Description
IIn the summer of 2013 Comme des Garcons are launching the collection of Blue Invasion which includes three “blue” fragrances— Blue Encens, Blue Cedrat and Blue Santal in characteristic flacons colored in blue, iridescent from the darkest to the lightest shade. The new perfumes are created to accentuate radical contradiction providing a mixture of luxurious warmth and sea freshness. Olfactory evocation of the fascinating paradox presents the blue color as timeless and very intense in three different ways.
BLUE ENCENS provide a strong fusion of mysterious incense and crushed artemisia, as contrast to frozen spices. The perfume can be obtained as 100 ml EDP.
Official notes: aromatic artemisia, frozen spices (Indian cardamom, black pepper, cinnamon), mystical incense, mineral crystal amber.
cu6upb – :
When I was 13 and had to go to school in the early mornings in December, -10°C, listening to A BLAZE IN THE NORTHERN SKY, this is how I felt like.
-PUPSIK- – :
I love this, definitely not a blind buy, but it has almost an aquatic/spicy incense vibe… super masculine in my opinion, it hits you with a peppery/ incense-y, fresh kick that after it airs out and opens up leaves a fresh spicy scent bubble, almost like a darker more peppery drakkhar, I really like this scent, it’s different, it has decent projection and longevity, I seem to have a scent bubble around me all day, it’s a scent that you don’t want overpowering anyway, I can still smell it on my clothes the next day albeit faintly, but 12 hours later still smells nice on my clothes, lasts less on direct skin, but def a thumbs up for me
alex040985 – :
Really nice. What I’m getting is strong palo santo and cardamom, so the familiarity comes from Dark Horse and Gaiac by MMicallef. It’s like a lighter version of those. It’s a bit creamy but not like vanilla, more like benzoin. It’s not inspiring a ton of poetic words in me, it’s just likable.
ruprect – :
Wow, what a fragrance – it plays such tricks on my brain! The notes combined here really give out something that is more than their sum. I get at the beginning a sappy, resinous feel from this one,and then the notes come together into one, thickly woven rope that just feels very solid. I mean, I don’t find it particulary pleasant/good after the initial half an hour, but the structure, developing from airy-windy forest to a solid, tight construction is something remarkable – like the reversal of the usual scenario: compact heartnotes followed by diffuse drydown, and here it is a diffuse start followed by a base tightly screwed together by german mechanics (or whoever made this fragrance) 😛
djtkachenko – :
A real stunner from the CDG house which has become one my signature fragrances. The fragrance is an amazing combination of artemisia, incense and spices that evokes a beautiful sensual aura of Lord Krishna. Elegant, mystical and austere, with moderate sillage and longevity, this is a really beautiful fragrance.
Mr.babs – :
Comme des Garcons Blue Encens is just so different! The opening blast of this scent instantly draws you in. The cardamom (a note perfectly rendered here), artemisia and incense form this lovely spicy, herbal frame to the incense. The cinnamon note joins the other notes to continue the chorus of spice and incense. Just as you think this scent is going to into linear territory the pepper and amber round out the scent, giving it further depth and richness. Let’s face it CDG knows incense and Blue is no exception. This fragrance is a sentimental time machine for me. This scent takes me back to the age of five, at the window sill of our home. I remember staring out the window and watching the rain fall and feeling pretty bummed about not being able to play outside. My mom would always light some of her incense during those rainy weekends to create an aura of coziness in the house and the effect on me was profound. Something about the sound of falling rain mixed with the smell of the incense would fill me with warmth and calm. This scent has of course become my rainy day scent. I wear this on rainy days whether indoors or outdoors. CdG BE is an amazing fragrance and adds a new wrinkle or dimension to ones’ scent wardrobe. I highly recommend this fragrance for fans of cardamom, and incense notes as well as fans of Comme des Garcons.
lncuk – :
I love this. Fresh and spicy sweet incense, with dry pepper, sweety-fresh cardamom, dry hot cinnamon and a pinch of amber powder. My man bought it for himself, but now we both wear it 🙂
I also love Lalique Equus, which is – in my opinion – very similar to Blue Encens, probably thanks to the cardamom and dry woody notes.
old_bookerok – :
Good smell. ZERO longevity on the skin. ZERO projection.
I returned this perfume to the store today. Unfortunate, since I really wanted to like this one!
shelest999 – :
Mixed feelings.
Opening is quite convincing with a deep incense – sea breeze touch with a hint of spiciness. Masculine, blue, good.
