Re-charge Black Pepper

Re-Charge Black Pepper. This fragrance for me is the very definition of a slow-burn affair. Opens out of bottle with an assertive punch of black pepper approaching loud or brash, even. My nose receives it on the macho side of masculine. While I do adore black pepper this challenged me in a way as I generally tend to like pleasant masculine scents with less slugging power. What makes this ultimately loveable is the immediate bright lemon zest sat atop the serious and sober black pepper. Is more of a tangy, dried lemon peel citrus with some real slap to it, just the way I like... None of that sugar-sweet syrupy cheesecake stuff in here, really, but somewhere in the open there is a creamy some thing softening the hard edges. Directly beneath the black pepper lies a wonderful and charming herbal Nutmeg tone, which nearly lands this in the dreadlock'd hippie-vendor camp (something I'm not averse to) but maybe hippy camp isn't quite it. I feel an upscale Town&Country vibe moreso. Calm, individualistic and revealing a natural charisma. Despite the initial pungency this opens in such a beguiling way that I can't stop smelling it. Black pepper remains visible throughout but falls deeper into the wings. The spicy-herbal Nutmeg woodiness takes front center but it's now playing with a creamy white floral of sorts. I'd call it barbershop-adjacent but more spiced, and it's great. There's a semi-sweet powder scent beneath it all, but is dignified and far from teenaged. The final dry it's so beautiful and elegant, I just love it. So classic. The spicy-herbal-woodsy notes retreat and give way to that creamy, silky something I'd been picking up on. There's a sensuous intimacy happening here with the clean white musk swimming in and out of the ambers all while the spiced woodiness still presents itself. It's kind of sexual, but it's polite. One interesting thing as time goes on, this presence of salted smoke tones reminiscent of clarified butter being browned a little too long, probably the Vetiver (in hiding to my nose) playing with the ambers. Lastly an earthy smoked-vanilla pronunciation, not unlike the trail of good burned pipe tobacco after a male relative several decades ago. Summary: A very striking yet calm, warm and comforting fragrance. I haven't smelled 25,000 different ones just yet but this truly feels unique to me. I'd call it a cold weather scent (my favorites usually are) but where I live, I do wear it 3 seasons out of the year, excepting only the very hot/humid summers. An absolute must-smell for fans of Black pepper, Nutmeg, and not particularly "dark green" nor "pitch black" masculine scents. I've been wearing it for 10yrs now and can't imagine myself not having a bottle of this stuff ever again.

Do not buy this because it has "black pepper" in its name. My mistake. It should be called Reduct not Re-charge. It is not a pepper bomb. Mildly spicy, at best. It is pleasant enough, though it kind of goes powdery on me within minutes. Longevity and sillage are just okay and it's really hard to come by in the US at a reasonable price. My only real Mack Daddy pepper bomb is Blackpepper by Comme des Garcons, with Montale's Intense Pepper coming in second. Best wishes on your search! [UPDATE: Darned if I don't now really like this fragrance! It has a mild peppery sophistication to it that is upscale and regal. My wife gave me the body wash for Christmas, I have several bars of soap, and I recently scored the deodorant stick for a very good price. So, needless to say, I'm all in.]

Got a small bottle of this in an Advent calendar this year (!!) and it's exactly my sort of thing. Starts off very bitter and pungent, straight-up aping black pepper IRL. It's super masculine, but definitely wearable by a woman too: it's peppy, interesting and relaxed and does mellow out/sweeten a bit as it dries down (though I kind of like the unique fresh spicebomb at its beginning). Keep an eye on eBay if you like its concept, since people will likely be selling bigger-than-sample-size bottles very soon.

This fragrance has two stages - the opening which has lots of pepper, fairly strong sillage, and lasts about 10-15 minutes; and the drydown which is very mild and warm, powdery-woody-sweet, with weak sillage and lingers on the clothes for a long time, all the while not decaying into anything unpleasant or synthetic-smelling like so many other (even quite expensive) fragrances do. Overall, this would be an absolutely great fragrance if the opening lasted longer and the drydown had better sillage.

Do not buy this if you think this smells like the handwash. I did and I am very disappointed. The handwash is rich and much sweeter and spicier, it smells like a perfume. And the perfume smells like cheap hand soap. Completely twisted and a huge fail. If they could have done the handwash scent justice with decent performance it would have been a total banger. Is the EDP the same waste of money? I dare not buy it now.