So I picked this up thinking it would be a summery version of L'homme Ideal, but all I got was something that smells like it wants to be L'homme Ideal, but just somehow smells cheaper and not as nice. However, once this hits the mid then the beautiful oud comes through a little bit, as well as the almond and citrus calms down a little bit.

The quality of the juice is above average providing a long lasting, well projecting strong fragrance.

On the skin, once things dry down and you are ending your day, you'll be able to find the oud and it'll smell a little skanky, and smokey. Given the durability of this one, and the oud note, I’d venture to guess for a freshie this one might really cut through the cold winter air in those areas where the weather dips into or stays within freezing temps through the season.

In my opinion, the latter can only be found in the title, it can neither be found in the list of ingredients, nor can my nose really identify it in any phase of the fragrance process. I must of ate five hundred almonds in my life and one thing I noticed is almonds, to me, don't have a smell. It freshly opens with lemon, mandarin, pepper, coriander and almond, then comes the heart notes, which contain a blend of Egyptian jasmine, oud and patchouli, while the base has vanilla, amber, musk, mixed with vetiver and leather. Also, by just looking at the name of the fragrance and the color of the bottle, one could think that this one is a great summer fragrance which it isn’t.The heavy crystal glass Art Deco-style flacons are custom-made by Italian manufacturer Luigi Bormioli, best known for his style and artwork are often compared to Renaissance. Like I said, I really wanted to like it, but probably needs to be the right crowd and the right situation. First time, I found it ok, put 2 sprays 1 on my chest/neck, one on my forearm, then went to work and I was by myself at the office.

Altogether the very dark ingredients dominate for me in this bright and very briefly freshly starting fragrance after only a few minutes: Oud (low dosage), patchouli, vetiver, which make the fragrance very spicy.The mint is a phantom note as there's no mint ingredient - at least not mentioned - but the overall smell sort of has a minty feel.

The fragrance is incredibly screechy and synthetic when smelled up close, but it smells better in the air.It's a rich pungent wood scent, combined with Mancera's excellent leather note to create this rich backbone that structures the entire fragrance. The fragrance consists of notes like amber, leather, musk, vanilla, jasmine, vetiver, oud, patchouli, pepper, Mandarin, coriander, almond, and lemon.