This is not my first experience with Xerjoff, but I have to admit that I haven't found one yet that has led me to complete satisfaction. Erba Pura is no exception. That said, I find this one really interesting. The top notes are: Sicilian orange, Calabrian bergamot and Sicilian lemon followed by a Mediterranean fruity accord in the mid, and a base of white musk, amber and Madagascar vanilla. The dominant accords are fruity, sweet, fresh, musky, citrus, vanilla and amber. And yes, this is VERY fruity. It opens with loud, almost tropical fruit, but as the drydown begins, the fruit becomes creamier. The musk remains subtle, but I think its presence is important because it carries the fruit through its transformation. What starts as very tropical fruit eventually reminds me of a frozen tropical cocktail. And there is an appeal to the creaminess of that. This is the point at which, if this vibe was your thing, it could become addictive. The softer it gets, the more approachable it becomes, but it never stops making its presence known from a distance. I can see this being perfect after you've decided you've had enough of the beach, take a refreshing shower and reset on the pool deck for happy hour. This doesn't ask someone to come closer. Instead, it seems to say that if they choose to, they'll find someone who is confidently fresh. I also don't think this is trying to make a man smell traditionally masculine. It's unapologetically fruity, and I think the guy wearing it has to be comfortable with that. Xerjoff describes it as a fresh, fruity fragrance inspired by the Mediterranean at golden hour, moving into the evening, and I can absolutely see that image. Performance is definitely part of the story. Projection and sillage are strong, and I'm expecting very good longevity from the way this is wearing. It's an interesting fragrance, and I can appreciate why people love it. But after trying several Xerjoffs, I'm still waiting for the one that gives me that feeling of complete satisfaction. Erba Pura isn't that one.

I'm not sure if it's me, where I'm at in the hobby, or if it is just generally not a great release year, but I've been struggling to get excited about most of the new releases this year. Flankers for brands and lines that I'd been collecting up to this point seem boring and flat. Is anyone else finding this year's releases less than stellar? I'm just wondering if it's that or perhaps I've hit a saturation point in my collection. M aybe it's both? Curious as to others experiences this year, and as always, open to recommendations to things that might be more exciting that you've discovered this year.

Well brothers, I decided it was time to pull the plug. I’m developing my first Amber accord. I want to start making genuine, wearable fragrances. Considering my dream fragrance house uses a lot of ambers, I figured this would be an excellent way to get my head in the game. Starting with mastering accord building, making good individual accords and such, and then building them into simple perfumes. I ordered raw labdanum from a trusted seller off of Etsy, along with perfumers alcohol, as well as some glass bottles to contain it, and very fine filters. The plan is to freeze it, break it up, weigh it out, combine it with ethanol, heat it up, let it sit until it dissolves, filter out the liquid mixture, heat and evaporate the ethanol out to yield Labdanum absolute, and experiment with different dilutions from 1-10%. I’ll be making notes and keeping track of how each concentrate to see how it smells, and what to use it for in combination of other notes. Higher diluted for fresher stuff, heavier for smokier, more ambery stuff. Yes you can order absolute as its own thing, but I’d prefer to get a full feel of the process. Later I’ll be ordering vanilla and benzoin, along with a secret ingredient, and experimenting with a house amber accord. I want to take a huge risk here, and order some Turkish rose absolute, because the main fragrance I want to perfect is an amber/rose fragrance, but, I’m holding off on it for now. It’s like thirty bucks for 5 ml 😭, though with high dilution I can make it last. I can’t believe I’m doing this. I’ve fallen in love with this art this deeply now. Wish me luck brothers.