FRAGRANCE | Unexpected Fresh Spicy EDT: A great addition to the Zara Tobacco Collection

halfwhiteboy - Zara Unexpected Fresh Spicy EDT

Last year Zara added Unexpected Fresh Spicy to their then two-bottle Tobacco Collection, with which my experience has been fairly good, especially with Rich | Warm | Addictive. Whether or not tobacco is prominent enough in these fragrances can be the subject of debates but when you shift the focus away from the name, only then can we truly appreciate them for what they are instead of what they're not.

Unexpected Fresh Spicy goes in the same direction as RWA—sweet, warm, and boozy. The main differentiating factor between the two is cinnamon, which prances around with glee right from the start, filling the scent with its own brand of spiciness. The boozy sweetness then coats it completely with a heady and comforting warmth. It's still spicy but by no means is it fresh to my nose. When I think of cinnamon and fresh in the same fragrance, Boucheron's Jaipur Homme would be the perfect example, where the cinnamon gives the scent a unique powdery freshness. But what's in a name? UFS is still pretty good nonetheless.

I'm not sure if I can call it a gourmand because the cinnamon eventually gives way to a light patchouli and woody base, its inherent dryness remedied by the thick, boozy syrup so it doesn't stray from the main scent structure. The transition is very gradual and the woodiness plays beautifully with the other notes. The cinnamon still makes random reappearances but it's no longer running the show and any references to food are now practically gone. Meanwhile, any tobacco here remains virtually unnoticeable.

Zara did another good job with Unexpected Fresh Spicy. The house can get a little confused with naming their fragrances and in classifying them under the proper collection but this is a pretty good release notwithstanding. It performs decently, too. You can get a good few hours of it from a couple of sprays. Definitely not a bad thing for the price, so go check this out.

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