Penhaligon's Castile
I had recently grown a little used to my daily EDC, English Fern, and was looking for something different. I have been a fan of Hamam Bouquet for quite some time, so thought about maybe trying a fragrance which included roses, but not as overt as HB and which wouldn't be out of place in the office.
After reading up some reviews on Basenotes.com, I decided to go for either Opus 1870 or Castile. I just popped into a branch of Penhaligon's this morning and tried some of their test strips. The Hamam was just as expected, so I was confident the other strips would be a fair representation of what they'd dry down to on my skin.
The Opus was good. Sort of a cross between Endymion and Blenheim Bouquet. But it didn't really impress all that much. The Castile was another story -- it fired up those olfactory nerves something amazing.
First, in a way it's quite a floral scent, but there's just the right amount of neroli and bergamot to change that into something clearly masculine. The rose is quite subtle and doesn't smack you in the face like Hamam. I could also detect a little clove, which surprises me because I'm not generally keen on cloves. And Castile sticks around after dry down, which let's face it is what you want given the cost (English Fern always used to disappear very quickly on me).
This is definitely straight in there as one of my favourites. I highly recommend this, and it will be just as acceptable during the working week as in the evenings and weekends.
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