Review (5/5): Super underrated fragrance house
English Laundry is highly underrated. It's fine to call them what they are, they're a relatively cheapy house that makes fragrances that are often inspired by others, but they do it very well. I have more than a few of their scents and this is what you can expect of these four:
Notting Hill - This has what you might call a barbershop scent to it. A strong, clean musk, definitely some wood notes in there with a mix of cedar and sandalwood. I've heard it compared to Viking by Creed and I think that's not far off on the dry down, but the opening on Notting Hill has more citrus. Strongest scent of the bunch for sure.
Riveria - This is just a great, easily wearable blue fragrance. I gave mine another spray while I writing this just for the reminder. I was surprised when I first smelled this because this was THE scent from English Laundry that was hyped up. And I like it, no question, but it's very similar to other blue scents. It dries down powdery, has a hint of woodsy notes, but I mostly just get lavender and jasmine mixing with a bit of aquatic notes. That said, it's unbeatable at it's price and probably the easiest to wear in the bunch.
Oxford Bleu - So, when I first smelled this I thought "Oh that's just straight up Versace Eros." Having smelled them side by side since I own them both, it's still very similar, but a little different. Eros is more loud, Oxford Bleu has a lot of the same mint, vanilla, and apple that you'd get from Eros, but more subdued in the dry down. Again, for the price you can't go wrong here, it's an exceptional scent, but that's because Eros is an exceptional scent.
Arrogant - A disclaimer upfront: I think what's going on with Arrogant and me is all just my personal body chemistry. It's a sleeper hit for sure, it has a very clean, soapy, lavender feel to it that I love. The only problem is that unless I over spray, the scent dies on my skin really fast. It's not a complaint I've heard elsewhere, so this might just be me, but that gives it a disappointment mark or two. I went and put this on a tester strip as I was writing this and could barely smell it, so I put a couple of sprays on my skin, and sure, I definitely like it, but it's hard to pick up with normal use. I might just be nose blind to it, honestly. The closest scent I could place it with would be Le Male by John Paul Gaultier. Just a bit weaker.
All in all, English Laundry is not to be slept on, and there's no bad scents in this bunch.