I had a birthday last week, and these days birthdays and Christmas in my family usually revolve around a collection of "what do you want?" emails and texts. The remaining members of my family live part way across the country, and when you don't get to see each other that often (and have to consider what you can and can't post) it's really hard to know what to get each other.
As I mentioned back in January I'm never happier than with a fist full of gift cards, so this birthday I elected again to get some Myer department store gift cards so I could use them in the Mecca Cosmetica concession. So with a pair of gift cards still steaming fresh from the post I raced into the shop after work on my birthday determined to buy something.
And, well, there in part lies a problem in our cautionary tale because I made a rash decision, and this time it was no home run but rather a strike out.
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| Photo via Comme des Garçons Parfums |
Amazingreen by Comme des Garçons (2012)
Eau de Parfum, 50ml.
Top Notes: Palm tree leaves, Green pepper, Hazelnut.
Heart Notes: Ivy leaves, Orris roots, Coriander seeds, Silex.
Base Notes: Gunpowder accord, Vetiver, Smoke, White Musk.
Nose: Jean-Christophe Herault.
A dazzling fusion of organic and mineral, of freshness and depth.[Notes and
An astounding blast of green energy, the creation of the ultimate green fragrance, Amazingreen.
I really like the opening of this fragrance. The theme here unsurprisingly is green. This is no classic fougère though, instead this heads to the deepest, darkest part of the forest. Where moss and lichen grow on damp rock, and mysterious things dwell.
On the initial spray there is a big slug of moist, dark leaf notes and something quite sweet, floral and almost like watermelon rind. Blink a few times and this is already largely gone, and in its place a different kind of green feeling starts to emerge, the almost dusty vegetal green of coriander and capsicum. And, it has to be said, a faint something akin (to my nose anyway) to the the smell of hairspray, perhaps from the orris/gunpowder/smoke combination?
It was at about the 30 minute mark the other day when I was getting on the train to head home, with my purchases in hand, that I kept smelling my wrist and began to experience buyer's doubt (step one towards buyer's remorse, yet before buyer's denial and buyer's bargaining).
30 minutes in and the green leaf notes have fled the scene. Not just ambled off but hailed a cab and told him to step on it. Actually a lot of things have departed, like the vast bulk of the fragrance. What is left is a faint vegetal green, with a smokey edge. Perhaps a bit of nuttiness. Really I'm grasping at straws here because it's all a bit faint and lot meh.
Well, the bottle is lovely. And I only bought the small size, so there is that.
Verdict
This is pretty is pretty much a dud. The bottle is gorgeous, like a pebble in the hand and the deep metallic green of a beetle's carapace. Sadly the bottle isn't enough and this fragrance has made me revise my Comme des Garçons-can-do-no-wrongs world view.
Just in case you think this entire experience was one of birthday woe, I did also add a few bucks to the gift cards haul and bought myself a beautiful skin serum from my beloved REN Skincare. I may not have come out of my birthday smelling marvellous after all, but at least me skin will be dewy fresh for the year to come.
On the strength of CdeG's Wonderwood and Man I bought this unsmelt. BIG mistake. Its disgusting. After the drydown one is condemned to smell like a cart load of rotten melons until one caves in and showers it all off..
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