Eccelso
Profumum (2011)

Mild slightly smoky sandal wood paradoxed with a hint of freshness. But you have to work at discerning much character at all in this. It's ok, inoffensive but that's not the point of fragrance is it? Especially not at the price!

Profumum Eccelso is a great blend of bergamot, sandalwood, nutmeg, and musk, primarily, with some other supporting characters of patchouli and labdanum.

Mainly it feels like a variant of Creed Original Santal or Montblanc Individuel, a versatile (gender, occasion, season) winner of all sorts. Very sophisticated and fresh yet spicy and interesting with the sandalwood standing out most of all, as in the other fragrances.

Eccelso is also strong on performance, as most like myself expect of the Profumum brand.

While more expensive than most Profumum Roma offerings (at $290 for 100ml, whereas most are $250 or $265), there's nonetheless a case to be made on the superior performance of Eccelso to merit more consideration than a mainstay like Creed Original Santal, which itself isn't a bad performer. OS is still much cheaper by volume ($150ish for 4oz on FragranceNet, 8oz flacon for $280 on FragranceX) but I imagine Eccelso may strike a chord with someone who admires its superior performance.

8 out of 10

A slight thumbs up for Eccelso by Profumum. It's s a well made fragrance as are all of Profumum's fragrances. It is very sweet throughout the wear, and seems linear to my nose, as others have said. I do get just the slightest hint of smokiness, with florals, but it comes across with a candy like vibe. I can also detect sandalwood in the dry down, but as I said, this hasn't changed much...it's pretty similar from opening to dry down. Not one I'd invest in, but it may be just the thing for some.

Not too sure about the opening: About my only definite recognition is labdanum and I have to do some projecting and parsing to get that. The situation is that there is musk, sandalwood, patchouli, and nutmeg listed and they all have smooth, middle level vibrations as far as I'm concerned. I can, with effort, pick out the labdanum because of a slight resinousness that I'm detecting.

I don't know why but on my skin Profumo's Eccelso doesn't have the typical movements that most other fragrances have. I get everything at once – I smelled almost every note when I explored the opening. The only listed note I didn't get right away was the magnolia note, and I never was able to separate that one out from the accord, which seemed to me very simply textured and linear. I think this is the kind of scent that, through use, I would learn to love but it's a bit expensive to experiment with.

Leather in Disguise. ln the opening l get a whiff of smoke, a very light touch of bergamot, a little spice & wood, & hints of patchouli & labdanum beneath. Then ten minutes in, l get a distinctly animalic leather note. This is not mentioned in the notes lists l've seen, nor in any of the few reviews l've come across, but on my skin the heart of this fragrance is a smoky, powdery, soft leather, & really a most enjoyable surprise. l don't get the listed magnolia note, except as a mere suggestion of floral creaminess, which is gone almost as soon as l detect it. From this point it slowly dries down to a mossy ambergris base, still projecting softly after five hours. For me this is primarily a comforting & very nice quality leather fragrance, & although it's listed here as a masculine, l would say ladies can easily wear it too.

A little too sweet and floral for my taste. I do get a lot of sandalwood at drydown. Longevity is quite long, average projection. Got the sample, won't be buying a bottle.