parfums*PARFUMS Series 6 Synthetic: Tar (2004)
by Comme des Garçons

Very very nice, and quite similar to Dzing! Also family to Bulgari Black. As I own those two, I guess I don't need Tar. If you like those kinds of scents, though, try Tar - it's cheaper to boot.

21st June, 2010.

Life is so paradoxical. When you think asphalt causes cancer and people buys a fragrance emulating that synthetic smell. Surrealistic! But I have to say I love it, Series 6 Synthetic is strong, pungent, and rubbery with a timeless dry down that reminds me a dark shampoo. It should be renamed as Civilization or Asphalt Jungle.

16th January, 2010.

I pretty much like the description of this scent as "a modulation of vetiver into another key". Especially talking about "dry" and "earthy", except that here we're talking about oil, petroleum, coal, asphalt, rubber, almost pungent, very heavy and not aided by any "pleasant" note in whatever sense you may put into this word.For the first one or two hours I almost got headache wearing this. It's like you've put on a brand new cheap plastic/rubber/whatever synthetic raincoat or - to be literal - you're in the center of a renovated street with the asphalt still melting. I don't mind making strange impression or a strong statement to the world around me wearing this, if it wasn't that I myself would get dizzy wearing it. Still, I should add that I'm actually not a big fan of 'earthy' scents in general, if that makes little more sense.
Anyway, after this pungent phase some surprisingly wearable synthetic notes come to light, more vynil than tar. They don't have any depth but still, after the initial torture it was a nice surprise to have them. This 'base' is quite resistant on clothes, I would say. Makes your cotton t-shirts smell like rubber boots. It just depends whether you want this effect or not.
Speaking of complexity, smells to me like a single note which you cannot divide. I guess that's the concept.
It might be a good idea to mix this scent with some floral/fruity/green or whatever more or less "naturally" smelling perfume comes to mind, just to add a bit of alien groove to it. But then, it's pretty much possible that you'll end up with something similar to Bulgari Black. Which leads me to the following description:
Remove everything sweet, smokey, vegetal, flowery, profound and complex from Bulgari Black and you'd pretty much have CdG Tar.

5th September, 2009.

This doesn't smell like tar to me at all; it smells like rubber - specifically, the rubber valve used to blow up flotation toys for the pool. Further in, it begins to smell more like the surface of the flotation toy or a pair of heavy duty grippy rubber work gloves. Either way -- rubber or tar -- I don't want to smell like this. I find it interesting but not bottle-worthy. Longevity and sillage are below average on me (both 2 on a 1-5 scale).

27th November, 2008.

Probably the most avant-gardish personal fragrance ever created. Very much a borderline case : Is it wearable or not?

Well yes it is wearable, but I can`t imagine anyone using this that often, and for sure the application must be very moderate. Otherwise it can be really disturbing.
(2-3 sprays is my suggestion)

Suprise suprise, this really doesn`t smell like anything else on the market, and I find it quite hard to describe.
It smels alot like a mix between suffocating town gas and wonderful smell of fresh asphalt. And believe or not, I get small whiffs of blue cheese(!)
Its very earthy, dark and a tad smoky too. I`m sure the burnt styrax is one of the main ingridients here.

The drydown reveils suprisingly complex nuances, it even turns a bit sweet in the end.

Highly recommended for anyone to try. Find out if its intoxicating or more just toxicating for you.
Personally, I find the impact somewhere in between.

I love it very much.

15th November, 2008.

When I was growing up as a kid, I got really really bad headaches and nausea from the smell of roofing tar. Tar, the CdG scent, walks that line between [I]headache inducing[/I] and [I]uniquely interesting[/I] very carefully. Here's the thing: it smells less like that boiling hot tub of smoky tar that roofers use to tack shingles down with - and much more like [U]asphalt[/U]. You know, the smell of a fresh paved road.

The drydown (as some others here on BN have mentioned) is a extremely smooth and silky interpretation of a very industrial and synthetic smell. Almost sensuous, I dare say. It is incredibly linear (tar, tar and just more tar). Sniffing your skin up close and your nose is filled with that warm asphalt smell. Comforting, if you will. Smelled from afar, as the scent rises up to meet your nose, the smell is softer, rounded and slightly petrochemical-ish. Think...a toned down 'dried paint' smell.

The second time I wore Tar, I intentionally over applied it - to really amplify the 'asphalt' note on my skin. Of course, it worked - but then I got a slight headache (it seems my nose couldn't tell the difference between real tar and Tar!), so I won't do that again.

3rd October, 2008.