FRAGRANCE | The Blazing Mister Sam EDP by Penhaligon's will turn heads with its blazing personality

halfwhiteboy - Penhaligon's The Blazing Mister Sam EDP 01 

I haven't written about a fragrance from the Penhaligon's Portraits Collection in a while, so I thought about giving The Blazing Mister Sam a spin. I'm a fan of the bottles from this line although I don't really care about the stories the house pushes with each release. I feel like I need to get them all to complete my little zoo.

Mister Sam does arrive on the scene blazing with character. It instantly hits you with a loud, spicy sharpness accompanied by a boozy sweetness that attempts to even things out somehow. The spices, however, are just too much for the sweetness to subdue. They just dominate the scent, projecting with considerable might and a devil-may-care attitude, leaving a bitter aftertaste in their wake. There's a mild creaminess weaving in and out of the scent after a few minutes but it doesn't really leave any lasting impression.

halfwhiteboy - Penhaligon's The Blazing Mister Sam EDP 02
halfwhiteboy - Penhaligon's The Blazing Mister Sam EDP 03

After a prolonged display of power, the spices finally dial down the volume—but only by a few notches. This allows the tobacco and cedar some room to come forward albeit they proceed with utmost trepidation. The creaminess also makes a comeback. Although its return is more marked this time around, it chooses to blend in rather than stand out. It carries a sort of spiced marshmallow vibe with a vague resemblance to a similar accord in Zadig & Voltaire's This is Her!.

As the scent eventually weakens, the spices take on a warmer mantle, now less abrasive and more in harmony with the mild sweetness and all these nuances. Nevertheless, the scent carries on for a few more hours.

The Blazing Mister Sam is a loud men's fragrance that, in time, tires and learns to keep it down. It's a nice composition that leans formal. Because of its scent profile, I reckon it's best to avoid wearing it when it's hot and humid. Whether its price point is justified is relative, so with that out of the way, I think it's worth a shot. 

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