Scandal For Him - 184

No. 184 is styled on Jean Paul Gaultier's Scandal Pour Homme, an amber woody fragrance built to feel like a knockout combination of freshness and gourmand sweetness. The top notes of clary sage and mandarin are recognisable but noticeably lighter than the original's more textured aromatic-citrus opening, so the first impression is a touch flatter. Where the dupe does better is the heart: caramel and tonka bean come through with real conviction, capturing the addictive, dessert-like sweetness that is Scandal Pour Homme's calling card. The vetiver base grounds things reasonably well, nodding to the original's freshly-cut-wood finish, but it lacks the density and warmth of the real formula, so the sweetness fades to a thin woody skin scent well before Scandal's typical long haul. As a cheap way to sample the caramel-tonka gourmand trend this captures the mood convincingly for a few hours, even if the projection and depth fall well short of the real thing.