In the drydown phase (after two intense hours) incense say goodbye and leaves you with sweet cinnamon mixed the other notes (amber, arthemisia and cardamon) BUT, at least on my skin, is a quite stinky sweet smell that I almost wanted to scrub out of me. It smelled like smelly animalic secretions. Not good.
The good thing is that you get a lot of compliments with this perfume. It projects very well outside.
allpowerful – :
Nice incense fragrance but somewhat atypical in that it has a sporty/fresh note, probably from the artemisia. I’d recommend this if you like incense fragrances and want something a little different than the rest. Compared to other incense fragrances that often work good during winter/cold months, Blue Encens might work a little better during the summer and warm season due to the artemisia/herbal notes.
UNLOCKER – :
Sillage is not weak, this perfume behaves like Molecule 01, IMHO. Longevity is not such a disaster for me too, I can’t smell it on myself but there is a strong smell of incense, Artemisia, and cardamon from my t-shirt when I pick it the next morning. Also, the scent reminds me sunflower stalk smell.
veebruar – :
I just thought it would be similar to any Aqua version of other brands when I saw the word ‘Blue’, but it was a surprise, the strong scent of spices drove me mad, positively of course, sharp at the start, aromatic and strong later.
Irresistible.. A favorite of mine.
aleks_and – :
Why do users vote this fragrance’s longevity and sillage ‘moderate’!?
It’s a downright SHAME this beautiful fragrance only lasts an hour or so. It has very, very, VERY weak performance and projection. Especially for the price range. They should never have released this.
shipxxxl – :
Beautiful surprise here. I love incense (encens) but most of the time, I find it difficult to wear and much prefer its smell in a room rather than on myself. But Blue Encens is a simple, subtle mixture that emphasize of course on incense as the main theme but with a gorgeous dry down, wrapped in cardamom and a hint of peppery freshness. A fresh approach, less smokey than others (Armani’s Bois D’Encens, CDG’s Avignon, etc.). It is quite discreet but definitely present. To me incense should be like a light shadow, a veil that comes and goes with the wind as opposite to a scent that would surround you like a thick cloud. From CDG’s Blue trio… this is my favorite. I adore this one!!!
dima-i23 – :
Short review:
Picture a forest all made of metal…wet…at night…on fire
Leave it to CDG to get the imagination going!
ал37мих – :
This is a beautiful incense scent, truly unisex, good quality; the sharpness runs up to mint, taps it on the shoulder and runs away…. the incense is exceptionally good. But it lasts for one hour. So it’s up to the individual, but I’d rather have a FB of something with more longevity. 10/10 for scent, 3/10 for value….
sifeassexia – :
I just can say, I LOVE IT!!! it´s clean, mistic, harmonious, sensual, heavenly…perfect.
(sorry if my review is not very professional)
viktor505 – :
CDG has created a fragrance with a base of incense for the days, which is rare.
Creative thinking, nothing would surprise me with regards to aroma, because it really is very similar to the Incense line, Jaisalmer.
But here the aromatic / tap water appears more and softens the smoky tone, the result is a fresh and incensed, camphor too spicy, pleasant and very versatile.
Great for the climate of Rio de Janeiro.
34GHY – :
nice really specially for cardamon fans , i can really enjoy the domination of it with the special magic that the incense have always , it is like king incense with queen cardamon perfume ; the good in spicy incense perfumes is that where i live it is really hot so those ingredients will be easily distinguished and i feel like a spice bomb ,the only thing that i want to comments that i dont find it feminine at all ; thanks for Comme des Garcons
68stas93 – :
I really like this one. It is strong and spicy, but also refreshing. Going by some reviews it maybe doesn’t work on everyone, but for me it smells classy and intriguing.
Kaktus12 – :
Blue Encens has a promising start with a surprisingly wearable mix of incense and pepper. It has a nice glow for about an hour but unfortunately dies down to nothing after that. I still like it but the value is questionable with the weak performance.
6/10
Xeroxhlcpm – :
Just smelled this for the first time on paper.. Opens up with a blast of artemsia and incense although it resembles citrus and incense to me.. At first I thought I smelled frankincense and than once the fragrance started to dry down it started to resemble vetiver.. But now that I look at the notes I can smell the cinnamon, cardamom, incense, and amber.. But the mixture kind of smells like a citrusy incense with vetiver.. I definately smell a similarity to 2 Man.. Very nice but I prefer Blue Santal..
avemiabeams – :
Omg i feel like im walking into a holy temple with this one wow!! love it
aalek00 – :
The review below nails it really, except I don’t feel there’s a great deal missing here…I really enjoyed Blue Encens.
