Description
Paul Smith presents his latest olfactory pair named Portrait, made as his most intimate and personal fragrances yet. Portrait for Women and Portrait for Men scents are inspired by memories, travels and photographs. They emerged out of collaboration with French model and fragrance expert Barnabe Fillion.
Portrait for Men is a woody – spicy scent with musky finish. It is developed by model and perfumer Barnabe Fillion. It opens with notes of bergamot, cardamom and pink pepper with geranium and black current blossom in the heart and the base of cedar, tolu balsam, myrrh and labdanum.
Bottle design is described as elegant and timeless, inspired by ultimate traveler’s accessories – a flask and a camera. The men’s bottle combines silver metal and smoky gray glass, while the women’s offers golden metal and transparent glass that reveals gentle rosy fluid.
Baptiste Radufe and Karlin Caune are the models of the advertisement campaign, shot by photographer Annemarieke Van Drimmelen.
The fragrances are available in quantities of 40 and 80 ml; masculine as Eau de Toilette and feminine as Eau de Parfum.
Portrait For Men was launched in 2013.
merlin_2007 – :
Portrait is more calm and day version of Spicebomb in my opinion. If you love pink pepper note it’s definitely worth to buy. And there are also geranium’s fizzy and cardamom’s smoothness. The opening is similar to Kenzo Power. Good choice for fall and spring with white shirt and black jeans type of wear.
igor11-2011 – :
What a delicious fragrance!
It has a wonderful floral musky vibe that is so calming to the nose. You couldn’t possibly offend anyone with this.
One for Spring/Autumn and cooler Summer days. You can wear it in any setting – it is extremely versatile.
You can still get this on eBay relatively cheap, but I suspect it might be discontinued now.
Buy it while it is still affordable!
Cheche3 – :
Absolutely wonderful fragrance. Fairly unique in its impact, in my opinion. Very old timey, but stunning. It smells very classy and has far more personality than most others that I own, or have experienced.
I am a fan of Paul Smith fragrances and this is very much at the apex of of all those that I admire from his house.
Average projection – fair longevity.
mozgdjtla – :
First time wear today.
My impression was cedar and pepper drying to a fruity sweet base.
Lasts very well,inoffensive but not common. On my dryish skin the projection was nil.
Nice bottle and spray love the smell but wish it had a little more power and oomph.
Glad I only purchased a 40ml bottle and will try and use it before weather is too warm.
My personal opinion is that it could have done with an ingredient to sweeten or make it a bit deeper and more lasting.
My favourite of P.S fragrances is Optimistic and I always get compliments when wearing it even though it wasn’t a commercial success.
Selihov-1987 – :
not bad….however nothing outstanding….worth buying if it costs less than 15-25 euros…there is something cheap smelling about it…anyway…yes..a bit better than other PS…
ondatr – :
woody, spicy nice smell…
quattro-party.net – :
One of the very best of Paul Smith men perfume. No doubt.
tss44 – :
One of the very best of Paul Smith men perfume. No doubt.
alexladyg – :
This is Paul Smith’s best fragrance by a million miles!
So different to much of what is on offer in the designer game.
In my humble opinion, Paul Smith has some pretty horrendous (or just boring) fragrances both for men and women but this stands out.
I’ve never heard of Barnabe Fillion before but (a quick google search reveals he’s a pretty french man with a beard) he must be a really talented perfumer because Portrait is unique.
The resinous incense type combo of myrrhe, labandum and tolu balsam is sweet and intriguing but never warm almost cold and a little metallic. The main thing that stunned me was the fruity/floral top notes of what is listed here as black currant blossom but if I’m honest I had no idea what it was?
This fragrance is interesting on a few levels drydown is good more of the same but kinda musky.
It’s quite an enduring perfume too, you can tell it’s not massively high quality but Longevity is not bad, it’s certainly not weak. The smell is the sort of thing that doesn’t project but that’s fine.
A rare thing then…I’d almost entirely written off Paul Smith but this stuff is great and I want a bottle.
MariamSilb34 – :
Straight away, this is the first and only PS I liked enough to have bought. Very pleasant. Better than that: it is in fact excellent. It therefore surprises me there are so few reviews on Fragrantica. Do folk really not know about this one?
In broad terms: a linear scent with a dry down that makes me think of a light sweet incense – which I propose could be the balsam/myrrh/labdanum axis? Some background florals come through after about 5 minutes. They don’t make this a “floral” because they are dry and delicate and an augmentation. To my minds eye Portrait’s floral element is reminiscent of expensive dried flowers or posh drawerliner (like was once purchasable from Liberty).
Classed as woody/spicy; which it is, but to me it conjures incense. Something about it makes me think I’ve encountered it in my travels. In a mosque. Or an ancient church. An apothecary, possibly. Definitely the Middle East. But also elsewhere. I sort of feel I’ve always known it.
Sillage is on the conservative side making it perfect for office wear and romantic encounters. The longevity is fine although seasonal temperatures are a factor. None the less, I can comfortably smell this on my skin 12 hours later albeit a coolish spring day.
This is unquestionably a quality product envisaged by a talented imagination. Portrait has a sensuousness and luxuriousness that is superior to scents I’ve tested at three (or more) times the price. Draws compliments galore. Take a bow M Barnabe Fillion.
Taken your time getting there, but…way to go Paul Smith.
BeloglazowaYlya – :
This is a good fragrance from Paul Smith. It certainly appears to have some similarities to GPH II, particularly in the background. It seems to have more fruitiness in the opening, along with the tea and spices.
A casual,subtle smell that isn’t overbearing in any way. Longevity ok. Overall, if you appreciate GPH II, this is worth a test run. No regrets having a bottle.
ronm – :
best ps so far…feels like they cared about this,from the niche smell,to the fantastic flacon,this is a step up from the norm from paul smith!!! it does smell like a more floral version of gucci pour homme!!! first impressions here as i got it today and havent had a chance to give a proper opinion!!
scofild – :
Gucci pour homme ii. Simpelz
привет_всем_я_Женек – :
I have to say this is very different from the other releases out at the moment. I find a lot of latest fragrances smell similar but not this. It smells expensive to start with, and it has a niche kind of vibe to it. Spicy to start with muskiness to it. It has a gentle floral darting around with the woods. I have had quite a few compliments since wearing this. I am pleasantly surprised by this fragrance. It has very good longevity and lingers around long after you think it has gone. Nice release.
VerTrurbrom – :
This is really quite lovely. Definitely several steps up from the generic drek that’s being released by most houses these days. It reminds me strongly of the gorgeous Gucci Pour Homme II, so people worried about the discontinuation of that one would do well to check this out. It has a similarly beautiful light green tea note, as well as warm pepper and soft spice notes.
Not a loud fragrance, but has very good longevity and I could smell it on myself for hours.
The best Paul Smith fragrance since London. Thumbs up from me!
xasan2009 – :
I’ve got it on skin now and it is fantastic! It smells rather niche-y to my nose; wonderfully spicy thanks to the pepper and cardamom, and superbly composed and complex. This, to me, represents a refreshing departure from the current trends of male fragrance production in a time where everything seems to smell exactly the same. This reminds me of something else, something more expensive, which I will report back with if I can remember for the life of me what it is. An instant classic in my eyes – it deserves to do well.