D&G Le Bateleur 1
Dolce & Gabbana (2009)

Hmmm....can't understand what's going on here....
Could be my skin chemistry was not too good with this one.

Le Bateleur (trans. juggler? eagle?) has favorite notes of mine, namely juniper, cedar, vetiver, and even the shiny birch bark. It is full of aquatic notes, with lovely spice elements sitting by their side. Cedar and vetiver, too.

But, Le Bateleur feels like an aquatic scent which takes many confusing turns. It then mimics Acqua di Gio at some point, which happens to be one of my favorites; yet by this time, I'm dizzy!

There is also an unpleasant synthetic quality as well to all of this. Overall, I'll stay neutral with my rating, as I don't outright find Le Bateleur offensive per se.

classic, makes-no-sense-aquatic. D&G had a big marketing launch with this series but all of them were failures.

A spicy aquatic...

Le Bateleur is from Dolce & Gabbana's Anthology collection is a fresh, spicy aquatic fragrance with a good use of one of my favourite notes: juniper berry. It's a fresh and tangy note that whenever I smell it always wakes me up. I personally do like this fragrance but even I have to admit that it smells generic and it's discontinued so I don't find that such a loss. It does have very nice individual notes like coriander seed and green cardamom which works well with the water notes and tangy juniper berry, before drying down to a generic cedarwood base. Not bad, but there are better options out there.

Out of the entire Anthology collection, I chose to go with this & La Force. Why? I don't know... I guess you can ask why do people wear white after Labor Day? I must admit after testing all of the collection, I did find that Le Bateleur projected more & lasted a tad more than the others. Key word. TAD!

This is still a weak fragrance that belongs in the aquatic family, and that is one of my least favorite groups. This last on my skin 4-5 hours if I am lucky but it becomes a skin scent rather swiftly. I noticed a long time ago I am not really into soft, weak fragrances. I love heavy hitters who make a statement. Not those who run away from a fight.. That is exactly what this entire collection does. At least on my skin.

Le Bateleur along with the rest of the collection line is a synthetic, watered down mess says my nose. Teenagers and those in their early twenties may find these sorts of things pleasant, but I for one do not. A watery, woody concoction that Goofy along with Donald Duck created I am sure. My gosh D&G/Proctor & Gamble WTH are you guys doing????

Crushed ants, this is the overall impression I get from this fragrance. Like the ultra cheap discount store colognes and splashes, which all contain this self-same foul-smelling fixative, Le Bateleur 1 is dominated by the odor of formic acid.

Strong presence of cardamom under my nose, than an overwhelming aquatic accord the metallic vibe of which knocks down the partially smooth basic musky/labdanum (noticeable since the peppery beginning). The beginning is soon peppery indeed but strangely indolic with aromatic herbs, coniferous resins and some grassy/humid boise and musky feel yet rising from the back. In this phase (and just for a short while) the juice is smooth (in a musky way) after a wet/grassy and peppery initial blast. The smoothness lasts a flash cause an horrible synthetic aquatic feel starts soon to envelop the elements and to subside the faint initial grassy/musky softeness. The final boring development is all peppery/aquatic with a fluidy synthetic vetiver, so frankly i do not pick up nothing interesting around. Reminiscences about Acqua di Gioia Armani (pepper, aquatic accord, musk, landanum and cedar) which is anyway faintly better. Thumbs down.