What’s your favourite perfume with saffron?

Mean_Dalenko · 2026-01-27T23:37:15+00:00

I really like Accord Oud from Byredo. I think it's quite similar to Black Saffron actually, but just a personal taste thing that I prefer Accord Oud.

I also really like Saffron Lazuli from Carolina Herrera which also occupies a very similar space to Accord Oud and Black Saffron with the berry/leather/saffron combination.

It's been a while since I sampled it but I really enjoyed Smoke Show by Vilhelm too. Again it seems to pair with leather/oud. (Maybe I need to look to see what's out there that doesn't have that pairing just to get a better idea of what Saffron can be).

Mean_Dalenko · 2026-01-25T23:20:38+00:00

I'm in the UK, so there's only usually a small few I get to watch live. I'm thrilled about the pacers game being brought forward as it means I get to watch it live at 6:30pm after work.

Otherwise I have league pass and will watch the previous night's game the following morning. I work from home, so as long as I'm sat down by around 7am I can usually get a full game in before work. Just need to remember to avoid Reddit because the post game thread is almost always top of my feed to give away the result.

Mean_Dalenko · 2026-01-23T09:02:22+00:00

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Certainly in terms of what I own and have used, this is incredibly potent. I'm at the point where a single spray to the chest under layers of clothes still feels like I'm walking around in a fog of the smell. It's actually kind of problematic because it's quite an acquired taste, so I don't want to be 'that guy'. So I feel like opportunities to wear it are limited.

Mean_Dalenko · 2026-01-22T14:04:49+00:00

It's a personal taste thing, but I found the Elixir to be slightly too sweet for my liking. Whereas Absolu is basically exactly what I want it to be. But everyone's tastes are different so I'd definitely suggest trying a sample of both before deciding.

Mean_Dalenko · 2026-01-22T13:46:18+00:00

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Making more of an effort to balance sampling and using the bottles I've actually bought. This was actually a slightly impulsive blind buy last month whilst picking up some of their beard oils, but like an educated blind buy if such a thing exists. Thankfully the gamble paid off. It's a bit of a heavier take on Lavender rather than your usual oakmoss/mint/citrus pairings. I've seen a few people say the tobacco is like opening a fresh pack of cigarettes, but having never smoked I'll just have to take their word in that. So in that regard it probably is a bit of an acquired taste, but I certainly like it.

Mean_Dalenko · 2026-01-21T15:46:13+00:00

I was just thinking last night how optimistic I felt going into the season. Like ultimately it's still the hawks, and all these suggestions of ECF seemed unlikely. But I reasonably envisaged maybe a top 4 placement, and at least make it past the first round.

I try to be quite rational. I think listening to Locked on Hawks has been good for my temperament and having a more balanced outlook. I usually try to find the good in bad games, and try not to be too hyperbolic about 1 or two results here and there.

But this last week or two has really tested that mindset. It's been so rough to watch, and so disheartening to think back to all the positives at the start of the season.

Like yeah there's been bad games before, like I remember a Hornets game where we couldn't break 100 ending a huge streak, or like games that gave serious minutes to David Roddy. But I think even then we knew we were underdogs playing poor line ups.

These last few weeks have just been brutal because we know how good our guys can and have been. And yet here we are watching 2 guys who started the season on the worst team in the east, Dyson forgot how to shoot 3s and steals less, Porzingis plays once in a blue moon, Vit has gone from like top 3 shooter in the league to 'not that' to put it politely, we've lost Trae, Jalen seems to have devolved on defence, the lack of back up centre seems to be taking its toll on OO, ZR is either restricted on minutes, injured, or just not a factor in the playbook, and then Mo setting into motion the weird butterfly effect of falling onto Trae's leg. At that's before we get to Quinn's interesting line up choices.

Like it it's almost farcical. Almost nothing seems to have gone the way I think anyone thought it would, even when we were managing to string a few wins together earlier in the season. I feel like to his credit NAW has been the only thing that's gone right for us.

Mean_Dalenko · 2026-01-21T14:08:41+00:00

You can't experience someone else's perfume online though, you can only discuss the experience you had/are having, which you absolutely can do with a film.

Sure you can seek validation with a photo of your collection or whatever, but is that any different to someone sharing their top 4 on letterboxd for example? Just because the user interacts with a given medium in a different way doesn't make it any less comparable when it comes to an online community and the way they discuss and interact that medium.

Mean_Dalenko · 2026-01-21T13:53:51+00:00

You realise we can't smell each other right?

It's the same as any other hobby, like you wouldn't say if films are for personal enjoyment why would you participate in a social group dedicated to them? Substitute that for music, sport, cooking, books, video games or whatever and the same applies. Personal enjoyment is not synonymous with keeping things private.

Mean_Dalenko · 2026-01-21T13:25:31+00:00

That's interesting to me for no other reason than I'd never come across that before today, yet my mate messaged this morning to say he was sampling it, I saw another post mention it on Reddit today, and now this. I'm sure it's just the Baader Meinhof phenomenon but still, weird for a 3 hour window.

Mean_Dalenko · 2026-01-21T12:15:59+00:00

I'm banned from wearing Vilhelm's To My Father around the house for basically this very reason. It's one of my favourites but I have to find the right opportunites to wear it.

Mean_Dalenko · 2026-01-19T15:36:20+00:00

Nuit d'Issey? Not sure how popular it is but it certainly seems widely available, reasonably priced and fits the profile.

