Join The Club : 40 Knots (2012)
by Xerjoff

Xerjoff's ode to yacht clubs, Join the Club: 40 Knots is a bright, watery fragrance that's full of dignity and energy. It seems more suited for women for its seeming florals (or perhaps aldehydic notes, unlisted); but a man could easily sport this, given its truly universal feel.

Fragrance notes: Salt, green notes, woody notes, sea water, cedar

Starts out smelling of green tangy notes with several dashes of salt. Woods are the spine of this character, and it seems to emanate with plentiful splashes of clean, clear sea water (not the sort that seems loaded up with a lot of flotsam and jetsam, but the pristine Caribbean coastal waters kind). It's not an overpowering vibe, but more so it's of moderate sillage and with a more reserved, restrained marine experience.

The woody notes plus cedar do lend a sophisticated, upper-crust of society flair to 40 Knots - coming across like a group of well-to-do yacht owners quietly showing off their wares. I was expecting this to be a run-of-the-mill aquatic, but nope: 40 Knots smells bespoke, classy, dignified, and charming. I do connect with this one, though I am far from rich lol. :-)

About as far removed from an 'aquatic' you can get imo -- it's much more complicated.

It's salty and citrusy to start with and indeed it does 'fizz'

It ends up like a serene piece of driftwood floating in the Aegean doused by a most beautiful spice.

Rum-soaked woods, sweetened with anise and fizzy like champagne. Smells like a party in here! On a luxury yatch no less, after winning the regatta. Or perhaps toasting a merry Capt. Jack Sparrow on the Black Pearl. Your choice.

Fans of Kilian's Straight to Heaven would no doubt find this enjoyable.

acuatic vanilla .

40 knots opens with a bold, complex and colorfoul texture comprising a fruity-floral accord with a slight boozy aftertaste and a iodine note which provides a gentle, nice and realistic hint of "sea" breeze, together with green-citrus notes for an added Mediterranean refreshing feel. All of this is discreetly supported by a woody-herbal accord with a mossy (oak moss) aftertaste. As I said, initially the scent is quite powerful, with also a sort of aldehydic-metallic feel underneath, but at the same time really "airy" and light, breezy and azure with green nuances. Pretty pleasant, if you ask me, because the salty-ozonic notes are cleverly restrained and well blended with woods, crunchy leaves and herbs and a sweet feel which smells halfway floral petals and sugary, almost fizzy resins (olibanum?). The evolution makes 40 Knots tend more towards woods, herbs and sea, with less sweetness and less flowers. The name quits fits this scent, as it's a "sea" scent but smelling of also all that surrounds the sea - grass, woods, herbs, sand. To be honest, though, it soon started to remind me a scent which I can not remember exactly, a scent from the late '80s, and in broader terms it can surely be associated with many fougères of the '90s - not the "sporty calone bombs", rather other more conventional scents based on woods, herbs, citrus and this sea note (which was quite common in the early Nineties). Yet, even if it's nothing new, it's pleasant and well crafted, with an elegant (but synthetically "artificial") drydown.

7/10