Endymion (2003)
by Penhaligon's

This was my introduction to Penhaligon, and I was immediately seduced. Friends, family, and coworkers are united in their praise of this scent. A frequent reaction is, "I've never smelled anything like that," clearly meant in a positive way.

Endymion is warm , approachable, welcoming, soft, and comforting in a way that no other fragrance, in my experience has ever been. Nothing about it says, "I'm a mountain meadow," or, "What's up, good lookin?'" or, "I'm a really important guy, so start scraping." It seems less focused on the wearer, and more of an invitation to anyone around him to come and join the share the warmth.

The house style at Penhaligon seems to be either austere and distant (e.g., Blenheim) or, like this one, accepting and personable. There is a place for both, I suspect.

I'll leave the composition analysis to others. Parsing individual elements of a scent is not something I'm good at or much interested in, any more than I'd care to concentrate on what the woodwinds are doing and miss the symphony as a whole.

I think this is a great 'stepping stone' fragrance, a good example to give to someone who normally wears CK or YSL and is interested in more classic fragrances but isn't yet ready for anything too exotic or unusual.
With the lavender, amber and vanilla, it is almost too soft but the beautifully balanced heart and base notes have a much tighter hold on things than the mass market frags that this resembles. If you think this smells generic, you owe it to yourself to try it again and keep smelling throughout the development to see how really well this is made.

I’ve worn Endymion about 20 times thus far, but somehow I have never gotten around to reviewing it. Unlike most scents in my collection, I think of Endymion as primarily a nocturnal scent – I prefer to wear it at bed time. To me, it integrates sensual and introspective aspects, an unusual mix that comes together here. I suppose the thing that continues to strike me is the coffee note. Reviewer foetidus aptly describes it as a “deep brooding Mandeling-like note. A bit potent for an EdC, the opening can be a bit too sweet if overapplied. I also enjoy tempered presentation of the spice notes (e.g., nutmeg, pepper and sage) and the creamy character of the scent as whole.

The blueprint for a modern cologne appears to be to ensure that the dry down must have that distinctive vanilla edge to it. This is no exception, and I was disappointed to end up smelling as if I had applied Dunhill London or some other cheap confection. Having said that, it does do the confection with a degree of class, and it is kept out of the middle range of fragrances merely by the fact that there is some richness in there, with several layers to this struggling to subdue the vanilla, but with little success. A gallant try by Penhaligon's to appeal to the younger market, but I feel they better served developing their range of conservative fragrances.

After exeriencing Duoro, Endymion proved to be an over-hyped blind buy. Apart from the latte note, Endymion doesn't have much going for it.

It smells like an early Lynx de-odorant spray (circa mid-1980s) or something of that ilk. You know, the cheap body products (like de-odorant sprays and shower gels) that were always associated with the words blue, cool, horizon and ice…