Fragrance Reviews by mancheeros

the name says it all really - fresh, green and woody. i get lots of cedar from it; but alas this kind of thing is not what my nose yearns for. if you can cope with the pine in Blenheim Bouquet (sadly i can't) then you'll probably enjoy Knize Forest. not easy to come by but Les Senteurs (London) have started to stock it along with other difficult-to-find Knizes.

"not really a male fragrance per se, more unisex. opens with a bracing air of aniseed and citrus notes. pretty soon i get a strong sense of the ginger coming through and after an hour everything softens and takes on a warm woody aroma with lasting hints of the ginger and liquorice, in particular. i was looking for a characterful day-wear fragrance for the summer (to interchange with my long-serving Monsieur Balmain) and this certainly fits the bill. it's light and fresh and a touch unusual. packaging-wise, a long cylindrical tube with a ribbed design that suggests japanese minimalism; the bottle is also pleasingly understated with a dark wooden stopper."

well those were my original thoughts about this fragrance but several weeks later i'm much less enthusiastic. firstly, i had an accident - pushed the stopper down too hard it seems and the bottle broke in two (managed to save some of the fragrance though); someone else i spoke to about this fragrance had a similar experience when the bottle was accidently knocked over and that one also broke in two. so seems it's obviously not well constructed. back to the fragrance itself, and it really is the dullest in the Caron department and without the complexity that we know and love in Caron perfumes. i've been told that the usual design team is not responsible for this one which, if true, would explain why it's so lacking in personality.

this is the only Serge Lutens scent that i have become attached to. always a pleasure to wear in the autumnal and winter evenings. doesn't evolve much - what you get after 15 minutes is there after an hour or so, slightly softer and warmer. it's dark, dignified, somewhat melancholy, though the vanilla sweetens the bitter tang of the amber. press you nose to an antique varnished bookcase in some historic library and you'll get the picture.

vaguely sweetish and floral - polite, discreet, and ultimately deadly dull. if you want a cologne with a distinctive personality then this is not for you.

i picked up a sample from Hermes and wore it a couple of times before realising that i couldn't live with the mango. however, if you're someone (male or female) who likes fresh and fruity scents then you'll have fun wearing this cheery scent over the summer. ideal for beachwear or when lounging on the sunbed in the back garden.

undoubtedly the 'dirtiest' of the Creed scents, Cuir de Russie is, to my nose, also the most exciting. knowing that Errol Flynn, for whom it was created in 1938, was a big fan of Knize Ten may explain some of its mystery. Like Knize Ten, Cuir de Russie is an uncompromising oily, leathery beast, though all things considered more citrussy, less smoky than Knize. an elderly, knowledgeable sales assistant once commented to me that Cuir de Russie was hollywood and Knize Ten wiemar republic; in other words, where Knize Ten conjures up images of a decadent cabaret in 20s berlin (or even vienna), Cuir de Russie is a fragrance fit for the swashbuckling hero...

after reading the many positive reviews of Dzing! on Basenotes and other places i had very high hopes for this one. i sprayed on quite a bit courtesy of Fortnum & Mason (london) and waited to be totally fascinated. sorry to say it didn't happen. i got the legendary cardboard smell but then pretty soon things calmed down to a polite sweetness and stayed that way. not unpleasant but certainly not the eccentric masterpiece that i had been expecting - but then i am used to Knize Ten and Yatagan...

this is my number 1 cologne. i find it odd that some reviewers here think that it's lacking in complexity. personally i can't think of a more sophisticated fragrance than Knize Ten; it just goes on surprising me. the opening is extraordinary - a pungent mixture of tobacco, leather, citrus... and burnt rubber! sometimes i'm reminded of Tabac Blond but where that fragrance fairly quickly tends to pale out into light vanilla, Knize Ten goes on evolving as the floral notes interweave with the sandalwood. by the end of the day (and the morning after) i'm left with a wonderfully warm incense aroma. however, because of its unusual/uncompromising opening Knize Ten is probably a love-it or loathe-it cologne. if Knize Ten was a malt whisky it would be Lagavulin - formidable, distinguished, unfathomable....