Valero

Here are my initial impressions of Valero. I don’t usually do long reviews but as this is the first write up of this fragrance, I’ve tried to give a thorough review and although I usually leave price out of the equation, that’s hard to do in this case! I’ll address cost first and get that out of the way. These are certainly high quality fragrances but I’m not quite sure how PdM can justify such a high price in comparison to other brands. These just don’t have the execution of fragrances in that price range. That’s not to say they’re not good (I really like Valero) but for £200 more than their usual fragrances, the step up in quality isn’t as discernible as the price difference would suggest. However, something is only worth what people are prepared to pay for it so time will tell if these make commercial sense, but they are extraordinarily priced for what they are and I think PdM are taking a big risk making them this expensive. Extremely overpriced but then again, PdM's are. I’ve read quite a bit of negativity about the bottle design. Being a prestige item, above their standard range, I understand the decision to make the bottles different. Personally, I like the design. I like the clean lines and minimalist approach with the engraved horse which is embossed on the back and indented. It’s a personal preference, but the new bottles work for me. They are simple but classy and they look and feel good in the hand. The box is well presented too. Valero This was a surprise to me, judging by the few comments I’ve read and heard about it so far. First off, it’s not as fresh as I was expecting, especially as one YouTuber put it in the same category as Imagination. It’s actually a lot denser than I anticipated. I was expecting fresh, crisp and sharp up top, but that’s really not what this is. It is a blue fragrance but with layers that lend many different facets to the overall composition. I’ve only had it for a few hours but I’ve already made links to several different fragrances and elements. At times I get hints of Reflection Man, at other times I can see a slight nod to Layton and then a hint of Absolu Aventus from its density and the ambrox. Some people reference bubblegum, I get that too and others say soapy - yes, it’s clean but not in the traditional barbershop way. It’s sweet but smooth. There is a sharpness and spiciness to the fragrance but it is subdued by the dense sweetness and floral nature of the other notes. Bringing it all together is the lavender, but it’s so well blended that it’s not your traditional lavender blue fragrance - thankfully. Sweet, clean, floral, fresh, woody, a touch spicy, smooth and dense. I also get a slight creaminess from the sandalwood in the drydown. It’s like they’ve taken all the popular aspects of a blue fragrance and put it into one composition. The top notes are where it’s most interesting to me - it’s sharper and spicy aspects are more noticeable. As it dries down it settles into something a little more familiar. However, I think people will pull out different facets of the scent depending on their sense of smell (e.g. some will find it fresher than others). Fans of the PdM style should like this but will feel aggrieved at the ridiculous cost. Overall, it’s very smooth and relatively versatile. I’m not one for sweet fragrances usually but this has more going on that interests me. It’s a modern composition that may not be ground-breaking but for its category, it does what it does very well. I envisage this will garner many compliments as, to my nose anyway, it’s very likeable if not a little mainstream. Whilst executed to a niche standard, I’d say this still leans more to a designer style fragrance, just with better quality, performance and complexity, very in keeping with the PdM way. That’s not a bad thing but PdM really are pushing the boundary with the price. My favourite of the three by some margin, although the other two are more unique. Performance Performance is good in terms of longevity but projection does diminish after a few hours and it sits closer to the skin, which you might expect from an extrait. I’ve been wearing it now for six hours and can still smell it radiating around me. I need to give it a full wear to test the performance properly, but it seems good so far. A very nice fragrance indeed but £450 nice, well that’s a matter of individual value! Edit: after spending a full day with this, I can still smell it about me. It’s clung to my t-shirt and is radiating enough for me to smell it without having to stick my nose up close. Overall, a nice, crowd pleasing fragrance that marries niche quality with designer accessibility and versatility. In fact, I’m not sure why I like it as much as I do as this isn’t my usual style but something in it draws me in. Cost is a big issue though. This would, I’m sure, be a real hit for PdM but it’s just going to be out of reach for many until it becomes available at discounters and I'm sure it will be slated because of just how expensive it is. As a last note, I’ve had this a few days now and each time I wear it, I discover different aspects. It’s spicier and woodier today, with more clarity of the citrus notes up top. I still think it’s mass appealing but there’s a bit more to it than perhaps I initially gave credit. And a fragrance can remind you of another scent without smelling exactly the same, perhaps because of certain notes or the vibe it gives, which is what this fragrance does to me. I see some people are saying fresh, others notice the citrus and some reference aquatic, whereas I predominantly smell sweet floral with some spiciness so I think you’ll get a different experience depending on what your nose is attuned to or the climate it's worn in.

