Empyreal

Empyreal, my final sampling of the next-to-latest trio from Navitus Parfums curated by Steven Gavrielatos (a newer trio by Buck of Big Beard Business has since just been released), and certainly the most appealing as advertised, a sweet, gourmand-leaning blend. The standout notes for me are plum, cocoa, tonka, birch tar, and guaiac. It’s mostly, almost entirely a gourmand, with some smoky features, a dessert-like sweetness (but not overwhelmingly so) conjuring dusted cocoa over a semi-sharp, almost liqueur-like base, very inviting. Empyreal does not feel as dark or dense as BBB’s Soir Exclusif or Exalt Nuit but that might be very welcoming for some who found those fragrances to be a bit intimidating. It’s neither light nor dark, and, while not very dense, still performs quite well in its characteristically high parfum concentration, as with other Navitus entries. This is probably my favorite of Steven’s latest trio from Navitus, as much as some of the initial 2019-20 releases (Lautus, Arcanum, Intimus, and above all, Absolutio) remain my overall favorites of his curated releases from the line. Again, it’s great to see the lower price point of $145 for 100ml for these newer releases, and that BBB’s are following suit. 8 out of 10

This reminds me of cocoa butter in the air. Right off of initial spray this is sweet, chocolatey, and smooth. Then it smells nutty afterward which gives the fragrance that cocoa butter vibe. I love this. It's not overly sweet (except maybe in the first five seconds of the fragrance), and it's buttery, and it floats in the air making this alluring. Great scent.

This one is lovely. Honestly, this is like if Dior Feve Delicieuse and Valentino Donna Born In Roma Intense had a baby. It's very smooth and has a face cream type vibe (on my skin, it's almost reminiscent of Pond's Cold Cream). I love it. It's what I reach for when I want a more tempered version of Feve Delicieuse.

The Chocolate orange opening is short lived but truly mouthwatering. Then it gets quite dark. I smell cocoa but really the tonka, suede, birch tar, and guaiac steal the show. This is not a clone of Feve but if you're looking for a more masculine take on that style fragrance you will love this!!

Smooth and pleasant gourmand! I was initially put off when smelling the cap, as it smelled like a baby powder woody bomb. However, on first spray, that sweetened orange was captivating. This quickly dissipated and dried down to something reminiscent of cocoa powder. Very pleasant. Citrus, chocolate, and woods shouldn’t mix - but they do so seamlessly here. Ive been wearing everyday and have gotten a few compliments! I probably wont repurchase given the price, but I don’t see how you could dislike this if you’re a cacao lover!

Went through a large decant and it's a good sweet fragrance, but the inspiration is quite obvious to me. Seems like an almondy blending of Feve Delicieuse with A*Men and a slight emphasis on chocolate in the sillage. Definitely not as almondy as Soir Exclusif (which is a clear take on Pegasus), but the sugary sweetness is comparable, perhaps even a bit more crystalline. Both are borderline to full-on gourmand, so if that's not your thing, you may want to look elsewhere. But it does lean more unisex-to-masculine than Dior's FD, despite not being as refined or smoothly blended. Personally, I'd take Arcanum (a take on Herod) over this one any day of the week. Both perform great in the cold.

The tonka in this turns into a huge powder bomb on me. The initial spray is a weird cocoa - orange concoction almost like cocoa butter. The cocoa stands out for about an hour and then it is powder with a loooong longevity. Not full bottle worthy for the price point.

My husband says this smells like baby powder off my skin. I smell mostly guaiac wood & vanilla. This lasts about 6 hrs. on my skin. This is just ok, no real “wow” factor. My favorite by Navitus is Absolutio. I also love Lautus.

At first this kind of reminded me of Chanel no. 5, but then it turned into something like washing up liquid, so not for me

This was interesting to try but ultimately not for me. The notes are there but all a little too indistinct for my liking.

Hello all I return with my final review of Empyrial. As I have tested it further I’ve come to see that it’s not as similar to Feve Deicuese as I originally thought gI hadn’t smelled FD in quite some time. BUT for potential buyers, the FD resemblance is the most apt comparison. The opening is really beautiful. Obviously tonka is the main player and remains present Throughout but there is a fantastic sweet mandarin that differentiates itself from FDs cherry. At the heart and base FD is the deeper fragrance with an emphasis on resinous benzoin and dark chocolate leather. But deeper does not mean better. Empyrial doesn’t dive as deep but enhances its middle register with a more fun and delicious chocolate scone accord. I don’t know what this accord entails but you can really picture the whole baking of it. It’s not bready but you can tell it’s not chocolate bar and it’s not a chocolate milk, it’s obviously an edible bread desert, very nice effect. Additionally the scone effect is a great idea because it almost lets you “taste” the facets of tonka. Meaning you focus in on the scone and when you “taste” it you find accents of almond, marzipan, vanilla. Late dry down is my favorite part because you get subtle hints of guaiac and birch tar. Guaica reminds me of Silky Woods. Birch tar, sure you’ve all smelled it in Aventus. Quite enjoyable but not personally necessary with a bottle of feve. Take this one if you want more edible choclate desert. More playful. What I would’ve loved is a big dose of that guaiac or birch, the dry down is sooo nice when they come out but at that point it’s almost over.

