Fugazzi Fragrance review

Fugazzi Sugardaddy Review: Sweet Spice, Hidden Depth

A tangerine-lit spice wrapped in cashmeran and ambergris — Fugazzi's most seductive contradiction.

By Vivir ·
There are fragrances that announce themselves from across a room, and fragrances that lean in close and whisper. Fugazzi's Sugardaddy, released in 2021, belongs firmly to the second camp — though it opens with enough citrus sparkle to convince you, for the first quarter of an hour, that you are dealing with something far more innocent than what eventually unfolds. This is a scent built on contradiction. Tangerine and bergamot promise daylight; clove and nutmeg answer with heat; blackcurrant smoulders in the heart like fruit left too long in the sun; and beneath it all, a cashmeran-and-ambergris foundation hums with a warm, faintly animalic glow that wearers have variously called skin-like, soapy and — most tellingly — addictive. It is unisex in the truest sense of the word: neither floral nor fougère, neither gourmand nor chypre, but a creature that borrows from each and settles into a register entirely its own. With a Fragrantica aggregate of 3.77 out of 5 across more than eight hundred votes, Sugardaddy is not a universally beloved fragrance — and that, frankly, is part of its power. It divides. It provokes. It asks you to have an opinion. What follows is a full dissection: the accords, the note pyramid, the arc from first spray to final skin-scent, the performance, the price, and whether it deserves a place on your shelf.
Longevity
3.0
Projection
3.0
Sillage
3.0
$100-$160
SpringSummerFallWinter

Accords

Citrus Fruity Fresh Spicy Warm Spicy Woody Amber Floral Animalic Powdery Patchouli

Notes Pyramid

Top
TangerineBergamot
Heart
Black CurrantClovesNutmegJasmine
Base
CashmeranAmbergrisPatchouliMoss

Scent Journey

1
Opening 0-30 min

The first thirty minutes are a burst of cold-pressed light: tangerine with its juicy, slightly bitter rind, and bergamot with its tea-like, almost peppery sparkle. For a moment Sugardaddy reads as a bright, wearable citrus — clean, effervescent, uncomplicated. Then the clove arrives, dry and carnation-like, and the mood shifts from aperitivo to after-dark.

2
Heart 1-2 hrs

One to two hours in, the heart takes over and the fragrance finds its true character. Blackcurrant is the pivot point — tart, dark, faintly catty in the best possible way, the fruit note that separates a serious composition from a sweet one. Clove and nutmeg wrap around it in a warm, dusty embrace, while jasmine adds a soft, slightly indolic floral cushion that keeps the spice from turning austere. This is the most extroverted phase of the wear.

3
Drydown 4+ hrs

From roughly the fourth hour onward, Sugardaddy becomes a second skin. Cashmeran supplies a velvety, woody-musky softness; ambergris lends that saline, mineral, faintly animalic warmth that reads as living skin rather than perfume. Patchouli and moss anchor the base with an earthy, almost chypre-like seriousness, and a powdery softness settles over everything like talc on a dressing table. The final hours are intimate, close-wearing and quietly magnetic.

Performance Dashboard

Longevity 3.0/5

Moderate and highly variable — some wearers report the scent fading within minutes, others get a full 6 to 8 hours of wear. Skin chemistry, climate and application point all appear to play an outsized role here.

Projection 3.0/5

Moderate — roughly an arm's length for the first two hours, then progressively closer to the skin as the cashmeran and ambergris base takes hold.

Sillage 3.0/5

Moderate. Sugardaddy leaves a soft, warm trail rather than a room-filling cloud; it is a scent you discover on someone rather than one that arrives before they do.

When to Wear

SpringOK
SummerAvoid
FallBest
WinterBest
Date nightEvening wearCold-weather casualIntimate dinnersAutumn weekends

Pros & Cons

  • Genuinely unisex composition with no gendered shorthand
  • Distinctive blackcurrant-clove-nutmeg heart that avoids the usual sweet-gourmand clichés
  • Elegant cashmeran and ambergris drydown that reads as skin rather than perfume
  • Excellent value for an Italian niche EDP at roughly $100–$160 for 100ml
  • Versatile enough for date nights, dinners and cold-weather daytime wear
  • Longevity is inconsistent and heavily dependent on skin chemistry
  • Moderate projection and sillage will disappoint those who want a statement scent
  • Warm spice and animalic facets can read as heavy or dated to some noses
  • Limited seasonal range — difficult to wear in heat
  • No publicly credited perfumer, which some collectors find unsatisfying

Price & Value

$100-$160
Priced as an accessible niche EDP: roughly $100–$160 for a 100ml bottle, which places Sugardaddy well below the $250+ territory of most Italian and French niche houses of comparable ambition.

“Strong value if the scent profile appeals. At this price, the moderate performance is a fair trade for a genuinely distinctive, well-constructed composition. Buy a sample first — the variability in longevity makes blind-buying risky.”

Reformulation History

No significant batch variations reported.

Who It's For

Ideal For

  • Wearers who prefer warm, spicy, skin-adjacent orientals over bright fresh florals
  • Anyone seeking a genuinely unisex fragrance that leans neither masculine nor feminine
  • Those who enjoy blackcurrant, clove and patchouli in combination — the classic chypre-adjacent palette
  • Evening and cold-weather wearers who want presence without loudness
  • Collectors of Italian niche houses looking for an accessible entry point into Fugazzi

Not Recommended For

  • Wearers who need guaranteed all-day longevity and strong projection
  • Those who dislike clove, nutmeg or any pronounced warm-spice accord
  • Anyone sensitive to animalic or ambergris-style base notes
  • High-summer and tropical-climate wearers, where the spice and amber can turn heavy
  • Shoppers seeking a straightforward, crowd-pleasing gourmand — Sugardaddy is not that

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Layering Ideas

Final Verdict

Fugazzi Sugardaddy is a fragrance for people who understand that seduction is rarely loud. Its tangerine-and-bergamot opening is a decoy; the real story is the blackcurrant, clove and nutmeg heart sinking slowly into a cashmeran, ambergris and patchouli base that smells like warm skin at the end of a long evening. Performance is moderate and skin-dependent, and it will not suit everyone — but at $100–$160 for 100ml of genuine Italian niche craft, it is one of the more interesting risks you can take this season.

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