L'Eau par Kenzo pour Homme (1999)
by Kenzo

Lemonaded perfume. Too tart and needs little sugar added but some people don't like sweetness. Either way, it's still a good scent.

On paper, and for the first few minutes on skin, this smells extremely refreshing like freshly squeezed lemon juice. No, not pure juice, rather lemon water. No rind in sight. Briefly, I wanted to own it to bathe in it on hot days. Sadly, after those few minutes all the lemon freshness is gone and it smells vaguely and faintly like some kind of perfumed sanitary product...

When first trying this, my expectations were moderate. However, I walked out of the perfume shop with my wrist glued to the nose. For economic reasons, I tried to convince myself that I didn't need another aquatic/fresh scent, but with little success; the memory of the beautiful and "happy-energetic" top notes stuck in my brain.
It is very easy to wear in most situations; non-offensive and office friendly (except that repeated invocation of the wrist-to-nose reflex may be disturbing and confusing your office-mates), and my wife loves it.
This is now my favourite scent for casual summer days.

L’Eau par Kenzo comes on with a gentle sweet / sharp citric opening featuring a beautifully refined and clear yuzu and a soft slightly minty green note. It is delicate but quite sweet—a sweetness that fooled me because of the fragrance’s delicacy. The lightness of the fragrance can be misleading. Over spraying can lead to becoming Mr. Cologne Guy just as much as over spraying more notorious fragrances. The fragrance is well constructed: The water pepper provides a water note and there are ozonic notes—more ozonics than watery notes, I would say, and those ozonics are kept from the all too common synthetic ambiance. The green notes are a bit too sweet for my taste, I would rather have some of that inherent bitterness that comes from leaves and stems. Until a half hour after application, the notes project a slight feminine feel because of the extra sweetness IMO. The dry down is green / aquatic combined with white musk. The dry down, too, continues the soft ambiance and lasts longer on my skin than many white musk accords that I’ve worn. The longevity is good for a citrus fragrance. L’Eau par Kenzo is a tiny bit Zen; it is genteel and calming. It is clean and it works for hot summer days.

Love it! Very very very FRESH, and CLEAN! Great in the summer, in the morning right after a shower. Maintains a clean feeling on my skin. Very lemony, and some might say it smells a bit like bathroom cleaner. But in a good way. Smells wonderful!

Gourmet Pool Chlorine.