PENHALIGON’S
THE DANDY

2024

bergamot
Citron
raspberry

whiskey
Cedarwood
oak wood

ambroxan
clearwood
patchouli

‘Let’s take it from the top.  whiskey from the barrel on the rocks. Toes start tap-tapping to a melody of raspberry and bergamot. Now for the bass line: ambrox, oak, cedarwood and smoke. Will you take another glass?’ – Penhaligon’s 

While The Dandy sounds good on paper, and it does smell nice, it isn’t really working out for me as I hoped it would.

Instantly it felt familiar and I think, as many others have noted, that The Dandy brings back memories of Kilian Straight To Heaven (or Tiziana Terenzi’s clone Ursa). It’s sweet, it has a hint of something green, foresty in the opening minutes (like davana?) and you get that sugary-ambroxan type of booziness that you also get in something like Nasomatto Baraonda.

However, it’s thin. I’m well aware that part of this will be anosmia (noseblindness), but out of the hundreds of fragrances I’ve tested in the past year, this is the weakest performing one on my skin, as far as smelling it myself. I had trouble detecting anything after several minutes, so I reapplied. After a while, I do get a faint skin scent for some hours, like a burnt sugary booze, but it’s extremely subtle. I assume others around me can smell it more than I do, but it does not make for the best wearing experience. A quick look at Fragrantica shows many people experiencing the same issue. Which isn’t a surprise to me, because I had the same problems with Straight to Heaven.

I heard a lot of good things about The Dandy and had high hopes, but frankly, I’m not seeing it. It smells nice enough, but it’s too thin and the scent isn’t all that original. Straight To Heaven again, Ursa performs better, Baroanda is a much better fragrance in my opinion. Try it for yourself, but I couldn’t think of a reason to recommend The Dandy.