FUGAZZI
Passionfroudh
2025
black pepper
mango
passionfruit
ginger
black tea
marigold
rose
incense
gurjum balsam
cypriol
oud assafi
‘PASSIONFROUDH bursts with tropical passionfruit, mango, and spicy ginger, balanced by the warmth of black tea. A heart of black pepper and gurjun balsam brings depth and intrigue, while an overdose of natural Oudh Assafi and cypriol creates a smoky, seductive foundation. Inspired by the energy of Ipanema Beach, Brazil’s soul, bottled.’ – Fugazzi
A moderately interesting scent here in Passionfroudh, albeit not one of my favorites. What this isn’t, is a clear passionfruit scent and while it seemingly tries to ride the super-popular Maison Crivelli Oud Maracuja wave, it’s not quite matching its allure, especially as it starts to dry down, to the point that it practically falls apart for me.
Passionfroudh opens with something akin to passionfruit, but you instantly get the heavier, woodier base and a lot of sweetness. A few moments in, and that sweetness and a subtle floral side go hand-in-hand with the vague candied fruitiness. More sugared, hard candy fruitiness, than actual fruit juice, which I think would’ve elevated this fragrance. Now, it doesn’t take an hour for me to long for some levity and brightness to cut through all the sweetness.
When I smelled Passionfroudh, I instantly thought of Mancera or Montale, because (especially older) releases from those brands often smelled like an abstract mix of fruity, floral, sweet, woody, leathery etc. To the point where one could easily mix up a supposedly super fruity scent, with a vanilla scent or an oudy leather scent. That same feeling I get with Passionfroudh. As mentioned and perhaps most surprisingly, there is a non-descript floral too; somewhat reminiscent of the vibe from the brand’s Cash Flower.
Not my style of blending, but that non-descript mix is nice for a while; the scent I like, albeit not enough to rave about it. The quality that I perceive for wearing it, is not up there with the best. Here is where Passionfroudh clearly trails behind an Oud Maracuja or an Amouage King Blue in my opinion. It becomes more generic, with a screechy synthetic fruity-woody concoction. The Crivelli also did this for the later hours of the wear, seemingly overdosing certain synthetics to prolong the longevity to extremes. However, with Passionfroudh, you get that vibe from the get go and if you’re more into refined, delicate scents, as I often am, this fragrance will feel like an embodiment of a loudmouth. It aims to give a lot of bang for buck performance-wise, but it doesn’t feel sophisticated.
That being said, while the sweetness is taking away from the fruitiness for me, at least the fruit and bit of acidity that I do get, lasts pretty well. As in; a couple of hours and not a faint citrus that fades within minutes. Still, after 1-2-3 hours more and more of a purely sweet, sugary, but almost muddy woody base takes over and it ends up being all that I smell. It reminds me of labdanum and sweet synthetic sandalwood ingredients. Perhaps it reminds me most of a softer take on the Mancera Jasmin Exclusif DNA in the muddy, darker stage here. It’s a rather harsh, sweet, but dark and linear late drydown. There’s 0 fruitiness left at this stage and the final multiple hours of the wear, I enjoyed the least.
And frankly, I think I would enjoy it even less and find it cloying in warmer weather. Looking at the marketing (for example the images below this review), I think it paints a somewhat misleading picture of a tropical Summery scent, which this barely is from the start and definitely isn’t for most of the wear to my nose.
Decent overall, especially the opening, but not really my style and definitely not a perfect alternative to something like Oud Maracuja, if that’s what you’re looking for.
