To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Tefisiori – :
Don`t let the man marketing scare you away Ladies. As a women I feel comfortable in this scent. Hanae Mori HM has a fresh oriental Issey Miyake Vibe going on. HM has better projection and longevity though. It is quite aromatic and zen yet with a powerful spirit. It smells like I`m in a forest drinking a tall gin and tonic garnished with lemons and lavender sprigs. All the while a waxy vanilla candle burns. One of the other reviewers mentioned something about “smelling like a God”. I don`t know about all of that however I can attest if you choose this fragrance things will probably go your way. At the very least you`ll get in the last word.
unilogin – :
I totally agree with Ray The Juiceman, guys. To my nose at first glance, this is amazing. It made me swoon on first sniff. It has a note similar to lemon candy upon initial spray, but it’s not very citric in an acidic way, but sweet with some pleasant sourness.
It’s thick and powerful but not cloying to my nose…but I can see it being too much for most people. It’s on the border of annoying. I think one spray is too much for going out in public right away. This juice is strong and loud for the first 20 minutes, and while from ’97, something about it smells to me like straight from the early 80s. I feel some weird nostalgia when smelling it.
I suggest you don’t pay attention to the notes too much, because this juice smells out of the ordinary. It has its notes and development, but the overall fragrance stays smelling the same from beginning to end. It’s so good, it puts me off somehow. I can’t explain it. It’s like my brain can’t accept that this scent exists. I’m not kidding.
That’s how odd this juice is. Sample it before purchasing it. I can see someone being appalled by it. It’s the type of fragrance that if I smelled it between acquaintances, I’d ask who’s wearing it. I couldn’t go home without knowing what it is. If I smelled its sillage trail, I’d try to follow it to its wearer and ask about it.
I notice a likable body odor note that is similar to the one in Armani Code, but it’s not nasty. Probably the cedar. It’s a balancing salty/smokey note that reminds of body odor at its best that hasn’t turned into a hammy stink. We are humans and have armpits. Sometimes, they smell without stinking, like smokey leather. That’s what I mean. It’s like a woody, smokey leather.
Below and prior to me, xaml mentioned mentholated citrus, barber shop and cigarette smoke. I smell those too in the background. But I really like them. It’s like an ashtray/ casino smell but not in a gross way. The barber shop scent is slight, not Old Spice-y/Brut de Faberge-y/Pinaud Clubman-ey. The menthol coolness is slight to my nose. It gives interest to the composition. It is necessary for the entire thing to work in my opinion. I think the blend would feel lopsided and too sweet without it.
I find Hanae Mori EDP AMAZING, and I feel redeemed after being not too surprised by my blind buys of this week. I don’t think it’s a safe blind buy because it deviates a lot from the mainstream. It has a niche quality to my nose. But thankfully, it was one of my best blind buys ever. It’s not linear, it develops with time, and it’s very sexy. I think a woman could rock this 100% IMHO, because it has perfumey flower notes in it lurking in the middle.
The notes breakdown mention jasmine, iris, grassy notes of lily of the valley and intoxicating Bulgarian rose. They’re there fantastically blended. Artfully I’d say. But I can pick them up no problem, and I have a dumb nose. So I am happy I can discern those accords and enjoy them. If I smelled this on a pretty lady, I’d definitely skip a few heart beats and get weak on the knees.
11 out of 10 in my opinion, guys. If you’re a risky blind buyer like me who is open to developing new tastes and straying from the societal norm, I do recommend it as a safe blind buy, because it smells unique and dare I say, expensive.
If you stay on the safe zone of social scents and aren’t adventurous, I encourage you to sample it instead of blind-buying it, because I can honestly see someone smelling it and dry-heaving while exclaiming, “What the heeellll?” I only spray once, and even then, I still think it’s too much and feel nervous about putting off people around me. The smell is intense. First world problems!
