Kalan

Alright, so I have reviewed this after sampling it in a store, but as that last review said, I had to have a bottle here at some point, and now I've got a full bottle to review fully! Kalan, a very divisive and polarizing choice from PDM, I have a bottle of Layton, and have smelled Pegasus and Haltane as well. Of the 4, for whatever reason Kalan sits in the same boathouse as Layton in terms of how much I like it. I have a bit of a tough time understanding all the hate this gets, but at the same time, I can understand it. I remember being in a shop and being handed a tester strip with this on it, and I couldn't stop sniffing it for a week. Lol. The opening, which for most is the worst part of this whole thing, is gorgeous! A touch of the vibe of BR540 for a few minutes, though NO this does NOT smell like BR540, it's opening retains a little bit of that burnt sugar thing, but within 5 minutes it opens itself up to a mossy woody experience. Right off the top, you do notice a slightly juicy citrus, I can't discern though if this is an orange, but it definitely is citrus, but if you sprinkled a little bit of half your spice cabinet on it, and a dash of pepper. One of the few top note lists that as you read it, it really hits the nail for me as I smell this. Each note is a bit distinct. As it moves towards the drydown, I don't seem to get much of a middle and base separately, more of a middle and base all at once. The notes at this point are harder to pinpoint individually, and it seems blended exceptionally well at that point, strong woody spiciness, little remnants of the citrussy pepper from the top, you can definitely tell they have a bit of tonka and definitely the sandalwood, which is a more unique version than what I normally smell. It also has a very strange and unique freshness to it that I very much enjoy. Lots of folks talking here on an earthy quality in this, I definitely detect it, but I don't get this disgusting nasty thing that everyone is talking about at all. Sure, it is earthy, it definitely has a bit of "dirt" to it, but in such a gorgeous smelling way! To my nose this stuff is pure beauty! For some reason I have 2 thoughts as I wear this stuff, at times I feel it leans almost gourmand. But what food it's trying to be? I'm very unsure. Lol. My nose can't help but think delicious like the honey note in Le Male elixir mixed with the vanilla. Just sexy and delicious. This has that vibe, but mixed with like a mechanic shop in a really great smelling way. Lmfao. I love it. Performance is incredibly deceiving and is really different from most of the frags in my collection currently. When you first spray this stuff on, it's incredibly tame. The "crappy" opening if you will thankfully is very tame, but the moment this stuff starts drying onto your skin and clothes, it opens right up, sillage getting stronger over the first hour, until about 2 hours in, it seems to hit its peak. Strong sillage that will linger where you were more than it remains a bubble around you. You can walk away from a spot you'd been standing, only to walk back a minute later and smell yourself standing there. I applied for my first ever wearing of this at 3pm today, it is now midnight after a slightly sweaty night at work, and not only is this stuff still very much projecting itself from me, but its still rather strong at that. Review under me stating "20 sprays minimum, this is a very weak fragrance" I literally applied 8 sprays, and that felt liberal as hell with this one. I venture to guess dude got something fake, or ripped off, either way I don't see that he owns it, so I'm guessing he's just hating to hate. The performance here is good, it did the same thing to me that Layton did. It made me wonder how ungodly strong this stuff was before it got reformulated to 84% as my box and bottle say. Layton is the same way, like at 78%, I can imagine that being absolutely overpowering and annoying, same thing here, I hear that this used to be 80% or whatever, and it's no wonder why so many people hated it... I feel like these reformulations, atleast from my point of view, having never smelled the original formulation, were probably something some of these frags needed, as I absolutely LOVE both of my PDM bottles, and wouldn't ask for them to be any stronger. So Idk. Comparing this to smells that I have currently and stuff I've sniffed along my journey, I get similarities to Haltane but even more so it's clone, Detour Eco, I pick up some similarity in the two, Kalan having a much more earthy approach between them, this also takes me a little bit to the old bottles of Stetson, the original Polo, and the fragrance my grandfather used to wear when I was young, no idea what it was, but there is a slight muskiness that lies within the freshness of this stuff that hides hints of that scent as well. The earthy spiciness of this makes me feel like I should be sat next to a campfire or a fireplace. Overall, these similarities I notice, are only very slight, and this stuff really kind of sits by itself in it's own little place. All in all, this is definitely polarizing, definitely a unique wear, but something that will hold up well in my collection as I love weird stuff like this. It gives me that same mysterious feeling that I get wearing Sauvage, Black Orchid, Layton, Spectre Wraith, frags like that. Just that weird mysterious, yet smells really nice and good vibe. Not a blind buy for sure. I will blind buy a ton of different stuff, but this is one that I even went and sampled before picking up. At $250 for a bigger bottle, I felt it was only right. I'd give this 10/10 every day, and I will admit, this is actually hands down one of my top 5 favorite frags of the 51 in my current collection. Almost signature worthy for me for fall/winter/cold spring days, as it's weirdness, fits my weirdness to a tee. I'm definitely in a huge minority saying that, as this seems to be one of the most unpopular and hated from this brand that I've seen so far.

