811 Absoluto - No.4

Match Perfumes' No.4 takes its cue from 811 Absoluto, the honey-drenched oriental-spicy release from actress-turned-perfumer Giovanna Antonelli. The original builds a syrupy, almost boozy sweetness from clove and pepper meeting a thick vein of honey, with jasmine and tolu balsam filling out a warm, resinous heart before patchouli, amber and vanilla settle into a long, cosy base. No.4 borrows the same note skeleton - clove, pepper, lavender and bergamot up top, honey and jasmine at heart, patchouli, amber, musk and vanilla underneath - and gets the broad strokes of the spicy-sweet gourmand character right. Where it falls short is depth: the honey note reads sweeter and more one-dimensional, the spice is louder and less integrated, and the fragrance flattens into a simpler amber-vanilla drydown far sooner than the original's slow, layered unfolding. It is a reasonable stand-in for the general mood - warm, spicy, sweet - rather than a faithful recreation of the original's complexity, and projection and longevity both fall well short of the pricier release.