Basenotes - Reviews by cheshiredave1

United Kingdom

Showing 1 to 10 of 10.

Blu Mediterraneo Tuscan Cypress / Cipresso di Toscana by Acqua di Parma

Top 10, if not Top 3, for me, and one of my few repeat purchases. Reading the reviews, it seems that all ingredients are natural, so maybe that's what's so appealing. It's pine / cypress / fir - I don't think I'd know one from another - but with a beautiful extra something that I can't identify. But as everyone else has already done that here, no need. So fresh, summery, Alpine (OK, Mediterranean, then) and open air / open space in feel. Like Pino Silvestre without the slight 'vomit' note (although I still like PS); and like Versace Green Jeans but not so over-overpowering.The initial blast is what one would call 'intoxicating', at least for me, and i wouldn't say that for many EDTs.
The matching cream stuff in the soft-touch blue plastic pump bottle is also good, and not too anaemic / diluted. I'm not sure what it's for, but I use it on cracked elbows (I do a lot of reading at work, involving a lot of leaning on desks) and it seems to have great healing powers, so maybe that's where the aromatherapy link comes in. But it's men only for this variant, I would say, unlike the rest of the range.
Should appeal to all ages except for those who go for the light, sweet, cookie-fuelled spectrum. (For those people, get Body Kouros NOW, before it's too late. It's nothing like standard Kouros and is a sister to LOL :--) Lempicka and Bulgari Black - but better.)

9th April, 2010.

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Messe de Minuit by Etro

Unfortunately, probably my most disaapointing / expensive purchase ever. Unable to easily buy CDG Avignon, i went for this. I just can't get any link back to 'Catholic church incense' in any way, which was what I was hoping for. I can't even find any 'levels' of differing ingredients. Having said that, a work colleague could smell it from 15 metres away, and kept asking about cinnamon aromas coming from somewhere. (However, she was with child at the time, so maybe had heightened senses, especially where cookies were concerned.) I don't have a brilliant sense of smell but, to me, this seems similar to Kenzo Tokyo, although I have not done a side-by-side comparison. And that's my least favourite Kenzo. UPDATE 5 minutes later - I inhaled really, really heavily from 1cm away and, for 1 second, has a slight incense hit... then it was gone... and I started sneezing and eyes watering... if anything changes, I will report back.

2nd April, 2010.

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Lanvin L'Homme Sport by Lanvin

I tried this in a shop in Chester (UK). If the tester is accurate / genuine , all I got was a slightly sweet camphor, camphor, camphor - i.e. medicinal. The Campari (I like it) of the EDT world. Maybe it was eucalyptus. I really liked it for its unusuality - but, as it wore off, felt that it smelled like clothes in an old drawer that had not been cleared out for a while. So, would not buy. If I try again / do buy this, I will get back with another report if I change my mind. Sorry if that's not too helpful. The botle was dull navy blue(frosted glass? but looked like a lump of plastic) rather than clear, deep blue as in some pics.
camphor - |ˈkamfər| - noun - a white, volatile, crystalline substance with an aromatic smell and bitter taste, occurring in certain essential oils. • A terpenoid ketone; chem. formula: C 10 H 16 O. So now you know.

12nd July, 2009.

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212 Sexy Man by Carolina Herrera

I tried this in a store before I read the reviews / pyramid. Immediate impression was 'A Blue Cross (cheaper) Lolita Lempicka', with less finesse. Sweet, vanilla, and not much else, to my nose. (I have not tried Le Male.) Stick to Lempicka - similar vanilla base, but more liquorice and green notes at first; or Rochas Man - similar vanilla, but with unusual cappuccino and lavender tones. These 2 both feature longlasting vanilla.

7th November, 2007.

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Kenzoair by Kenzo

Someone said previously:
Worst bottle of all time. anise and licorice and really nothing else. very strange and short lived.

I say: BEST bottle of all time, anise and liquorice and not too much else. Magnificently unusual and very long-lived - one of the few to go round the clock (and I have a very bad sense of smell, unfortunately). Linear, but if you like the star, you'll like the end...