God bless everyone!
goluba – :
It is interesting how differently I imagined myself this fragrance to be. I have the lighter concentration and I have never smelled the other concentration. I expected something which is not as dark and something which is more refreshing. My first impressions were menthol and cigarette smoke or rather an apartment with a fluffy and bold coloured carpet whose relatively mature inhabitant tends to smoke inside, which to be fair is not purely an imaginative impression but an actual past experience and therefore probably biased to a certain extent. I thought about whether it was menthol or remote anise and while I first thought that there were no citrus elements present, recently I thought about mentholated citrus. If any of that makes any sense. The impression of a nightclub in the eighties also came to my mind, perhaps in the same tense universe as a certain cyborg which got sent back in time. Another prominent element was the scent of a more or less expensive shaving cream. I have no issues with a dark and a dense scent, on the contrary, but the cigarette and especially the barbershop elements make it hard for me to embrace or to fully embrace this fragrance constrained by its interpretation of masculinity.
poligon – :
One of my all time favorites. I can’t put my finger on it. It’s just amazing. This isn’t even a review. It’s bowing to greatness.
andredgin – :
Hanae Mori, aka “yeah, that seems like a good note, throw it in there.”
Before I blow an Asian Studies Major panic attack, I would like to say that the way you pronounce Hanae Mori is ha-na-eh moh-ree. I keep hearing people try to pronounce it in different ways, every time I hear someone say ha-nay, a little piece of me dies.
Well, it’s been 8 hours and it still feels like I just put it on. This stuff is a floral, a fruity, and a gourmand all at the same time. I keep hearing people describe it as one of the 3, but really it’s just… all 3, depending on what stage you smell it at. I’m at a point in my day where it stops being so sharp (and it is sharp at first) and I’m like, “oh, so THAT’S why people say it’s gourmand-y.
Listen, I’m gonna cut to the chase, this is what a hot samurai guy wears. This is like… it’s late at night in feudal Japan on a comfortable summer night and all you can see are faint lights through the rice paper doors in your room in a light nightgown and you’re waiting for your hot samurai husband and his tired, achy muscles to come out of the bath… And while you’re just about dozing off he comes in in one of those light, airy sleeping kimonos and it isn’t tied very tight so it’s slipping off his shoulder a bit. And he gets under the covers behind you and that slight gust of air from lifting up the blanket just wafts this smell toward you, and he puts his strong hand on your shoulder…
Ok, cool. Most embarrassing thing I’ve ever written on this website. Now all of you know what I think about when I wear this to bed. 10/10, if I inhale this too deeply it might make me cry.
doh – :
I have the edt and the EDP could they some now make separate pages for the two of them? Because they are a bit different.
Amazing smells that seem to go pretty unnoticed and the price is amazing for the quality.
opr622bedyWelty – :
I’ll echo the unisex tag for this one. I can see it appealing to those who enjoy Silver Mountain Water as well as vintage ladies fragrances composed of florals and oakmoss.
nout – :
I just wanted to chime in with some positive comments on HM Edt as I recently wore this fragrance for about a year, but ultimately gave it away after deciding it didn’t quite work for me.
HM is an extremely contemporary-smelling fragrance, most definitely in contrast with its 1997 release date. This is an amazingly well-composed fragrance encompassing numerous different notes exquisitely, all while having everyday wearability, four-season versatility, very respectable performance, and bargain pricing! And I love a fragrance where each time you wear it, you pick up subtle nuances of scents that weren’t noticed the last time you wore it. That’s what you get with HM. If it’s not a “masterpiece”, it’s undeniably close: It is an incredibly creative composition, considering the complexity of the note structure and the multi-faceted nature of its aura.
HM may well border on unisex, but one thing is certain–most women love this scent on a guy! It is rich and gourmand-ish—as in soft candied-lemon, creamy vanilla, black currant, tonka, chocolate and amber!! …with men’s florals and woods seamlessly weaved in. Unfortunately, this gourmand-floral richness eventually just became “too much” for me. But I wanted to share about HM anyway, because I believe it could be a treasured fragrance for many guys out there!!
Август Фаталь – :
EDT Review
We are all used to apreciate or value more an EDP than an EDT. Hanae Mori proposes us an EDT and an EDP that are very similar in both scent and performance. Strangely enough, both bottles and prices are also quite similar. The EDT version is a tiny bit more subtle than the EDP version.