Some other reviews are a little harsh on this one and if Blue Encens is Comme des garcon doing a ‘fresh… aquatic’ then they’ve succeeded in making a highly original one.
I can just about see why someone might think that it does have a slight aquatic feel but it’s more of a warm spicy amber to me.
Cardamom is very present in the opening and something slightly sweet(whatever the incense consists of maybe?)and warm against a backdrop of amber.
It’s that amber warmth and the pepper which makes me think of Prada Luna Rossa Extreme.
I first tried these in the summer(before LRE was even out) but got a little confused by the similar bottles now I have samples of each so I can review them properly.
Longevity is acceptable and projection is soft but present.
Personally I love this!
serg11091980 – :
CdG made an incense-based fragrance that is totally wearable and nice even for those who are not into perfumery, but, at the same time, with quality ingredients and a fair dose of uniqueness and identity. If that’s what you expected, you can rest assured that’s what you’ll get.
Now, I don’t know what they wanted to say and do with those ‘frozen’ spices(there is a detectable metallic vibe that may be that frozen thing though) but the opening is spicy indeed, with a load of black pepper which is strong in the opening, but fades earlier, and a solid amount of cardamom that will stick for a long time. Later there is a heart and base of incense and some of the spices(mostly cardamom), which gets slightly ambered in the drydown, but is incensey all the way. They could have easily made this one a part of Incense series, albeit it is a bit safer than all five Incenses.
For the record, I didn’t get even a trail of cinnamon and/or artemisia or davana. It’s all about pepper, cardamom and frankincense, all of that with a noticeable metallic undertone.
Longevity is not the issue with Blue Encens, as it’s pretty solid – much better than, say, some of Incense series fragrances – Jaisalmer and Ouarzazate in particular, and on par with Kyoto and Zagorsk. Projection, though, is, as it doesn’t really exist – the scent is as close to the skin as it gets. That is something that makes you wonder whether to purchase this one or not. The scent itself is awesome – I kept sniffing my wrist every time I tried it, and it can be a compliment getter if someone, somehow, could feel it. One certain way to increase sillage is to overapply, and that can make your bottle empty sooner than you could even imagine.
Naturally, if that’s fine with you, then go ahead! You will get a very, very nice perfume to wear whenever and wherever you want.
8.5/10
Enjoymnteem – :
I very much liked the opening of this perfume: incense, cardamom and pepper. Those are all notes that I like. So I was quite sure this was gonna be an amazing scent …
Alas, it’s just too much. When there’s cardamom, incense or pepper in a perfume, usually it has another note (e.g. vanilla) to calm those down a little. But this one doesn’t have that. It’s too peppery for me.
bahus_87 – :
At the very begining, the cardamom and cinnamon accord reminds Comme des Garçons classical a lot, mixed with some synthetic woods used in wonderwood (a pleasant and great mixture with both parfums). When it calms down, I’m totally agree with Lovetribe: at the base notes, it comes to be very similar to kenzo air without licorice nor calone. Perhaps its the high iso-e-super dosage that makes both seem so similar.
Fedot107 – :
not badly..very fresh beginning…then the incense takes the upper hand and indeed it seems metallic…….
I would not know whether to say…but to lines I feel something of faherenheit or cool water….mixed to claccical comme de garcons……
interesting.and I believe for all the seasons.
little sillage, good longevity.
think of us distance good of 5 hours have a grandiose longevity and are a lot of simila to kenzo air!!!!
innothili – :
First, A special thanks to KEN for the sample. You know who you are!
Blue Encens at first blush is a true CDG incense scent, so if you are a fan of the others from the line, this will fall close enough to the others that you will love it, but provide enough difference to be interesting!
Personally, I am getting a smell from this, after it has been on my skin a few moments, that reminds me of the smell of the metal shop from the farm which I grew up on. I was immediately taken back to my youth and the smell of the hot metal after being welded or cut with the plasma torch. It’s a unmistakable essence that is only blue in the sense that the metal glows a white hot blue color.
