Description
With the first fragrance of the collection Icon, the house of Dunhill showed itself in new light, putting accent on quality of composition, its intensity and excellent. Fans of Icon were soon surprised by its successor, Icon Absolute introduced just a few months after the first Icon edition, while this year, as news from the house, DUNHILL ICON ELITE is being prepared – as the third fragrance of the masculine luxurious collection which will ‘splash’ the market.
With its composition Dunhill Icon Elite provides masculine seal in new way, representing the spirit and tradition of Dunhill brand, celebrating elegant man and his timeless style. The fragrance was characterized as woody and very masculine. Among key notes of the new edition, vetiver, sandalwood and abonos wood were harmoniously blended and skillfully spiced with sweet cardamom. The new fragrance Dunhill Icon Elite continues the series of Icon collection and provides another olfactive face of the contemporary British. Advertising face is still Andrew Cooper.
Fragrance Dunhill Icon Elite is available as a 100ml Eau de Parfum.
Icon Elite was launched in 2016.
whwtss – :
Great job by Dunhill. Nice Spring/Fall evening fragrance, maybe even for summer evenings, possibly for fall/winter days… The truth is that it is very versatile, and can even be worn at the office, since the projection is moderate-low.
Because of the cardamom/bergamot bomb it reminds unavoidably of YSL La Nuit de L’Homme, but unlike La Nuit, Icon Elite stays on the elegant side thanks to the suede basenote, and avoids the sweet bomb thank to a more pronounced bergamot as well as the sandalwood, lime and orange notes. A real chameleon!
That makes it a more classy fragrance compared to La Nuit, more for dates than clubbing, thus with a more mature vibe. To note also that (unfortunately in this case) projection is lower than La Nuit.
That said, it is far from being a clone of La Nuit (fortunately in this case).
Peformance is far from being stellar, that’s why it is just a like for me, but it’s not excluded that it get promoted to love at some point!
I paid $36 for a gift-box (including 3.4oz edp, 3oz aftershave lotion, 3oz shower gel and travel pouch !!) , so I definitely rank it as the best bang for the buck of the year!
Congrats Dunhill! For 30+ crowds
Borovskoe – :
This has an almost tropical smell to it. Something I didn’t really expect but I really like it! This is another good one from Dunhill and definitely get it if you like the original Icon. I give this a 9.1/10
oleg25234 – :
Certainly one of the most prestigious fragrances out there. Smells chic and oozes opulence. To my astonishment as perfumery-inclined, elite has a lot in common with the drydown of the so called * Viking * by Creed. While you are just distracted by the icy mint of Viking and drawn into thinking of the pirates, high waves and the whole atmosphere of the sea adventure, Viking managed its way quitely to the peaceful island and morphed into woodsy, vitiver-y, mysterious aromatic plants which overlaps with Dunhill Icon Elite and has nothing to do with the freshness and saltness of the sea.
Kudos to Dunhill as they are trying hard to restore the golden days.
Andy80 – :
Dont know why but it smells like Le Male Essence de Parfum Jean Paul Gaultier to me… very close so i wont get ut but just put my nose on the orginal Icon and i like it better
lance617 – :
This scent reminds me of Le Labo Santal 33 as I pick up a lot of sandalwood note. Sillage and longevity are relatively poor. It lasts around 2 hours on me before it turns into a skin scent.
Sub-zero – :
This reminds me of ck euphoria, paco rabanne xs, ch 212 vip.
Nata – :
I think this is the best in the Dunhil Icon range!
Very modern and masculine. Starts out quite strong dark woody type, then dries down to really nice powdery finish.
Sillage is about an arms leangth for me. People will notice this, for at leaset 2-3 hours. Longevity around about 8-10 hours. All round great performer, not beastly though!
To me 9/10
My signature sent!
amerikangirl – :
Very butiful fragrance and I like too much I smell it in my friend twice and in each time I asked him about it. The day after I bought it really can’t wait more.
helikopter – :
Wearing it again in the bitter cold, which i feel really suits this frag. It has an almost mentholated powderyness from the combination of bergamot, cardamom, and sandalwood notes which gives it an icy feeling. I get a similar vibe in that regard with Guerlain homme Intense, which although dont smell similar, they both feel cold to me. I feel this performs better also and is more appreciated by the fairer sex. Maybe the only sandalwood forward fragrance I enjoy.
hhhqqqtpojhg – :
Woodsy, a bit smoky, aromatic and spicy. There is just something about it. Anyone saying this is weak, I dont see it. This stuff lasts for hours. Nothing sweet here. Where tom ford anthracite would be “too much” for some, but you still want that genre of fragrance, then icon elite is for you. Icon elite is rounded out whereas anthracite has very sharp, rugged edges. I enjoy both.
