ZADIG & VOLTAIRE
This Is Love! For Him
2020
PERFUMER
Nathalie Lorson
bergamot
orange blossom
sandalwood
This Is Love! For Him (or Pour Lui), was a pleasant first experience and it’s one of the better contemporary designer releases (which isn’t a surprise as Nathalie Lorson does great work with smaller budgets).
There are only three notes listed for this fragrance, and that’s mostly what you get: sandalwood, orange blossom and bergamot. The opening was a big surprise; it’s beautiful, soft and smooth. It’s balsamic, there’s a bit of creaminess from the sandalwood, but plenty of fruitiness. There seems to be a hint of incense smokiness hidden in This Is Love! as well. Call me crazy, but in my admittedly limited experience, the first minutes feel a bit like this could be a designer Amouage.
Unfortunately, that gorgeous opening doesn’t last long. Within minutes, the fresh fruitiness fades. What’s left is a, still pleasant, straightforward sandalwood scent. It’s not straight woody, I seem to be detecting some florals. A bit of vanilla sweetness does come through as well, but it’s not overly sweet at all. From what I’ve read, they removed a large part of the vanilla that was in the original Zadig & Voltaire This Is Him!. I never smelled that fragrance, but without getting my nose on it, I can safely say that lowering the sweetness was a good move. This remains playful, a bit youthful and it projects quite loudly for a while, but it doesn’t scream ‘date night’ or ‘teen’ fragrance. I think it would work really well for that demographic, but it’s quite versatile. If this kept the fruitiness from the opening longer, this would’ve been one of the best designer fragrances I tried in a while. For now, it’s still a solid and likeable release.