L'Etrog
Arquiste (2011)

This opens as a citrus-herbal, slightly woody thing & fades really fast. While pleasant, it doesn't have that big, refreshing burst of juicy citrus that l'd expect from this type of fragrance, & what citrus there is disappears within thirty minutes. l'm not sure what myrtle smells like, but there is a dry, grassy & bittersweet note in the heart, rather like a hay meadow in summer, which might be it. Two hours in, the base is more warm & earthy, with a mossy element, but at this point l have to sniff closely to detect it. Seven hours in it's pretty much gone. Disappointing, especially as I tried it on a warm, humid day, & most fragrances go nuclear on me on a day like this.

The typical fresh lemony bitter-tangy and zesty opening is pleasant, and is not a huge refreshing opening blast but more and elegant citron note. Nice.

After the first few hours the drydown has a herbal undertone, with a fruity note evindent that later morphs into a fresh vetiver that is not at all the earthy type. Towards the end a very nonspecific woodiness emerges that is, frankly, boring.

I get moderate sillage, good projection and an overall longevity of eight hours.

His starts nicely as a summer daytime creation, but after to lovely opening things veer towards mediocrity. Inevitably. 2.75/5.

Genre: Citrus

“Etrog” is Hebrew for citron, a thick-skinned citrus fruit that looks like a big, warty lemon and smells divine. Citron finds outstanding expression in Guerlain's Eau de Fleurs de Cédrat, which handily captures the lush, almost floral aroma of fresh citron rind. Arquiste's L'Etrog is considerably less successful to my nose, settling for a generic sweet citrus top note over a foundation of soft woods. L'Etrog grows conspicuously soapy over time, as a clean white musk begins to dominate the drydown. After an hour on skin, all that remains of L'Etrog are some faint woody notes, the white musk, and an odd and not terribly pleasant sour note that I cannot place. I'll be looking elsewhere for a citron fragrance, thank you.

Continuing in the sheer style which seems to be Arquiste's default, L'Etrog is structured in three thin layers. A light and airy lemony citrus (without the chemical scrape that louder attempts almost inevitably acquire) floats over a stripped back ‘clean' woods layer, evocative of bamboo but probably originating from a denuded vetiver. Sandwiched in between are hints of sweetness – allegedly dates but could be anything – which weren't really essential but one doesn't mind them, especially as they retreat pretty quickly. The whole impresses for about ten minutes, after which it's background hum. A shame – many of the Arquistes seem to present familiar elements in refreshed ways but fall victim to this tendency to mumble. Though longlasting, the later stages of the journey are a downgrade: the citrus gets increasingly artificial and the whole thing morphs into one of those green tea type affairs.

Astonishing opening, with dark and bitter lemon notes - really good ones? is the question, it reminds me unfortunatley of opening a bottle of "Lemonsoda", which always is a great feeling (because you do that when you are thirsty, and soon you aren't no more), but in a perfume? Pleasant, but short. Then woody (Vetiver?) but extremely short-lasting.

Divine opening, lingers on but softens to the point of oblivion not long after application (give or take a couple of hours). Subtle, spiritual, clean and evocative ... true, but fleeting too. Too bad considering the price tag. Unisex may be but certainly a great masculine fragrance for those with subtle tastes. This is one of the best citrus fragrances I have tested but as with quite a few excellent citrus compositions this too promises us plenty but delivers less and that's a bit disappointing. Today I wore Cartier Cologne, loved it on my skin, got many compliments and it costs maybe one third of L'Etrog for double the quantity. And indeed in perfumery quality is more important than quantity ... but some times our criteria get blurred; especially if the display and presentation are so good as Arquiste's and as in Aedes de Venustas. My advice is to try a few times and give it a good thought before purchasing L'Etrog. If on the other hand you have plenty of cash to spare then by no means this is a quite good citrus fragrance with nothing olfactory about it.