Esquel

This is a very nicely blended and elegant floriental fougere with a sweet touch, once it gets to the mid to dry down. It's completely unisex imho and not a strict feminine at all. A little strange they marketed it as such. The opening is very strong and a bit synthetic smelling almost furniture polish like and needs 20-30mins to reach the good stages. Xerjoff seems to do this sometimes to achieve longevity I find. After this things start to open and this a very good slightly spicy and slightly sweet fougere crossed with a barbershop. The mid reminds me of Habit Rouge and Jicky with echoes of MFK Lumiere Noire. As an aside this is a review from a brand new but old style bottle I happened to get a great deal on. I really like those older Xerjoff bottles they have an interesting character about them. edit: I recently picked up Guerlain Jicky and updated the above (I said it reminded me a bit of Shalimar's guerlainade before). Jicky and Esquel have a lot of overlap, but Esquel has a deeper quality blend and a custardy vanilla. If you want the value buy, definitely grab Jicky.

I love this one. Opens with a fresh citrussy blast and lots of lavender. The sweet vanilla quickly becomes apparent but never becomes too cloying or gourmand. The drydown is lovely, soft and musky with the powdery iris and patchouli quite noticeable to my nose. I have no idea why it's marketed as for women as the lavender gives a strong barbershop vibe which just becomes softer and a bit more feminine as the vanilla and powder come through. Very much unisex in my opinion. Performance is strong with great longevity and moderate sillage. I get a lot of compliments when wearing this. I would never pay the price for a full bottle but I have a 5ml decant that has lasted me well as a little goes a long way.

An excellent modern take on the classic fougere. Lavender and myrtle abundant, especially in the opening before taking a backseat to warm and comforting vanilla drydown. Great longevity (as expected with Xerjoff) and good projection for the first 3-4 hours before settling a little closer to the skin. Clean, warm, and fresh. Excellent versatility. Can definitely be worn as a signature scent. Great for any occasion and absolutely inoffensive. Do not judge off the heavy, masculine opening (although personally I love that as well) because this transitions beautifully into something much more unisex and pleasing as it dries down. Opening 8/10 Drydown 9/10 Longevity 10/10 Versatility 10/10 Overall 9/10

This is beautiful. It starts out fresh, sweet and bitter and then morphs into cozy and warm. I love the use of cinnamon in this one as it never takes front stage but supports the other notes. I feel like this can be worn in any season for any occasion. I'm also a bit of an outsider here because I love the opening. The way the herbal notes play with the citrus is beautiful. Were it not for the price, I'd consider this full bottle worthy. For now I will enjoy my sample.

EN I discovered this company at the fair Fragranze 2012 in Florence Italy. It wasn't easy to find then the store that sells fragrances to the regular customer like me, but in the end I was able to buy the whole line from the site ausliebezumduft.de I must say that there is a system to buy perfumes Xerjoff paying the relatively low price (the normal price of the bottle of 50 ml is up to US$ 260-325). Since the Shooting Stars line and the Oud Stars line are the masterpieces of artistic perfumery, it is worth to buy the Shooting Stars - Discovery Sets - Part One and Part Two and Oud Stars Collection - Discovery Set that cost US$ 208 for each of the first two sets and US$ 254 for the Oud collection set. Of course there are the Discovery Sets for XJ17/17 Collection (US$ 331) and XJ Casamorati 1888 Vintage Collection (US$ 182), but personaly I do not like the last two lines, so I didn't order them. In each set there are 6 fragrances of 15ml each and therefore the price for a volume of 50 ml drops to US$116 for Shooting Stars collection and to US$142 for Oud Stars collection instead of USD$ 260 and US$ 325 for full version bottles. IT Ho scoperto questa casa di profumi alla fiera Fragranze 2012 a Firenze. Non era poi facile di trovare il negozio che vendesse i profumi ad un mortale come me, ma alla fine sono riuscito ad acquistare tutta la linea dal sito ausliebezumduft.de Devo dire che c'è un sistema per comprare i profumi di Xerjoff al prezzo relativamente molto basso (il prezzo normale della bottiglietta di 50 ml arriva a circa €200-250). Visto che tutta la linea Shooting Stars e la linea Oud Stars sono i capolavori della profumeria artistica, vale la pena a comprare il Shooting Stars - Discovery Sets - Part One and Part Two e Oud Stars Collection - Discovery Set che costano €160 per ciascuno dei primi due e €195 per la collezione Oud. Ovviamente esistono anche i Discovery Sets per XJ17/17 Collection (€255) e per XJ Casamorati 1888 Vintage Collection (€140), ma quest'ultimi a me non piacciono. Nel ciascun set ci sono 6 profumi nelle bottigliette di 15ml e quindi il prezzo per un volume di 50ml crolla a €89 per Shooting Stars collection e €109 per Oud Stars invece di €200 per Shooting Stars e di €250 per Oud Stars.