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Bad Boy
The Carolina Herrera Bad Boy Eau de Toilette Gift Set is aimed squarely at the easiest kind of present: a man who already wears this and will get through it. The scent is built on a contrast. Bergamot and a double dose of pepper open it, pink pepper bright and a little sweet, white pepper drier and more rasping, the smell of the grinder rather than of heat on the tongue. Clary sage runs underneath with a herbal, faintly bitter edge, and cedarwood keeps the middle dry and sharp, all pencil shavings and sawn timber. Then it turns. Tonka bean and cocoa make the base, the cocoa dusty and unsweetened rather than chocolatey, the tonka soft and powdery against it. That swing from dry spice to a warm, almost edible close is the whole idea of the fragrance, and it is why men who normally avoid anything sweet still wear it.
Sold at eau de toilette strength, which here means a sharper opening and a lighter weight on skin than the stronger version of the same scent carries. It is easier to wear in warm weather for exactly that reason, and more forgiving if you have a heavy hand with the atomiser. Five or six hours is a fair expectation, with the pepper gone long before the base is. Buying it boxed takes the wrapping problem away, and it is the obvious pick for Christmas, a birthday or Father's Day when you know the name on the bottle but not much else about what he wears. Anyone in their twenties or thirties is the safest bet for it. Louise Turner and Quentin Bisch composed it.
Carolina Herrera opened a fashion business in New York with her collection of 1981. Perfume came seven years later, and the Spanish group Puig has produced it ever since, buying the clothing side outright in 1995.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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