Uhh.. holy sh*t.

Apologies for the vulgarity, but that was my genuine reaction upon first spraying this.

I recently made my first order from Dua (three discontinued DNAs and a hybrid), and to be honest, I wasn't expecting much.

I'll begin by saying I'm a huge fan of Fahrenheit EdT, so this is the first of the order I intended to try. Normally I would give a clone a few weeks for a fair judgement (especially if it comes off poor on first spray) but this feels reviewable right away.

I hadn't realized that a number of flankers other than Le Parfum were released since the turn of the century (I hate the fact that that's a legitimate turn of phrase at this point). I've seen a few pop up in online auctions and it got me curious, and the search led to Dua. Anyway on the fragrance -

The note breakdown from Dua is quite simple: grapefruit, violet, spearmint and Haitian vetiver. I certainly detect all of those, and while nothing there feels distinctly aquatic, there is a definite aquatic feel to the first several hours. The citrus and aquatic vibe is the entire opening, but there's just a hint of that infamous gasoline-leaning violet behind it. As the (long) opening phase fades, the violet and a bit of mint comes to the forefront. I'm a huge fan of this. The vetiver really comes through after a while as well. I tend to be more fond of simple note breakdowns, and if those four notes are truly the entirety, this is a masterful blending.

Performance is very strong. I sprayed the back of my hand six hours ago and Celsius Water is still pumping with that one spray. It is an extrait, so I would expect solid longevity as a baseline. It seems like a definite 2-3 spray max type of fragrance.

I'd say this profile works extremely well for summer, especially if you're a fan of the DNA. I purchased a 30ml for $23 during a sale. Having smelled it, I wouldn't hesitate to pay full price ($35?/30ml). This is a winner in my book.