The fragrance is quite versatile and it suits women as well. I would judge this fragrance to be more unisex than masculine. It does fit well in mid season – Autumn or Spring, day or night. It has got a wide weather latitude and it’s quite safe to use it in Summer nights and Winter days.
I already asked a handfull of people for identic vibes or look alike fragrances. No one gave me any positive answer. There is an Iris middle note that blended with the top lemon and lavender, plus the bottom notes of dark chocolate, amber and cedar, creates some (faint) ressemblance with the current version of Dior Homme, although I don’t consider it a dominant vibe. As no one around me shares the my opinion I’ll wait for some fellow reviewer to share the same opinion I have.
The fragrance opens with a creamy sweet accord of lemon and black currant with a touch of lavender.
The lavender does persist for the second phase where you notice some flowerish scents – mainly iris – in a semi sweet background (is it the awakening of an early vanilla note?).
The bottom notes are very rich and responsible for the sweet aura around this scent. Vanilla, tonka and chocolate take over and do play the major role during the drydown, supported by sandal, amber and cedar fainter notes.
It does have a nice longevity (8+ hours with 3 sprays), but an average sillage (3~4 feet) and average projection that lasts between 2 and 3 hours. You won’t get neither darkness, nor animalic vibes. You’ll get a sweet zen lull for long hours that will make you feel good and secure.
Like I said before, it’s almost an unisex fragrance and a very sexy fragrance indeed!
Let’s see the math of HM for men:
– Scent opening: 8.5 (very very good – my judgement)
– Scent drydown: 9.0 (very very good – my judgement)
– Longevity: 8.0 (8 hours+ with 3 sprays)
– Sillage: 7.0 (about 3 feet for 3 hours with 3 sprays; projects for 2~3 hours); practical skin scent till the 8th or 9th hour.
– Uniqueness: 9.0 (unique, very well blended giving me some vibes of other fragrances like Dior Homme, but similar to none; Hanae Mori EDP is out of this equation)
– Versatility: 9.0 (almost everywhere, but with better choices for clubbing and formal events. Don’t use it while working out or in the beach)
– Wearability: 9.5 (high during Spring and Autumn,… quite adequate during Winter or Summer as well, but avoid extreme heat or cold).
– Compliments: 8.5 (It’s a universal pleaser, without being a compliment magnet)
– Quality: 9.5 (my judgement – does not suggest even a small vibe of being cheap or synthetic. It does smell expensive; with a little better performance it would deserve a 10.0)
– Presentation: 8.5 (discrete but very nice. Excellent cap and sprayer.)
– Price: 10.0 (100 ml tester for 21 Euros + VAT)
Average: 8.77 / 10.00
It is one of my favourite fragrances. Will I buy it again? Yes for sure.
Will I recommend it? Of course I will, mainly due to its alluring scent, quality and price.
beschennij – :
Absolutely love this fragrance but I had a bottle from about 5 years ago just bought a new one and they are a little different And I’m not really one to obsess or nitpick but this newer issue is definitely a little watery or less powerful and the bottle has a slight difference in appearance and the juice has a different type of color…Just my individual observation
song – :
This is one of those “best kept secrets”. I love both the HM and HiM Hanae Mori cologne, and get my fair share of complements every time I wear them. The HM starts out a wonderful blend of citrus and possibly blackberry(?), touched with a hint of vanilla; after a half hour, it turns into a woody/chocolate blend. Highly recommended!
Zdoom – :
Excellent on many levels. It lasts a long time but the scent transitions considerably throughout the day. Starts out with the berry scent being the most noticeable, but by the end of the day it’s a more subtle chocolate.
It lasts a long time but it’s not overly strong at any point in time – you can wear it in casual settings without seeming out of place.
It’s very unique and interesting compared to a lot of generic masculine scents you’ll find even in the more expensive brands. Odds are it’s unlike anything you already own, so it’ll add something new to your collection and fit for occasions others might not.
Definitely would buy again.
TorThyday – :
Edt…
This is sex in a bottle.
