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Rondeau Pour Homme by Durall

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Today, while perusing my local thrift store as I am wont to do, I came across an armful of new additions to their fragrance cabinet. Most of the time, the juice they acquire from donations ranges from terrible to terrific. Of course, the "terrible" is the majority and it's rare to stumble upon something worth picking up, but I do find keepers from time to time.

Naturally, the counter girl brought all the new acquisitions out and placed them on the counter. As soon as they see me, they know......and I immediately got to sniffing. The first 4 I sampled ranged from absolutely bland to downright nasty scrubbers. One in particular was even hair raising for me......and that's a feat. The last one was Rondeau Pour Homme by Durall.

Now, I have heard of Durall before, but I couldn't tell you why. I don't recall if the name pertained to cigarettes or fragrance, but no matter........this Durall is a masculine EDT and as soon as I sprayed it on my arm, I told the counter girl to put it aside for me until I checked out. I liked it within 5 seconds out of the bottle. The bottle in question was a 100ml@96% with cap/no box.

I walked around the store looking for bargains and assorted oddities, all the while sniffing Rondeau. The citric opening was nice and was similar to a few other designers I use for my work rotation. Intertwined with bergamot and mandarin was ginger.....and the ginger was done right. Too often that note can screw up an accord for me, but here it was perfection. Who would have thunk it? A bargain basement $3.99 EDT with an opening worthy of the current, expensive designers. Then comes the wood.......cedar that is....and it too is just right. There's a subtle floral note in the mids, but it seems blurred, yet it still is an asset. Hhhmmmm......By now, I am impressed and walk to the counter and pay the girl her money.

Hours later, I can still smell the gingered cedar with a barely perceptible musky vanilla underneath. Rondeau Pour Homme is a very nice fragrance. It smells like it would be ideal for casual wear or close quarters. If I sampled this in a mall, I'm not saying I would buy it for mall prices, but I would have walked away knowing I just smelled something really pleasant. Thumbs up from Aromi for Durall's Rondeau Pour Homme.
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  1. AnonymousAugust 23, 2010 at 5:04 PM

    SCORE! Ooh I love a good thrift-store-find story with a happy ending! My local thrift stores have nothing, nada, bleah. Maybe I should insinuate myself into their good graces and see WHO GOT THERE BEFORE ME! (And get there before they do, being the point of that exercise.)

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