Embruns d'Essaouira
by Montale

This scent was so terrible that it made me feel physically sick to smell. Everything about it smells wrong, and it nearly gave me a gag reflex. Even more repulsive than Sequoia on my skin. Had to scrub off immediately.

It smelled like someone took some twigs, algae, maybe some mold, threw it in a pile, then covered it liberally with iodine. Oh, and then forced you to smell it. Do not want, two thumbs down.

29th April, 2011.

I marvel that this farrago of a fragrance comes from the same house that’s responsible for Black Aoud, Patchouli Leaves, and Oud Cuir d’Arabie. The artificial wood, spice, and Calone top notes are confused to the point of cacophony, but Embruns d’Essaouira soon finds its course. Unfortunately, it is a dismal route which arrives without detour at a crude, caustic, and chemical “aquatic” accord that smells like something I might use to clean my windows.

The chemical miasma is as potent and tenacious as it is ugly - so much so that after one interminable wearing, Embruns d’Essaouira displaces even the abysmal Only the Brave as the nastiest thing I’ve smelled all year. I can only hope that in the few days that remain of 2010 I inhale nothing worse. Just how bad is it? So bad that it leaves the banal Fougères Marines smelling like a work of genius. In fact, taken together, Embruns d’Essaouira and Fougères Marines offer a compelling argument against Montale’s ever straying from its familiar Arabian-inspired oudh and rose territory.

20th December, 2010.

Fine aroma... Fresh and sensual

17th March, 2010.

I think I must be anosmic to something in Embruns d'Essaoira - I can sort of sense it rather than actually smell it. I get hints of grapefruit, soap and salt, which add up to something much softer and milder and rounder and sweeter than it sounds like. The little I smell is pleasant enough.

1st May, 2009.

I didn't love it but it definately has the Montale high standards. I really don't get all the negative posts on this one. The only bad thing about it IMHO is that it starts really similar to the gorgeous Vetiver des Sables and has a drydown very similar to L' Eau d' Issey. Thus a "thumbs up" from me tabalance things out :)

2nd February, 2009.

Montale’s Embruns d’Essouira is a refreshing marine/algae scent that I enjoyed very much. My first thought upon sniffing was thank goodness it was not another “faux beachy” scent, ie. another variation on the smell of Coppertone Sun Tan Lotion (Yoohoo- Bobbi Brown Beach, Philosophy!). In contrast, Embruns d’Essouira smells nearly exactly like the smell you experience when you are at the ocean sitting on the sand at the edge of the water, and the waves rush up around you tinged with green algae. It is also a much lighter style than I am used to seeing from Montale (another plus), and I thought it was pretty interesting and wearable. Finally, Embruns d’Essouira was good on me but I think it would really rock on a man!

Here are the notes, as gleaned on the internet: Iodine from the water of Essaouira, Moroccan Atlas sandalwood, spices, musk, Yemeni Oud, Oman olibanum pearls, frankincense, Egyptian balsam, Cystus ladaniferus and amber.

9th September, 2008.