Sometimes, when I smell a new fragrance, I fall in love. The most stark example of this was when I first tried Creed’s Oud Zarian. Stood at the counter, scatter-gunning bottle after bottle. Picked up the brown one, with the gold cap. One sniff, and I was gone. I actually made an involuntary noise. It’s an amazing scent. Must be all the 80-year-old Oud that’s in it. Y’know, the stuff that’s definitely there. There are a fair few smells that also did me dirty. Free Coco by BORNTOSTANDOUT. Fifty Four, the Jusbox smell from yesterday. A handful of others. And now, there’s Golden Serenade. The opening? Spicy as you like. The cloves do a number, almost curbstomping themselves into the frame against a mewling saffron and a burgeoning patchouli. Oddly, I feel the latter brings a touch of the barbershop into the frame, which was a genuine surprise. It’s not full-on Colonia, but it certainly strikes some kind of nostalgic chord. Perhaps the playlist (music from a Golden Age of swing, big bands and gramophones, which I greatly enjoyed) is insinuating something. As the scent dries down, the heavily cloven spicefest brings a smooth resinous amber against a typical vanilla, all held together by a warm and welcoming Oud. It’s delicious, moreish, sultry and strong. And it projects! I sprayed on at 9am… it’s now a full 16.5 hours later and it’s still barrelling about the room like an excitable Labrador puppy. Will I buy a full bottle? I’m telling myself it’s a strong MAYBE, but there’s a hint of self delusion in that. I know myself, and this is almost definitely a YES. The only aspect that’s reining me in and stopping me deliver my verdict full throated and from the chest is redundancy. This shares a palette with a few fragrances on my shelf already… there’s probably no space for another. Ah, who am I kidding? This is a YES. I’m now eight scents into the sixteen in the box, and I’m calling a Jusbox hiatus for a couple of days. I’ll be back into them sometime next week, with the aquatic Good Morning.

Hey NY fellas! If you have time to meet, here I am!