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.

Match #36 features two relatively recent additions to my collection that I've quickly grown to enjoy: Narciso Rodriguez Bleu Noir Eau de Parfum versus Terre d'Hermès Eau Givrée. Bleu Noir EDP (2018, created by Sonia Constant) is an incredibly versatile woody-musky fragrance built around vetiver, cedar, ebony wood, amber, and that signature Narciso Rodriguez musk. It's smooth, understated, mature, and one of those rare fragrances I could comfortably wear in all four seasons. Terre d'Hermès Eau Givrée (2022, created by Christine Nagel) is less versatile seasonally, but what it does, it does exceptionally well. The opening burst of citron, juniper berries, and Timut pepper gives way to that familiar Terre combination of woods and mineral notes. It's bright and refreshing without ever becoming a generic citrus freshie. As much as I enjoy Bleu Noir, Eau Givrée is starting to make a serious claim to becoming my spring and summer signature fragrance. Every time I wear it, I'm reminded just how beautifully balanced it is. Terre d'Hermès Eau Givrée moves into the quarterfinals, while Narciso Rodriguez Bleu Noir EDP drops into the second-chance bracket.

Got a solid spray to the hand at Macys, which is plenty to get a sense for it. My first reaction: Meh. It’s just meh. The good: it’s pleasant and it actually projects fairly well, I have been catching pleasant whiffs of it for a few hours now. And the woody, powdery vanillic drydown is pleasant. And… that’s all I can really say. The bad: I can’t really say there’s anything bad about it either (although there is a sharpness at the open, probably from violet leaf, that I don’t care for). This to me is just a very pleasant, super mass appealing sweet smooth lavender floral vanilla. To my taste it’s actually very unisex, like straight down the middle. Pretty light on the cardamom & leather and so it’s light enough that I think this can be used safely in all but hot summer days. I honestly don’t see this being the next big thing for Armani - there are of tons of sweet lavender vanilla aromatic choices eg in the BIR line, Invictus Victory and 1 million and Phantom line, Bad Boy line, Gisada Gold, even Ferragamo F Black all coming to mind. I’m not saying all those smell alike or that this smells like those, more that my first impression was oh man this is kind of like things I’ve smelled so many times before and this isn’t so great that it stands out from them, at least to me anyway. Not that the SWY line was groundbreaking or anything, but when I sniff things from that line, I don’t think oh this is similar to so many other things I’ve smelled before (except of course the dozen other SWY flankers lol). I guess what I’m trying to say is the SWY line has some character that I think this release is lacking. I’m honestly a little disappointed, to me this isn’t even decant worthy to test further. But hey, this is just my opinion - go out and sample it for yourself, let me know if you think I need to give this another chance!