Cubalibre

It’s actually spelled Cuba Libre by Cuban locals, and I’m quite certain I’m hearing whale song somewhere. There is so much ambergris and ozonics to the perfume I might just start making sonorous honking noises myself. Cuba libre means Free Cuba, and it was the name given to what is, essentially, a rum and Coca-Cola and lime cocktail dating back to the early part of the last century in Havana (you know, back when Cuba and America traded things). In the initial stages of Cubalibre I’m not getting much of that, aside from the alcoholic fermented sugar waxy fruitiness that comes from a throat-clenching bottom shelf white rum. But that strikes this nose much more as ambergris, and Cubalibre delivers it to you in heaping doses. I’m off of the Northern California coast that I’m so intimately familiar with, stuck in the middle of the cold Pacific, and a whale is vomiting in my face. It is superbly ozonic, like you are quite exactly inhaling a bunch of O3; insalubrious and toxic, and thick. The muskiness is slick, animalic, and overwhelming biological. The saltiness is parching. If there is a Cuba libre accord here it is in the slightly sweet caramelly woody low notes that only minutely exist and become far more apparent finally at the skin scent, but, if this is indeed a cocktail, it has far more rum in it than Coca-Cola. Woof, this is a tough one. You had better love ambergris and ozonics - the real deals, not the aroma chem stuff unconvincingly trying to pass themselves off more often than not - because Lasheras is not shy with them. This is a fitting review with which to end my current exploration of the brand’s lineup, now fully caught up with every Mallo I have smelled and own, because Cubalibre displays what I think makes Lasheras special, here via ambergris, one of the rarest and most unusual materials in perfumery: he has stunning attention to detail by way of minimalist presentations. The expansiveness of the ambergris and ozonics in Cubalibre is mind-boggling. I could spend hours and paragraphs going into just as much detail as those materials have, but I will spare you. The first time wearing Cubalibre I was transported to my beloved Northern California coast, specifically Point Reyes and the seaside town of Inverness, I’m smelling the ocean and the eucalyptus and bay forests, slurping deliciously sweet and briney Pacific sweetwater and Kumamoto oysters, drinking a glass of cold local sauv blanc, and I’m in heaven. The second, third, fourth, and all subsequent times wearing it? Same. I’m grateful modern perfumery has people like Lasheras in it.

An interesting boozy aquatic centered around a nice Norwegian ambergris tincture. The ambergris is surrounded by an accord of rum, cola and lime which is used in the Cuba Libre cocktail. Additional calonic and seaweed like notes are present slightly. The unisex scent has moderate sillage and good longevity. Like sailing on the sea with a cocktail in your hand. Enjoy! [Review based on complimentary bottle obtained from the perfumer]

Opens with salt laced lime like when one takes a shot of tequila, ambergris serves more as a textural element kind of like casting a hue over the composition the cola isn't the diabetic stuff you get in a can but more so the craft stuff hand made with herbs and spices anise sticks out most verging on on liquorice territory. Its ok didn't wow me

I have used half a decant of these over the last year, in the different seasons. I do not get it. Smells like moldy food to me. Or rather said, just as the mold in the food.

The nighttime version of virgin island water. Summer nights with a cool breeze this one. But it also smells like youre getting absolutely hammered.