Good morning, Brotherhood! Headed to the gym for them gains… okay, more like maintenance mode so I don’t pull a hamstring while brushing my teeth. 😅 I wanted a break from the deep, dark stuff today, so I reached for a fresh, clean spritz from one of my favorite houses Mancera. Summer in December!?!? Okay! French Riviera is fresh, clean, and slightly soapy in the best way possible. It’s light, airy, and basically summer in a bottle, perfect for a day like today when the sun is finally peeking out. Think vacation beach vibes without the stubborn sand stuck in every crevice. 😂 There’s a salty, aquatic heart that feels like ocean spray hitting the rocks. clean, breezy, and surprisingly refined. The pine and mimosa in the base keep everything smooth and lush, elevating it beyond just a simple freshie. Wearing this feels less like applying a fragrance and more like flipping a mental switch. Some people get sunscreen vibes (and I see it), but for me, it’s way more than that. Performance is right on brand for Mancera, a solid 5–6 hours with about arm’s length projection, enough to be noticed without yelling. Big thanks and shoutout to my guy @Henry Clay for letting me get my nose on this one. A full bottle has officially earned its spot on the list. Top: Lemon, Orange, Tangerine, Ginger and Pepper Mid: Sea Notes, Tiare Flower, Pine Tree, Mimosa and Vetiver Base: Sea Salt, White Musk and Amber Have a great day!

As I mentioned before, It was @Rich Toczynski that posted an open box special at Jomashop for this frag. Being a lover of all things Boudicea, it took me about 17-19 seconds before I scooped up what was probably the last open box (for about $108.) Before I hit the "SOLD!" button on jomashop, I quickly blasted through the comments on fragrantica. They were all over the board to say the least. Blind-buy, of course. Anyway, it came today and here are my comments. I'm going to guess (and correct me if I'm wrong) that I am the only owner of this particular fragrance in the BoS. So... How do I describe this stuff... OK, let's start here... Imagine you know a guy that has worn the same leather jacket for 20+ years every single day of his life. He loves his Harley and he's always working on it while wearing his leather jacket. This jacket is old and "fragrant", and one day he decides to finally retire it. Instead of burying it or throwing it out, he sets it on fire right there on his driveway. While the jacket is in a blaze of glory (smelling up the entire neighborhood), he notices some agarwood (with oud from India) on his lawn and he throws that into the flames too. Out comes his neighbor (the crazy mad scientist) who's fascinated by the odor and quickly figures out a way to capture the smoke and he condenses it to a liquid form. This HAS to be the genesis of Boadicea's Complex. The oud here is raw and quite an animalic agarwood. This is NOT(!!) the sweet, fun-loving oud found in many modern frags. This stuff is lean, mean, and deeply woody. The oud isn't the star of the show, but rather it works in a "complex" partnership with that heavy (HEAVY!!) leather. Let's just call this earthy, smoky, and "skanky" (animalic). Polarizing? Some would call the opening smell to be similar to industrial chemicals or "bug spray," while others would call it sophisticated, with some beautiful, leather, dry woodsy notes. IF you have the cajones to actually spray this, now listen carefully: ONE SPRAY ONLY!! Once you have a a handle on things and you're a brave soul, then you can prove your manliness and spray it twice. If you break the bottle, move out of your residence immediately and contact a hazmat team. You'll be able to return in a couple of months. The sick thing is that I actually like this stuff. It's unique. It's interesting. And one spray smells pretty good on me. Again, if you think you know "beast mode", well... One final caveat: This is strictly for cold weather and only in situations where you know your crowd.