Phenomenal perfume. This is how you do a male gourmand, smells super high quality & delicious without being overloaded by sugar. Also the best mens fragrance I've found that uses a cacao/chocolate note, here it just works. Off the top the orange is very noticable, it really smells like a chocolate orange with juicy orange & cacao powder. Settles to a more leathery/tonka heart which is dark but retains the dusty cacao smell. Does not come across as sweet to my nose. In fact I get very little sweetness overall. Most of the gourmand appeal comes from the 'cocoa scones' accord being the sum of it's notes giving a slight doughy or baked goods effect. Very clever. Later the birch, woods and suede accord gets even more present, darker and with less of the bakery smell coming through. Overall I really enjoy the way Empyreal is put together especially the absence of a cloying tonka note. It's strong (extrait), balanced and genuienly conjures up some sort of chocolate orange themed pastry without going to typical vanilla or sweet notes. On the flipside don't expect this to be a compliment beast or something that really grabs people's attention. I consider this one very much for personal enjoyment and your mileage may vary. But if the quality of the blend captures your nose like it does mine you're in for a treat. Probably the best perfume to come from these Youtuber lines and I can imagine FK doing something that builds on this DNA in the future. It's that good.

This is a really nice gourmand! Reminds me *strongly* of Dior's Feve Deliceuse, but if you toned down both the tonka and powderiness and then sweetened the whole thing up a bit more while adding a creamy element. The added sweetness is really appealing to me, but I'm a bit conflicted if I really need a full bottle since I already have Feve. I think this could be a great alternative for the folks who were turned off by the powderiness of Feve. This house is definitely not beating the 'clone house' allegations any time soon lol. I'm not mad at it because a nice fragrance is a nice fragrance. I just think everyone should try to sample first before you blindly buy something based off a heavily biased Youtuber's review and it smells like something you already have.

Powdery fragrances are my least favorite type of fragrances but for some reason I like this one. I didn't really know what I was smelling at first, tbh. As someone previously described, I would equate it to air spun cocoa butter powder with slight orange or orange peel essence. The silage from this is quite pretty and feminine. The powderiness of this is like the powdery quality that Feve Gourmand gives, although the scent is different. It's cocoa powder, cocoa butter, orange peel zest, and a smidge of baby powder. Maybe the palo santo with the tonka is giving it this orris root scent. It's nice but I'd never reach for it.

Its an ok fragrance, pleasant. I am a little let down, I was expecting an awesome scent. I believe it wasn't blended correctly, because I like all the notes and thats why I blind bought it. It leans more feminine. Fruity chocolate powder is what I get. I also get a some synthetics, which is surprise do to it being and extrait parfum. This smells near Bond no. 9 So New York with the strong plum note. I will wear this on date nights at home getting cozy and a night out on an an short occasion. Other than that I my search continues for a Male gourmand.

First impression: on the same vein as Feve Deliceuse. Not a clone but similar. This one is more playful with a bright citrus a plum at the top. The mandarin especially is really nice. Brighter and sweeter. Not sure whether I like it more or less but the fact I even have to compare and debate it is a positive +++ for Navitus. Full review to come but just wanted to let you know the basics in case you were considering buying it. Btw isn’t Francis taking over at Dior? I think he took a little peaky peak at the Feve formula

Shines in the cold weather. Opening is sweet, festive, aromatic and spicy with beautiful juicy Brazilian orange. The drydown is my favorite part which gives way to the chocolate scones- creamy chocolatey and yummy. The chocolatey drydown is reminiscent of armani code absolu which is a fragrance that everybody loves. Empyreal is definitely one of the best from Navitus Not sure why the chocolate scones accord isn't listed in the notes Steven said himself it's in there

Now this one I really like! And consider to be perfectly unisex 😉 the juicy orange opening is very yummy! I get an orang-y tonka bean! Very nice. I don’t see the similarity to symphonium, that one is chocolate and orange with some (clean) oud that I can really smell (love that one!). This is more citrus orange (fresher) and I don’t pick up much of the cacoa accord. I really like this one! Finally a win in the red box! (And a few others)

Orange chocolate cookie opening that stays for an hour then transitions to woody birch base. Strong scent. Is it good? It’s ok Tried it around a few female colleagues and they were not impressed. So I wouldn’t hurry to get it. Is it Feve? It’s not but within the same category of fragrances. But the short lived opening destroys it.

No FD for me. This is a delicious chocolate/leather fragrance that for me is the more "masculine-leaning" twin of Passeggiata In Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II by Trussardi in the opening.