MAIL CALL: MIDKNIGHT VALENCIA Jin Studio is exactly the kind of small independent house I enjoy discovering. This isn’t some big corporate niche brand with fragrances designed by committee. Jin Studio describes itself as a personal creative project, with the fragrances being developed out of a genuine obsession with scent and experimentation. Everything is based out of Allentown, Pennsylvania, and that small-batch, hands-on approach is why I would put them firmly in the American independent niche/artisan category. The house has a pretty interesting personality. Their Based Arts fragrances include the Original along with variations like Pomelo Twist, Mango ❤️ and White Label. They aren’t just trying to make the same fragrance over and over. Pomelo Twist goes bright and juicy with pomelo/grapefruit, red berries, jasmine, ambergris and soft woods, while White Label takes a cleaner, more modern direction built around Asian pear, frozen berries, sandalwood and oakmoss. The original Based Arts is described more as a warm, mysterious, understated signature scent. MAIL CALL — MIDKNIGHT VALENCIA This is the one that just came in, and I’ve already recorded the mail call. Midknight Valencia immediately caught my attention because this sounds like my kind of warm-weather fragrance, but with quite a bit more going on than just another citrus. It is handcrafted and poured at a 34% extrait concentration, opening with Japanese yuzu, Calabrian bergamot, Valencia orange and Taiwanese mandarin. Then you get dry and sweet vanilla, coconut milk, red berries and botanical musk before it settles into cashmere, white musk, ambergris, tonka, ambrette and warm woods. What interested me is that on paper this doesn’t sound like a citrus fragrance that’s going to give you a bright opening and then disappear. You’ve got all that citrus up top, but underneath it you’ve got vanilla, coconut milk, musk, ambergris and woods giving it some body. Valencia orange is really the star, and I’m interested to see whether that orange actually hangs around deep into the wear instead of disappearing after twenty minutes. That’s what I’m going to be looking for when I spend some time with it.

Had a chance to sample Creed Debonair , I’m must say I’m anticipating September 8th , For me it’s a must have and to my surprise I got 7.maybe 8 hours of performance, moderate projection for the first 2 hours , This may sound funny to you guys but when I was a kid my Dad would always have this Gum and these Mints in Purple Packaging, I believe they were called Violets , well to be honest it kind of reminds of that and brings me back to my childhood and the Good Times with my Dad , God Bless His Soul , but yeah Creed Debonair 👍🏾