What an interesting fragrance. And what an interesting relationship I’ve developed to it. Probably my most excited scent to try from the PdM house. And this has not disappointed in terms of giving my senses a challenge and my emotions an rollercoaster. Upon initial spray I loved it and the originality of it. It was intriguing and unique. The vision of a dark, very lush, moist, cooling mysterious forest, with red filling the sky at sun down comes to mind. However, as it began to open up and dry down there’s just something that wasn’t quite right. Like a red pepper that has gone bad. There is something wet soil-like or vegetal note that didn’t work for me. My girlfriend sensed it as well, but I may have instilled my bias in to her. This pungent aroma acted as a punch in the stomach to nauseate rather than allure. It was saddening since the opening was so different. The bottle and presentation is absolutely beautiful. And one of the top 3, if not the top 3 colour/designs in the house. Now.. this is where things have gotten interesting for me. Ever since the first day I’ve been a bit miffed about this fragrance, because I couldn’t understand it. It was off-putting but still I sniffed my wrist. It was wet but still intrigued me. The bottle called to me like a voice from the distant wet woods I described. So I’ve been trying it for the last two days and honestly... this stuff is brilliant. It’s just so alluring in a hypnotic way that I haven’t experienced before. It’s mysterious, it’s juicy, dry, dark, warming and cooling all at once. There’s a primal earthiness to it which exudes boldness. This would be worn with a dark red blazer and black collared shirt. Or a leather jacket, dark tones underneath, some boots, rugged. Not for some slapped together outfit of light colours or a fumbling look. Honestly.. it’s how a Vampire would probably smell. Or Hannibal Lector. Or someone who possesses some essence of potential danger but a certain cunningness. Even if it’s just some strong ability rather than one that they want to eat your body parts or drink your blood lol. — *edit* Just found this online: “According to Hindu Mythology, Kalan is considered the god of death. He is the one who is in charge of our death.” — It truly smells like earth and sharpness and everything that nature is. Beautiful yet dangerous. Perplexing. It’s eerily intriguing. You can’t stop smelling it but you’re just ever so slightly turned off. Almost like that person you see in your weekly life who you think is unattractive or just odd, but you just want to rip their clothes off and sex them up in the most animalistic way. This scent is a complete mind-fuck. And I think I’m in love. I think everyone should have 1-2 fragrances in their collection that they just can’t figure out. Or that is raw. That is different. Experimental. This is mine now

Of all the PDM's and their niche quailty Kalan was one of those that seemed truly niche in profile. At the time Galloway came closest in this regard. Its peppery clean calm strong, but Kalan goes full bold, artsy, strange. Yet it still smells like a PDM somehow and has a kind of sensibility about it. It was the most surprising and challenging of the bunch for sure. I dont use challenge here as in I disliked it at all, but that it requested thought from me. There was something exciting about that. I very much liked it. And the more it dried down the better it smelled. Of the test strips I took home from my PDM tests, this was among the longer lasting ones. For 2 weeks+ Kalan greeted me as I entered my room. And I enjoyed every second. That was almost two years ago and I've never forgotten this unique scent. TO ME... its one of their best. Definitely want this in the wardrobe. Update: 1-10-2026 This came in yesterday and I've been enjoying it since. Circling back after 2yrs, Im just learning that many compare it to BR540. I've definitely traced similarities between fragrances that are overall different. So I won't say that the comparison is off. But this to my nose is missing so much of what makes Baccarat what it is, any similarities with it seems very faint and can easily go undetected. Now something like Mystery For Him, Confirmed by Jean Christophe Hérault himself, is a mix of BR540 and Aventus. I mean even without this, the 540 aspects are blatant. JC incorporated it's signature without leaning into the burnt sugar and the results are stunning imo. Had I not read and heard Kalan's comparison to BR, I don't know if I would've drawn a connection. I still don't. With effort I think I can get hints in the dry down. Kalan goes from spicy citrus, to floral (not burnt sugar) sweet, to it's mossy woody, warm amber base. Yet alongside these transitions it is somewhat linear and still smells like itself in the drydown. Who knows, maybe the similarities will become more prominent as my bottle age. But then again it smells exactly how I remember 2yrs ago from a used tester at Nordstrom. And it didn't bring 540 to mind at all. Im not complaining though, I'm pretty happy about that.

