Parfums*PARFUMS Series 1 Leaves: Calamus by Comme des Garçons, 2000

As a fan of green scents, I've long wanted to try this. I was deeply disappointed in it. It starts with a very leafy and grassy note -- quite intense and more of an experience than an attractive scent per se. Then, and very quickly, it got intensely sweet, cloying, fusty, odd and unpleasant. I don't know what on earth it smelled like but whatever it was, I did not like it at all and had to wash it off.

I love both green and naturalistic fragrances, and this covers both bases nicely. It's one of those frags I wear to 1) get in touch with the natural in me, especially in the dead of winter 2) smell pleasant but discreet in daytime situatiions, and 3) just for the smile it puts on my face, meaning it has kind of an uplifting, refreshing energy, somewhat clearing to one's aura, sort of an aromatherapeutic quality, which is a nice double-duty, considering many centuries ago, that was the origin and reason for people wearing fragrances - a far cry from the purpose of the perfume industry today.

Big thumbs up for Calamus! The first time I tasted it it was in 2000 when it was just released and totally got impressed. I got a bottle and used it daily for several monthes. After that I decided to move to other kind of perfumes and so I completely forgot about this frangrance since a couple of monthes ago when a good friend of mine came to visit me and was wearing Calamus. I didn't smell it since years but my reaction was the same I had 10 years ago: love at first sight! This is exactly my type of green scent (together with Victrix by Profumum). A great opening with dry bamboo surrounded by bitter citric notes and vivid green undertones. Very distinctive (it's not easy at all in this kind of scents) and unique but at the same time weightless and easy to wear. Honest and simple yet genuinely fascinating. A favourite!

My positive rating is due to the success of the fragrance in fulfilling its mission. This is an quirky unconventional fragrance so may be best judged on its own merit, rather than in comparison to classically-styled fragrances. This is REALISM..the wearer brings his or her own romanticism to the equation. Others have described the green...and the grass...and the leaves. Yes. This thing floats on a field of dewy summer grass. But its main facet, I believe, is the grey-iris core with rain water hitting dusty stones. (flinty-mineral) That's a very fleeting moment in real life and is quietly captured here. It lasts quietly for a few hours on my skin. I find it incredibly evocative.

First, I have to confess that I'm reviewing this without the slightest idea of what a calamus leaf should smell like. Yeah, I'm that guy...

This is a pleasant and distinctive fragrance that does indeed smell strongly of leaves. They smell like the lightly bruised green leaves of a foliage plant. Not herbal, and not the bright, airy greenness of cut grass. The initial blast is pretty leafy, but it soon settles down to a powdery/milky base with notes of leaves and chocolate. In fact, it smells a lot like I would imagine instant hot cocoa mix would smell if you removed three quarters of the chocolate and added a few crushed leaves. Unusual, enjoyable, and very light.

I applied about 0.5ml from a sample vial, and the scent was only perceptible for about two hours. I'm a few more hours in now and it's all gone except with direct nose-to-skin contact. Even at the beginning sillage is pretty slight.

This one is a nice green, fresh and dry scent, which reminds me of fresh cut grass,
BUT....
only for the first 15 or 30 minutes!

It changes very abrupt to a creamy (milky?), sweet, almost floral middle note.
(Is there a cacao note in it, too?)
I would not go as far as Calta and consider it as puke, but it's definitely no more fresh!
This sweet and creamy (it's subtle not intrusive) note lasts for about 3-4 hours and than fades away....

As a conclusion I would not regard this fragrance as fresh and green, but as sweet and floral.
One of the weeker scent of CdG.

The perfume of the sweet flag grass leaf written about in Walt Witman's Leaves of Grass collections. It is a green floral milky fragrance that would be great if you were surrounded by nature out in the middle of nowhere with just the grass and reeds buzzing in the wind. It's a nice smell.

The top notes are definitely green. I find that all the notes are an exceptionally accurate rendition. I smell the delicacy as others have mentioned and the base notes transport me to a time and place I cannot completely remember. I think about being a child, picking sweet-smelling winter berries growing on evergreen bushes in the snow.
This is one of my (so far) four fragrances that I would buy a full-size of. I like the quirky top notes and the originality of the dry down suits me. I would wear this with an eccentric whimsical type of outfit.

A delicate green fragrance that is very true to the natural smells of grass and small plants the green is clean and fresh at first but then it takes on what the other reviewers call milky green and I think that fits. The middle does smell a little like the sap from the milkweed plantonly sweeter. I get a very slight resinousness in the drydown. The resinous background adds a pleasant depth and complexity to the fragrance, without interfering with its delicacy. Calamus is natural, subtle, charming, and relatively long lasting. It must like me; it performs beautifully on my skin. Less dramatic and more subtle than LVs Yerbamate, less lush and more discreet than Sisleys Eau de Campagne, Series 1: Leaves: Calamus is an excellent delicate green offering that deserves serious consideration.

This scent is built around an exquisite floral milky note which is almost gourmand in nature. The only other scent that does the same is Le Feu d'Issey Light. The difference being that the florals here are green rather than the gardenia/rose/violet of Issey's.