Fabulous

I absolutely do not understand why this fragrance is considered very niche in the community, only suitable for advanced noses, supposedly polarizing, with an unusual scent profile and whatnot. It's not! It's simply a non-fresh, leathery, slightly sweet, lavender, vanilla, smooth almond, powdery, incredibly beautiful fragrance that is suitable for both men and women, preferably for men, but if it's an intelligent, strong woman, she can wear it without any problems... I would love if it would be a bit sweeter. And as always: don't press your nose against your skin. You have to smell it in the air. Did you know that some fragrances become stronger the more diluted they are? That's definitely the case with FF. Just smell it from a distance and you'll recognize its beauty as a buyer and wearer. That seems to be the problem. The people who rate this fragrance badly smell it from too close, which is a mistake. The people around you don't smell it with their noses pressed against your skin either—or do they? It wouldn't be a Tom Ford bestseller if these fairy tales told by a small group of haters were true. This is a gem.

I perceived the clary sage as pepper during the first hour, and I threw some bottles of dupes of FF away that smelled like this the entire ride. After an hour, it finally settled into a nice, herby fragrance. I never got the powder that I assumed that I would eventually see. The ambery vanilla is a touch sweet for my taste, but it tones the herbs down. I am not much of a leather fan but the use of it in this blend was nice. It's a solid blend with decent performance, but its not really my style. I got 6 hours projection with about 7 sprays from a 1ml decant. Worth $2/ml to me. I'll go 8.0 and 6.0 with the price considered.

I strongly advice you to go blind into this one and to not listen to any hype or opinions. In the opening, the lavender was really strong, with a licorice note, which made me think of a licorice twist of le male le parfum. However, as it dried down, the fragrance started showing more gourmand notes, in particular the almond and licorice sticking out quite a lot, thus leaving the lavender behind. Leather is definitely present in the dry down, but just barely. If you like something like Black Phantom, then this one would be for you. It is a more fresh and leathery version of it.

This is one I am happy to say I was wrong about. I first tried it about four or five years ago and actually laughed out loud at the price in De Bijenkorf in Rotterdam relative to what it smelt like to me on a tester strip. How can they charge that much for almond essence, some Iso E Super and some denatured ethanol? Who buys this stuff? It is now clear to me that Effing Fabulous is one of those scents that you have to wear a couple of times to really get what it is about.

Powdery lavender paired with creamy tonka bean. An absolute masterpiece and my go-to fragrance for special occasions. I would repurchase this one again and again!