Fragrance Reviews by Louslice

A gorgeous and beautiful incense scent. The incense is rich and true, and lasts from the start to the end. At the start it is surrounded by a complex blend of green and sweet notes, which grows spicier over time until finally only the woods remain to enrich the incense. Despite the name, the rose only plays a supporting role at the start. This is a rich incense scent through and through, intense and beautifully composed.

This is a sharp, clean floral. It has a metallic edge that makes it very elegant and masculine, despite being very floral. It lasts well, and although it is strong, the simplicity of it makes it suitable for the workplace, as well as daytime and summer wear.
I quite enjoy wearing this scent. The simplicity of it focuses my attention, and the quality of the ingredients shines throughout the day.

Unique and distinctive. There is a brief burst of brightness just before the incense kicks in, along with the orange. The orange has a long, pleasant phase which introduces and then acquiesces to the incense drydown. Honey and incense, with hints of other spices, are what remains of this intriguing scent.

With the orange, honey, and spices, Messe et Minuit could be described as a sweet, tasty incense scent.

This should be a pleasant scent. There are some nice ginger, spice, and berry notes, plus a little citrus around the edges.

However there is a dominant chemical smell that wraps it all together and promotes itself far too prominently. This is mostly what I smell with the fragrance, the chemical carrier, strong and penetrating. It almost makes me sneeze. For this reason, I can't use this in the office or any place where people might be sensitive to fragrance. That's too bad, because aside from the choking chemical smell, it would be a very wearable, balanced, and fresh scent.

I need to add to the criticisms about the practicality of the bottle. Mine languishes in the back of a drawer because it is too tall and unbalanced to stand up anywhere else. But then, who buys a fragrance because the bottle is practical?

Starts off sharply peppery, but soon mellows to a crisp cedar woodiness. The woodiness is elegantly supported and developed, and very consistent and long lasting. This is a very elegant scent, persistent but not obtrusive, and keeps the woody character for a long time. It is understated, but still has a complexity of character that is very satisfying.

A great, wearable scent. Stays close to the body. Many of the current popular scents are understated like this one, which allows it to be worn in many situations and generally find favour even among those who are indifferent to fragrance, but unlike many others it still manages to have true classic character. In other words, it actually smells of something.

Immediately on contact with my skin, there is bright, sweet, fruit. After that there is ... well not much of anything really. Just a generic, light, clean kind of smell. Pleasant, but not particularly masculine or interesting in any way. But pleasant.

This would be one to wear to work. Spray it on in the morning for a tasty blast of fruit, then the rest of the day, if you do smell anything at all, it will be the vaguely clean and agreeable "Reaction" drydown. You co-workers won't notice it unless they get very close, and if they do they will find it inoffensively pleasant.

"Reaction" is poorly named. The one thing this generic scent will not get is a reaction. It will be lucky to get noticed at all. They should have called it "Inoffensive" because that would have been a more accurate description.

I want to give this a thumbs down, but really can't. You can't dislike this scent, but you can't really like it that much either. I suppose that is what Kenneth Cole told Symrise: make me a fresh, modern scent that everyone will like. So they did just that and came up with a likeable scent that no one will love or remember.

There is a burst of bright florals at the start, then it settles into a fresh, vaguely herbal stage. It is pleasant enough, but not particularly interesting. It isn't a deep scent, so I would say it is geared towards younger men. Teenagers could wear it - would be a great prom fragrance.

If you want something pleasant, modern, and clean smelling, this is a good scent. If you are looking for depth or personality, keep looking.

Starts out with a perfect blast of tea leaves, startling and real. But this mellows out quickly, which is probably good because you don't want to smell exactly like tea leaves all day. The tea is there for a long time, but a kind of spicy fruitiness appears and mellows out the tea.
I think the fruit reference is supposed to be fig, but to me it is more like olives. Anyway, it is fresher and brighter than any real fruit would be, so there are other things supporting it as well. It qualifies the tea nicely and ends up being a sophisticated, pleasant, fragrance. The tea makes it stand out from the crowd of generics.

Not an easy scent –complex, spicy and woody, without the balance or sweetness that would make it all friendly.

It is fairly intense and strong, which is brilliantly mirrored in the name and bottle. Notice how most of the reviews here unconsciously reference the bottle: “dark” “inky” and “black” come up again and again. I would say this deserves a gold medal for the matching of name, scent, and bottle, as they all seem to reference each other and together the whole is more than the sum of the parts.


You have to be careful where you wear this one because it is bold and strong. It won’t be liked by everyone, but everyone will notice it. It lasts well, although the spiciness fades and it becomes pleasantly woody in the end. The drydown is pleasant, but the early notes of boldness and spicy complexity are what you will remember.