It doesn’t last on me but it smells so good oh my god. I would love my bed to always smell like this
olgalan – :
The EDP lasted about 12 hours on my skin. It finally turned to chocolate after 8 hours. Dont desperate. It’s there!
hiz658Unlogrere – :
What a sleeper I’ve missed here.
This review is for the EdP version. I have been waiting for years to test this and when finally trying it, I must admit I’m not the least disappointed. HM may have been introduced in ’97, but smells very contemporary. Most prominent notes are vanilla and tonka spiced with lavender and floral chocolate which makes it slightly gourmand – maybe even something as rare as a gourmand for summer evenings, but as long as you don’t use it in a setting that is too hot it should be no problem. I also do get a slight resemblance to the flowery sweetness of Animale Animale for Men as well, it actually reminds me of an ice cream sundae with vanilla, chocolate and all.
A great bargain for the price.
kpr375Diobtetty – :
I got an Aventus vibe of off my skin due to the blackberry and vanilla
Oakmoss and rose
Гуляющая кошка – :
This came out how long ago?! I call BS!
You could have told me this was released yesterday and I wouldn’t have thought twice about it. I don’t know what it is about this scent, but it just smells like pure joy. Sweet, creamy, fresh citrus with a vanilla finish. This is the definition of an all occasion scent.
Phenomenal fresh scent with UNMATCHED DEPTH! Phenomenal longevity and projection as well.
This is a love in every category for me.
(I have the EDT version.)
pazot – :
Clearly this one doesn’t work well for me in the winter, but now that it’s finally springtime, I’m remembering why I fell in love with Hanae Mori in the first place.
Below you’ll find my review from winter, when I claimed that this fragrance is a completely different creature between seasons, adaptive to its climate. The blackcurrant, florals, and green notes punch out with a vengeance in the cold weather. I’ve since learned that my nose doesn’t care for multi-florals and the ever-generically-cited “green notes” when it’s cold. In winter, HM feels solitary, distant, reserved, but in spring it feels comfortably in love.
In spring, it’s a spontaneous date with your significant other. You’ve decided to get ice cream and walk around the park. She got vanilla, scooped generously into a waffle cone, topped with blackberries and drizzled with chocolate syrup. You got some sort of lavender gelato, because that’s just who you are as a person. The sun is shining magnificently, and on the breeze you can smell the flowers that have finally bloomed after a bitter, endless winter. Her ice cream has started to melt and you notice she’s smudged some chocolate syrup on her nose. The sparkle in her eye when she laughs as you lick it away is all it takes to remember why you took a chance on her years ago.
silsbrefeasse – :
This fragrance sneaks up on you. Initial spray is a creamy lemon. So you think “Fresh!” but it definitely is not “citrusy” or “soapy”. Then the vanilla and chocolate start showing up and you think “gourmand”, but the lemon is still there so it keeps it from being too sweet. A nicely blended scent that would be appropriate in a lot of settings. excellent longevity and great sillage. can be unisex, but it is masculine leaning. An interesting fragrance all around.
insuddile – :
HM (Edp) opens with creamy berried lemon opening, the lemon is really mild and not at all tart but still noticeable. While I can’t really pin point what berries I smell, black currant has more tartness to them so this just feels like bunch of berries with creamy undertone to the whole opening, though the combined smell is pleasant. As the scent dries berries get weaker and some woods come up. In drydown I get sweet vanilla with something bit floral? It might be iris that I’m getting; in any case it still is a nice sweet scent.
Longevity has been really nice on me, lasts all day and more while projecting well but not being a monster and I think that is a good thing, as some times the scent feels rather heavy/cloying or that just might be how I feel with most of really sweet fragrances and this surely is one of them.
While HM is marketed for men but I would rather call it more of a unisex fragrance for younger crowd. It is very casual and fun scent that feels perfect for early spring when there is plenty of light already but is still rather cold outside. Winter would be nice also but for some reason I feel that autumn needs more spices to really hit the feel of the season.
Over all I do like the fragrance but I do not find it to be my style of scent. The sweetness is bit too much for me and I was left hoping some other thing to balance it out a bit. Maybe if I were younger it might have worked better but as things are we are not ment to be together even if we had few nice weekends together.
