V pour Homme

Wow!!! I am so glad I purchased this some time ago and I got it for maybe $25 bucks, a used bottle from Basenotes! This was a steal 25 times over! I cant' remember who sold it to me but I am glad they did. This is especially true with the recent price hike on this sap sucka! When I was going to buy it a couple years back it was going for maybe $45 for 100ML or at least I seen some like that. Today it is at least twice that much. I have had it for over a year now and have recently started to revisit some of my sleeper designers and this one is on deck today. So with that long intro lets get to it. This is spicy/sweet/a bit dry/a little woody/a little floral/kind of candyish. Okay don't know if that helps so lets talk about it more. The first spray you are slapped with a very spicy pink peppercorn with almost candied (I assume the vanilla is blending) citrus. The citrus immediately starts to burn off and the spiciness goes up a notch but it is blended with a very dense/sweet vanilla (also candy like). In the first 15 minutes the cocoa starts to come up and it has the same affect that cocoa has in Dior Homme and L'Instant. It is a dry cocoa (not chocolate no milky accord) which adds both spice and a bittersweetness. As the fragrance starts to move into the hear the woods and the florals start to add support and layers to the fragrance but don't get it twisted. The sweet/spicy/vanilla is the foundation and frame of this house, the woods and florals are siding and the roof....maybe a little paint. It still remains a quite sweet and really spicy and quite mature (though candied a bit). Sandlewood usually adds a creamy vibe but in this fragrance it remains a bit dry and you can only sense it and it never becomes a dominate player here. Overall if you like sweet/spicy/vanilla+bitter cocoa (almost like anise) you will love this fragrance. It sort of reminds me of a well done Thallium (not as synthetic or messy) or a sweetened L'Instant (with the anise toned down). Or maybe a sweetened Dior Homme minus the powdery Iris component. The longevity is 8+ (you are left with an amber/spicy/sweet-semi woody accord) The projection is perfect (somewhere around Dior Homme maybe a bit more aromatic) The versatility is good besides weather...summer in Texas this would be a bit rough even for short periods of time. But you could do a date, work, dinner cause you can control it with sprays. Overall this is a top shelf designer. Retail at the 75-80 price point for 100ml would be great. It isn't popular so it adds to its value and its not so expensive that you feel robbed. 4.5 out of 5.

I learned about this fragrance by testing out Uomo. Btw, loved it. I came home and did a bit of research on Uomo and ran across this fragrance. I was very interested based on the notes as I love vanilla. Saw it was discontinued, looked at used prices, and quickly lost interest while thinking it's a shame I'll never even get to so much as smell it. Fast forward to 2 days ago. A buddy of mine has a huge fragrance collection, knew I was a bit of a noob, and agreed to let me test spray a bunch. Lo and behold, he had a large bottle 1/3 full. I was excited and asked him if he knew what he had. Oh yes, he knew and had 2 other large backup bottles that I made an offer on. Very quickly he shot down any potential offer. Some friend, I thought but he said it was one of his favs. Then I smelled it...and understood. Honestly, this stuff was great. It was a bit woody with spice and vanilla but not too sweet. Amberigis and chocolate poking it's head in the scent conversation every once in a while. Nice. It was indeed the kind of scent you smell and want to buy. I consider myself a bit lucky though as I liked it a lot but wasn't head over heels in love so I could be okay missing out. Thankfully, there are others out there that I can still get that I love more. Now that doesn't mean this stuff didn't smell great. Yes, it was very nice and I'm not sure how it got discontinued. I could easily see how this could very well be a lot of people's favorite. Maybe it was a bit ahead of it's time and would sell better today than when it was on the market? Tastes change and evolve but it sure seems like it would do well today. One thing I was aware of though was that I wanted it more because it wasn't available. Desire and scarcity breeds demand. Thankfully, in this case, when a fragrance is a hit it gets copied. Just look at Le Male and 1Million. I see posts stating that Dareej is very similar so I'll go check that out. It was nice to be able to smell and wear this for a day. Update: I liked this fragrance a lot and the more I thought about it the more it bothered me that it was discontinued. So I did some research. From what I read, the brand was sold and the previous owners insisted that the fragrances at the time of the sale be discontinued. Could this be false? Sure, it's the internet. But that makes sense to me as I just couldn't figure out how a great scent like this got discontinued!?!? Well, here's hoping that somehow the sale agreement was only for a set period of time (say, 10-15 years) but I doubt it. Sigh. Well there's always Dareej.

APPRECIATE AND RESPECT THINGS IN LIFE AS LONG AS THEY ARE WITH YOU! We usually take things for granted and rarely ever think the other way around (That nothing is eternal and that things are fleeting!) This can end up costing us a lot, and the price for it is sometimes simply too high! A vivid interpretation of things in life as an example of practice in reality is, for example, this Valentino V perfume! I'm going back in time to 2006 - the then owner of two bottles of this beauty! I used it quite often and then I used it to the full without thinking much about it! I alternated him and another pair in active rotation! Years later, of course, the brand was suddenly sold out, the perfume itself was discontinued - and I only own a good half of the bottle out of two wholes! I'm going to search the net for him - I fell out of my chair when I noticed the extortionate prices on ebay!!! The smell is really unique and perfect - but it's not worth more than 2x3x €100! Now I use it very, very rarely and save it when it's gold in drops :)) The point transferred from the story is that when things are present in our lives, we simply must not take them as everyday and eternal! One day it will all be over - and we will only have memories! Even this time the price for it is quite high! PS: If it's an old painful love from someone else that is killing them - There is a fairly good solution - a clone! Rasasi Daarej-The house itself has quite a few good copies of big successful perfumes-The price of some of them has increased over the years-Daarej, however, remains at a lower price level!(Thank God :)) )

:-) I refuse to pay €200~€250 for one of the remaining Valentino V for Men bottles still on sale in the Amazon or E-Bay channels. Last week I bought Rasasi's Daarej. I trusted Rasasi's to make decent perfumes, and, based on reviews, blind bought Daarej. I was hoping it to be a nice above average fragrance and maybe - just maybe - have a vibe that would make me remember Valentino V. !!!! It's 95% similar with an excelent projection and longevity. I even think that Rasasi Daarej is a bit smoother, and I like it that way. The 100 ml flask costed me 20 Euros in a local through the net distributor. I am going to buy a backup bottle immediately. I do recommend this fragrance for 3 reasons: 1) All people longing for Valentino V don't need to look any further. 2) All the people not knowing Valentino V but possible customers of a fantastic Oriental Spicy fragrance should try and buy Daarej. 3) With this type of reviews all the fragrance lovers should just blind buy Rasasi Daarej for 20 Euros

Valentino V... I got lucky with this. I knew it was no more in production and couldn't believe my luck when I came across 4 bottles for 30$ each during a business trip in Malaysia, check the fragram😎😎 Been wearing V on and off and really impressed at how nice the overall experience is. V opens with a healthy dose of pink pepper and orange accords which feels fresh and pleasing. This opening top note is quite strong and hangs around for a while slowly bringing in a resinous woody note, here V gives the associated Casanova playful sweet vibe with a slight peppery kick. Eventually the frag rests with a soft vanilla accord with a feint hint of a coffee note. The fragrance is fairly linear, and easy to wear. Best sprayed in moderation of 2 to 3 sprays and has great lasting performance. DO NOT pay the absurd prices that Valentino V is going for, one thing I learned from my constant traveling is that fragrances that are discontinued can usually be found in Asian countries. Happy Hunting!