Black Suede Essential
Avon (2013)

Black Suede Essential(2013)

This was a bonus bottle to me as I had a reason to be interested in original Black Suede if I ever ran across it. Luckily I had an opportunity to obtain both. I decided to review poor lonely BS Essential first since it is not well known, nor well owned so the 'Essential' moniker is apparently for irony.

Whereas original Black Suede is such a warm, soft, amber-y glow BS Essential leads from the start with a very synthetic mandarin. It does specifically smell like mandarin versus any other orangey citrus. The mandarin jumps into lavender and rolls into suede. I found it surprisingly pleasant. It does project, and longevity is good, because this really isn't a light or fresh mandarin it's a thicker, candy type mandarin. Not syrupy heavy nor light and airy. My expectations for this seemingly obscure Avon flanker were not high yet I liked it quite a bit from the start. I don't want to oversell that point but It exceeded expectations.

BS Essential is a unique, pleasing oddball that ended up in my collection with a good story behind it and I intend to wear it occasionally. it is not an office fragrance for me, although as a unique medium strength inoffensive mandarin, it could find 'appeal' to some. It's medium heft also makes it wearable year round, however I would recommend under spraying this. This is a scent that presents better slightly understated rather than overstated. So there you have it, we're giving a thumbs up to BS Essential.