Ex Nihilo Love Shot is one of those fragrances that sounds straightforward on paper and wears far more interestingly on skin. Launched in 2016 and composed by Natalie Cetto, it is built as a modern fruity chypre, and that structure explains both its charm and its limitations. At 385 dollars for 100 ml from the brand’s own store, it also carries a premium price tag that demands scrutiny.
What Does Ex Nihilo Love Shot Smell Like?
The opening is all about raspberry, and it is not a subtle berry note. It arrives glossy and ripe, closer to candy coating than fresh fruit, lifted by bergamot and a pink pepper sparkle from the pink berries. The official pyramid adds Petalia, a muguet-style material that keeps the top airy and floral rather than purely sugary.
Within half an hour the heart takes over. Jasmine stretches the fruit, and then the leather accord cuts through. This is not tarry biker leather. Wearers consistently describe it as supple, like a soft glove, with a light smoky and powdery edge. As the base develops, musk turns warm and faintly animalic while patchouli and vetiver provide the dry chypre backbone and vanilla smooths everything out. The drydown is a sweet, slightly dirty embrace of fruit, powder, and leather that sits close to the skin. The synthetic gloss is deliberate here. It smells airbrushed rather than natural, and that polished brightness is part of the identity.
Performance
This is the fragrance’s honest weakness. Community voting across several hundred ratings puts longevity and sillage around three and a half out of five, and that matches the practical picture. Expect roughly four to six hours on skin, occasionally pushing eight hours on fabric. Projection is moderate for the first hour, noticeable within conversational distance, then it settles into a personal skin scent faster than most buyers hope at this price. It will not fill a room, and heavy overspraying mostly wastes juice because the base stays polite no matter what.
Best Clone Or Alternative
The clearest budget route is Perfume Parlour Warm Feeling 1373, which the retailer explicitly lists as a Love Shot dupe. It starts at 3.99 dollars and lives in the same fruity, leather, musk family, so the broad shape of the scent translates. Two caveats matter. First, Perfume Parlour publishes no similarity figure and the product had gathered essentially no user reviews, so treat it as an approximation rather than a verified match. Second, it is a simple oil-style composition. It delivers the leather-and-berry gesture but skips the refined jasmine and Petalia sparkle, the powdery smoky shading, and the chypre structure that make the original feel composed. If you want to test whether the Love Shot style suits you before spending hundreds, the clone does that job for the cost of lunch.
When To Wear It
Community data points hard toward fall, with spring and winter close behind and summer lagging well back. Heat pushes the sweetness forward and flattens the leather, so cool and mild weather is where it behaves. Occasion-wise it flexes between daytime wear and evening, landing especially well on date nights and dinners. Its playful, flirtatious character fits social settings better than formal offices.
Who Should Buy It
Love Shot suits anyone who wants a sweet fruity leather that never turns heavy, and who enjoys scents that lean feminine-leaning unisex without being shy. If you like the idea of Tom Ford Tuscan Leather but find it too dense and smoky, this is the lighter, glossier sibling. Collectors who value the chypre construction and the seventies Parisian nightlife vibe will find real craft here.
Who Should Skip It
Pass if you need strong projection and all-day endurance, because the performance does not justify the outlay. Pass if synthetic sweetness bothers you or if you prefer dark tarry leathers and smoky incense. And pass if value per milliliter drives your buying, since the clone market covers this style cheaply.
Final Verdict
Love Shot is a genuinely appealing scent attached to a difficult price. The raspberry-to-leather progression is well made, the drydown is distinctive, and nothing mainstream smells quite like it. But moderate performance and a 385 dollar sticker make it a taste-first purchase, not an easy recommendation. Sample it, try the Perfume Parlour dupe first, and only buy the full bottle if the original’s polish clearly earns it for you.