Terrible Teddy

Here's the lowdown on Teddy. It's not very good. I'm sorry Penhaligon's I'm a fan of the brand but many of this line are poorly conceived, poorly executed and not up to the standard of the regular line. Taste wise this fragrance is well up my street though. I impressed the lady in the store when identifying pink pepper in the opening. I don't know why she was impressed it's so blatant it's unbelievable, and as a schinus molle enthusiast I should be jumping for joy, especially in a broadly modern, unapologetically unnatural type of composition...but something about this isn't that great. Teddy lacks depth, it's that simple. The opening is a spicy, incense accord and for all the pink pepper and actually a cumin/caraway character creeping in, it feels a little flat and lifeless. Teddy didn't last very well on my skin either. I'm sorry because the Rhino stopper is one of the coolest so far. I have a sample so I guess I'll wear it again properly but I doubt my opinion will change. UPDATE: Let this serve as a reminder not to judge to hastily based on a spritz on your hand in store. To be fair I did state that I loved pink pepper and incense and that Teddy smelled great in the opening, but like some 'bro' Youtuber I got all fixated on 'performance' and value for money. I stick to what I said about the line and Penhaligon's pushing out the releases as if they are on some treadmill, but Birsch's efforts here are decent and Teddy is a fascinating, sparkly pink pepper and incense accord which smells remarkably sweet airy, with a hint of leather tinged smoke, smooth but with some jagged angularity to it. It's fresh and uplifting to me, not quite as much as some (cruely) Olibanum based incense because it has slightly more heft, Labdanum and frankincense being prominent. Truth is I'd rather have this than the one I own Lord George and I'm reasonably fond of George so that's praise indeed.

I love it. It gets me reminiscing on future past lives in parallel universes. That synthetic ambroxan thing with frankincense is all a tad Comme Des Garcons /Gucci/Prada circa 2000. Lets all wear appropriately austere minimalist garbs and do our signage in 90s kanji fonts. This and Inimitable William Penhaligon are not far from each other with the freshness, and the ambroxan and incense, just that IWP is using the (Haitian?) vetiver and other things, and this Teddy dude has the leather so there's the hint of fruity sweetness that leather has, where IWP has that touch of green and wood. I think they're about 50% similar as fresh incense ambroxan experiences. This with a tad more projection might be a nice option, though thinking about it, that result might feel a little juvenile/commercial. I once was involuntarily squirted by an overzealous assistant with a Spicebomb flanker that reminded me of flyspray and I felt it obnoxiously projected, so we probably wouldn't actually want that with this profile. EDIT: Fades deeply into the background after 5-6 hours - by 8 hours huff extremely deep for even a faint trace of ashy powder metallic something, in contrast IWP's overall profile would be intact through the lingering phase, both sweet and green. Is this worth the money? Depends if there's something else with the same/similar profile and a bit more duration (which kind of rules out CdG). If not yeah, if that's how you want to smell, what else you gonna do.

I picked up Penhaligon's Terrible Teddy on clearance, making it a complete blind buy. At the time, I had never even heard of Penhaligon's. What first caught my attention was the beautifully designed bottle, especially the distinctive animal-head cap. I thought that would be the highlight of the purchase. I couldn't have been more wrong. The moment I sprayed it, I was instantly transported back to my younger years, visiting centuries old European churches and monasteries. The rich incense accord awakened memories I hadn't thought about in years. It's warm, mysterious, and deeply nostalgic. The composition is outstanding, complex, refined, and wonderfully blended. It unfolds beautifully throughout the day, with very good longevity and projection that easily lasts through a full workday. Every time I wear Terrible Teddy, I'm wrapped in the captivating aroma of incense. More than just a fragrance, it evokes a time when I was discovering faith, history, and the mystery of the world around me. It reminds me of a period in life filled with curiosity, hope, and the feeling that the future held endless possibilities. For me, Terrible Teddy is more than a perfume, it's a bottle full of memories.

Although I am not a massive fan of ambroxan normally, I don’t mind it here! The way that this synthetic molecule is paired with incense and leather is absolutely beautiful! This scent is really delightful! I feel a sweetness coming from somewhere, might be the incense and I really am enjoying what I am smelling! Smells almost ambery and very warm. The leather is smooth, fine and soft, rather like a suede and compliments perfectly the sweet incense. As the perfume dries down, the leather becomes more prominent on my skin and the smoky aspect intensifies as well. I am not going to lie, I was not expecting to like Terrible Teddy at all when I saw ambroxan and leather as the main notes in this perfume I was expecting it to be super masculine and potentially rough. But I am pleasantly surprised with how well rounded and polite it actually smells. From the top of my mind, there’s nothing I currently have in my collection that reminds me of Terrible Teddy, which feels so refreshing to sample truly something new! I really like this!!!

This one leans a little too masculine for my tastes during the opening, but sometimes I get whiffs of it in the dry down and change my mind. It drys down and smells almost *exactly* like dragon’s blood incense. And I love that smell. Very woody and just slightly smoky. You definitely get the ambroxan in the dry down as well. This also did not tend to project very far when I put it on - it stayed close to the skin. I don’t think I’ll be buying the full bottle of this one because I don’t prefer to wear overly masculine scents myself, but I would love this on my husband!! Very dapper scent. EDIT: After a few more wears, I changed my mind. I’m now obsessed. The peppery opening doesn’t even matter because it immediately settles into straight up Dragon’s Blood incense and I just want to sniff myself all day. This is not the Nag Champa kind of incense. So glad I kept giving this chances because I’ve been looking for a scent that captures that dragon’s blood smell and this does just that perfectly. I’ll buy the full bottle one day.