In the early 2000s on a biz trip to Jersey, I first smelled L’eau d’Issey. When I got back from the trip, I absolutely had to get that frag and drove about an hour and 15 minute to the nearest Macy’s that carrier it as our more local one didn’t carry it. For years it was my most used fragrance, as close to a signature as I’ve had. Over the years I had a couple dozen deep rotation until I came into the motherload fragrance deal of a lifetime. I had no idea what had been going on in fragrance in the 15 or so years I hadn’t a need to purchase any new fragrances. Heck up to that point, I thought fashion designers were the be all end all of fragrance. That the designers were bored on weekends and figured “eh what hell, may as well make a few fragrances in addition to my clothes” considering my fragrance purchasing ended around the time the internet really took off and there was info out there since about the notion it’s a whole industry unto itself.
Anyhow, I digress… let’s get back on track. That massive fragrance purchase, or rather a few purchases I made. Wow did that result in my jaw dropping to see some of what came after the original Issey pour Homme. Suffice to say my nose has experienced several hundred fragrances now whereas prior to those purchases, my nose had only been exposed to those I had, some friends or family had through the years, and some testing at a local Macy’s prior to its closing and that location had a pretty small selection in the whole scheme of things. Issey is, and I assume will remain one of my absolute favorite houses. I can’t foresee a day where I’ll actually add fragrances to my collection unless I were to sell off quite a bit. However, with the Issey line continuing beyond Issey having passed, were they to introduce some new fragrances like Pulse of the Night, Polaris, Bois Artic, Noir Ambre, Or Encens, and I were financially able to add frags with ease, I’m not sure I could stop myself. Now that I’ve had quite a bit of mileage on my fragrance journey, I can say with certainty, Issey Miyake is one of my fave designer frag houses, along with Dior, Mugler, Prada, JPG, Guerlain, and Gucci. Especially their aforementioned deeper, denser blends. While Issey may be better known for the freshies given the original and many flankers over the years, they just did something correctly with those denser scents that are spectacular. One regret is passing over Noir Argent and missing out on one of the several bottles my frag dealer had.
I don’t have much in the way of nights out these days, but if I did, this would be a go to in cooler to cold weather… as would any of their darker scents. To my nose, this is special among designers, I suppose “nichey” as some may describe remarkable designer releases. At the same time, I’d imagine this being a compliment beast, a bonafide crowd pleaser. Though striking me as one that would be a compliment beast, I don’t view this as beast mode projector, but maybe a tad above average. Longevity, on my skin, though, this is a beast and lasts a good 10+ hours.
The scent itself is absolutely delicious to my nose. At first spray, I get a spicy, incense, and vanilla mix that is just intoxicating. Although pretty dominant at first spray, this is quite masculine leaning as one may expect as it’s marketed as a frag for men. After 15 or 20 minutes the spices calm and the sweetness is enhanced by tonka, and a dusty woodiness comes into play from the cedar, with a depth added from the patchouli and resinous Labdanum. About 40 or so minutes in, the journey seems to get into the dry down. My nose begins to get a more prominent aspect of the vanilla, mixed with some of the leathery density coming into play, along with enhanced woodiness from the Vetiver, and a smoothness I’m guessing coming from the sandalwood.
For a designer selection, this is marvelous and I’m delighted I had the opportunity to get this one before the supply dried up and it was seemingly only available for astronomical prices on eBay. That being said, were I a fraghead with a lot of disposable income, I may view this as worth the asking price on eBay. At times, I’ll admit, I’ve pondered whether I’d want to part with this. Considering only wearing a few times, the bottle is about 98% full and with the price I got this for, I could probably sell the bottle for a 10x return, but this is just too good and I can’t bring myself to let it go. To my nose, it’s just that darn good.
Top Notes 
Heart Notes 
Base Notes 
BertolucciK
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