JULIETTE HAS A GUN NOT A PERFUME REVIEW + TRYING LAYERING

One note: Cetalox

Before the review, I want to share what I learned. STC says the only note is Ambrox, whereas Juliette Has a Gun (JHaG)/retailers say it's Cetalox. 

Ambroxide, aka Ambrox[an] or Cetalox (depending on the manufacturer), is a compound that gives ambergris its distinct smell. Synthetic ambergris. All these names are for fake whale poop.  

According to Firmenich, AMBROX® SUPER is ambery, musky, and woody. It's more natural, animalic, and closer to ambergris than CETALOX®. 

Perfumers World says Cetalox is fine, dry, waxy, animalic, creamier, and less woody, which pairs well with florals. They also say Ambroxan is dry, woody, and root-like. These compounds are used in men's, Chypre, and Oriental perfumes as a fixative, a base to help anchor perfumes, make them release slowly, and last longer. 

Why only use Cetalox? JHaG says it's allergen-free. I'm both the right and wrong person to test this. I get a red rash that lasts briefly after I spray perfumes, but this reaction is not as bad as for those with severe fragrance allergies. I experienced the same redness I get with any other fragrance. I wanted to have my friend with many cosmetics sensitivity try this. She couldn't smell Another 13 (another Ambroxide perfume) when we went to Le Labo, so having her try this perfume would be pointless. 

JHaG isn't the first brand/the only one to create a singular Ambroxide fragrance. See Escentric Molecule's Molecule 2, which also came out earlier. 

The Review:

Glossier You, but less floral. It's bright, clean, and dry. Not super musky, lightly woody, and smells citrusy(?) and somewhat sweet on me. The juice direct from the decant smells very chemically and unpleasant. On a couple of occasions, it smelled like rubbing alcohol on me. Perhaps it's the repeat sniffing or its synthetic nature, but it gave me a headache. 

It reminds me of Le Labo Baie 19  and Jo Malone English Pear & Freesia because of the fragrance's crisp, aquatic coolness that's somewhat metallic. *Super subtle on my skin.* If you want to wow people the minute you enter the room, you do not need this perfume in your arsenal. It's skin intimate, so only people up close in personal can smell it, assuming they can detect Ambroxide.

Despite its terrible sillage, it lasts forever on me. 

Because of its fixative property, I decided to finally try fragrance layering. 

1) BACCARAT ROUGE EDP

There are better choices than this fragrance because it already has notes of ambergris and has insane longevity, but it was what was next to me, so why not? It smells even more like salted plums than before. It's salty, woody, and resinous. Naughty beach? 

2) YLANG 49 

Also, another terrible choice because of the longevity out of this world, and this sample is super old (about a year.) The base of Not A Perfume makes Ylang 49 even muskier. Sadly, my sample of Ylang 49 is so old and smells a bit rancid. Yikes! I need to stop hoarding fragrances, but I can't finish the ones I hate...

3) FREDERIC MALLE MUSC RAVAGEUR

I scoured my blog for any "oriental" perfumes, uncertain of what constitutes an oriental perfume. 

Perfume Society says it's "a historic fragrance family classification encompassing notes like amber, sandalwood, coumarin, orris, vanilla and gum resins." They're warm, exotic, and sensual. 

I originally wanted to review Shalimar because Google says it's oriental, and I happen to have a sample, but I want to do a dedicated post, so I will try Masc Ravageur a third time.

Third time's the charm? 

Still musk dominant, but the smokey, spicy notes come out more. I'm getting a campfire that died overnight that you stare at in the morning. The Ambroxide has both elevated and tempered some of the notes. While I appreciate the warmth and oddity of this fragrance more than before, I still won't wear it out. 

I've had enough of fragrance layering. My little foray into fragrance layering has me turned off to the experience. Won't be doing this again any time soon.

JHaG's Not A Perfume is a pretty and lackluster fragrance. It smells subtly clean for hours. In my opinion, its longevity is the only thing it has going on for it. Everything else seems like a marketing grab.