Bruno
Bruno Acampora (2014)

The Acampora range is pretty wayward with some weird and wonderful offerings at its core – which is why Bruno, the Acampora oud, is a slight disappointment as it aims bang for the middle ground. It’s a refined, pleasantly radiating thing, no doubt, but it also steadfastly refuses to deviate from the known. Bruno is a classic woody-spicy with a warm and sweet patchouli giving it heart and body. Everything is dosed in moderation, the oud construct smooth and deep in the M7 manner, the spiciness (saffron) more an emanation of the wood as in some masculine-marketed classics with the patchouli (and a hint of rose) also seamlessly blended in. It feels friendly and familiar from the word go, and wearing it gives me pleasure. Thrills, alas, must be sought elsewhere.
Review is for the EdP.

I didn't get noticeable grapefruit during the opening of L'essence Bruno. It starts plush and musky right away on my skin. An incense-like note lies under this earthy yet clean musk, which eventually reveals itself as the oud note in the later stages. Spicy patchouli and rubbery saffron dance around the edge, providing subtle complexity to this sensual blend. I quite enjoy these first 30 minutes of L'essence Bruno.

Unfortunately, when the sweet raspberry-like rose note appears and gets stronger with time, it goes south for me. Together with the dry oud, they form a ubiquitous, one-dimensional sweet rose-oud that I don't particularly care for. It does remind me of the sweet rose-oud base in several Nasomatto, but less abrasively smoky, and with a thick dollop of clean, papery musk added on the top. There is also a salty ambery base underneath, which is quite interesting. But this sweet rose-oud accord is too distracting for me to enjoy the fragrance as a whole.

I get a heavy to moderate sillage with L'essence Bruno, and it lasts easily for 10 hours.

Because of my personal grudge against certain types of rose-oud accord, L'essence Bruno is ultimately not my cup of tea. But the opening stage of earthy, incense-y musk is quite enjoyable. I would recommend it to those who enjoy modern western rose-oud such as Nasomatto or Tom Ford, and would like an earthy musky twist.

Bruno is a change from my idea of Acamporas - it goes on with that addictive shoe polish whiff that I associate with Oud (I think!).
There's a spark of grapefruit in there too, which is just enough to lift what is quite a dark wood scent. It also has a touch of the furry sweetness of musk and patchouli in the base . This would be nice in winter, but I think the grapefruit buoys it up enough for summer wear too. It develops into a lovely sparkling wood - by which I mean it is deep and dark but not dull.

It is the favorite of my boyfriend, but I like to wear it too…I love its notes of pamplemousse and, of course, the wood base of Outh. The well balanced harmonics of the ingredients yields a warm glow, almost a pearlescent dome of honed translucent but radiant amber, patchouli, musk and cedar. The aroma is indeed never cloying, but elegant and equilibrated.

nice and round. Warm dark and sophisticated. Longevity is not as good as many other acampora. Reminds me of nasomatto black afgano that is its dark/bitter/noughty cousin.

A twist on the saffron / oud / resin cliche; one that starts well but collapses into utter predictability. This is structured around a castoreum-smelling oud – slightly berry-like, but not too stinky. The saffron lends it a rubbery edge, and there's some raunchy musk writhing around in there too, but it's all dialed back so that the oud accord gets most of the attention. Draped on top is a scratchy grapefruit accord that's sharp and veers a tad tropical but functions as a decent overlay to the rest of the composition. There are moments when it (the grapefruit) gets a bit too spiky for my liking, but overall it plays well in the mix. However, it becomes increasingly pedestrian over time. Even more of a bummer is that the longer it's around, the closer it gets to Black Afgano's sugary-wood base only with more musk and the vague remnants of a distant grapefruit. Moderately engaging at first, but turns disappointing quite fast.