I tested Gabar No. V (Ludlow) Lull – a men's fragrance with real character
This scent makes for a fantastic wildcard in your collection
If you're a fan of trying lots of different men's fragrances, you'll know all about the usual families of scent. Woods and spices are par for the course, and you'll probably already have delved into citrus scents too.
But when you want to add a bottle which is really outside of the norm, you need to look further afield. I recently tested Eauso Vert's Fruto Oscuro, which featured dark syrupy fruit notes.
Now, I've got my hands on a bottle of Gabar No. V (Ludlow) Lull, which sits in a similar wheelhouse. The bottle was first unveiled in 2024, and is said to evoke the energy of New York City.
Pinpointing exactly where this bottle sits can be tricky. To my nose, cherry and rose are the two most prominent right off the bat. That combination is peculiar, but in really quite a nice way.
There's something rather potent just beneath that, too. It's almost alcoholic, but not like a good scotch or an exotic vodka. It's more like cough syrup – again, in rather a pleasant way – with a distinct cherry cast.
Other notes on the card include black tea and orange blossom at the top, and red apple in the mid notes, though I think you have to really hunt them out. It's not to say they aren't present, but they don't bound forward like the others listed – at least to my nose.
The dry down does begin to introduce more of the base notes mentioned, too. Cashmere wood and musk are the most prominent, with that musk acting as the base for the longer term.
It's a neat little package overall, and one which really works. Each of the notes sits harmoniously and leaves its mark on the wearer. It's hard to pinpoint where this would sit within the traditional realms of fragrance, but that almost feels like the point. If you want a wildcard to throw into a rotation, you could do a lot worse than this.
