Basenotes - Reviews by masuerte

United States

Showing 1 to 4 of 4.

Steel Mod by Monika Klink

A spicy slightly sweet woods and slight vanilla opening with a middle note and drydown that reminds me strongly of Body Kuoros, a nice musk throughout. Ridiculously cheap looking bottle. Both men and women can wear this well.

This is a fragrance that is smooth in progression, polite in demeanor (nothing harsh or sharp) and although the silage is good the fragrance never seems strong when smelled up close on the skin. It lasted very long on my wrist during a cool yet very sunny day, the spicy part of the beginning (along with silage) goes away quickly (about an hour) but the closer-to-skin drydown lasted all afternoon well into midnight.

This is a no-brainer to get for the ~$20 price.

28th September, 2008.

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Cuir de Russie by Chanel

I think Vibert says it perfectly about this fragrance having a perfect balance of glamour and danger.

I feel it's tipped more towards danger, adventure and a love of masculine things (horses and their saddles, cigar smoke, classic citrusy cologne). I heard this was even MORE animalic originally... Wow, I can't believe this was the kind of scents worn by women then... and can only imagine the kind of wonderfully classy and adventurous women that would wear them today.

I wouldn't mind wearing this, but it personally feels strange to smell like this just from a bottle because the scent is so very very authentic smelling to me. I feel like I'm wearing some kind of costume, that is damned convincing but if I were to be brutally honest with myself could not wear more than once a year. Unless you are an equestrian outdoorsman with royal blood lineage, expect this scent to make a (potential over-) statement.

23rd September, 2008.

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Cuir Pleine Fleur / Fine Leather by Heeley

It is a fine and powdered leather scent which lingers into the middle notes making an amazing transition as the fragrance progresses to a green vetiver . I'm very impressed at how very well done this minimal scent progression went. I am a little cautious towards powdery scents ... it's something I'd rather smell on others than myself but this could change my mind.

There's a bit of transparency to the powder and it really helped soften the leather and vettiver accords.

I don't feel it to be overly feminine for a man to wear this, just very soft... I believe it's due to the violet and other florals contributing a subtle (barely noticable) backup to the main leather and vetiver notes.

22nd September, 2008. (Last Edited: 29th September, 2008.)

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Yohji Homme by Yohji Yamamoto

Aside from the unique bottle, you're not missing too much by this scent being discontinued.

It starts off strong, astringent and alcohol driven like vibert said... which to me didn't make for a great first impression. I like strong wake-up openings that are marked with citrus, violet (grey flannel) or sweet (lempicka au masculin) notes but Yohji's opening was without personality for me, I found it disappointingly un-interesting and equally fleeting.

When I got to the middle of the scent, although I experience VERY faint notes of coffee, cinnamon or anise, I never would've thought of it as a gourmand. The amount of subtlety of it all was a real turn off, the notes ended up combining into something that I fellt was muddled and confusing. I didn't really experience the sweetness I enjoy in other gourmands like Pure Coffee or Lempicka. Near the end of the progression I guess I can sense the rhum note but... so what?? Again it fails to do anything interesting to the fragrance... the most I get from this is very short smooth wood base.

No silage, no projection. And as a close-to-skin scent I didn't like it because it stayed harsh to my nose until it dissipated two hours later. No longevity. It's not a bad scent by far. I totally understand why some would like it but I personally don't feel it good enough to offset the fragrance's mediocre preformance.

22nd September, 2008.

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