Perfume: Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir
My work friend with the sample-buying problem let me spritz some of this, and initially I was in profound love with it for exactly the reasons the Fragrantica reviewers complain about it: it's like sticking your face in cloves, with maybe some pepper. It would disinfect the air around you for 300 feet. It doesn't smell like fruit. It doesn't smell like perfume. It smells like clovey clove clove, dry spicy punch-you-in-the-face clove. (My work friend said "Chinese herbal medicine! Tiger balm!")
Unfortunately for me - not for everyone around me - it fades into a pleasant but less interesting spicy-fruity-cedar-y thing, much more polished and perfume-like and much less CLOVE HERE I AM DID YOU INVITE CLOVE TO THE PARTY BECAUSE THIS IS NOW A CLOVE PARTY ON YOUR ARM. I guess the combination of peppery + fruity could be said to evoke pomegranate - if I smell it and think "pomegranate" hard I can sort of see it.
Ooh, actually, now that I've warmed my arm up by typing I'm getting cedar and frankincense, so I'm back to liking this. Ooh. Ooh. Hello. But on the back of my arm where it's cooler I'm still getting that artificial fruit burst, and that's annoying.
I am learning more and more that I want my arms to smell strongly of Trees and also Manliness. In general, throw some woods and a smattering of leaves at me and I am happy, but everything from the rest of the lifecycle of the plant - flowers? Fruit? I am STRICTLY OVER unless I'm smelling them on other people.
ETA: three hours later this has dried down into a really wonderful spicy incense/cedar - I'm much more of a fan of this than I am of any of the CDG incenses, honestly. Those fruit midnotes are completely wasted on me, but if I bought my own sample I would honestly probably wear this again for the base notes.