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

I dont get Vibert's analogy with colone with this one. I dont get that at all with this fragrance. To me, it's a fresh lemon/citrus opening, then after a few hours it mellows to a lightly sweet, creamy drydown. The scent is great in warm weather and never overpowers but is always present.

Somebody mentioned sweet lemons.. which is really the best way of describing the top. Wait a little bit and as those sweet lemons mix with the florals -- it produces sort of a pink lemonade smelling accord. Once that is gone it's simply floral notes with a light sweet musk. I've never smelled green pepper in a fragrance before. I was literally praying for this green pepper base note to appear, and it did(although very synthetic smelling).. I think it would have been more suitable as a middle note in this and then going with woods and sweet musk in the base. I feel that the way it is.. it makes for strange green pepper/floral/powdery base, that turns rather synthetic smelling. It's a shame because the opening reminded me of fresh squeezed lemons. Overall it's a decent fragrance, the base kind of gives me a headache actually.

Sweet lemon dominates the top notes... and yes, Yuzu is a type of lemon... green floral middle notes and a very soft vanilla drydown. Unlike others, I never seem to have longevity issues with LpK, as it lasts about 4-5 hours on my skin. So well done. So classy. Congratulations Olivier Cresp.

There's really not much to this one. A thin lemon eau de Cologne with an enormous barrel of calone dumped over it, and about as necessary as plantar warts. What was I expecting? The stuff is blue.

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 lack of strong notes. 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 too sweet and unsharp 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 works for hot summer days, but don’t let its seeming mildness fool you: it can cloy if too much is sprayed. (Edit of 28 October 2005 review.)

This is a very light-weight citrus aquatic. It is pleasant and very easy to wear casually, but that's about it. There isn't an edge or punch in this that will wow. If one is looking for a scent for freshening up after sports, this will work perfectly, apart from that, I don't see myself ever using this on any other occasion.