Phantom Elixir

Yesterday, I reviewed Phantom Intense and was met with exactly what I expected: a sweet and aromatic mass-appealing fragrance. It was a pleasant and versatile fragrance for sure, but at this point in my journey, I found it a little boring. Today, I'm reviewing the newest Phantom in the line: Phantom Elixir. Typically, with elixir flankers, they're darker, heavier, and stronger. This usually translates to being a bit more interesting as well. Is this what Phantom Elixir has in store for me? Let's get into it and find out. Scent: The opening is aquatic, mineralic, and sweet. There are only four notes listed: sea notes, mineral notes, vanilla, and oud. The sea notes are what hit my nose first with a very oceanic accord, similar to the type of sea notes found in Light Blue Eau Intense. They're watery, fresh, and salty, like an ocean breeze. Behind the sea notes is the vanilla. It imbues the opening with a marked sweetness, similar to the vanilla used in Phantom Intense, but it never overpowers the sea notes. Up next is the mineral notes, and to a lesser extent, the oud. The mineral notes give the opening a clean, metallic, and slightly icy edge. They are very much a supporting note and serve to alter how the sea notes and vanilla are portrayed. Lastly, the oud is barely perceptible in the background as a faint woodiness. If it wasn't listed in the note breakdown, I wouldn't assume it was there at all. It is worth mentioning that immediately after spraying, there was a fishiness that was off-putting and that I attributed to the sea notes. However, it went away within a couple of minutes of wearing, so I'm not letting it bother me that much. The dry down is sweet, aquatic, and woody. The strongest of the notes are the vanilla and mineral notes. The vanilla has become the focus in the dry down, with the same sweetness but fuller and richer compared to the opening. The mineral comes in behind the vanilla with the same fresh and icy, almost minty accord, but ramped up from what it was in the opening. This is followed by the oud and sea notes. The oud has emerged in the dry down to provide a dry, somewhat dusty woodiness. It's a very mild type of oud, not funky at all but with more of a dark edge than something like cedar or vetiver. Lastly, the sea notes are nearly gone but I get just a hint of the watery freshness far in the background. Performance: Initial projection within the first hour is very strong, reaching out around 6 feet. Sillage matches that energy with an easily noticeable scent trail. After a few hours the performance was largely unchanged. At around the 7-8 hour mark the projection was still about 3-4 feet and the scent trail, while lighter, was still noticeable. Even about 12 hours later there was still a bit of projection and sillage left. When to wear: Phantom Elixir changes quite a bit from opening to dry down, and as such, makes it a fairly versatile wear. The aquatic opening is a perfect match for spring and summer, whereas the sweet and woody dry down works well for fall and winter. Both will work for daytime or evening wear, as well. This fragrance gives off casual vibes, so I wouldn't pick it for formal or special occasions. Anything that you wouldn't dress your best or wear a suit and tie to should work fine. It would also work fine as an office fragrance as long as you don't go too heavy with the sprays. Blind buy: Phantom Elixir is a pretty heavy departure from the rest of the Phantom line, so I wouldn't recommend it as a blind buy just because you like the other Phantoms. However, if you like aquatic and sweet fragrances, this is a pretty safe blind buy for you. Final verdict: I expected a darker and heavier version of Phantom Intense, and while that's not quite what I got, it was still a more interesting experience than Phantom Intense. The super aquatic opening was very unexpected, but smelled fantastic. Afterwards, the sweet and mineralic/woody dry down was a very interesting transition and tied in the Phantom DNA perfectly. Performance was stronger than what I got with Phantom Intense; a solid 3-4 hours of strong projection and scent trails, and lasting at least 12 before fading away. Like the rest of the Phantom line, Phantom Elixir is a versatile fragrance. It can be worn all year round to the office or any casual occasion, but it's not what I'd pick for anything formal or intimate. The mass-appeal factor is on par with the rest of the line as well. There are no funky or offensive notes, and most everyone will think you smell great wearing this. To wrap this up, I do think Phantom Elixir is a massive improvement over Phantom Intense. It's more interesting while keeping the same level of versatility and mass appeal. At this point, I should probably pick up Phantom EDT and Phantom Parfum to give them a review as well for the sake of completion, but I'm pretty sure Phantom Elixir is the pinnacle of this line, and I will most likely be adding a full bottle of this to my collection. Scent: 9/10 Longevity: 10/10 Sillage: 8/10

I have used this perfume for several days, testing it inside and outside of home just to see how it performs. I wore it to the office one day also. The original Phantom gets a lot of hate, most of it undeserved, but after trying a sample I decided that this wasn’t my type of scent. So, I was hesitant about this perfume, but I must say, I am pleasantly surprised. Phantom Elixir definitely has the DNA of the original, but with a twist that makes it more appealing to a more mature and refined audience. It’s loud but not overwhelming. It’s a wearable scent, very pleasant and well-balanced. You will not offend anyone with this scent, I see myself wearing this to the office from time to time. It has a fresh opening, fruity, sweet. After it settles you get a mixture of oud with hints of incense and the mineral base. Then after you are left with a pleasant dry down of vanilla. This perfume has a strong sillage and it’s long-lasting, you get 5-7 hours easily. Overall, I enjoyed the twist they did on the original Phantom, this is definitely a more appealing and enjoyable version that I can fully support.

I absolutely love this fragrance. It is a very sweet winter smell but with a very unique twist with a mineral note. Whenever I smell this fragrance I imagine a beautiful seaside with frozen water and snow covering the sand. Phantom elixir has the generic desighner winter fragrance smell with the overpowering vanilla and sweetness but as I have already said the mineral note makes it somewhat unique and different meanwhile still having a safe mass appealing scent. The performance is amazing and it can last around 11 hours, however you will not smell it after 11 hours, gosh if your wearing it you wouldn't be able to smell phantom elixir after half an hour at max, sweet powerful smells like this will make you go nose blind in a matter of minutes. Overall, if you want to get compliments in wintertime go for phantom elixir. If you want to smell unique go for phantom elixir. If you want to get whiffs of the fragrance your wearing after a while do not get phantom elixir.

I had to spend a few hours at the airport, with the huge selection of fragrance, I randomly came to the Rabanne stand with zero expectations, tried this one, and bought it right after without knowing it's a new release. It has a fresh opening, fruity, I don't get any mineral note as listed, I don't know where this spiciness comes from, but it's noticeable. It's a pleasant scent for everyday. Projection is good, it's not crazy but I would say it's perfect for it. Longevity is enormous, I put it on at 08:00 before work, and around 17:00 it's still alive. If you're looking for something that hasn't been hyped(as a Le Male, for example), it's a very good choice, you can safely blind buy it, and you will enjoy it. Very simple, but in good simplicity Spicy and sweet Great for everyday Office friendly Longevity surprisingly good

If it was called Campfire At The Beach everyone would understand it and it would have a 4.5 rating. It’s a relaxing and fun scent, and it’s unfortunate that almost everyone considers a fun and sweet scent for young people only. Screw that. The oud is definitely a European take but it’s my favorite note encapsulated in a salty mineral crystal. The dry down still keeps these notes along with vanilla. Literally smelling it now I just had a flashback of driving over the bridge to Cedar Point with the windows down. It’s a spring/summer/fall scent for me. 9/10 easy.