Duetto

What you will get from this scent upon application: An authoritative, tone-setting pink pepper and a rose absolute that seems sweetened and spiced with clove JUST enough to put you in Turkish Delight territory, it's not super sweetened in that sense, but it gets there, while not smelling overtly floral in the sense of smelling like you just put your nose to an actual flower. 5 minutes later, the Ylang-Ylang and Jasmine Sambac start bubbling up at the surface to start making things smell actually floral in the sense that I just mentioned. Around this time the all-consuming inky oud that you'll immediately smell off the bottle, should be kicking in harder as well, in a way that balances out the floral reveal well. As it dries down many MANY hours later, notes will fade but not disappear in the following order: ylang-ylang, clove, jasmine, rose. As it progressively does this, it becomes the best dry-down in my entire collection, a smooth vanilla-oud with pink pepper and whispers of florality. You might see this perfume listed for women and get the impression that it's only for women. I would not say to ignore the intended gendering of fragrances just because it's a generally trendy thing to do these days to make yourself smell "different" as a man. I say to ignore it in this case because it's just an inaccurate way to describe the scent in my opinion. You have to smell this one to believe it, if you can find it these days (I happened to get very lucky). Particularly, the dominant, assertive oud, and intense pink pepper note that both last the whole life of the fragrance, push everything else off the skin, to waft this stuff out at passerby with the power of a Mack truck going downhill, downwind, with a full load and a broken jake-brake. I don't know any woman that would want to wear this scent profile with this perfomance, it's too punchy, way too bold, too much of an indoor workplace hazard if you apply even so much as half of a spray too much. This smells like a man's and maybe a really ballsy assertive woman's fragrance, and as I always do when I'm wearing "women's" fragrances, I ask people who say something about my scent (people WILL do that with this stuff be prepared) if it smells feminine or too feminine, and this is the one out of all the women's stuff I had that not just men but women were giving me emphatic "no"s on. That being said, to me, this smells like what I would call "Portrait of a VERY Oud-y Lady", so I can see the perspective that it's fem. I just don't care how many florals you throw in a fragrance to give it femininity, a sufficiently heavy hand of oud offsets that. That's what you get here. I hate just about every other rose-oud fragrance out there, this is my one love in that category and my signature scent. Sage words of wisdom guys & gals: DO NOT overspray this one. I go hard with the sprays of most stuff, but I don't care how hard you go with sprays, you can't be that way. More than 4 is rude in any scenario. 3 is pushing it bad, and 2 is a little much for most people but about where I settle. Treat this like you should treat Sauvage Elixir or old Libre Le Parfum and you're in a good spot in terms of longevity/sillage. Heed this warning, or it's likely that the pink pepper in the opening here will screech at you like a bat out of hell, and make you sneeze repeatedly for at least an hour or two. You do not need to overspray to squeak extra time out of this fragrance, I promise you, 1 spray of this stuff is a day-long commitment, personally I will not put it on past 10AM or it will scent my bedding for weeks to come and through multiple pillow-case washings (as you may tell I've played these games before). I get 16 hours of huge performance out of this juice and last time I put it on, it lingered for a total of 26 hours before I gave up and just stopped counting, took a shower, and noticed it was finally gone a couple hours later. Something has to justify leaving a review this long, and that is what I've got. I'm not sure if this is discontinued, but if so, that's truly a crying shame. I would BIFL.

Wonderfully deep dark chypre ambery floral. The quality is Amouage-like and it lasts and lasts and lasts...nearly supernatural lasting power! Very complex, multilayered fragrance which nearly took my breath away! Be careful to try its so dense at first:=! But it develops into one of the most beautiful chameleon-like scents I ve ever tested.. First the peppery spicey opening which repulsed me a little..it s so heavy.. but then after only 5 minutes it gets heavenly on my skin! A thick ambery rose emerges only getting deeper and dowery and sappy..intensified yet by the oakmoss and patchouli giving it a slight chypre character but not in a way I know from other "dry"sort of chypres. Utterly gorgeous, endlessly deep, ever changing between dark floral oriental and spicey agarwood notes ..but never overlpowering the ambery rose which is the center of this fragrance making me wanting it soo badly if not for the horrendous price tag.. ok its a perfume like density but then the big bottle of100ml..was there a 30ml bottle I really had bought it instantly..but so it s waiting if anyone will share:=) Please try this beauty, there are 2 other good ones in the series, Cappriccio and Accento!

I agree with gabyvinki that this is wonderfully deep and dark. There is a definite incense quality to this with a prominent but very nice patchouli. Sandalwood, amber, musk and vanilla are supporting players to the duet at the fore. At center stage the oud and rose sing a duet at fortissimo right out of the starting gate. On drydown, Duetto is a little more wild around the edges than I expected, but it is absolutely beautiful. I can imagine this working quite well on the right man, too. This is not a fragrance I'd wear to the opera or any crowded event, as I've noticed it can be overwhelming to those around you even with very light application. The sillage and longevity are MASSIVE with Duetto. It is beautiful, but is almost a force of nature. For sheer volume and longevity, it is comparable to Portrait of A Lady, and their roses share a similar quality. With this as well as nearly any other fragrance, I recommend obtaining a sample first, as this is steeply priced. For me, this will be completely worth the outlay of cash. LOVE IT.

For those who love the heavy hitting Arabian style Rose ouds, this may initially be disappointing. To be honest I had to wear this three days in a row to fully appreciate it. First spray to me was hay mixed with fruit and red roses, the fruit vanishes fairly quickly and you’re left with an animalic deep syrupy rose, very much Turkish style. I like it because it’s a super elegant take on those full on incense Rose ouds, much less bluster and a whole lot more depth. The bottle comes wrapped in purple velvet-y fabric with a heavy gold lid. I think this could also work well on a man. I would recommend this, thanks for reading.

Well, this man totally loves this work of art. This is at the top of my list. The scent is dirty and beautiful where the rose doesn't get in your face. Its typical for a nose to put Aoud with some type of rose, but I'm so glad that the rose in Duetto is deep and dark and lets the rest of the notes dance on my skin. I love this fragrance.