A modern chypre that's absolutely stunning, melding classic grandeur with contemporary flair. It's a divisive scent, with some finding it a masterpiece of sweet, ambery elegance, while others are put off by its intensity or perceived datedness. Definitely not a safe blind buy.

Syprus aims at MDCI's Chypre Palatin, a notoriously layered amber-chypre, and captures its broad arc: an aldehydic, herbal-citrus opening, a plummy floral heart and a warm leather-amber-oakmoss base. The dupe flattens the original's constantly-shifting complexity into something more legible and skin-close, losing the opulent depth and refined castoreum-balsam richness, but as a budget classic-chypre it delivers the signature mood for a tiny fraction of the price.