Reviews of M; Men (2006)
by Masakï Matsushïma

This is excellent. Refined, clever, slightly strange but so, so wearable.

It's dusty, musky citrus filtered through the mulch of hedgerows and laced with shitake mushrooms. Superb, Japanese elegance, like yesterday's Comme des Garcons shirt, left outside overnight.

Or maybe like a big, cuddly Panda supplemented its usual diet of bamboo shoots with a cup of good quality tea and a nice, ripe grapefruit - and then burped. Or maybe not.

Sad this lives for so short of a time. It's a wonderful citrus opening with qualities like Guerlain's Vetiver but it's missing key components making it NOT a vetiver scent (even though there is vetiver). Maybe I'm rambling but when I first sprayed this I thought it was Guerlain. No wait it's Vetiver Glacee! No wait... M; Men? What the heck? It's a lovely light-hearted scent and stereotypical of most Japanese designer scents. It simply doesn't last long enough to be enjoyed thoroughly. What a great opening act. Too bad the headlining bad was terrible.

This is a tart yet refeshing grapefruit and lemon with some light woods, vetiver, and Bond No. 9-ish unisex musk lying underneath. But, the real star is the citrus; everything else is almost incidental. It is natural-smelling, simple, and linear - a perfect summer frag. No frills here, people. It's almost as though it's saying, "Don't overanalyze me. Just frolic."

If the good folks at Ocean Spray ever decide to create a fragrance, they should buy this recipe and market it using television ads scored to Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy."

Very nice intial blast of citrus but just doesn't last long on my skin. Almost gone after 30 minutes. A shame b/c it definitely has potential.

My wife absolutely abhors high sillage scents and as such, I have been on a quest to try some scents I like without having a large area of scent space. I have tried some of the Kenzo scents without finding a keeper for me. This scent is a keeper. I was a big fan of Issey Miyake about 10 years ago and feel M:Men has some of the same Japanese character. M:Men is less sweet and less floral with a little grapefruit on the opening and a nice woody tone on drydown. Longevity is good with just one or two sprays at about 6-8 hours. Nice work scent IMHO, and my wife asked about it without prompting. That is a positive. Try it if you like unique masculine scents that are fresh and not overpowering.

Lemon and grapefruit making way for a light vetiver and white musk. Very tastefully done. A bit introverted. Seems like this could be unisex. I like it very much.

WOW! If you are a fragrance conosuier and have not sampled this you are utterly missing out. This stuff is excellent. My initial thougt was grapefruit and pineapple, but it is so much more than that. it is sweet, but not ina femme way at all. Dimitri is very correct with the statement "Beyond Issey Miyake" I most definately want to try everything from this house, and every other Japanese maker out there. I MUST HAVE THIS.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!.

I found this one while looking for something clean, masculine and not too sweet. Though it has sweet notes on top, it is not overwhelming==slightly citrusy top notes (that truly smell like citrus, not like sweetened lemonade). The top notes don't fade so much as the underneath notes begin to assert themselves a bit more as time goes by. The undertones are fresh, clean and woody, without being overly musky or having that 'old man' smell that a lot of 'classic smelling' fragrances have. I was quite impressed by this scent. It reminds me a bit of Tuscany, which is a huuge compliment from me.

I tested this fragrance while on the hunt for a cologne for my boyfriend. I couldn't get enough of it! To be honest however, I could see myself wearing it more than my S.O. Despite its name, I definitely feel that this scent can be worn by individuals of either gender.

Beyond 'Issey Miyake', I've always wondered what scents true Japanese designers could create. The idea of Japanese simplicity and minimalism has always appealed to me, even if I work in the visual arts field, and personally enjoy radical colour and decortive styles.
I sampled this 'Masaki Matsushima' release yesterday, and walked from the store a little underwhelmed. It had first appeared to be a fragrance that was transparent and lightweight - something which I had actually half expected. It was only over lunch that my wife and I felt there was a third person sitting at the table. "M;Men" evolved into a radiant presence around us - one that felt almost holy or angel-like. Its light, citrusy top notes dropped down into a fresh and strikingly unusual blend of herbaceous, tea and nutty accords. On the drydown, a very unusual 'creaminess' could be detected - not at all unlike the white chocolate accords in Bvlgari "Omnia" - but all the while, the scent maintained an impressive feeling of transparent freshness.
This scent could be worn literally at any time and for any purpose. It is a clever contradiction: both simple and yet extremely profound.
Astonishingly, just one puff lasted more than 6 hours.
I highly recommend you try it when given the opportunity.