Nekroman – :
Crème Bruleè with coffee. A classic however right up there in modern times.. Glad I brought this one back! A must have
FUREFROGUEMAT – :
EDP review – Fantastice fragrance.
Opens with a creamy sweet lemon stong vibe (lemon, black currant, lavender).
The lemon and lavender do persist for the second phase where you notice some flowerish scents in a creamy mild sweet base (black currant still?).
It dries down with a persistant sweet base now (vanilla) and delightful tonka.
Nice longevity but average sillage and projection, with no darkness at all.
Clearly in my top 20.
It’s a unisex fragrance, and a very sexy fragrance as well!
Let’s see the maths of HM for men:
– Scent: 9.00 (very very good – my judgement)
– Longevity: 8.0 (7 hours + with 3 sprays)
– Sillage: 7.0 (more than 3 feet for 3 hours with 3 sprays; projects for 2 hours); practical skin scent till the 8th or 9th hour.
– Uniqueness: 8.5 (unique, very well blended giving me some vibes of other fragrances, but similar to none)
– Wearability: 9.0 (almost everywhere. Exceptions: Gimn, Beach)
– Versatility: 10.0 (high for Spring and Autumn,… preety wearable in winter or summer).
– Quality: 9.5 (my judgement – does not suggest even a small vibe of being cheap or synthetic. It does smell expensive)
– Presentation: 9.0 (discrete but very nice. Excelent cap and sprayer.)
– Price: 10.0 (100 ml tester for 22 Euros + VAT)
Average: 8.89 / 10.00
In my top 20? Yes
Will I buy it again? Yes for sure.
Will I recommend it? a big YES due to the scent, and price.
aidar ak – :
Créme bruleé. That’s my description of this pleasantly dreamy juice. So nice and clean and actually ribbonly well balanced. Just enough to keep people guessing what you have on.
Just purchased this online at fragrance.net for $22. I’m so excitedly awaiting the arrival. This is the 2nd time I’m getting this. The first purchase was in 2003 from Nordstrom. I used to wear this sparingly since it was an eu de parfum spray and I payed full price back then. It lasted me a couple of years. I loved it! Can’t wait til it arrives!!!
dolamin – :
opens up with creamy lemon, it does smell like light blue D&G in middle dry down, but it settles into a creamy vanilla ice cream gourmand.
LKA70 – :
Definately to me smells like a Light Blue, or very fresh. I ordered from a second hand store and hit wrong fragrence.Definately will use this for something, and it’s sillage is powerful as I applied it in the bathroom, and was getting screamed at from 3 rooms to go easy. I need to definately develop this into something. I would say I am glad to have this accidental buy to my collection.I really like the kind of mystery of this.
Black_Forest – :
Bitter cold winter gusts. Bundled up in your warmest coat, sweater, hat, scarf. You’ve worn yourself out running around in this weather, this just-on-the-brink-of-snow weather. You curl up on the ground and let the frosted, crushed, dead grass and flowers cushion you. You remember that mom’s given you a grape-flavored lollipop, whose wrapper you fumble with before finally getting a taste of the candy with its stick grasped tightly in your mittened fist.
My first test of this was a few years ago, on my wrist (!), from a sample vial in a friend’s car (!!!), and it smelled absolutely awful. I said, “Awesome, there’s one I don’t have to pine over anymore.” But something brought me back to it this past summer. Something told me that all of its “hype” had to be worth a damn. So I went for the EDP after reading all the praises of its smoothness.
HM EDP didn’t feel like a winter fragrance when I acquired it, nor does it feel like a summer fragrance as I’m wearing it this winter. It seems to adapt to the weather, rather than fighting against it. When my girlfriend first smelled it on me, she said it reminded her of “a summer version of Le Male.” I reluctantly agree, I suppose with them both smelling “purple” and they both use lavender, vanilla, and woods. Inexperienced nose, etc.
