West Side (2006)
by Bond No. 9

boozy and sugary..right for the summer heat, maybe on the feminine side!

24 March, 2014

Lovely, and perhaps a bit soft

Rose from start to finish, other soft flowers throughout. A pretty scent, a hint of musk for a bit of animalistic darkness, but it is so slight that it is way in the background. Unisex, most certainly. For a soft mood.

27 October, 2013

Floral gourmand

This Bn9 opens with Amber and vanilla. I would call it a gourmand b/c the vanilla is strong. There is a fruit note, perhaps what I call 'Bond plum'. The rose note is prominent and blends with the vanilla. While not for me, it is one of Bonds better selections.

Pros: Warm, sweet, vanilla rose
Cons:

17 July, 2013

A gem in the Bond house. I'll have to agree with the others who say it starts out with a sweet and wine-like rose. Bordering on classy but never falling right into that territory, this ends up just being completely fun. After it calms down a bit it morphs into a sweeter fragrance as the vanilla makes its way to the front.

In the same vein as Noir de Noir and somewhat 1969 by HdP, but they feel way to serious compared to this. Take a look at the bright red bottle with music notes littering the face, you'll get a good idea of the personality it has.

13 November, 2012

I'm out of step once again. This is a powdery, doughy rose. I think it smells very feminine, and is not unisex at all. For that matter, it smells . . . old. I don't like it one bit. But I suppose you should take my opinion with a grain of caution since I seem to be the only one. Final thought: on me this lasts forever, unfortunately.

28 June, 2012

I was introduced to this fragrance by a rather good-looking male sales assistant. He wasn't trying to sell it to me, he was just so very eager to show me what he personally wore.

West Side struck me almost immediately as being rather strong, feminine in some ways with a note that resembled that raisin-type smell of tobacco. The scent when summed up in my own words, is tobacco-rose.

This fragrance has a lovely richness to it, that does make it extremely wearable for both sexes. There is a definite sweetness in there somewhere, perhaps even a gourmand touch, yet not too sugary.

This fragrance is very Wintery and warm, I couldn't possibly imagine anyone wearing it during the hotter months. The very alluring sales assistant informed me that he wore this fragrance whenever he went out, where many often asked what perfume he was wearing. It was not always a definite crowd-pleaser however it always had people intrigued.

Despite the array of floral notes, which do seem rather feminine when observed in its scent pyramid, West Side is very bold and very different. The drydown has a very likable carmelised quality, rich and syrupy.

Unfortunately this fragrance is not very long lasting, which was a shame because its sillage seemed to suggest otherwise.

25 November, 2011