Esprit du Roi
Penhaligon's (1870)

A review if the 1983 version:

The bergamot with the mandarin start it off, seconded by a minty undertone, a simple mint that displays no spearmint characteristics. Soon a herbal component arises, consisting of a cardamom mainly, with some tomato leaf and a touch of grass and an aldehydic component added in.

The drydown takes a floral turn, with a pleasant geranium and a touch of jasmine dominant on me. An ylang-ylang chips in too; and elegant and bright version without any creaminess or heaviness on me. It is not that sweet, and most of the sweetness that I get is provided by an underlying honeysuckle impression. A clove accent comes and goes too.

The base develops a wood note - sometimes a bit of sandalwood and some cedar shine through - with a mix of a light amber-infused patchouli and a good lashing of white musks determining the core aroma if the later phases. At times a mild, light and restraind vetiver is noticeable; it lacks any earthiness or darkness.

I get moderate sillage, good projection, and seven hours of longevity on my skin.

A nice scent for cooler summer days that includes less usual combinations, but that does not let some of its ingredient develop their full potential, and that becomes a bit too generic in the base. Otherwise a good creation. 3/5

Don't get me wrong. I don't think this is the most groundbreaking work from Duchaufour. It is built along more conventional lines, but each step of the way there are little twists that keep this fragrance interesting and separate it from the rest of the generic-fresh flock. It is quite clever - not overtly so, but in its own way. I won't list all the notes, but the tomato leaf opening leading to the ylang-ylang/geranium floral heart particularly appealed to me. The drydown is more aldehydic than I would like, but it's fairly pleasant, if somewhat demure.

This is something I can wear to my (very conservative) workplace every day without people staring at me like" WTF?", all year round. Wearability is key here.

Very woody tomato leaf and geranium. Like most Penhaligon's it is fresh and clean, and a fair sillage and Projection. Nice change from florals.

This one opens up with a standard woody, citrus accord. Some tomato and raspberry leaves join in and later a littler geranium. There are some aldehydes in there and some florals join in the heart as well. In the base, some hints of vetiver, sandalwood and musk come through. There is a lot going on in this fragrance from start to finish and overall it comes through as sophisticated and easy wearing.

HEAD NOTES: Citrus Accord, Bergamot, Mandarin, Cedrat, Mint, Tomato Leaf, Davana Essence, Aldehydes, Cardamom Absolute

HEART NOTES: Clove, Egyptian Geranium, Madagascan Ylang Ylang, Jasmine, Honeysuckle

BASE NOTES: Vetiver, Cedar, Sandalwood, Patchouli, Raspberry Absolute, White Musk, Ambergris, Oakmoss, Africa Stone

... and a partridge in a pear tree. So many ingredients, such wasted potential.
On me, this is a overly "bright" and quite generic fresh-spice scent. Like many drugstore scents, a heavy hand with aldehydes dominates and ruins this. It is supposed to be a "lush woody citrus" but none of those aspects really are presented.
Given the price and promise of quality which does not appear, I find this to be very poor value and I do not recommend it.

Bertrand Duchaufour's 2011 re-working of Esprit Du Roi revisits the fougère territory of the previous year's Sartorial, but with less cleverness and a diminished sense of fun. The intention seems to have been to build a masculine around the idea of sourness: there's a feisty grapefruit at the beginning, followed by a tangy, not entirely appealing herbaceous edge which probably comes from the raspberry leaf absolute (all rasp; no berry). This in turn causes the hay aspect of the coumarin to come out in goosebumps, which ultimately causes the temperature of the whole to plunge to sub-zero depths. If you get up close - and I mean really close - you can detect the faintest growl of an animalic base, but otherwise wearing this feels like being on the receiving end of a chilly glare from a boss with a distressing love of performance management.