FRAGRANCE | Dolce & Gabbana Velvet Wood EDP: A keeper or a skipper?

halfwhiteboy - Dolce & Gabbana Velvet Wood EDP 01
Velvet Wood's premium presentation.

I believe this was my first bottle from Dolce & Gabbana's Velvet Collection. I must say that the premium presentation gives a very good first impression, and I'm a sucker for packaging. Talk about an elegantly crafted bottle with gold finishing, an engraved gold metal plate label, and a velvet-lined stopper, resting snugly on a satin-covered cushion inside a velvet-covered, solid black box stamped with its own gold metal plate label.

halfwhiteboy - Dolce & Gabbana Velvet Wood EDP 02
A velvet collection deserves nothing less than a velvet-covered box.

halfwhiteboy - Dolce & Gabbana Velvet Wood EDP 03
Premium touches everywhere. Love it!

As for the fragrance itself, Velvet Wood is a nicely refined wood-centered scent. It's very rounded, with absolutely no sharpness at all. It's like beautifully aged wood smothered in a sweet liquid resin, resulting in something deliciously warm and cozy. The resinous sweetness carries a hint of smokiness deep within, effectively adding depth to the scent without being distracting. There's also some leather in the background providing support.

While everything soon melts into this warm, sweet, and smooth woody-leather blend, the fragrance is practically linear, which could be a letdown for some. However, the real problem with Velvet Wood is its performance. For something this pricey, you probably want at least a decent projection out of it. Instead, Velvet Wood sits close to the skin almost immediately, to think it's already soft to begin with. And just like D&G's The One, longevity is poor, maybe even worse, so I always have to compensate by spraying more. Such a shame because it's a really good scent. Unless you can score a sweet deal, you can probably just skip this altogether.

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