I will say, however, that it’s a bit cloying for the first few hours in the winter. There’s a wild/dirty/dusty vibe that comes forward in a way that doesn’t present itself in the summer. But I’m going on hour 6 now, and it’s so smooth and cozy. Wrapped up in layers, slurping happily on a grape-flavored lollipop.
OStu2011 – :
Bought the EDP version over the summer. Found this repulsive at first and oddly, likened the initial blast to that of semi-rancid rotting citrus or distant wafts of puke..already ready to throw it in the trash, LOL. Kinda also thought I might have got ahold of a rancid bottle somehow.
But I gave it a second and third chance, then it grew on me. The cooler temps might of helped, as everyone says it’s better in cooler weather. Instead of the notes I first got, I now get a bold lemony spearmint on my skin initially, until a bit of cedar/red berry show their faces..all and all which evokes a freshly groomed/clean shaven mid 20s-up agewise, vibe. The EDT I presume would be better during summer. Longevity.. Last all day on my skin.
8.5-9/10
Demon78 – :
This is a fragrance I wore many years ago. I then read an article where Hanae Mori described how she had to overcome the challenge of Japanese clientele which traditionally did not wear perfumes. She wanted to capture memory of the berries she used to collect as a child and put into a moist cloth handkerchief that would keep them fresh and protected. In the current EDP edition that image is still intact.
art154 – :
I sprayed this scent again last night, I have had it forever but rarely have used it. It’s actually very nice, very rich, quite perfumey really.
What I get generally is a rich yellow lemon and what I think must be jasmine equally mixed, in a thick perfume.
I have both the edt and the aftershave, which smells a bit different.
This stuff is quite strong and tenacious, it lasts forever. I have to say it has made me ill a couple times.
Bodibilder – :
To me there is Not much better and I will have this forever. I have searched for decades to find the perfect one and this is close. Because of this masterpiece I no longer feel that emptiness I’ve been sleeplessly searching for.. now I don’t need every fragrance in the market.. and it makes me very happy and certain. I still enjoy other “dark” fragrances such as A*men, YSL NUIT, and the slightly lighter spicy dark such as Chanel allure, fahrenheit, but in the midst of many many years and fragrances this is my over the hills and far away.
9/10
maximal10 – :
Simple lemon drop smell. Feels immature to be honest. Might be fine for a teenager but doesn’t sit right with me.
2/5
Death23 – :
This perfume will please every person you come around which indicates it’s a long lasting mild fragrance.Even positive reviews and compliments from everywhere will keep you warm. But here’s the fact…Perfume is not about pleasing everybody except you.Most will say that it’s very unique in its every stage of body chemistry as a perfume but it’s very possible that you may find similarities with many medicine cyrups, ladies toiletries.
luckystrake – :
A gem that has really grown on me. Initially I was divided on the opening, which has a gourmand vibe, a strong lemon tart kind of smell. But it fairly quickly develops more of the vanilla and black currant for a more balanced scent. It smells a bit like a python lolly, but without the over-sweetness of a lolly’s taste.
I consider it a casual, playful kind of scent. When I have children, this is what I would wear when playing around with them in the backyard. It could be unisex, but I think it works well for men.
Really good performance, just like Hanae Mori HiM EDP.
Note: I’m reviewing the EDP.
sick1997 – :
This is very good and fills a niche into which I had previously placed Reflection Man by Amouage but will now put this one. It’s a similar effect to Reflections – sweet, creamy, slightly floral, with a bit of edge which makes it masculine. However Reflection I find cloying pretty much at all times, whereas this one has a transparency which makes it work a lot better.
The fragrance for me is based around the contrast between a citrus/vanilla top and a sandalwood/oakmoss base. It leaves a lot of space in between. The masculine bass notes are up front right from the beginning (and actually smell quite ash-y), which for me is essential to the fragrance.
I bought the EDP version, and I found the performance to be average-good. I’m not actually that keen on very long lasting fragrances so it’s fine for me.
