Toro Pour Homme

Being a big fan of TDH Parfum, Eau Givree, and Intense Vetiver, I was really impressed with this perfume. For me, it has been quite a while since I've smelled the OG TDH, so I can only compare it to the TDH Parfum. First, there's nothing synthetic smelling about this fragrance, (obviously, it has synthetics in it like every perfume out there). But you're not getting some weird lemon pledge or something like that.Not at all. Straight away, I get that sour flint note from the OG with the citrus top, grapefruit, orange oil, and some bergamot. The pepper is there too. For me, the OG is a weak performer and I'd say this isn't better or worse. After that initial opening, which creates a very nice-smelling bubble around you for a short period of time, it goes quickly into a skin scent. Lots of ISO Super at play. If you like any of that DNA, it's an easy blind buy. For me, the quality is nearly the same as the PArfum, which is the only thing I have to compare it to at the moment (and they are similar in scent profile). Perfomance also seems to be the same, maybe projects a bit more than the Parfum, and I'll likely not buy the Parfum again because of how similar the profiles are.

#976 in my "Tour de Fragrance" I just realized this the 64th bottle of Maison Alhambra I've purchased. More than any other perfume maker. And I've only passed on six. This is a great dupe of Terre de Hermes, the EDT, not the Parfum. I actually gave away the Parfum as it was kinda simple and uninteresting compared to the more complex Eau de Toilette, and I gave away the Eau de Toilette, as I did almost all of the EDTs I purchased, over performance. The performance here is more satisfying than the Hermes EDT, but not up to the level of the Parfum. Still, makes it too lunch, barely, but I only paid $16 dollars for this so can't complain. If you haven't experienced Terre de Hermes at all, this is one of your many choices to do so on the cheap. Sapil Legend, which I got for $15 is a more exact copy. Rasasi Fattan cost me $23, but it's also close enough. It's a citrus aromatic scent, a little on the sour side, but I think works anywhere for any purpose. So pick one of these very wearable scents. They're all safe blind buys.

Edit: Something interesting happened today. Got another bottle of this for a ridiculous price online, for about 9 euros. Straight out of the box, i sprayed it a couple of times, left two sprays on a napkin and put the bottle away. The napkin in my room kept projecting to me further inspecting it. And i just might believe, that this batch has a better performance, both longevity and projection wise, brand new and without any maturation, than my other bottle which has been sitting on my shelf for at least 2 years. Not only that but the scent smells more ''rounded'' out, they slightly enhanced the pressurizer and the cap is a bit tighter - than my first bottle. And it has not matured yet. Goes to show the variety in batches, but this is for sure a love now from me. I'm a TdH lover and this one of course lacks the smooth quality of the original, but still, who needs TdH when you have this for 1/10-1/15 the price point.

I got my hands on two fragrances over the past few days, Nobody Knows by Zara and this one (Toro by Maison Alhambra), and was very surprised how well they layer together. Toro by MA has an elegant orange opening but this is not your usual citrus blast. It's classy and stylishly not zingy. The grapefruit adds a sourness but doesn't take away the rind-like orange loveliness. As it dries down you get a slight spicy pepper and a comforting dose of deep vetiver. Bloody yummy! The real revelation came when I paired Toro with Nobody Knows, it became a whole new beast. The orange notes of Toro remain over the top as NK dries down to add coconutty complexity and palo vibes. You end up with a luxurious orange-wood-leather concoction I think you can wear all year round. Beautiful, powerful, unisex and safisticated. An absolute winner 🏆

Toro Pour Homme by Maison Alhambra is, for me, the biggest surprise from this house—especially since their fragrances usually struggle with projection. Here, however, the scent opens with the crisp, earthy-citrus DNA of Terre d’Hermès, executed with impressive balance and clarity. If Fattan by Rasasi has long been considered the top Terre d’Hermès dupe, Toro Pour Homme easily competes with it in quality, while being even more affordable and coming in a generous 100 ml bottle. Scent: 4.5/5 Longevity & Projection: 0.5/1 Presentation: 0/0 Quality/Price Ratio: 2/2 Compliment Factor: 0/1 Uniqueness: 0.5/1 Overall: 7.5/10 Office-friendly: No Blind buy: No Recommended age: 30+ Occasion: Versatile, formal, semi-formal, casual, leisure Season: Spring, Summer, early Fall