When we were at D'or Prestige on Saturday I had to try out Hypnotizing Fire by The Harmonist, since I love the Dua version. I kept going back to it. Joe was cool and he hooked me up with a sample. I couldn't wait to check it out and give it a wear and compare. This isn't a review just some quick notes about what is same and different as well as my thoughts. Opening, the pimento and pepper in the OG is more noticeable. Dua hits you with dirty patchouli out of the gate. Dua is also a louder, but I don't want to give that too much weight the sample atomizers are mostly junk and Dua might as well be a fire hose in comparison. About 15 min in, I am picking up some rose and praline, but it is start to settle. Dua is still pumping hard, not as dirty in the opening, rose and praline are faint. About an hour in these 2 fall extremely close in both scent, projection and richness. Only thing separating the 2 is the Dua has a very slightly more resinous balsamic touch to it. Final Thought: Both are equally fantastic and the first 45 min or so they seem more like flankers, but near identical in the dry down. This is tough, I love the OG, bang for buck, Dua has this one hands down, but if I could find the OG for under $200 I say it is worth it for the collector mindset. Until that time comes for a deal on the OG, gonna stick to Dua.

Another one that I have been excited to try and it did not disappoint. The original flanker Gentleman Society holds a special place with me and this one is an excellent continuation of it, has the DNA but enough change to call it its own and not redundant. Another one with the small bottle in my future.

Starting my weekly challenge with this decant of Essential Parfums Bois Imperial. Bro this stuff is fantastic and is on my gotta have bottle list. I did a trade with another brother here and I saw Bois Imperial on his list, kindly asked and he hooked it up. You know who you are, thank you. I came across this one, trying to find a frag similar to Speed Legends and this came up a lot, but when I looked at Fragrantica #1 similar to was Ganymede.......whaaaaaat!? Another frag that I love. I had to try this. This is not Ganymede, this ain't Speed Legends and won't it won't replace either one. This is more like the offspring of the 2. Opens up with that saffron, metallic and mineral note, but not as strong as Ganymede then after about 30 min, the akigalawood kicks in, the Vetiver is soft and steps forward, it smooth and not sharp, this is were similarities to Speed Legends comes in, but still not a dupe. Wife doesn't care for it, I fell in love and when my mom got in the car (I wore this to visit fam) she immediately asked what it was because she really liked it.

Ok, between today's frag Trip in LA and receiving my end of trade, I have just over 20 new samples and decants. I need to take pics of my LA goodies Old challenge: decants and samples only.

Challenge: Show a picture of an original and the supposed clone and tell me the similarity in terms of percentage.. in your opinion.. Let me start.. Allure and Alpine =85%