Probably my personal favourite from PDM, but as you can see from both the score itself, and and the reviews below me, it is a VERY polarising fragrance, especially from PDM who these days seem to be going all in on mass appealing fragrances. Opens up with a subtle but smooth blood orange and lavendar in the opening, that are the behind a strong Plethora of spices, of which this fragrance is most associated/well known for, I personally get a lot of pepper and a decent bit of saffron on my skin, but there are other spices in this that I can't particularly identify. There's a little bit of orange blossom that I didn't detect personally until looking at the official notes and really try to find it whilst smelling my wrist, it's definitely more of a backbone like the citrus and Lavender, to add a nice underlying smoothness the species. And of course lastly we have the woods and Moss, which are the 2nd half of this fragrance, the Moss and Woody notes go together with the Spices to make Kalan's unique scent profile, and due to the combination its unapologetically masculine, there is also a slight airyness I get on my skin which ins interesting as Alehydes isnt an official note, however this could be the orange blossom's doing. Projection on my skin is medium-slightly strong, good for the moderate and colder months/days, but I can see myself wearing It on a cooler summer day and night, lasted around 9-10 hours on my skin. Overall definitely a pleasant fragrance to me personally, but yeah it's very very polarising, definitely not for everybody but worth a try in my opinion as the dry down is far better than the opening, and sadly a lot of people judge a fragrance purely off the opening/early dry down; when they test instore or obtain a sample. Despite the polarising nature of this fragrance I am impressed that pdm took a risk with this one, hopefully in the future they make more polarising fragrances like this one, as they're not beating the designer allegations atm 😂😂, anyways this for is a solid 8.4/10, if you like it, please get it from a discounter and NOT at full retail.

Let me start this off by saying, I got this 5 years ago as a gift. Due to mixed feelings related to who gave it to me, I didn't wear this much. However, in the last few months, that has changed. This is a unique scent to me. The most recent reviewer here said it has similarities to Versace eros flame, which I wore 3x 3.4 oz bottles of. I can say it has slight similarities but not significant ones. There's always going to be overlap somewhere. Since this is a niche fragrance, the quality is astounding, even by PDM standards. It's spicy, slightly woody, and slightly sweet. But not like anything you've smelled from designers. Everything here blends in a unique way. It will catch you off guard for sure. It's strong. Not for the weak. If you usually wear 5 sprays then this one is probably 2 or 3. If you usually wear 3, then this one will be 1. Longevity is over 12 hours, for sure. Only a shower will successfully knock this one off of you unless you want to wait a century. I have a short story. Skip to New Year's Eve (yesterday). I am working in the pharmacy inside of a grocery store. I leave for lunch and smell something ridiculously familiar. I keep sniffing the trail left in the aisle. And BOOM! I realize it's Kalan. I am overcome with shock and intrigue. Who is this person wearing Kalan inside of this grocery store? Who could you be?! I can't find the person because I spent too much time standing and trying to figure out what it was. If I had found the person, I think I would have gushed and pounced them! And if I ever smell this person again, imma find'em! Either way, Kalan has fully come around for me. It's an incredible fragrance and probably fits me more than most. The cost isn't my favorite. That's for sure, but man it smells so good and so different. This one has that special something that you just can't get enough of. I'd put it above every PDM I've smelled. I honestly think it's worth the price. And I say this with confidence because I've worn a few bottles of Percival, Herod, and Layton.