Jo Milano Game of Spades Bonus Parfum 3.4 oz

Cold citrus and mint at the start, herbs and stone fruit in the middle, dried fruit at the end. Game of Spades Bonus travels a long way from where it begins. The opening is genuinely bracing - citron, lemon and orange with a clear mint through them, black currant adding a tart edge and coriander a dry, spicy lift. From there it turns green and floral: basil and carrot seed alongside apricot and may rose, an unusual pairing that stops the fruit from reading as candy. The base is the interesting part, where fig and dates give a soft, jammy warmth and ambrette finishes it musky and slightly nutty.

Top: Citron, mint, orange, lemon, black currant, coriander · Heart: Apricot, basil, carrot seeds, may rose · Base: Fig, dates, ambrette

Seven to nine hours on skin, loudest through the first ninety minutes and comfortable at close range after that. The Miami-specific point: fresh openings like this one are usually destroyed by humidity, but the dried-fruit base here means the fragrance does not simply vanish when the citrus goes. It collapses inward instead and becomes a soft fig-and-musk skin scent by early afternoon. Some people love that arc and others miss the top. If you want the mint to last, keep the bottle out of a hot car and spray cloth as well as skin.

Unisex and versatile. The freshness makes it workable for daytime and for an office, while the fig-and-date base gives it enough body to carry into dinner. Spring and summer suit it best - it is bright enough to feel right in South Florida heat and not so sweet that it becomes cloying in it.

The 5ml and 10ml decants make this an easy one to explore, which matters for a fragrance that changes as much as it does across a day. Whatever you decide, the Miami Gardens tester is the fastest way to learn whether the mint-and-carrot-seed opening is your kind of strange.