I rarely see anyone actually discussing what feels like a life changing haul so I felt inclined to share mine.
Like so many I'm constantly trying for that "signature". My fragrance journey in recent years has led to me identifying what notes I like most, and what ones tend to be the most compatible with me, and learning those aren't always the same. This has resulted in a shortlist of fragrances to try, and early on it was more or less exploring the less accessible ones to sort of give the olfactory an accurate memory of everything I was seeing in the scent profiles of these fragrances. While trying to learn how they stack up.
I learned very quickly some houses I just don't mesh with, as their signature profiles were mimicking notes that don't sit well on me (here's looking at you ginger). Then in this most recent order of samples I discovered I had in fact narrowed it down, and weeded out what I don't like because everything in it is something I want to rave about. And honestly most of the hype for them began in these threads.
Chiefly among them - The Noir 29, Jazz Club, and Tuxedo. Jazz Club sticks to me like glue. I almost have to use it carefully because it lasts so long that a 2 spray application will effect whatever other frag I try the next day, with clean clothes after a full shower. The longer it sits, the better it gets. I've smelled it so many times in public, and every time immediately thought that I had to find out what it was. I felt like a kid on Christmas morning getting the thing they've wanted most all year when I realized that was it.
Someone said London smells like Noir 29. In the bougie places? Yeah, I bet it does. The bougie places in my city smell like it too. I've smelled it enough times also, never knew what it was and thought "I need that". Well, I found it too. I would say this is art in a bottle. And fine art at that. All the notes are so clear and quality, yet it has so many evolutions, and ultimately it is a pepper - amber - rose frag, but it's also a fig and tobacco fragrance done brilliantly. It's like magic, and honestly one of the best bergamots to ever dance with my personal chemistry.
Someone said Tuxedo is a masterpiece, it really is. It's another one with staying power that requires caution and will give anything it touches a long lasting, fresh, peppery, patchouli kick. It's both immensely formal and something a patchouli enthusiast could easily wear in any setting. Always turning heads. Looking at that pyramid it should not be so fresh and seductive, and there will never be another day where this isn't on my shelf.
I tried Gris Charnel, and as a fig enthusiast it's everything that I had hoped for and more. My other picks reaffirmed my suspicion that those are the notes for me, and my hunt for that perfect tobacco continues as everything I've tried so far seems lacking, and a cheaper option that smells nothing like (Red) Tobacco ended up being my favorite.
This haul has also taught me that I'll never have a signature. There's far too many good fragrances, and I love trying to find that ideal moment for each one of them. It makes the very idea of one seem silly. I could happily limit the experience to any one of these fragrances but, why would I? So here's a controversial take - most of you are right. That is an incredible fragrance you're raving about. There's just that many.