Byredo fragrances....opinions?

Of those 3, I've only tested Chembur and I thought it was a bit too light for my incense tastes. I tend to prefer the Byredo room fragrance (Incens) instead, since it's a bit more solid and serious - but I believe that one's officially discontinued.

I think the magic with Chembur is that it IS a light incense fragrance. There are lot's of heavier incense perfumes out there, and thats why it's interesting to see how light incense can turn into something completely different. Less is more with this one I think. Not boring, just rather sensual, soft and dreamy, without giving you associations of churches and burning incense smoke.

Pulp is the only Byredo that's worth a damn. It's a wannabe house trying to imitate Frederick Malle. Notice the minimalist packaging simalarities. Longevity except for Pulp is a joke. Half baked unfinished scents IMO.

Stick with Kobe, now that's a fragrance anyone would be proud to wear.

I like M/Mink.

These are all must-try-first scents. Not for blind buys.

Baudelaire is something I wanted to love, but not for me.


Interesting observation on the bottles and labels.

People are going to have negative opinions on the Byredo line. In my view that's a combination of brand cynicism as well as the minimalist style of the line, think Hermessence, which is deemed lightweight around here.

I agree to a point but on the flipside I've tried Pulp and Fantastic Man and found them to be interesting in a novel sense.

Tried a few and like them alot especially Gypsy Water and Palermo , sadly they really do lack any great longevity which at their price point doesnt really make them good value for money . But hey ho , if you love em then buy em

Sincerely, Byredo is just a big waist of money for me. This is a fragrancehouse that you have overpriced fragrs that want to have artistical inspirations, but ended being just like the marketing ploy that massmarket fragrance uses to attract consumer. Byredo fragrances are for me like commercial idea done with better materials, and nothing else. The worst i tried from this brand was pulp and blanche. Blanche smells like an expensive pear soap mixed with fragrant chemical materials that seem very close to some products that you use to make ironing easy. I don't see anything special in Pulp, for me it smells just like a concentrated shampoo version of Angel Innocent, an unpleasant and sickening smell for me. Chembur reminded me of a flanker of Samourai fragrance by Alain Delon, a kind of metalic and soap ginger with a bare touch of incense somewhere. Byredo Baudelaire doesn't have anything that seems linked to Baudelaire poems (M/Mink does seem related though), and instead is just an expensive brother of the hard to find Jil Sander Man Scent 79.. The only one that really seems interesting is M/Mink, that while has points in common with Secretion Magnifiques, Musc Kublai Khan‎ and Miel du Bois, seems like a realistic inky and animalic scent. The point is that i don't like it and don't see myself wearing it, although it smells unique.
For 195 bucks 100ml, i don't think they are bottleworthy

I loved the original Encens room spray, and thought Bibliotheque was very innovative.
Blanche, Baulelaire and Bal d'Afrique are also noteworthy

I like M/Mink, too. Probably my first major purchase of the new year.

I like Byredo's original approach. They are quirky, original and most are very interesting - but unfortunately they are not consistently that satisfying. But what brand is? I'd give them an A for creative effort, but a B for results, overall. I look forward to trying their new oud fragrances they sound fantastic. The only Byredo I like a whole bunch is M/Mink, but it's kind of a freak and does not work for everybody - possibly it's a skin chemistry issue for some, fair warning - it is one step over the edge of artistic acceptability. But I like its diferentness M/Mink gets an A from me.

A few weeks ago in New York got the chance to smell a few of them at Barneys and wasn't impressed with any of them.

My husband wears Pulp ; we both love how it smells on him. Sillage and longevity are amazing, though it is quite linear. If he wears it when we're going out, I have to spray on a bit more of my own scent or I'll only be able to smell his!

If you want to try this, Sniffapalooza offers 15 ml for US$35/CAN$42 including shipping on their Sneak Sniff page (must be logged in to view): http://www.sniffapalooza.com/forum/cartplog.php

My husband also tested Chembur, but its poor longevity was a problem.

I love M/Mink, to the point where I am considering a back-up bottle.

I haven't smelled all of them, but of the rest of the line Baudelaire and Bal d'Afrique also appealed to me, and I should try Chembur and the new oudhs. Can't say that I love the line as a whole, but I do think it contains a few very well-made fragrances, some original, some not. I have absolutely no complains about the lasting power of the one I do own; M/Mink is a bit of a powerhouse.

30 Roses, do you know if they have other brands in this sizes too? I'm always searching for affordable and smaller sizes of fragrances to try...

I have been intrigued by Pulp and Fantastic Man - the rest sort of bored me. Oh, well except for M/Mink which made me a tiny bit nauseous.

They also have Eau Fraiche de Rosine currently. It's worth checking the page from time to time, though, they may get other perfumes to sample.

