Aramis Impeccable
Aramis (2010)

Nothing 'impeccable' about this. A crude, rough, dry spice rack of a scent with too much juniper and no charm. I forever associate this with the Italian horror film classic 'I tre volti della paura' (The Three Faces of Fear/Black Sabbath), because I unwisely wore 'Impeccable' whilst stuck watching it. It made 90 minutes seem like an eternity. Boris Karloff played a sort of scruffy, unshaven vampire called a 'wurdulak'. I think this scent would have suited him to a T, rather then the tuxedo-sporting young go-getter the Aramis marketing department had in mind.

As a fan of the original Aramis, I very much wanted to like this addition to the line. The tuxedo-inspired packaging spoke to me with its nod to classic masculine accoutrements. The name, while not extraordinarily creative, also alludes to a vanishing breed of scents; it could have been a Sixties-era title. I like it, but don't love it.

Alas, the fragrance itself simply doesn't live up to the promise of the presentation. By no means is it a dud. It is a pleasant and mild take on a modern woody-citrus. For once, the note breakdown seems accurate. It starts with a quotidian citrus and is soon joined by a pepper note and a wood element listed as cedar but almost approaching a dry vetiver, to my nose. It is shot through with a juniper and here the fragrance falls firmly into step with Guerlain Homme, Bulgari Man, Bang and other such recent masculines. Impeccable has, ahem, impeccable longevity but it simply isn't special.

This would be a decent introduction to this type of fragrance if one had none of the others mentioned above.

This is a very nice, anytime scent. The drydown leaves just enough to be heard by all in close proximity.