Mémoire d'Homme (2002)
by Nina Ricci

i love grapefruit but as previously stated the ginger ruins it. no power and very dry. it's a basic scent with no complexity. if it were by calvin klein evry drugstore would sell it.

One of my very favorite vetiver frags -- imagine Happy for Men (all that grapefruit) mixed with a generous dose of nutmeg, all layered upon a resinous, smoky, woody vetiver base.

Not for the faint of heart, no. Like Lempicka au Masculin and Dali pour Homme, Mémoire is pretty strong stuff. (This due to the bitterness of the nutmeg, the piquancy of the ginger and the woody strength of the vetiver). Two thumbs up from me, though.

I do not like over masculine spicy woods. But this one is good. Ginger and woods come to stage strong and clear. Blue Cedarwood is nose burning strong but some how still nice.

Smoky green fragrance that from far away really, really smells like a mild bug repellent (with anise). Hmmm... actually I can compare this to Lolita Lempicka Au Masculin but watered down and not as long lasting. This smells nice at first but is gone before lunchtime.

Yeah, pretty much incense & smoky

Its like the smell in one of those hindu temples

Mémoire d’Homme opens with a grapefruit / liquorish leaf accord that I found quite unique the first time I tested it. With further wearing, it very quickly became routine. There’s a trace of ginger and nutmeg – just a trace – in the accord as well as a woody ambiance in the background that wonderfully enriches the whole accord. The complexity and attractiveness improves with the smokiness that arises after twenty minutes. The smokiness, attributable to the woods and vetiver in the base, I suppose, grows strong at first and almost overwhelms the other elements of the juice, but then it quickly recedes into the nonagressive wood drydown. The quiet drydown lasts, close to the skin, for hours. As usual, it seems that Nina Ricci has delivered a fragrance that beats a different drum from the usual. In this case I’m not sure that I am really hearing the beat: The middle and base take over so fast that the sillage producing elements of the fragrance are linear and lack longevity. It moves to the subtle drydown way too fast. But, then, it is a very wearable fragrance – I find I wear it quite often because it is an absolutely safe wear. It doesn’t matter how much I spray or how often I spray, it is never too sweet or too projecting or too strong. As seemingly lackluster as this fragrance is, I will give it a thumb’s up because it does serve an important function for me. Love the bottle.