Truly a neat offering from the CDG house. However, I will seek to buy a FB of 2MAN before I will be looking to buy this one!
msfhyt – :
This is one of the most gorgeous incense blends I’ve experienced and I’m also comparing to Amouage. It does evoke a cool, blue effect, however the incense is absolutely magical with this one. Very clean exotic incense is the best way I can describe it…. The sillage/longevity is about average. It doesn’t project like a beast but remains consistent producing a soft trail about 1 foot from the skin after a couple of hours. I say this…….if you love incense and you are a fan of Comme des Garcons…..this is a must buy. I give it a 4 out of 5 because I wish it projected a little bit more.
Rem-23 – :
The CDG incense line was my favourite of theirs, so I was keen to get hold of these 3 new blue scents. Today I tried the Luckyscent sample of Blue Encens, wearing blue, on a warm winter day.
On me, it opens beautifully, with a big punch of pepper. After a minute or two something mineral-y and almost minty (menthol?) lifts its head, and it can’t help but remind me of the nineties, of west coast naked-torso-on-beach suffused ads, of, oh shit, Cool Water / New West (remember that?) / Calvin Klein going unisex.
Thankfully, the cardamom and incense then start to talk and the pepper sticks around, but on me it smells like a flintier and thinner version of CDG White (which I love).
Out of interest, I went and sprayed Marc Jacob’s BANG on a spare pulse point for comparison. The Blue Encens was more layered and gave more (ahem) bang for your buck, but the buck stopped really close to my skin and was gone within a few hours.
6/10
zasokomsigat – :
very nice incense fragrance tho i wish it had a bit more strenth in the projection, if you single out the incense note its almost as if it belongs to a family off other incence fragrances like zirh ikon,celine fever pour homme,azzaro visit,tumulte but in saying that you can smell the quality in the fragrances which is more richer and a better quality tho i still prefer tumulte better just a pity it was discontinued
qwertyX – :
I d love to try them all, but what they did with the graphic design is terrible. And I’m a fan of CDG, but those letters & the blue on the beautiful bottle, they used to be great on visuals.
Hunter1987 – :
I d love to try them all, but what they did with the graphic design is terrible. And I’m a fan of CDG, but those letters & the blue on the beautiful bottle, they used to be great on visuals.
Odin546 – :
Another attempt by Comme Des Garcons at catching the attention of the mainstream crowd but, unlike their previous Amazingreen, this time they nailed it. Blue Encens is probably not as artsy as other *edgier* deliveries from this house but it is SO nicely played to result incredibly likable while still skipping dullness. Safe? Yes, probably safer than, say, SKAI! Boring? No.
One of the keys to properly evaluate BE, is to get rid of the prejudices that might come with the *Blue* part of its name and with the overall sporty vibe that comes with the packaging and marketing. THIS IS NOT A SPORT FRAGRANCE. The concept here is to take previous CDGs themes (Hinoki, H&M and Dover Street Market come to mind) and give them a mainstreamish twist by adding, in this case, a solid cinnamon-cardamom combo which seem to be two of the flavors of the day. What comes out is a slightly metallic amber-incense fragrance in the typical CDG’s style with a fresh and persistent spicy accord. The cardamom is the real star here and it’s the first time that enters the CDG’s world. Plenty of it throughout, while a subtle cinnamon note supports the incense base enhancing the freezing effect together with subtle calone-y undertones. What really makes the difference from most designers, is how at CDG they keep on skipping those massive woodyambers that currently overpopulate the mainstream market. Another interesting aspect is that Blue Encens has no citruses whatsoever (not a good thing per se but definitely something to increase the distance from sporty stuff). The fragrance wears smoothly but it’s pretty radiant, feels perfectly sized, safe but not generic. An easy wear just like a basic t-shirt. They apparently all look the same but, depending on fabric, cut and style, they wear incredibly different.
I’ve seen someone complained somewhere saying we didn’t need another incense fragrance by CDG. Well, I think that’s somehow a wrong assessment. Incense is to CDG exactly as vanilla is to Guerlain, iris to Chanel and hay to Parfums De Nicolai. It’s in their DNA, it’s their signature, it’s part of their heritage and, most of all, they’re very good at using it. With that said, I’d personally classify Blue Encens as a cardamom-driven fragrance built around a spicy-incense base so, if you’re ok with a *safe* Comme, go ahead, Blue Encens is probably not groundbreaking but it’s delightful nonetheless.
Downline: Blue Encens goes together with Wonderwood, CDG2Man, The Cologne Series and The Sherbet Series. “Intelligent Pop”. Safe and honest.
Rating: 7.5/10