Very underrated fragrance that nothing in the designer game, save my comparison, smells like. Classy, cooler weather, masculine. Can be found cheap. Well worth the price.
Impomstumoumn – :
OK I got the 3 Icons now, but I have not tried the original Icon yet, so I can only compare this one with the “Absolute” version, and they are totally different, I find this elite version pretty comfortable, not to fall on my “love” category, but good, I love the bottles of these flankers, they look very nice. I may do an update in regards performance and longevity, but so far I think it will be gone by the end of the day.
At the end of the day, the fragrance was still present and had evolved very nicely, I will rate it at least 4 stars out of 5.
Update:
I finally got the 3 icons and I think this is the best of the 3, well I might need to wear more the original icon, but this one has brought compliments more than expected and men asking me what I was wearing, it has a great performance, and I think it has a better performance at night, and longevity is a beast, will last until next day at least on me. I may restock just in case, but this definitely stand out in a nice way.
eandrus – :
Great blind buy, long lasting, unique and great smelling fragrance in my collection. Has a woody, cardamom vibe. My first dunhill icon. Very happy
kuzzma84 – :
Can’t be described as it is very weak even atbthe opening, little spicy feel but disappears after 10 min. Does not deserve one penny even and shouldn’t be marked as EDP it is way too weaker than aftershave even..
julia2389 – :
Excellent woody fragrance, great projection and longevity…superb dry down aroma
maxikym – :
To my nose, this fragrance strongly reminds of Fan di Fendi Assoluto. Icon Elite one comes with a strong herbal side, while Fendi has some Oud, but they both share a similar spiced up leather/suede that dominates.
Sadly, they also share the same low projection problem. After half an hour, it’s barely there, close to the skin.
zhorik – :
I find this one a mixture of soap, wood, and cardamon. The wood in here is dark, a bit burnt but not too smoky. It’s good, but not as significant as the silver icon.
afterdark304 – :
I love the bottle, its big and heavy and solid and you could put somebody’s windows out with it if the need arose. It looks bad ass in black too, so you could just threaten someone with putting their windows out and it’d probably work.
Good longevity, good projection, good fragrance but Icon Absolute is better. This is second of the three.
xer1 – :
OK I got the 3 Icons now, but I have not tried the original Icon yet, so I can only compare this one with the “Absolute” version, and they are totally different, I find this elite version pretty comfortable, not to fall on my “love” category, but good, I love the bottles of these flankers, they look very nice. I may do an update in regards performance and longevity, but so far I think it will be gone by the end of the day.
At the end of the day, the fragrance was still present and had evolved very nicely, I will rate it at least 4 stars out of 5.
do0244asdf – :
Really good fragrance, I’m surprised this hasn’t received more attention or maybe it’s just a clone of another scent?
Sillage: 7/10 – Strong at first but settles down, can still smell the Sandalwood smell come through every now and again picking up with my own nose but nothing huge projection wise
Longevity: 8/10 – Does last a long time on skin and clothes even if the sillage isn’t amazing
Great people pleaser, smells fresh and woody, isn’t something that would repulse people, I’d almost go as far to say it could be niche. The base note still has cardamom coming through which is really nice!
Give this a try people, plenty of UK places do small testers (Boots), you may be pleasantly surprised. Safe pick but could also be a really nice favourite fragrance, I’d say top 10 for me.
Ulgas – :
Why are there notes missing from the pyramid?
From the carded sample-
Top notes:
Bergamot, Kaffir Lime, Sicilian Bigarade, Cardamom
Heart:
Vetiver Absolute, Blue Sage, Juniper, Black Pepper
Base:
Ebony Wood, Sandalwood, Black Suede, Labdanum Absolute
How anyone can say this smells like the original is beyond me, all I got from the other one is grape candy, which my wife also found it be like. She smelled that one, scrunched her nose and said “Why does that smell like grape soda?”. This one got an “Ooo that smells nice!”
I like this one a lot, Its very fresh-aromatic feeling, and has only a light sweetness, but not cloying. I tend to really not like much sweetness at all in my frags, but this is light enough and just a hint of sweet at the end. The beginning is a fresh, almost cold blast with the citrus, especially the lime, and kind of remind me of something familiar, maybe Guerlain Homme Intense? Not sure, but it is nice. To be determined whether I want a bottle, but it is by far the best in the Icon line, for my tastes.
vovanart9 – :
scent : 8/10
sillage : 8/10
longevity :7/10
80% night /20% day fragrance
nice smoky and woody scent
televisop – :
Tried this while waiting for my Christmas gifts to be wrapped and I sprayed liberally. Haha. It was smashing on me after it a few minutes. This is far more elegant than the original Icon and very unobtrusive. The smell of a man who had already reached the top of his game. Definitely one for the collector.
hhhyyyyyuuu – :
Beautiful fragrance –
scent : 9/10
projection : 9/10
longevity :9/10
There are some similarities with the smell of La Nuit de l’Homme –
For the night –
AlerlooxBlogs – :
In the Netherlands I only see the Dunhill ICONs in the retail (- and web)shop of ICI Paris XL. Probably exclusive to them…
Edit: 5 feb 17
I tested it in colder weather now perfoms a lot better as in a previous test @ higher temperatures. This is my second best in the line now.
snoop19995 – :
Very smooth spicy and woodsy
perfume, you can definitely
smell the cardamom and the ebony
whitch is smoothen out by the vetiver
and the sandalwood, i think its a nice
office fragrance, not to loud and not
to offensive, i do like it.