I would say good for summer evenings. It could also work well for women.
whnvbuwgcwl – :
This is an unusual lemony concoction. I wouldn’t say it’s the most pleasant citrus scent about but it’s still quite nice. Very great value though, can get 100ml for like 30 quid!
kuzzma84 – :
EDP review:
To give a little background to my subjectivity, I generally do not prefer super sweet/floral fragrances. A*Men is the sweetest thing I own and I enjoy it, but mostly because of the complexity/woodiness that lurks behind all the sugar. That being said, I rolled the dice and decided to BB this based on the positive reviews and affordability. I also am willing to expand my olfactory horizons- if its good, its good, right?
My first impression was that this is quite feminine, almost an overtly woman’s perfume. I suppose that is because of the heavy floral notes and sweetness, but whoa, I was not prepared for that initial blast. I get a strong surface lemon scent, especially on the clothes, but there is a lot of floral action going on in the mid range, which hits pretty quickly. I get absolutely no chocolate or vanilla in the first hour, just sweet floral notes that keep radiating. Longevity is very good. I applied this at night, and after a few hours I could detect a hint of spiciness and powdery vanilla underneath the flowers. I was generally pleased with it and went to bed.
When I woke up in the morning, it was easily noticeable, only the lemon and florals had faded to the background and I FINALLY could smell the chocolate. To me, this is the best stage, the deep drydown- not one or two hours, but maybe four or five after applying. HM changes from a bright lemony sweet floral to a breezy vanilla chocolate gourmand. Bear in mind, this is not cloying, heavy or gourmand in the usual sense. All very polite and lovely, like a Japanese dessert- Castella rather than cheesecake.
Overall, this is a very unique men’s perfume. I have never smelled anything quite like it. HM is a chimera, flitting between masculine and feminine, but firmly neither. It is much more interesting than other quasi-feminine scents, as it reveals its notes one at a time through it’s lifetime. Its an impressionist, Debussy and Monet, giving us glimpses and shades rather than a complete picture. This is one of the more fascinating scents I’ve tried and will enjoy wearing it on occasion.
Update 12/17- cold weather masterpiece! The gourmand in this comes alive and HM becomes quite warm and captivating. Try this on cold days- so amazing.
oksi10lompa – :
Eau de Parfum
Oh my god! How to describe it? It’s like the most interesting “sweet” fragrance a man can wear. It has the sweetness that women seem to like but with a “darkness” that’s fit for a man. You’ll smell like the most delectable piece of candy in existence.
This is a fantastic romance scent. Getting close to a lady, wear this. The sweetness mixed with the darkness is sexy yet manly. The consistency of it means you can wear this year round.
I wore this to my local watering hole last night and the woman I wound up dancing with simply could not get enough of it. The performance is BEYOND beast-mode, especially if you spray your shirt. I sprayed this on about 10pm last night as as of 9:24AM, it’s still kick on my skin. I’d go with 2-3 sprays on the neck and 1 or 2 on the shirt. You’re good.
It’s a complex, sexy and versatile fragrance and I’ve never quite smelled anything like it. If you tire of the regular “crowd pleaser” scents like Sauvage, Bleu De Chanell, Dylan Blue or whatever, try this. I guarantee you, no other guy in the room is wearing it and you’ll smell like a God.
One of my absolute faves at a 10 out 10. Hoarding Worthy
Meedh436elipseskism – :
The world is so infatuated with Invictus and sauvage. Meanwhile, this fragrance has been around for much longer and gives you far better quality and creativity in terms of design and execution. This is a truly fantastic summer fragrance. Hard to believe how inexpensive it has become…. I paid retail for it several years ago when it was still very pricey and I have no regrets.
Klofipol – :
This is a wonderful fragrance, can’t stop sniffing my wrist. The initial spray is citrusy sweet that doesn’t smell synthetic at all. Wait for it to develop and you’ll definitely notice similarities with Ultra Male in the middle with that juicy pear that lingers for a few hours until it settles into that chocolatey, caramelly, floral scent, but it is lighter and not too cloying, unlike UM.This can definitely be a unisex fragrance but it could be too strong for women so maybe just one spray will do. This is totally a keeper!
The positive reviews here and some helpful reviews in Youtube (yes, Katie Puckrik, you’re one of them…) influenced me immensely