Comme des Garcons | The Scented Hound

March 21, 2016
by The Scented Hound 6 Comments

New Release: Commes des Garcons Dot

WHAT I SMELL: Dot opens with a juicy, fruity and tangy orange that’s fresh, but quickly moves toward a flattened and slightly bitter orange. The perfume feels voluminous in so that when you take a breath of it in, it fills your lungs with an expanse of air and there’s a layer of musk that seems to be painted on to a soft osmanthus. To me, Dot feels incredibly manufactured as there is nothing remotely natural about the perfume. But that’s not a bad thing because the perfume has this otherworldly freshness about it. The soft florals have a slight vegetal tinge rather similar to a carrot leaf. As the perfume develops, the fragrance doesn’t morph all that much, but it does seem to grow in projection. In the end, Dot is all about the osmanthus. It’s soft and lightly fruited, but here it’s topped off with a little powder that feels like it’s sitting on a warmed cotton ball.

Notes: Leafy Greeness, Bitter Orange, Pepper, Osmanthus Absolute, Olibanum, White Amber Woods

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: Maybe partly because it’s getting close to Easter, but this reminds me of a carrot eating fluffy rabbit.

THREE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE DOT: sunny, easy, effortless

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT DOT: No reviews found, besides comments found on Fragrantica.

BOTTOM LINE: Dot is a feel good perfume that radiates an uncomplicated positive energy. I like that!

Bone Rating: 3 out of possible 5 bones
Scent: Floral Fruity
Nose: Lucas Sieuzak
Classification: Unisex
Expense: $130 for 100 ml Eau de Parfum

Sample courtesy of Twisted Lily Fragrance Boutique and Apothecary. Opinion my own.

October 12, 2015
by The Scented Hound 4 Comments

New Release: Comme des Garcons Floriental

WHAT I SMELL: Floriental opens cool to the skin, but warm to the nose with a comforting labdanum and a light and airy incense which is rounded and full-bodied without being heavy. Soon a subdued plum note enters along with an earthiness that keeps the fruit grounded, but the fragrance is pleasingly lightly gourmand at this stage. After a bit, a creamy sandalwood enters the mix along with a lightly sweetened tobacco. Floriental is a comfort perfume in that it’s light smoky radiance is like a transitional sweater taking you from the warm summer months to the cool of the fall. In the end, Floriental exists in a lightly boozy, incensed sandalwood haze.

From the Comme des Garcons Parfums website:

Floriental is a disrupted floral fragrance that challenges the traditions of perfumery to reimagine a flower that has no scent.
A creative collision that blurs the lines between the floral and the oriental to create something completely new.
An odourless flower is given life, a virtual scent imagined: enigmatic, contrasted, intense.

Labdanum, lavish sandalwood, vetiver, incense, pink pepper and plum liqueur.

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: A rain-soaked fall day when you enjoy a quiet walk through the colored leaves.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE FLORIENTAL: introspective, calming, quiet

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT FLORIENTAL: Katie Puckrick Smells

BOTTOM LINE: Now that it’s getting cooler outside, I should be excited about switching gears toward wearing some fantastic cooler weather fragrances. However, I could easily live in a climate where it was summer all year-long and where I could just remain smelling of white flowers. Unfortunately that’s not the case…but a fragrance like Floriental is a welcomed gentle push into the cooler months making for an easy seasonal transition without effort.

Bone Rating: 4 out of possible 5 bones
Scent: Floral Oriental
Classification: Unisex
Expense: $103 for 50 ml eau de parfum

Sample courtesy of Twisted Lily Fragrance Boutique and Apothecary

August 14, 2012
by The Scented Hound 14 Comments

Black by Comme des Garcons Play Series

I love spicy and peppery food. I practically put Tabasco sauce on everything that I eat. And like perfume, I would have a hard time living without it. As much as I like spice and pepper, I don’t want to smell peppery! As a pepper scent, Black isn’t all that bad, it’s just not my thing so I’ll try to do it justice without being too prejudiced.

WHAT I SMELL: Black goes on cool to the touch almost sweet in a fashion. That quickly fades and a smoky incense comes to the surface. I’m not really smelling the pepper at this point, instead it’s almost a woody incense that swirls and curls like smoke. Eventually, the pepper comes to the surface and it’s sharp. The incense that seemed so smoky still is there, but the punctuated sharpness of the pepper gives it all a bite. But like the incense, the pepper seems to be a bit subdued as well. It’s like you are waiting for the ingredients to jump out in a blast, but as each note appears it manages to contain itself without being too loud.

Black Notes: black pepper, pepperwood, red pepper, violet, thyme, black tea, birch tar, incense, tree moss

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: Dried wood boxes that have been sitting in a smokehouse storage basement, but not as they just came out of a building, but rather if had been sitting outside for a month or so to smooth out the sharper edge of the remaining smoky smell.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE BLACK: dry, subdued, dusty

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT BLACK: Bois de Jasmin, Grain de Musc, CaFleureBon

BOTTOM LINE: This is an interesting scent and I find that its well done if you like your scents to feel more modern and remote. For me, it’s great for sampling but not for wearing. Black is one of a trio of scents in the Play Series. The other two scents are Green and Red which you can read more about in the above cited links. I do like the playful bottle though!

Bone Rating: 3.5 out of 5 possible bones
Scent: Woody Spicy
Classification: Leans Masculine
Nose: Antoine Maisondieu
Expense: Approximately $100 for 100ml EdT