A swing and a miss, surprisingly.
Personal: 6.5/10 - Despite generally loving all present notes, something about the blending makes it come across as syrupy and dense, not quite what I wanted.
Mass appeal: 7/10 – Approachable for a darker woody fragrance. The tonka makes it easy to enjoy without being overpoweringly woody or patchouli forward.
Performance: 7/10 – Solid. It wears steadily and confidently without exploding off your skin.
Value: 4/10 – Very expensive, and despite still smelling high quality, it isn't a steal at all.
Uniqueness: 5/10 – Not groundbreaking and I actually feel the blending standard I hold Louboutin to slipped for this bottle in particular. It smells like a generic designer patchouli fragrance, though a reasonably high quality one.
SCORE: 59/100
Full bottle buy? NO, I would never spend this kind of money for mediocrity.
Blind buy? NO, dark woody resins can lean too heavy or dry for some people, and it's too expensive.
Recommend? No, even if you're a fan of patchouli, I think you can skip over this one.
Date night? YES, it's confident and mature, though it's not captivating compared to other Louboutin.
Office safe? YES, applied moderately. It can get cloying fast though.
Loubicrown takes much of what I expect from Louboutin's blending, and throws it out the window. It feels like a generic designer blend with particularly high quality smelling ingredients, but the blend just makes it feel like a particularly nice Guess release. Well, maybe a mediocre Dior release.
It opens with an aggressively sweet/creamy patchouli note that's actually worsened by the dry, dusty cedarwood accord. Often a dry, dusty wood will add significantly to a fragrance, but I find that in this case, it just makes my nose itch. It evolves minimally, which I often forgive for Louboutin, but since the opening leaves much to be desired, I hoped those desires would be fulfilled by the drydown, and I was unfortunately disappointed by the, albeit expected, linearity.
I don't dislike Louboutin for releasing this fragrance, I just feel like this is characteristically Puig, and it feels as if it was taken from the Paco Rabanne playbook.
