Monochrome

Expensive and elegant fragrance that screems exclusivity and sophistication. I imagine this to wear dressed up in for a special occasion. The performance is unfortunately on the weak side.

One word: Backrooms You walk into a room - the fresh, pleasant smell drew you in on a nice, hot summer day. As you look around and feel refreshed by the clean, ozonic smell, you touch the wall and that's how it happens.. you've noclipped into the backrooms. You walk around, having a slightly uneasy feeling, you realize that it feels very familiar. A smell of familiarity settles and the initial blast of freshness that initially drew you in slowly disappears. You come across something that resembles a server room. Some of the equipment is still wrapped in its' original packaging. The fluorescent light is shining bright and buzzing as if it hadn't been shut off in years. You pick up some of the equipment and it smells just like the rest of the room. Being a bit confused about what has happened, you continue walking, having that strange feeling of knowing the place but at the same time not knowing where you are. You see a wide open door and from the distance you can see the blue sky and green fields. Once you reach the door, you step outside. Some of the initial freshness hits your nose, so you keep walking. Sometimes you look back, wondering if you should return to the previous place but you keep walking ahead. Slowly, the blue sky turns purple, then black. The green fields turn earthy and brown. The light fades away .. For those who have no idea what I've just talked about: This scent opens up very fresh, ozonic and bright. Not necessarily citrusy, just very fresh overall. After a few minutes it starts to settle into something fresh-woody. It reminds me of cellophane wrapping. It feels very green, not sweet at all and also not fruity in the slightest. After the mid notes it just keeps transforming into something more dry and calm. A bit earthy, quite woody. There is some familiarity to this and I've been trying to figure out what it is until it hit me: The dry oakmoss drydown definitely has some slight similarities to Aventus and everything that has been inspired by Aventus. Let me be clear: This is not a clone or even something you can really compare to it, just in the very late drydown there is a certain, although very light similarity. I definitely enjoy this and anyone who knows what I mean by the backrooms, should give this a try. It has a certain weirdness to it but it's also very wearable at the same time. Office friendly too. Unfortunately the price is quite steep for what it is, however I just cannot stop smelling my hand. I want this.

Salle Privée - Monochrome review: Put this eau de parfum on and you smell like a quiet doctor, strolling the streets of a Western Europe city like Paris on a cool autumn day on a slightly overcast day, the streets are quiet and wet from a light rain. It's 8 o'clock in the morning and he is about to check out some cathedrals and visiting Musée d'Orsay to look at the four seasons paintings of the water lilies by Monet. Beautiful, refined, no showmanship here. He avoids touching the door handles to keep his hands clean, he sees a lady in her thirties passing by. He admires her impeccable brown leather high heels. He likes that sort of thing. He will order one beer, just to sit by the window, pondering about life and everything. Everybody sees he's a serious man, without being snobby, he is a thinking man. Ok, enough Hemingway for now. This is like a cover song, sung by a superb natural talented singer. It reminds me of: first of all: the discontinued Eau de Vétyver L'Occitane en Provence, the cloves and the vetiver. But Eau de Vétyver had this campfire smoke. (What a pity it has been discontinued) -Mancera Cedrat Boise without the citrus and the vanilla drydown. -Explorer by Mont Blanc, but with two times the quality and five times the price point, and without the strong scent trail. So, I say it is more masculine. It has top quality ingredients, it even has some real oak moss. It does not bring me to heaven, but I think it is a good choice for a serious professional, at work or on leisure. It will not give you a high, but it tastes like a good cold fresh beer after a healthy stroll. It will be good to apply this after shaving and dressing in a clean and stylish outfit. In the drydown it warms up. Thank God, they did not use a single drop of Oud in this. Now it is a clean, non-synthetic cedar/vetiver/clove combo, fresh, yet warm. Yes, it is just like the old Vétyver L'Occitane, without the smoke and less watery. sillage: 7 quality: 9 longevity: 8 price: 5 originality:5 versatility:9 general verdict:7/8 It doesn't bring me to heaven, but it's good, clean, fresh, yet warm.

Now I did ask the brand owner what the discoloured juice was all about and she said (paraphrasing here) 'ayedunnoe?' Nah, she did give some explanation but it's of little consequence, she did however assure me that it hadn't just destabilised in the shop window. Truth of the matter is I thought it was a shady, kinda juniper/dry gin zing, at top a kind of citrus, woody accord akind to a very lack lustre (and in fairness not trying to be) version of an Aventus or Elysium or Cedrat boisee or a million others. I don't want to be too hard on it because I like the brand concepts and this isn't terrible but didn't fill me with joy either.

Robbery! The opening is sharp green, has a resemblance of Bois Imperial by Essential Pefumes. And around 2 min later we are greeted by Aventus Creed DNA (which I love), The fragrance sits really close to the skin which at first I didn’t mind. because I thought that it’s a cheap indie brand but than after I checked hefty the price tag, I was surprised and disappointed. Long story short you are paying €200 euro for a Aventus clone with Zara performance

@Houdini4 - So what if the juice is colourless? It's a perfume, not a paint.

Feels like H24 but a tad more woody, and more expensive. Unimpressed.