Rue Rance Eau Impire

This is not really that bad... ...no... ...but frankly, Eau Empire has the genuine ghastliness of a musk and magnolia combo that, for me, kills the capacity of a lovely freshness in the bergamot/grapefruit effort, that in a way that suits mainly, if not only, the ageing population (read: ladies over 90++) who, while inhabiting the pretendedly opulent art-deco (residential !!) homes of Florida, so desperately want to disguise the odour of the urinary tract infection lingering above them. No self respecting French or Italian great-grandmother would be caught dead smelling of this concoction, unless they are completely anosmic or unpleasantly demented. The only possibility to potentially save this, clings to a dash of classic galbanum/geranium woody bitterness, but this also drowns far too quickly, subject of a deadly muskiness with magnolia, that is more in character of Marks and Spencer (no offence to this respectable house intended) mediocre seasonal scents then Rance 1795 fine perfumery. Shame, as it could have easily been a very lovely stuff with some more though involved. Luckily the longevity and projection reflect the mentioned aspect of mediocrity and the haze of this juice disappears fast... but not fast enough I feel. On a plus side- the bottle is simply a daahling! More of a miss than a hit in my books, sorry Rance

Starts very fresh with a burst of grapefruit. Then after about 15 minutes it becomes green and dries down to a light musk + some woody. The drydown scent is a bit classic but there's nothing more than that. It's a fairly good fragrance but definitely not a great one. I certainly would buy it if I could get a big discount i.e on ebay. But not full bottle worth at all for the retail price coz it smells a bit cheap.