Yesterday I wanted to test something random, so I picked something with my eyes closed. Coincidentally, I ended up choosing this, so I went ahead with it. Here are my thoughts. Beautiful opening on this one. A sweet and spicy burst of cinnamon and cardamom, and within seconds it’s accompanied by some very well-done orris, fresh and nutty carrot seeds, and soft, spicy ginger. There’s a noticeable lemon cola-like fizziness in the opening. After a few more minutes, clean patchouli and an almost unnoticeable papyrus note start to show up. An underlying element of smokiness appears a few hours into the drydown. The fragrance is linear for about 95% of its lifespan. It smells like a beautiful, freshly baked carrot cake with a side of chai latte. It’s like Spicebomb, but I love this more than Spicebomb mainly because of the carrot and orris. They really ground the fragrance and add personality. This feels very much like a Central London Christmas fragrance. Performance is surprisingly good for a Byredo fragrance. Easy 6 hours, with the first 1-1.5 hours projecting slightly over a foot. It stays on clothes for longer and had completely vanished by the time I woke up. Downsides for me would be that it gets slightly boring by hour 5. I want it to develop or evolve, but nothing really happens. Another downside is the price. £220 for 100 ml, though I can get it for roughly £175-180, which is still a bit pricey in my opinion. Overall, it’s a wonderful fragrance if you like the Spicebomb DNA but wish it were cleaner and sweeter. Performance might be better with a full bottle, but even so, it’s a good performer. I’d give this an easy 9/10. It sits right next to Bal d’Afrique for me from this house. If you haven’t tried this yet, the season is perfect to do so. Have you tried this one? What do you think of it?

I'm brand new to fragrances but I know my collection will grow. I currently have 12 fragrances, and I admit they have mostly been blind buys based on articles I read. (I'm addicted to lists.) If you were going to start from scratch, what would your core collection look like? (I realize, of course, it's all subjective.)