ZAHAROFF
Brass & Soul (x Stay Fresh Productions)
2021
PERFUMER
Vincent Kuczinski
Water Notes
Mandarin
Juniper
Gin
Geranium
Lavender
Cypress
Jasmine
lily-of-the-valley
Bushman Candle
Patchouli
Amber
Cedarwood
Suede
Vanilla
Moss
Brass To Soul is my first time trying one of the Zed Creators collaborations with Zaharoff. I had high hopes for this one, as I appreciate Justin and quite often his taste as well. I love Zaharoff Signature Pour Homme, Royale, Noir & Tabac. I also liked the story behind this fragrance. So what can go wrong? Well, I really wished I would love it, but I can’t say that I do, at all.
I think the idea and style of the fragrance is great and rather unique. It’s a real blend of a fresher, watery opening, moving into a warmer, cozier drydown. The transition is nice and it’s not a boring or linear fragrance.
What didn’t work at all for me here is that watery accord. The whole juniper/gin idea intrigued me, but I didn’t get that vibe from the opening. Instead, this water facet reminded me a lot of Nautica Voyage or a random men’s shampoo that you can find at your local grocery store. It may be a bit of a chicken or the egg story, because it reminds me of Nautica and that’s a very inexpensive fragrance, but this particular scent always comes across as plasticy and cheap to me. I had the same experience with Kajal Homme for example.
Now luckily, as the fragrance develops and gets sweeter, the water turns into more of a sweeter lemonade or syrup and it loses that air that throws me off. More of a woody and spicier base comes through. It still retains some of that coldness (that’s supposed to mimic the material of brass instruments), which is nice conceptually, but doesn’t make for as nice a fragrance as I imagined.
It’s the warmer elements that uplift Brass & Soul for me, but as much as I like Zaharoff and Justin, this is a complete miss for me. It falls short of any of the Zaharoff’s that I’ve tried by a large margin. Those were all done by a different perfumer too (Claude Dir) and I love the quality of them. For Brass & Soul a different perfumer was enlisted and it instantly felt incomparable to me.
