Year: 2015
Notes: boozy notes, royal jasmine, Omani frankincense, resins, amber, pipe tobacco, vanilla, dark woods
Inspired by the history of the members clubs of Mayfair and St. James, in London, Ryder is supposed to be all about resins and woods, with a boozy tobacco infusion. One found Thirty-Three promising but, as much as one dearly wishes to champion Ex Idolo, Matthew Zhuk's second creation is somewhat of a disappointment.
The first thing that's noticeable is how apologetic the boozy notes are. There's no strikingly spirituous opening, like with Parfum d`Empire's Ambre Russe or Lubin's Idole – instead any fermented properties come across as muted by comparison. Maybe this was the original intention, for the sake of bourgeois elegance, but one would have preferred this stage to be more pronounced.
With a subdued molasses undertone, the other notes waste no time in making their presence known. Among the resins, one can definitely identify plenty of myrrh but the frankincense remains restrained throughout. As for the woods, they are more cedar-like in tone (but with an underlying synthetic screechiness). However, the main highlight is the honeyed tobacco, which provides further warmth and depth. Towards the drydown, there's also a slight leatheriness detected, but this could be attributed to the possible addition of some labdanum.
Ultimately, it's a pleasant affair that's far less sweet than the men's releases from David Jourquin. Sadly, that's the only positive thing one can say about it. Ryder offers nothing new and is largely a reasonably well-blended woody-amber fragrance, insubstantially embellished with tobacco and other complementary accords.
Remaining close to the skin and possessing very good lasting power, one personally prefers to get one's boozy tobacco fix from Guerlain's Spiritueuse Double Vanille. Nevertheless, one sincerely hopes that Ex Idolo's third outing will be significantly better.
The first thing that's noticeable is how apologetic the boozy notes are. There's no strikingly spirituous opening, like with Parfum d`Empire's Ambre Russe or Lubin's Idole – instead any fermented properties come across as muted by comparison. Maybe this was the original intention, for the sake of bourgeois elegance, but one would have preferred this stage to be more pronounced.
With a subdued molasses undertone, the other notes waste no time in making their presence known. Among the resins, one can definitely identify plenty of myrrh but the frankincense remains restrained throughout. As for the woods, they are more cedar-like in tone (but with an underlying synthetic screechiness). However, the main highlight is the honeyed tobacco, which provides further warmth and depth. Towards the drydown, there's also a slight leatheriness detected, but this could be attributed to the possible addition of some labdanum.
Ultimately, it's a pleasant affair that's far less sweet than the men's releases from David Jourquin. Sadly, that's the only positive thing one can say about it. Ryder offers nothing new and is largely a reasonably well-blended woody-amber fragrance, insubstantially embellished with tobacco and other complementary accords.
Remaining close to the skin and possessing very good lasting power, one personally prefers to get one's boozy tobacco fix from Guerlain's Spiritueuse Double Vanille. Nevertheless, one sincerely hopes that Ex Idolo's third outing will be significantly better.
