Basenotes - Reviews by DadaSiegt

Canada

Showing 1 to 8 of 8.

Swiss Army by Swiss Army

I used to like it for about a week, and now I can't stand it. It is overpowering and overly synthetic. Longevity is wonderful, but this is a bad thing: Swiss Army stays on you forever, and you'll have to pull a Lady Macbeth trying to get the stink off of you.

27th November, 2008.

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Terre d'Hermès by Hermès

The opening is very earthy and hits you hard; sharp, green notes of what I thought was pine (cedar and vetiver). As it settles, the evergreen mellows a little, and the scent begins to become much more complicated; there is a prominent note of orange, and TdH becomes markedly sweeter, though the orange note is intensely bitter. It's much like the taste of orange peel, if you've ever bitten hard into it, though it is still very sweet and earthy.
Evergreen notes become more prominent as the citrus slowly fades away. The drydown is a sort of mix of the opening and heart, I find.

It lasts forever, and it leaves a very nice smell on your clothes, unlike some other scents that should never be sprayed anywhere near textiles.

I got hooked on earthy, woody scents when I first smelled polo a few years ago. I loved Polo, but I couldn't get over its medicinal quality. Terre D'Hermes is thankfully free of that acrid medicinal stink.

29th October, 2008.

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parfums*PARFUMS Series 2 Red: Harissa by Comme des Garçons

My father used to make Harissa for Jewish New Year when I was a little kid.
It involves stewing peppers and chilis and other red things for about 24 hours.

It tastes well on rice, but it does not smell like something you'd ever want on your body.
CDG Harissa is basically the same thing, though it is quite unlike the hot-sauce stew I've been eating all these years.

19th October, 2008.

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Euphoria by Calvin Klein

Incredibly synthetic, but I love it for some reason.

4th October, 2008.

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Allure Homme Sport by Chanel

I would like to say something concise and insightful about Allure Sport, but the headache it gave me is pulsing so painfully that my fingers shake as they strike the keyboard.

1st October, 2008.

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Jicky by Guerlain

PDT:

A lot of civet. The opening is incredibly dirty, and I quite love it. The civet lasts throughout the time Jicky spends on your skin, but by the drydown it is far less prominent. The heart and drydown are 'sunny' and very fresh.
They say that citrus notes last the shortest, but Jicky's drydown seems to be more citrusy than its opening and heart.

But even the PDT hardly lasts a few hours, and it does not project very well.
So, in a nutshell, be prepared to look very silly sniffing your wrist all morning; you won't be able to smell it otherwise, and neither will anyone else.

1st October, 2008.

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Guerlain Homme by Guerlain

It's nice, I suppose.

The opening is very minty, and the mint sticks around. Subtle woods peek through in the middle. At this stage something seems 'syrupy' to me. I suppose it must be the mint, whose cloying sweetness must have been overpowered by the alcohol.
The drydown is bland, but agreeable. It doesn't smell like anything in particular-- it's, rather, that very generic smell that indicates that 'someone's wearing something,' though it is entirely impossible to discern what it is.

Someone remarked that the sample (which Guerlain stores are evidently handing out) smelled good on me and asked what it was. I told them that I had been steeped in peppermint syrup.

26th September, 2008.

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Mouchoir de Monsieur by Guerlain

Mouchoir de Monsieur is one of the best fragrances I have ever smelled. Its opening is warm and smooth, floral with a touch of something animalic (thank the civet), with a powdery drydown with prominent notes of iris and patchouli underpinned by bergamot.
It is elegant, subtle, and gentlemanly-- but also quite dirty. Guerlain doesn't seem to confirm that there's civet in MdM (mind, they don't confirm that there's civet in Jicky either, and Jicky is a civet zoo), but there almost certainly is.
The civet in MdM is luxurious and erotic. It smells like a kiss--when you can smell yourself on your partner after a good hour of necking. It's that saliva-smell that the civet brings to the table, and it is brilliant.

MdM is frightfully short-lived, though. After only a few hours the wearer is left with a faint trace of bergamot and patchouli, which is a little disappointing. I think this should be made into an EDP.

Thumbs way up!

22nd September, 2008.

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