As another compliment to the bottle, I should add the spray on this one is remarkably good. It is easily controllable, so you can squirt just a little or a lot, important in a scent as bold as this one. It also sprays a very fine mist, which is great for even application. I wonder why other manufacturers spend so much on the bottle but then attach an unwieldy spray nozzle.

Does Montblanc really need to sell perfume?

I suppose that is a silly question, considering all the other odd sorts of companies and personalities that sell perfume, from GM Hummer to Michael Jordan. But it has become tiresome to see yet another company selling a great quality product (in this case pens), be purchased by an investment company with multiple luxury brand holdings (in this case Richemont, which also owns Cartier and Lancel, among others), raise the price of their primary luxury product beyond any sort of reasonable level, open a chain of boutiques mainly in airports, then introduce the usual lineup of overpriced luxury moneymakers: bags, jewelry, designer clothes, and perfume, even though none of them are true to the origin of the company.

Anyway, onto the scent. It really is lovely, although transient and derivative. Montblanc aimed to please and not to offend, and they have achieved it with a beautiful blend of green and bright spices, with a little citrus sweetness. It is bright, with a sophisticated but friendly personality. Unfortunately, it is also forgettable, as its brightness fades quickly and leaves little on the dry-down. It is also similar to manay other scents, and with little to distinguish itself from these others (such as Joop) it can’t help smelling like a copy.

I really think Mont Blanc should have used its heritage to produce something more relevant. For example, Lalique’s Encre Noir, with the inspiration of an ink bottle, would have been a terrific pen reference and is a wonderfully sophisticated and distinctive scent. Or something like Creed’s Silver Mountain Water would have been a great reference to the Mont Blanc mountain symbol, and again would have been something distinctive and unique.

But they took the middle road, and here it is.

This is a terrifically refreshing and delightful cologne. Like so many currently popular scents, it doesn't smell like anything in particular. To describe it, one is reduced to using abstracts, such as the name itself (it does indeed smell like how one would imagine "cool water" to smell, which is actually meaningless since cold water has no smell) or adjectives like "blue" or "clean" that don't have a real smell either.
But in a sea of abstract and inoffensive male scents, this one stands out for perfect balance and charm. It is a clean, professional scent that also has enough depth to give it personality and character. Spices are balanced by citrus, herbs with woods, green with aquatic.

You can wear this scent anytime: on a date, to the office, on vacation, day or night. Its popularity is justified.

Cool Water has one major flaw: it fades almost immediately. It has no lasting power on the skin. For this reason, it is almost like a cologne for people who don't really like cologne: guaranteed to be liked by everyone up front, and it won't hang around to risk offending or spoiling the pleasant first impression.

A brilliant scent, often imitated but this is the original. Sweet woods, musk, amber, and silky spices in a distinctive, powerful, intense package. Bold but perfectly balanced. Manly, warm, sexy, exciting and provocative. Wear it with pride, or don't even bother.

This scent is 30 years old and may seem dated. It is certainly a stark contrast to the "fresh, clean, and light" scents favoured today. The powerful sweet musk is a throwback to a time when masculinity wasn't as carefully packaged as it is now, or perhaps just to a time when everyone smoked everywhere and a scent had to cut through the lingering stink of stale tobacco.

This is a great classic scent and I will always have a bottle on hand.

A great citrus cologne, lemon or lime depending on how you smell it. After the citrus it is mild, soft and pleasant. Very wearable, gentle and fairly sophisticated. Aside from the pleasant citrus, it is mostly generic, but the citrus is endearing enough to make it worthwhile.

I don't know what the sales figures are, but it seems to be hugely popular. Sales figures might be deceiving anyway, because a lot of perfume is purchased but not actually worn. This one is so easy and pleasant to wear that it quickly becomes a favourite.

This scent works in the summer, day or night, office or club. Men and women seem to enjoy it equally, which might explain its popularity.

As long as you like citrus, you could buy this scent and wear it every day.

Intense smoke and leather. Deep, penetrating, and lasting. Tar mixed with sweet woods, like a woodpile near a campfire.
This is an unusual, intense, and completely manly scent. Wear it to outdoor events in the country, like a bonfire or a hayride, or just for hanging out at the local sports bar with the guys, watching the game.

Oak, oak, oak, and more oak. Perfect, crystal, clear and consistent. I know there is more than just oak, but that is all I care about in this scent and all I want to smell in it. It is perfect.

Rich, dense, immediately and persistently sweet. The sweetness is tempered by some rich, deep spices and mysteriously vague woods and incense. It draws from Eau des Merveilles but is not defined by it.

This is an eau de parfum and the heavy concentration supports the complexity and helps it last all day. It also makes it suitable for men.

Wear this to an Asian restaurant, a summer fair, or at home when you are cooking something heavily aromatic for dinner, like a roast chicken. It is a great accompaniment for strong food smells.

A warm, soft, slightly sweet woody scent that lasts and lasts. The small bottle is good for traveling. Informal, familiar and friendly. Good for men or women.