Jo Milano Game of Spades No Limit Parfum 3.4 oz

Coffee and chocolate, but drier and stranger than that makes it sound. No Limit opens on rosemary and Sicilian mandarin - herbal and bright, a genuinely aromatic start that gives no hint of where it is going. Within twenty minutes the heart arrives and takes over completely: coffee, milk chocolate and coconut layered together, with iris adding a cool powdered edge and amyris contributing a soft, slightly resinous woodiness. That iris is the reason the gourmand notes never turn into dessert. The base is oud and tonka bean, which pulls the whole thing darker and warmer - the oud dry and woody rather than barnyard, the tonka rounding off the coffee bitterness. Jo Milano leans woody and balsamic with this one, and the arc from herbal to gourmand to woody is the most interesting thing about it.

Top: Rosemary, Sicilian mandarin · Heart: Coffee, milk chocolate, coconut, iris, amyris · Base: Oud, tonka bean

Coffee and chocolate accords intensify in heat, which is the whole story for wearing this in Miami. On a cool evening it is a rich, comfortable eight to ten hours. On a humid afternoon the same two sprays read considerably sweeter and heavier, and the coffee can turn slightly sour on skin that is actively sweating. It is a fragrance that rewards restraint here: one or two sprays in summer, kept off the neck, and it stays close and pleasant. From November to March you can wear it properly and let it project.

Unisex, though the coffee-oud combination reads a little masculine. Evenings, dinners, cool weather, and any occasion where you want something noticeably different from what everyone else has on.

A 5ml or 10ml decant is the smart place to start with a gourmand this rich, and we fill both. The tester is also on the shelf at our Miami Gardens shop if you want to see how the coffee behaves on you.