Damascus Desert

It's crazy that this one only has 81 votes (at time of writing) when it's been out for 4 years. This deserves more hype and more credit, it's an amazing smelling fragrance. I've tried 4 Merchant Of Venice and this one blew the others out of the water. The only downside to this is it's not a great performer, but it's fine in that sense. The scent though, iris (a sweet and powdery type of iris, not the lipsticky kind) and musk with citrus nuances and a woody base - really does smell great. Masculine leaning to me, and more of a warm weather fragrance but could be worn anytime really. Office safe due to fairly low projection, you'll need to overspray if you want to be noticed.

The Merchant of Venice Damascus Desert is a powdery, clean, sweet citrus Italian style cologne. Sits close to skin and has low performance on me but I do love the powdery clean smooth lemon and it has a good looking bottle. It’s not the same but it reminds me of Givenchy Gentleman Cologne, a more unisex version. Gentleman Cologne is more of a waxy iris citrus, Damascus Desert is more powdery iris/orris citrus. The fragrance easily could have been in a white bottle.

Update: I got a sample and I fell in love with it. Beautiful citrus gingery opening and settling into this pleasant powdery smell. Ordered a full bottle. The bottle however, was very different. No sign of that fresh and clean citrus and ginger. Almost smelled like sweaty armpit. Returned after a few days of use. Perhaps the fragrance had went bad due to heat or other reasons. I would still go back and buy it if I'm sure I'm not getting a spoiled one again.

I got so lucky with this fragrance. My local chemist had their Merchant of Venice stock on clearance, and I snagged this for 70.00 NZD which is approximately 40.00 USD. As a big fan of LV City of stars this fragrance scratches a similar itch as that. Citrusy, Powdery and ever so slightly floral. This fragrance is just so clean and effortless. If you can find it for a good price you should absolutely add this to your collection!

I was just in one of their 3 stores, the one in Verona, the quality of everything is unimaginably underrated. The scent is godly. As soon as I got a whif I knew I had to get it. And 100 ml for $150?!? No way I’m saying no to that