Courvoisier L'Edition Impériale (2006)
by Courvoisier

After reading the harsh reviews of Courvoisier, just had to go see the train wreck. Got a sample and cautiously put it on. The top notes are oddly floral with an underpinning of, yes, cat urine. Forced myself to continue wearing it before scrubbing it off. Perhaps it was responding to my female body chemistry, but it then began to layer into a complex, rather confusing, but not unpleasant scent with a smoky base and tart but not citrus-y veil. I'm a newbie, so please be patient, but in the drydown the stuff just started to smell like brandy! It was as if I had spilled a glass of brandy on myself.

After the unfortunate initial cat phase, which passed within 15 minutes, it just seemed to toss in a melange of odd floral, citrus, smoky, and also woody notes. It will definitely get you noticed, if just for the sheer confusion it engenders.

27th January, 2010.

i have fallen out of this one...smells like biscuits to me..pretty cloying for our kind of weather too. i'd pass on this one...

13rd August, 2009. (Last Edited: 18th August, 2009.)

I don't understand the animosity towards this one. If I had a guess, I'd say it has to do with the expectations and the price tag being equally high. I managed to find the EDP for half the price, and to be honest I think this is not that bad at all. For some reason, I thought this would have more of a brandy feel to it, yet so far Escada PH and lately Mugler's Pure Malt remain the few good examples of classy yet boozy fragrances.

Courvoisier starts off with the mandarin and coriander and some other slightly off-putting spices that create a warm aroma, which projects nicely but never lives up to the openings of other niche fragrances in the same price range. The biggest problems are in the mid notes. I agree with the others here, it is a jumble of notes that create a cacophony of complex yet not enjoyable smells. This confused combination of grassy florals lingers on until the nice amber and leather show up at the end. If you haven't lost interest by the midnotes, you will find a rich base that lasts for a few more hours, but sticks close to the skin. Overall, for an EDP, I expected better sillage and longevity, thus the neutral rating.

2nd July, 2009.

Wow, this was disappointing. This is completely interchangeable with any of 20 other designer masculines on the market today. God knows why Luckyscent even stocks it.

24th November, 2008.

Smells like cheap perfume. Then I looked up the price. Still smells like cheap perfume. A failed attempt at a spice (the "cardamomdiander") combining with an oily tea note (what the hell is smoked tea?) and bland, tasteless florals (who eats flowers?). All drying down into a grassy, mossy mess. Did they pour five perfumes into a flask and hope for the best? Lay off the wine, guys.

22nd September, 2008.

This fragrance illustrates why people like Andy Tauer are so important. It's actually a pretty good composition, but the ingredient quality drags this down in the direction of mundane designer fragrances. There are unpleasant and clearly unintended off-notes here, metallic and oniony, layering this onto an Axe deodorant shouldn't be a problem. Mind you, it's still fair, and obviously reasonably popular, but to me it is mainly a terrible waste of potential. Spray this on your left and L'Air du Désert Marocain on your right arm. Study and learn what is wrong in the mainstream perfumery business. God only knows why Beam chose a no-name company like Kraft, known on the web only for a trashy discount fragrance named Caution, to head this prestige project. Then again, the target group seems to be the "pass the Courvoisier crowd" which prefers to focus on facades, rather than substance. The Empire-style bottle is magnificent, and makes Tauer's look cheap and amateurish. Content-wise, it's the reverse. 50ml of L'Air are $90, 75 ml of L'Edition Imperiale are $110. Guess which one is way overpriced?

6th June, 2008.