Sud Est by Romeo Gigli

I have sampled this more than once and keep coming to the same conclusion. As much as I love cooking spices, I don't want to smell like a cacophony of pasta sauce herbs. At least not in my fragrance.

One or two will do spread out over accords, but this is an over the top culinary spice rack in a bottle. The only missing ingredient is marjoram and possibly a surprise visit from Tony Garganonza looking to collect on an old debt....or vendetta.

Gigli somehow puts it all together and makes it work, but for me, it's simply too many herbs and spice. The citrus in the opening and woods in the heart and base are lost behind a torrent of herbal warfare and become the first casualties in this La Bistro police action. If you really, really, really dig Italian herbs and spice in liquid form, buy a bottle of this, wear it and then strut through the Italian market in South Philly. I'll lay odds you get invited to supper at Luigi's within minutes.....and yes.....he has a daughter who's single.......

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Black Suede by Avon

Nutmeg, Clove, Amber, Musk, Moss, Wood Notes. Yes.........I am reviewing one of the Rodney Dangerfield's of fragrance. Black Suede has been gracing medicine cabinets, for better or worse, since 1980 my friends. If you're expecting me to inform you ( like others may have already ) that Black Suede is a nasty scrubber, you will be disappointed. On the other hand, if you're expecting a glowing review claiming it's a diamond in the rough, you won't hear that from me either. I will say though that Black Suede doesn't deserve the hate it's received and most of that is due to snobbery aimed at Avon products in general. I kid you not when I state that a close relative to this fragrance is Cacharel Pour L'Homme. The array of spice in both ensure comparison, but the "smoother" of the two is Black Suede due to its implementation of Amber. While wearing Black Suede, one can detect a hint of "drugstore". That quality doesn't manife...

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Chanel copying Guerlain. Why?

Last month, I had the pleasure of trying Comète by Chanel, the latest addition to their prestigious Les Exclusifs line. This fragrance follows the release of Le Lion in 2020, another standout in the same collection. Like Le Lion , Comète is a beautiful perfume that captures the essence of Chanel’s refined elegance. However, both fragrances bear a striking resemblance to classic creations by Guerlain, leading me to ponder the direction Chanel is taking. Chanel has a great fragrance history. Not as hallowed and old as Guerlain but for past three decades it has far outshone Guerlain. In my view, no other perfume house has come close to Chanel’s excellence in this century. This makes their recent approach of echoing Guerlain classics somewhat perplexing. Have they run out of fresh ideas? Is Roger Dove at the helm of their fragrance division, or have they perhaps...

Il Mondo di Odore

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