Ed Hardy
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The bergamot and mandarin explode with immediate brightness, almost citric-sharp, while cardamom spice crackles underneath like a match being struck. Within seconds, you're hit with that synthetic, cologne-like freshness that feels less like natural citrus and more like the colour yellow rendered in aromatic form.
As the volatile citruses fade, the herbal-green heart emerges—absinth and sage creating a herbaceous, almost medicinal coolness whilst violet adds a powdery, slightly soapy sweetness that sits uncomfortably between floral and synthetic. The cypress adds angular dryness, preventing the composition from softening into anything genuinely warm or inviting; instead, the whole thing feels like smelling a high-street fragrance counter.
The base arrives with minimal fanfare, cedarwood and vetiver providing a muted woody dryness that never quite builds into real presence. The oud is nearly imperceptible, and musk fades to an indistinct, slightly soapy hum that barely registers on skin. By the fourth hour, you're left wondering whether the fragrance has truly worn away or simply surrendered to skin chemistry, leaving behind little more than a ghost of cologne-like warmth.
Love & Luck arrives as a calculated attempt to bottle casual confidence—the kind that belongs to someone who treats fragrance as fashion accessory rather than olfactory statement. Olivier Gillotin has constructed something deliberately bright and approachable, leading with a triumvirate of citrus notes (bergamot, mandarin, orange) that feel almost aggressively cheerful, like someone has turned up the saturation on a holiday snapshot. The cardamom arrives as a spiced whisper, lending a hair of sophistication to what might otherwise be a straightforward aquatic-adjacent composition.
The heart reveals the fragrance's true character: absinth and sage create a herbal-green backbone that prevents this from dissolving into mere citrus squash, whilst violet adds a peculiar synthetic sweetness that feels more cologne-counter than genuinely elegant. Cypress undercuts the floral tendencies with its dry, almost pencil-shaving quality, keeping the composition from becoming cloying. This is where the fragrance's synthetic DNA becomes unmistakable—there's a processed, almost plasticky quality beneath the botanical nomenclature.
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3.2/5 (85)