My earlier review, tweaked a bit one year on...
Good, descriptive and apt name, and a mini-masterpiece of a square and frosted glass bottle. My favourite Kenzo. My impression was of a simple liquorice combined with fresh hay (the hay as in Jicky). Not sweet. Unlikely to cause offence to allergy sufferers and super-noses. I keep this for very best.

7th November, 2007. (Last Edited: 9th February, 2010.)

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Bowling Green by Geoffrey Beene

All the reviews are right, but for those unable to track it down, I would highly recommend Eau de Rochas Homme. It's much more fleeting, but the first few minutes, then hour, are worth the rather expensive admission price. Initially similar to BG (but better), with gin and sparkling limeade tones, EDRH gently fades and stays constant, whereas BG fades to peppery spice and lasts quite a while longer. Both are 2 of the best lemon / lime concoctions. Monsieur Balmain (a great lemon and liquorice blend), also hard to find, and Acqua di Parma (a great lemon and rose combi) are also both recomended.

7th November, 2007.

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Tokyo by Kenzo

I thought I'd add a quick summary until the more experienced Basenoters take over and add their own comments. Overall summary = sweet. But not as cloying as some. Difficult to describe, as nothing 'jumps out', which is probably a bad thing - maybe too many ingredients are fighting for attention. It's hard for me to differentiate all the notes. Initially, pretty similar to Yves Rocher Nature Millenaire (the coppery bottle; not the green bottle), until compared side by side - then Tokyo is less harsh after a while. Pretty fleeting, and stays close to the skin, so reapplication is necessary. The idea behind the juice is interesting (each ingredient = a colour = an aspect of Tokyo), and the 'speeding car lights' bottle graphics ditto. The most boring of the Kenzos I have, which are: Air - liquorice and hay with hint of lemon, in square 'window' bottle; Jungle, punk zebra-fin bottle and hard-to-describe lemon mix; L'Eau Par - lemony boring; and Original Pour Homme - medicinal, eucalyptus, distinctive, less fleeting than the others, in the dark blue-black curved 'bamboo' bottle, on which shape the Tokyo bottle is also based.

5th November, 2007.

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Collezione by Marks and Spencer

As no-one's reviewed M&S's EDT sprays, and I recently bought a midi 3-pack, I'll have a quick go on the slightly more upmarket ones...
I bought the 3-pack because, of the 3, I wanted THIS one. No doubt it contains 27 beautifully blended aromas, but I would sum it up as light drinking chocolate with a hint of incense - the reason why I like it - fading to a clean, freshly showered, sweetish, but not cloying, flatness. My description has not really done this justice - if it had a designer label, maybe Rochas, everyone would go crazy for it, and it's a (maybe not close) relative of Rochas Man and its unusual frosted, upside-down glass cone. The M&S bottle is a traditional, classic, angled glass with squared-off matt gold (plastic) cap and a half-invisible, extra-light typeface. I'd expect vanilla, but don't think there is any here, as nothing lingers a day later as I'd expect from vanilla. Collezione is excellent for its (£15 for 100ml) price. See past the label...

26th May, 2007.

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Façonnable Stripe by Façonnable

Although not in the pyramid, my own impression of this (before I looked at the pyramid) was of a mainly sweet coconut, slightly minty, very pleasant start, followed pretty quickly by a clean just-showered, clean-smelling and soapy, feintly marine-ish base, and not much else until it fades away 4 or 5 hours later. I would probably buy again (at a lowish price) for its relative obscurity. Will not offend many, day or night. Good, classic glass bottle, matt aluminium click-on cap attached with blue cord.

26th May, 2007.

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Green Jeans by Versace

Cannot really understand the good reviews of this. I don't think I have a great sense of smell, but the tinest drop of this (I bought 30 samples which will last until I die) knocks one's socks off, and gave rise to many office complaints and a 1-month long sneezing fit in my wife when a sample vial leaked away in her car. So much pine, I cannot get past it to smell anything else at all. My favourite pine, tempered with other beautifully blended aromas, would be Blu Mediterraneo. My first review, and I wanted to start with an upper, but as I just can't live with Green Jeans, it's got to be a downer, unfortunately. Definitely attempt to try it first.

26th May, 2007.

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