2 GREAT NEW BYREDO MASCULINES.

Well I received my samples of Byredo's two new oud scents and they are both fantastic - both are completely full bottle worthy. I would have a hard time picking between the two. The two are called Oud Immortel and Accord Oud. Both are extraordinarily beautiful oud fragrances.

Oud Immortel (immortal not immortelle) has a pronounced patchouli character (a cousin to M/Mink) with warm rosewood and tobacco basenote. This fragrance has strong tobacco mixed with incense, spices amber, rosewood with patchouli and oud carrying them along. The patchouli/oud keeps closer to the skin while the tobacco floats away from the skin for an incredible sillage.

Accord Oud is a very different masculine oud fragrance with rich notes of blackberry, rum and black plum. This fruit opening begins kind of roughly mixed with saffron, cinnamon, leather and woods but results in an incredibly deep oud flavored vintage port dark berry scent. These dark plummy notes are blended deeply with a dry leather/wood base. Eventually the leather is left standing as the dark berry mix weakens. The most similar "smell alike" to Accord Oud I've tried is Xerjoff Kobe with its rich dark fruits and rosewood, but I admit I like Accord Oud much more because of its dry leather base. This fragrance also maintains a very authentic Arabian oud attar feel with its notes of berries, tobacco, leather, incense, saffron, and oud. I like.

Oh, there are so many byredos that i don`t like that i forgot to comment about one that i like: byredo green. This is a lovely green, leafy, citrusy, slightly soapy composition. If it there were 15ml bottle of their scents available, this would be the one that i`d buy.

I had a chance to sniff just about the whole range today.

I've gotta say, in general, I found them very hard smelling with very little thought given to softening or seducing in the basenotes. I also found many of them (whatever the genre) had the same off-putting note in common... god knows what it was... sort of inky/disenfectant thing... difficult to describe. It made them smell like they'd all been made by the same perfumer (I don't know if that's the case)

Anyway, none of them are on my wish list.

I tried 3 and although I think this is an inspired house, none were for me. However, they are good quality creations. Obviously, a matter of personal tastes but I respectfully disagree with the idea that this is a "wannabe" house copying Malle. The approach and the ideas (including Malle featuring star noses) are different.

I didn't have a problem with longevity of any of the 3 I tried:

Baudelaire: This smelled to me very "dark green," reminiscent of traditional men's fougere fragrances. The transition from the top notes to the heart notes was very, very smooth and interesting on my skin. I thought the floral leather heart notes are done very gracefully. What I don't like in this is a certain almost-burnt herbal note similar to Ormonde Jayne's signature black hemlock note. It's one of the few notes that is slightly nauseating to me. This scent had superb sillage on me and I got instant compliments and subsequent requests for information on it--highly unusual for me.

Encens Chembur: Has a heartwarming story behind it. Now this doesn't matter as far as the juice is concerned but TO ME is part of the artistic presentation of the "work of art," which I consider fragrances to be (story, philosophy, packaging and all). It is not a soft scent on my skin at all and again I respectfully disagree with the comparision to AD's Samourai (a light fruity/floral aquatic). This is a scent that features balck pepper as well as incense very prominantly. Fans of black pepper notes should consider testing this. To me it's too much pepper and I have to be careful with the note. Very, very spicy and dry. In order to render this wearable, I layered it with a rose scent, which worked amazingly well (I used Montale's Aoud Roses Petals). I would compare EC to CdG's [my] beloved Jaisalmer. Except the CdG is slightly sweeter and less nose-piercing spicy to me. It's just a more complete scent and well-rounded. I already own Jaisalmer and that place in my wardrobe is filled. As for black pepper, I also own Villoresi's Piper Nigrum.

M/Mink: I used half the vial before I read an excellent review properly disecting this scent on Grain de Musc and then I understood it better. The adoxal opening, which is very straight chemical smelling yet interesting and multi-faceted at once (metal, floral, ink, etc.) jumps from there to the animalic basenotes of a musk that is to my nose very carnal. This stage alone lasts a few hours! Pardon me but I'd have to say the base reminded me of very wet kisses or licked skin, if that makes any sense. Some people get that "spit" note in the drydown of Chanel's Egoiste, for which I believe the ambrette seed note is responsible (?). Anyway, not wearable for me but a work of art worthy of the house of CdG in its original efforts. I wore half the vial hours before going to work and over there, I was featuring the musk note and a little worried about being smelled by others LOL.

I recommend sampling this house and taking your time with the scents. They do have interesting development. I'd like to explore them more. Overpriced? Perhaps, but who isn't these days?

RM

I own and very much enjoy Baudelaire and have siffed all of them. The biggest problem with this brands fragrances is that many need to be worn (more than once) rather than card tested which makes them easy to dismiss. I've got some samples of the two Oud's and M/Mink on the way so I'll see how I go with these.
There does seem to be a house note (I'm guessing an aroma chem or combo) that seems add to the need for skin testing as it presents poorly on paper (Voyage d'Hermès seems to have a similar problem).