle I can tell you I would not be happy, but I hope that more will be revealed during the second full wearing, and for the price I paid I am indifferent at this point. I'm glad there was nothing offensive about it and that it smells natural, but there's no "wow factor" for me here either. UPDATE #2: It's back to being more like Carven Homme now, but without the rosewood and little if any patchouli. So that means it's a musky vanillic scent with a bit of a balmy/resinous quality and a hint of something woody (and it's a little sweet). It feels like the perfumer forgot to add a note that was supposed to be in it, or didn't use enough of one or another ingredient, but on the other hand it would be better for office/school situations, especially in cooler weather. Longevity is great and projection ("sillage") is at least good. UPDATE #3: This is also a bit similar to Molinard's Bois Precieux.

I have an EXTRA 3.4oz Eau de parfum concentration in the plain refill bottle (95%) full for swap/trade. This is an excellent (Niche) fragrance which is very hard to find. This is said to be a flanker of the original unisex fragrance called Sashka by Parfums M. Micallef then another flanker later called Crystal MAN No 31 or just #31. The composition is a creation of Jean Claude Astier. Apparently many are suggesting that M.Micallef's Spicy For Him is now the 4th Sashka flanker. Either way this juice is a very good NICHE Fragrance from the house of Micallef. Sillage, Projection and Longevity are all 8/10. This juice morphs a few times through to the drydown and each phase is AMAZING. I myself cannot find anything to compare it to. I will say that it gets lots of compliments from mature professionals who know a good thing when they smell it :) Top Notes citrus bergamia, lavender Middle/Heart Notes geranium, nutmeg Base Notes cedar wood, vetiver Composition is listed as Woody - Spicy @OlfractalInfemm, I do not get the medicinal rubber you describe, perhaps its a DNA chemistry thing.

Somewhat medicinal rubbery opening, softening to a tight harmony of orris, vetiver, nutmeg and carnation. A very cozy, quietly seductive fragrance.

Reminds me of a more grown-up/niche version of Le Male...fair bit of similarity to my nose. Good juice.