Impressions of the Intense Cedrat Boise perfume by Mancera

This article is not only about my impressions of Mancera's Intense Cedrat Boise perfume, but also an attempt to understand how realistic it is to buy original perfumes on marketplaces.

Act.

The hens are perched. It's cool, and their heads are tucked into their bodies. Some are dozing, others are peering out through their small, half-closed eyes. A light steam is evaporating from the bodies of the hens sitting on the straw. Nothing mars the picture of idyll. And suddenly, a small, plucked rooster runs up, stretches his head out, and begins to bray at the top of his hoarse, sonorous throat: "Mancera cedrat boise" is a clone of Creed Aventus! The frightened hens reacted differently: some immediately laid unplanned eggs, while others relieved themselves. However, turning their heads, first one hen and then another, stretching their heads out, began to scream: "Mancera is a clone of Creed!" And now the entire coop is in a terrible commotion: flapping carcasses, eyes bulging from the strain of their throats, manure floating in the air, feathers and snowflakes shaking from the frantic chorus of cries: "Mancera - Aventus clone." Even the culprit of the chaos is at a loss and tries to escape from under the clutches of the frenzied hens scurrying around the coop, but to no avail...

Curtain.

A pot remains on the stage, from which steam with a captivating aroma is coming out, and through which the crooked legs of a rooster can be seen in the broth of the soup.

The remains of the eaten rooster had long since been removed to a composting pot for watering the garden beds, but the chicken revolt left its mark. The refrain that "Mancera is an Aventus clone" hasn't been lost in the feeble minds of those who survived Covid-19—this refrain has migrated to the online world, and now sellers on numerous marketplaces, sometimes hesitantly, sometimes outright, insist that Mancera is a clone factory. Like a virus, like communist ideology, this postulate is capturing more and more minds.

And so the trumpets sounded: if you can’t buy Aventus, then buy Mancera.

While this historical event was unfolding, the little gnomes brewing the potion in pots called Creed began putting something different in their pots than they originally had. The little gnomes were beaten with sticks for inventing the money potion, and their potions broke. It became unclear whether the rooster's sacrifice had been worthwhile, as the cause that had led to the chicken revolt had disappeared, and the money potion began to lose its former glory.

So, I decided to test the waters and bought an 8-milliliter bottle of Mancera's Intense Cedrat Boise on the Ozon platform.

The first thing that caught my eye was that the perfume was declared to be in a perfume concentration, but on the box next to the inscription INTENSE there was the inscription EAU DE PARFUM, which clearly indicates that the perfume does not have a PARFUM or EXTRAIT concentration.

The NOT FOR SALE perforations were covered with a sticker. These days, this isn't a big deal in Russia.

I understand, of course, that any perfume needs time to settle after traveling, but the short durability of the perfume constantly made me think about checking the originality of the purchase.

The seller swore that the perfume was original.

However, doubts grew after it became clear that the atomizer was not working properly - it was spitting out large drops of perfume.

To clear the doubts that were interfering with other thoughts in my head, I decided to buy a similar bottle at the Aromabutik store.

Without looking too closely, the boxes for the bottles look similar, especially the front, but if you rotate the boxes synchronously, you'll see that the inscriptions are different.

The bottle from Aromabutik bears the inscription: "This product may only be sold by authorized retailers." The bottle from Ozon does not bear this inscription.

With today's level of globalization, one might expect that bottles for retailers are made in one factory and samples in another.

To the naked eye, the bottles appear identical.

On both bottles the inscription INTENSE CEDRAT BOISE is raised.

A close comparison shows that the springs and balls of the sprayers are different.

Also, the tube attachment to the spray bottle is different.

The metal parts of the Ozon bottle (left) are roughly made, as if someone had processed them by hand with a rasp.

The tops of the sprayers are similar.

The plastic parts of the sprayer began to darken after contact with liquid; this did not happen with the original.

When applied to the leaves, the perfume from Ozon flew in large drops, while from the Aromabutik store it was a dense, uniform aerosol.

After a week of drying, it's clear that the aerosol from the Aromabutik perfume has diffused, and the stains not only increased but also remained, while the Ozon perfume sheet is practically unmarked.

My conclusion: this confirms my suspicions that a different liquid, even from a different factory, is used for testers. A tester should only convey the top notes, so it doesn't contain stabilizers or other additives that make a perfume what it is. The myth that testers are the same thing, that a commercial product is like a dead rooster crowing.

As for the aroma: When both bottles haven't settled, they smell like dried orange peels on a dried pine branch. It's as if someone hungover after New Year's threw the remaining orange peels into a dried Christmas tree.

When the perfumes settle, both have a more vibrant orange opening, which lasts for several hours without developing in the tester's opinion and then fades. The original, however, after the orange zest, opens up into a pine resin.

Overall, the scent is more reminiscent of a summery, citrusy liqueur from the '80s due to its heaviness, but it's in no way an Aventus clone, no matter how emasculated Aventus may be now. The level of execution is completely different.

Longevity. I can smell the fragrance on myself for several hours, then I don't notice it anymore, but people say they can smell it on me all day.

I also can't classify Mancera's Intense Cedrat Boise as a selective perfume. It's like comparing some Soviet cologne to a masterpiece like Black Afgano.

Do I use Mancera's Intense Cedrat Boise? Yes. Do I get a kick out of it, like I do with Creed Aventus? No. Intense Cedrat Boise by Mancera is in no way a clone of Aventus and is not even remotely similar!

Purchase it here.