Valero is going to be misunderstood because it sits in a category that sounds simple on paper, but lives or dies by execution: the laundry soap fougère. This is clean, sharp, bright, masculine, and extremely polished. It has that fresh detergent effect that people are immediately going to compare to YSL MYSLF, Prada Paradigme, Ralph’s Club, Invictus-style freshies, and everything else living in the modern blue-clean designer lane. But to my nose, Valero is not just another smooth department-store shower gel scent. It leans more fougère, more aromatic, more structured, and more expensive-smelling than most fragrances in this space. The opening is excellent. Crisp, fresh, and attention-grabbing without feeling obnoxious. There is a sharpness here that gives it bite, and that bite is what separates it from the softer, smoother laundry soap fragrances. It feels closer to the sharper fougère end of the category than the easy blue-clean lane. Think fresh linen, expensive soap, aromatic grooming product, and modern masculine polish, but done with niche-level clarity. Where Valero works best is in the balance. It smells clean, but not flat. Fresh, but not juvenile. Masculine, but not dated. It has that “just showered, freshly dressed, expensive haircut” energy, except pushed through the Parfums de Marly lens. This is not trying to be weird, dark, animalic, or artistic for the sake of being artistic. It is trying to be a luxury version of an extremely wearable modern masculine scent profile, and honestly, I think it succeeds. Performance is strong. Projection is easily a 9/10 for me. It pushes well without becoming a room-killer, which is exactly what I want from this style. Longevity is an 8/10, solid enough to get you through most of a warm day, especially in spring and summer. This is very wearable, very compliment-friendly, and extremely easy to reach for when you want to smell clean, put-together, and masculine. Versatility is good, but not perfect. I’d call it an 8/10, mainly because this shines brightest in spring and summer. Office, daytime, warm nights, casual dressed-up, travel, brunch, patio drinks, that kind of thing. You can wear it year-round, but I don’t think it has the depth or warmth to be a true all-season killer. The value is where Valero gets complicated. At full retail, I would have absolutely buried it. Now that it is showing up at discounters for roughly half off retail, the conversation gets a lot more fair. But even discounted, it is still about 60% more expensive than the next best fragrance in this laundry soap fougère lane, so value is still not a slam dunk. That said, this is where the quality difference matters. Valero is not winning because it invented a new category. It is winning because it takes a familiar modern clean masculine profile and sharpens it into something more aromatic, more fougère, and more expensive-smelling. The blend has bite, structure, and polish in a way the cheaper options usually do not. So value stays at a 5/10 for me. Not because it smells cheap, it absolutely does not, but because even at discounter pricing, you are still paying a meaningful premium for refinement rather than originality. Ratings: Scent Profile: 10/10 Projection: 9/10 Longevity: 8/10 Versatility: 8/10 Value: 5/10 Final score: 8.4/10 Valero smells fantastic, performs well, leans masculine, and might be one of the best executions of the modern laundry soap fougère category. But even at half-off discounter pricing, it still carries a premium that makes the value harder to defend.

I’ve had this a couple of weeks now and following on from my in-depth review at the bottom of this page, here are my overall thoughts: Scent It’s a blue fragrance with many characteristics that you’ll have smelt before. It’s not ground-breaking but it smells good. It's fresh, spicy, floral, woody, sweet, smooth and dense. It has elements of many popular fragrances I've smelt before. I don’t usually care for these types of fragrances, as I find them too sweet, but there is something I particularly like about this. For its genre, what it does, it does very well. Performance It lasts a long time but does sit fairly close to the skin, which you’d expect being an extrait. It doesn’t project out in a loud manner but I can smell a noticeable scent bubble around me for most of the time I’m wearing it. Presentation Personally, I really like the bottle. It’s clean and classy. The whole presentation works for me, including the box. I think the bottle looks better in the flesh than in online pictures. Value Now here’s the rub. I rather feel PdM have shot themselves in the foot with the pricing of this. In the UK, it’s £180 more than their standard fragrances at a ridiculous £450. Yes, PdM’s are overpriced anyway but for what you’re getting, this is bordering on obscene. I like the fragrance very much but it’s a high end designer style and just doesn’t warrant a cost that puts it in the luxury bracket where other fragrances are much more unique and expensive smelling. Were this more reasonably priced (perhaps £50 above their standard fragrances), then I think it would be more warmly received. Time will tell if this is a commercial success but I have my doubts. Shame, because I think many people would like this but most will be completely turned off by the price and won’t be able to get past the expense to appreciate the fragrance itself. Scent: 8 Performance: 8 Value: 3.5

Soooo, if this is such a basic and simple scent, WHERE ARE THE CLONES? Middle eastern brands have cloned faaaaar more difficult to wear / more hated / more unkown scents, a hundred times over. Since this is so designer-like and common and very expensive, a clone of it would be hyped to death by every tiktoker on the planet. None released yet. Maybe because IT IS ACTUALLY UNIQUE? I was extremely lucky to get a 90% full bottle at almost half the price from someone who did an extreme declutter, and that was one of the best deals I have ever gotten. Most of its haters haven't even smelled it and are regurgitating everything said by influencers who were obviously very bitter over not getting a paycheck. It is the perfect masculine scent for every sunny day no matter the season, lasts more than 10 hours, projects like you showered with it, gets the same amount of compliments Imagination gets (anyone who actually owns Imagination can understand). Apart from the big dose of geranium which brings it mildly close to Paradigme, smells nothing like the "reminds me of" section. You will be remembering the exact scent for life on your second or third wear on skin, you can actually bring it to mind for some days after the wear, which is something that rarely happens unless you wear a perfume 10+ times. The quality is insane, and the more blue scents you've worn, the easier it will be to feel it. THE PRICE IS OUTRAGEOUS, nobody can argue that. But I had to leave this review for people considering getting a decant, because these are expensive as well. GET THAT DECANT, wear it on skin for two days and see for yourself.

In all honesty, without making any comparisons, I truly love this fragrance. And today, since I first wore it, I've already received compliments from people I see every day who have never, ever commented on it before. The sillage is heavy, pleasant, and lasts up to 2 meters... a fragrance designed to please. People mention comparisons, but they don't even come close to the quality of ingredients in this creation. Its price is a real problem, but there's an option I recommend, which I've already tried: the dupe of DUA. You have to give it at least a month to develop, but it truly exudes the quality of its components and perfectly represents the original fragrance... highly recommended. It's also fair to say that it's potent in every good sense of the word.