Montale Greyland and Les Nez Let Me Play the Lion

I've had samples of Greyland and LMPTL for ages. I've always found them to be quite similar fragrances, so thought I would do a side-by-side review of the two today. The notes for Greyland are cedar, teak, sandalwood, pepper, elemi, cardamom, musk, benzoin and rock rose while those for LMPTL are sandalwood, cedar, incense and spices. As you can see, the notes are similar and the key here is the use of sandalwood and cedar. Greyland opens dry, with plenty of cedar, the sort that screams iso-e super, I suspect. I don't detect much else. It's not sweet, and I don't find it particularly spicy, despite the use apparently of pepper, elemi and cardamom. It's quite a strange opening. In the heart this becomes mostly about cedar and again, I struggle to detect much else. There is perhaps an ever-so-slight skankiness which might come from the rock rose and musk, but the overiding feel of this fragrance is harsh and dry. The sandalwood fails to make much of an impact, but the obvious association for me is to 10 Corso Como, with less sandalwood. It isn't a poor fragrance, but I honestly find it a bit boring.

LMPTL opens a bit sweeter than Greyland, but again, is a strongly cedar-dominant fragrance. There is more of a creaminess from the sandalwood, which is more apparent here. I don't know if my mind is drawing associations from the name, but there is a feel to this perfume that smells 'hot' - a little like dusty, grassy savannah, but having said that, the name comes from a Shakesperean play I think and has little if anything to do with lions themselves, but there you have it! Again, like with Greyland, I draw comparisons with 10 Corso Como. The fragrance overall is sweeter than Greyland and has more sandalwood. There is an incense in here too, which makes LMPTL wear even more like Corso Como than the other.

In summary, if I were to choose I think I would take LMPTL over Greyland. It is that little bit more interesting, but not by much. As I have samples of both of these and 10 Corso Como, I think I have three to choose from that are remarkeably similar, and in my opinion, all a little dull, if well-executed. Having said that, give one or all of them a try, if you haven't done so already. You never know.

Image credit: http://fotoblog.refocus.de/images/