Surround – :
This was very nice in many ways, a spicy yet clean scent with the right amount of depth but still incredibly accessible and crowd pleasing. I think due to the relative boldness of Icon Absolute I was expecting this to be even more luxurious and some how even louder but it isn’t.
Reserve is the key to this and it plays it’s hand well. The opening is mysterious, clean masculine woods very subtle, vetiver and some peppery spice with a smooth cardamom vibe. It’s very much a raw stripped back L’Nuit de Homme and definitely more in the vein of the original Icon. It dries down to a heart of deep and satisfying woods (which is apparently ebony) and it’s really lovely there’s also a creamy sandalwood at the base. So all in all a decent fragrance, well it’s not without it’s issues. The facts are this scent is very subtle, the quietest so far in the Icon line and longevity was not great. However, I have only worn once and I really didn’t spray much at all, so I could be being unfair to Icon Elite. I really need to try this fragrance again because I definitely liked it, wouldn’t go as far as to say I enjoyed it but I’d definitely give it another go.
Update: Having given this another go I have to say it really resembles Paco Rabanne XS or Creed Himalaya but crucially with a more amped and soapier focus on cardamom. This is the heart of the fragrance but there’s hints throughout at a softer drydown, which last time revealed that exotic wood and santal vibe I liked let’s hope it does the same now I’m wearing a proper application.
I have to say this is a pleasant masculine scent which I have a soft spot for because of the assoiation with Paco XS, a scent from the 90’s I’m coming to realize, I really miss. Good but not great, more palatable to my nose than the other versions, although I’m okay with them too.
lancaster470 – :
Nice sweet slightly dark and fresh opening with cardamom being prominent. Has an almost like minty accord to it in the beginning with a little orange blossom as well. Drydown is vetiver and sandal wood and woody notes. Nice addition to the line. I get about 7-8 hrs from this.
Ajbolit44 – :
NOOOOOOO! Not worth buying if you have Prada Extreme or Dark Rebel…only if your into the bottles is this a good buy. Its not horrible but its not great either! They struck gold with the first Icon and kinda hit on the Absolute but this is clearly a cash grab!
mujiktut – :
Really nice addition to the Icon line.
It’s a mix of Creed’s Royal Oud (minus Oud) and Tom Ford’s Santal Blush (minus cumin) in terms of smell and vibe that it gives off.
There’s sweet aromatic from the cardamom and a dense woody mix. I actually thought there was cedar in this, but it could be the ebony wood (not too sure what it’s supposed to smell like). The sandalwood is excellent, very opulent and gives a slightly darker/cooler vibe to Elite.
I like this a lot. Projection is pretty wafty, 2-3 feet. Not sure about longevity, but somewhere over 5 hours right now.
Uramanai1 – :
Since I already own and appreciate the Original and Absolute, I bought Elite blind. To me it is a typical aromatic scent, I really don’t find any part of it remarkable, but by no mistake it carries an elegance and reservedness. Typical fresh and aromatic opening with an unmistakable vetiver and cardamom combo, it subsides to reveal the abonos wood, which I think might be a fancy word for ebony, along with dark spices. Sandalwood is tucked well in there, it doesn’t really assert itself to make it evident. Good EdP longevity, but doesn’t really project. I think the original did it best as far as projection, but wasn’t as long lasting, and Absolute had abysmal longevity and a fearful opening like that of chlorine.
Elite is good everyday stuff to make it a classic, but nothing to cause a revolution or trend. If they indeed intended to make this out of quality stuff, I think they succeeded, but I think they needed to work a little on innovation.
DARLIBG – :
I was really looking forward to trying this one, and just like the absolute version it was a disappointment for me. Maybe less time working on those great looking bottles and more time on the fragrance, a shame
stronzij – :
I think Dunhill should concentrate on widening its market rather than creating 2 flankers in a year. I hardly get a chance to sample and I can not find the original Icon for about a year. They are not in available in duty free’s of Turkey, Russia, Thailand and Belarus.
Great line by the way 🙂
Edit: I shall add Netherlands to the list. Where are you Dunhill 🙂
zapadinskiy – :
Looks like Narciso Rodriguez Bleu Noir…