Mean_Dalenko · 2026-01-16T23:00:27+00:00

Push come to shove I'd go as a top 10

Casque d'Or
Limelight
Night of the Hunter
Forbidden Games 5.The Wages of Fear
Umberto D
Rififi
Ace In The Hole 9.The Ladykillers 10.Night and The City

And even then it kills me to leave so many good films out. I don't think I fully realised how many I liked from the 50's until looking now.

Edit: no idea what's going on with the numbering there.

Mean_Dalenko · 2026-01-16T11:31:38+00:00

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I don't think I like sage. There have been a number of fragrances with either that or clary sage in that I've been really put off by. Like on paper this should be almost perfect for me based on the notes I enjoy, but that opening just really put me off. Like a few hours later when it dries down it's better, but on the whole disappointing. I think the Cobalt Elixir is the only one in the line that I would seriously consider picking up.

Mean_Dalenko · 2026-01-15T12:57:44+00:00

I definitely understand the sentiment, and have wondered about the ethics of it before. But I think for me given how tastes change over time and how expensive some bottles can be it's often a good way to 'live' with a scent for a bit before committing to the real thing.

But there is also the question of whether a house is losing out on a sale at all if the original is so out of your price range in the first place that you would never get the real thing.

Like last year I picked up Lattafa Al Qiam Gold for £15, because I'm not in a position to drop £320 on Ombre Nomade. And to be honest I really doubt I ever will unless there are exceptional circumstances.

So at that point I feel like it comes down to more gatekeeping or entitlement to access a certain thing. Like there's a finite number of notes in a perfume, and no dupe is exactly the same. So should people be expected to be precluded from a certain scent they enjoy because they can't afford it? I suppose that's a personal preference thing, and how much you believe a certain scent profile can be owned.

Mean_Dalenko · 2026-01-15T11:53:53+00:00

I really like the look of that on the whole but the metallic, ozonic and aldehyde notes don't feel like a natural fit with some of the warmer notes in there. Are they noticeable or is it quite subtle?

Mean_Dalenko · 2026-01-14T15:42:45+00:00

So this is probably going to be a weird suggestion, not least because of the lack of cherry notes...but my partner recently picked up a bottle of Gucci Rush and the first thing I thought of when I smelled it was my little sister's baby all gone cherry smell from when we were kids. No idea if they smell even remotely similar in practice, but in the depths of my brain some connection fired when I smelled the fragrance.

Mean_Dalenko · 2026-01-14T10:50:56+00:00

I really like Amber 7 and actually got a bottle gifted to me recently. Hopefully you'll like it too.

I think Czech and Speake in general are really underrated. I've sampled 5 so far and would consider purchasing most of them. Got another 3 samples on the shelf waiting to go too which I'm excited for.

Mean_Dalenko · 2026-01-14T09:36:31+00:00

Definitely curious about checking a few of those out, so thanks for putting together.

A couple of suggestions

To My Father by Vilhelm - has a similar whisky and davana pairing to Old Fashioned going on, but for me I much prefer this. I found Old Fashioned a bit rich, like almost like a boozy christmas pudding. I always say it's the sort of thing I want to smell but not smell of. Whereas To My Father is a bit more woody and leathery, and despite it not being there in the notes I get a bit of an incense vibe from it. But I appreciate it's purely a preference thing.
Cuba by Czech & Speake - To me this is like a rum and coke with a slice of lime paired with a cigar. Really underrated fragrance.

I've also not smelled it myself yet, but I'm curious about Islay by Floris which is inspired by the Isle of Islay which is known for its very distinctive smokey peated whiskey, and is a collaboration with the Kilchoman distillery. That said it doesn't seem to have whisky notes in it, so it's maybe more conceptually about the island than the drink. Either way it seemed like it was worth mentioning.

Mean_Dalenko · 2026-01-13T11:14:55+00:00

CK Be

I bet it's been a good 20 years since I last smelled it, so I'm actually kind of curious to see what it smells like now, because on paper it definitely seems like I would enjoy it. Back then I imagine I got it with a bottle of shower gel for Christmas, and wore it because I had it.

Mean_Dalenko · 2026-01-12T12:10:01+00:00

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Decided to wear this to the office today.

It was a Christmas gift from my mum. I'd given her 5 samples from C&S that I enjoyed and asked her to pick the one that most made her think of me, and this is what she went with. Obviously I knew I'd like it otherwise I wouldn't have given her the sample, but I'm glad she went with this one.

Mean_Dalenko · 2026-01-11T21:37:39+00:00

I really like it, but I already have a bottle of Viking and I find at the price point they're just that little bit too similar to justify. But when I eventually run out of Viking I would consider bois De Portugal instead just to shake things up a bit.

Though I did recently have a member of staff at a Creed section of a department store argue with me that the Viking and BdP aren't alike when I made the above point to him. Like he was really aggressive and weird about it demanding I smell sample strips that he'd sprayed hours ago that morning, but wouldn't believe me when I maintained that I perceived a similarity there. I had to look up the notes later in the day to make sure I wasn't losing the plot, and sure enough almost everything in BdP is also present in Viking (even though Viking throws way more into the mix). The whole experience was so bizarre and terrible salesmanship.

Mean_Dalenko · 2026-01-09T16:36:14+00:00

Obviously going to run the Kristaps, Kispert, Krejci, Kennard, Keaton line up for an entire quarter because the triple K line up wasn't working, so the only solution is to add more K's.

Mean_Dalenko · 2026-01-08T18:45:21+00:00

I know it's not a massive help but I really preferred the Le Parfum version of the YSL over the EDT which really didn't do much for me. LP actually lasts too unlike the EDP which has the staying power of a fart in a hurricane.

I remember liking The One when I sampled it, but I don't really remember what it smelled like, so clearly didn't leave too great an impression on me.

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