Iconic
Armaf (2022)

I'll never forget the first time I sprayed on BDC the day it was released at the belk near my house - the complexity of the fragrance is still unique in the world of fragrance imo. The $200 price tag was way too much of an ask for me then, and it still is now for what is ultimately smelly water worn by an ugly guy who's not getting any action. Anyways, this is the third and final of my late night impulse TikTok store purchases.

But you scrolled down to read how this fragrance smells. The first 20 minutes is absolutely horrendous, and I was so frustrated after smelling it in the air because I hate a blind buy gone wrong even if it's $24 before tax. It's not even "cheap citrus" aromachemicals, it's just shit.

After the nasty top burns off, you're left with something of an interpretation of BDC that's maybe like 70% when going in close? I'm also not getting whiffs of this in the air, so I'll have to try spraying heavier. I hate to say this, but it's giving Marshalls dupe fragrance vibes. My bottle was produced a few months back so no need to macerate, but I'll certainly come back to this at some point and update this review if anything changes. For now this is a hesitant neutral leaning towards thumbs down. The BDC DNA is definitely excellent but I don't feel like this captures enough to be a BDC clone. BDC inspired? an early draft of BDC? Sure.

Okay, I just drove to the mall to spray on BDC EDP to compare. The dry down of ionic is really flat, almost powdery? The BDC has a very candy sweet grapefruit, not tart at all, lots of ginger and pink pepper pushing off the skin. BDC ALSO dries down powdery.

In summary, Iconic is missing quite a lot of the notes that make BDC EDP what it is (think peppercorns and ginger, along with the sweetness in the grapefruit) and it reaches the sweet and powdery dry down much faster. There's definitely a market for a better clone that adds in the few missing notes.