Saturday 7 May 2011

Xerjoff Casamorati Mefisto

This is the first Xerjoff that I've tried, courtesy of the lovely Carol at Waft, what a fragrance fanatic thinks. I've been wanting to try Xerjoff for some time, partly based on the many solid, perhaps even rave reviews.

I didn't know anything about Mefisto before trying, but initially it felt very thin and weak. I can't quite explain it, but I was expecting the top notes to sparkle with citrus notes in the Italian style, but it felt stilted. For a good few minutes the only thing I could smell was what to me comes across as flower petals that have turned brown, steeped in water. In other words vegetal rot. Once this phase passes, Mefisto improves significantly. A prominent rose note emerges and pretty much lasts for the duration. It isn't a dark rose, but does have a lushness, which in style is a little like Creed's Fleurs de Bulgarie. Paired with this rose note is iris, which cools down the rosy lushness and tempers the dewy sweetness, but overall Mefisto is a relatively straightforward, gentle fragrance. Nothing wrong with that.

Although I quite like Mefisto, I have to be honest and state that it perhaps is not quite my style. It smells of very good, high-quality ingredients, but is just a little short of the mark for me. Having said that, it is perfectly wearable and who knows, I may change my mind with subsequent wearings.

5 comments:

  1. Hey Michael ,
    I have to say all of the ( dozen or so ) Xerjoffs have been sort of " meh " for me .
    I mean for the price . c'mon !
    Except IRISSS , it knocks my socks off . Ibitira is also iris focused and very very lovely .

    ReplyDelete
  2. Carol, I'll need to try a few more I think to form an overall impression of the line. I did try Medoc the other day and again, it was quite nice, but hardly knock-my-socks-off sort of stuff. But we'll see!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Michiel, I think you have to try it again - at least once or twice. No, I am not defending Xerjoff, I haven't tried it yet and it isn't even on my "to try" list now (I will try some eventually just do not want pay any significant sum for testing something I have a good chance not liking). But from the general experience with more expensive brands sometimes (well, at least for me) when you do not have high expectations any more the next testing goes better than the first one. I do not think too many perfumes (if any) can stand up to the expectations that come from that price point on the first try.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That's a fair point Undina and I will definitely try this again. Perhaps we all set unfairly high expections of a perfume when it is so expensive and sought after.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Being a big fan of fragrances I always like to smell and try out new ones of course by doing this I always go back to the ones that I LOVE. Keep posting!


    do pheromones work

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails