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Eau des Iles vs. Eau du Navigateur - any preference, and why?

post #1 of 12
4/22/09 at 6:35pm
Thread Starter 
So according to legend Jean LaPorte sold off L'Artisan Parfumeur on bad terms and then recreated Eau du Navigateur in the form of MPG's Eau des Iles... I have tried both, but not at the same time, and by memory they seem identical to me - they both smell like the sun dried, sea salt soaked, debris of a pirate ship which was blasted out of the sea by cannon balls and flames, and then washed up on the shore.

Are there significant differences (besides the shape of the bottle!)? If so, what are they, and which do you prefer, and why?

Thanks!
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post #2 of 12
4/22/09 at 6:55pm
As I recall, the Eau des Iles had more of a coffee/hazelnut and was a tad bit smokier. Navagatuer was a little more black currant like in SMW and less smokey, a less loud note. I bought Eau des Iles and then got a second bottle but sold it as I soured on the overt coffeeness of Eau des Iles. I keep thinking Id like the L'artisan scent now
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post #3 of 12
4/24/09 at 10:45am
Thread Starter 
I just discovered I still had a couple of drops of Navigateur left from a sample, and I can compare the two. Although they are very similar in that they're both smokey sea-salty spice explosions, Navigateur is actually alot lighter, and softer and also as you implied about the blackcurrant, sweeter. A woman could wear Navigateur, while Eau des Iles is *so* dark, and so much smokier, I don't think most men could pull it off! It's also muskier.

I don't have enough navigateur for a proper wearing, but Eau des Iles is one of these fragrances that absolutely requires body heat and humidity to shine. When I tried it on at home, it was just a dry dessicated salty woods that lasted two minutes. I put more on and went for a walk in the sun, with a scarf on, and I became aglow with manly aura of pirate ship. Utterly astounding. A female friend of mine smelled it on me and literally started climbing on top of me!
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post #4 of 12
4/24/09 at 11:34am
Stop it Gaivs! "Manly aura of a pirate ship?" Now this is another scent I've just *got* to sample.
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post #5 of 12
4/24/09 at 11:41am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by SculptureOfSoul View Post

Stop it Gaivs! "Manly aura of a pirate ship?" Now this is another scent I've just *got* to sample.

Hey, looks like I'm good at selling things to you! I should be a special rep to sculptureofsoul...

But to elaborate a little - it smells like a pirate who's been out in the sun all day deep out in the pacific, being sprayed by the salt ocean water, and whose got gunpowder on his skin from shooting off cannonballs.

It also makes me think of the wood plank debris of a pirate ship that floated out onto a beach, having been soaked in sea salt and seaweed, and then been drying in the sun all day.
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post #6 of 12
4/24/09 at 11:54am
I have a bottle of each and to my nose they smell almost identical. The only difference I can discern is Eau du Navigateur is slightly less projecting and is a bit milder. Some people notice a slight leather note in Eau du Navigateur and more a tobacco note in Eau d Ilies, but I can not make that distinction myself. To me, both have the same note profiles with Eau d' Iles being slightly bolder. Has been one of my top ten fragrances for quite a while now. A rich blend of mildly sweet coffee, smokey leather/tobacco, and smoldering woods. It is a very masculine fragrance.
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post #7 of 12
4/24/09 at 12:01pm
From what I have heard of L' Eau du Navigateur, it was slightly B.O.-ish in the top notes...you know like sweat mixed with the coffee (probably cumin, coriander, maybe both?). Plus the tobacco and leather are strong. The leather a tad like Dzing! and the tobacco like Idole. It's one of those L'Artisan scents I've always wanted to smell. LIttle known fact: Did you know that L'Artisan sales reps are instructed to tell customers that the nose behind L'EDN is Jean Claude Ellena? Seriously.

Does the above description(s) sound similar to Eau des Iles to you? The scent sounds fantastic (climbing women atop you, aside).
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post #8 of 12
4/24/09 at 12:19pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeperez23 View Post

From what I have heard of L' Eau du Navigateur, it was slightly B.O.-ish in the top notes...you know like sweat mixed with the coffee (probably cumin, coriander, maybe both?). Plus the tobacco and leather are strong. The leather a tad like Dzing! and the tobacco like Idole. It's one of those L'Artisan scents I've always wanted to smell. LIttle known fact: Did you know that L'Artisan sales reps are instructed to tell customers that the nose behind L'EDN is Jean Claude Ellena? Seriously.

Does the above description(s) sound similar to Eau des Iles to you? The scent sounds fantastic (climbing women atop you, aside).

I actually found a couple of drops left in an old sample I had of Navigateur, and I think they're both B.O.-ish in the sense of salty surface skin sweat, rather than musky underarm sweat. I don't really smell coffee in either of them, though it's in the official description of Eau des Iles.

Like Buzzlepuff said, they're both super similar, but I detect a bit more variation than he does.

Why would L'Artisan reps be instructed to tell people JC Ellena made Navigateur???

That must piss off Jean LaPorte to no end! Where did you hear that?

I should probably start a new thread, but from my experience JC Ellena is kind of overreated. Everything he does is interesting, and I like some of them alot, but the common thread between all of them, is that I find they usually lack depth so that they get boring quickly. They are lovely but not objects of wonder and pontification. I'm thinking of Terre, the Bvlgari Tea series, the Hermes Jardin series, Concentree d'Orange Verte. I haven't tried his other creations, and I'm not super keen to try them either! The Rouge and Jardin en Mediterannee are worth having but that's enough to sate my appetite and curiosity for his stuff.

Is it just me?
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post #9 of 12
4/24/09 at 12:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by GAIVS IVLIVS CAESAR View Post

...Why would L'Artisan reps be instructed to tell people JC Ellena made Navigateur???...That must piss off Jean LaPorte to no end! Where did you hear that?...

...I'm thinking of Terre, the Bvlgari Tea series, the Hermes Jardin series, Concentree d'Orange Verte...

From a L'Artisan sales rep at Neiman Marcus.

I love many JCE scents. There are also some I don't like at all. Like him or not, I don't think he is trying to gain a large fan club, with his style.

BTW - Basenotes incorrectly lists JCE as the nose of Concentree D'Orange Verte by Hermes. He is not. It's actually Jean Guichard.
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post #10 of 12
4/24/09 at 12:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeperez23 View Post

From what I have heard of L' Eau du Navigateur, it was slightly B.O.-ish in the top notes...you know like sweat mixed with the coffee (probably cumin, coriander, maybe both?). Plus the tobacco and leather are strong. The leather a tad like Dzing! and the tobacco like Idole. It's one of those L'Artisan scents I've always wanted to smell. LIttle known fact: Did you know that L'Artisan sales reps are instructed to tell customers that the nose behind L'EDN is Jean Claude Ellena? Seriously.

Does the above description(s) sound similar to Eau des Iles to you? The scent sounds fantastic (climbing women atop you, aside).

Save for the BO note, you are spot-on on your analogy. I bought Dzing and LEdN on the same day, sprayed both on one hand each, then couldn't tell the difference for the first few minutes (i must have had some Dzing drops on the skin of my nose, causing an olfactory bias towards Dzing) About 10 minutes after the initial application, LEdN then began to go the coffee/tobacco route - strong roast coffee with cured tobacco leaf, no fecal/cumin dirtiness though.
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post #11 of 12
4/24/09 at 1:30pm
I don't think there's any black currant note in either (perhaps I misread something). L'Artisan's offering is still one of my top 5. It's smokier on top, and dries down with a more pronounced tobacco finish, with some exotic floral notes in the middle to lighten it up. MPG's offering is harsher and darker and overall, less well-rounded. They are very similar, but I find L'Artisan to be more refined and luxurious.
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post #12 of 12
4/25/09 at 12:08pm
Thread Starter 
That comparison makes sense, but I tend to like the darker Eau des Iles.

By the way, I mentioned earlier that I couldn't detect any coffee in eau des iles - what the hell was I thinking? It's so weird how when you're exposed to a smell that's rather different from what you've smelled before it takes several applications to process what's going on. The coffee is *so* prominent, especially at the beginning. It's more coffee grounds than beans though.
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Basenotes › Basenotes Forums › Fragrance Discussion › Male Fragrance Discussion › MFD Archive › Eau des Iles vs. Eau du Navigateur - any preference, and why?