Fire Island Bond No. 9 2006

I really shouldn't enjoy Fire Island as much as I do. On cold winter days or the first warm days of spring, it calls to me and I HAVE to wear it. It's like a big summery smile in a bottle when I desperately need it (and I usually don't say things like that...)

As stated many times before, it's the smell of sunscreen on hot sweaty bodies on a beach, and is quite well done, smelling much more literally like the picture it creates than most perfumes. That being said, once the novelty wears off, I enjoy Fire Island for what it really is, a heady white floral perfume, a bit powdery, featuring a clever mix of orange blossom and neroli over big-ass tuberose, all played out over a clever musky base. There's something about the beach associations that make Fire Island more comfortable for men to wear than most big opulent florals, and I like that too.

Fire Island is one of those touch and go kind of fragrances. Some people screw their nose up at it and exclaim that it would be cheaper to buy suntan lotion or that it is just expensive coconut spray. However being a lover of Bond No.9 I have to give my opinion.

Yes it smells like suntan lotion but this is Bond No.9. A brand based on the Exclusivity of having their fragrances displayed proudly in your bedroom, I think this is the issue with Bond No.9. Its not so much a fragrance than it is a novelty and a true interpretation of one of my favourite places in the world. Fire Island could very well be the gay man of the fragrance world, with its notes and scent straddling the lines of femininity with a hint of masculine warmth and energy.

The tuberose in this scent drives me crazy, I absolutely adore it. With the Patchouli, Musk and Neroli all complimenting the fragrance beautifully. What I love about Fire island is how expensive this fragrance smells, it offers something similar but far more complex and wider ranged than the average bottle of suntan lotion. It offers a beautiful warmth and a comfort that I always long for when my feet touches down on the sand whenever i visit Fire Island.

Its a Beautiful Scent. The lasting power is fantastic, but give the scent a sniff before you consider buying it. Because you'll be forking out alot of money if you choose to buy this scent like i did- but as far as i'm concerned, its worth the money.

Fire Island by Bond no 9 has an implicit goal: to emulate a memory of euro-sun tan lotion. It succeeds. It’s funny that this scent memory can be generalized. Fire Island doesn’t smell like any particular brand of sun tan lotion, but on smelling it, I instantly recognized the qualities that make up the lotion notion.

For those too young to remember the days of fostering skin cancer skin cancer by laying in the sun and baking, Fire Island is a creamy, musky sweet floral of no particular consequence. But for us old folks, Fire Island is the second-hand smoke of the perfume industry. Aaahhhh, the good-old, bad-old days.

An interesting scent, full of allusions and triggers from a smart perfumer, Michael
Almairac.

from scenthurdle.com

It is rare to find the near unanimity seen among sniffers of Bond no 9 FIRE ISLAND. It seems that everyone who has ever been to a beach agrees: this perfume is a suntan lotion facsimile. Whether this composition mimics Coppertone or Bain de Soleil—or perhaps a combination of the two—seems to be the only real dispute, at least as far as descriptive olfactory qualities are concerned.

What reviewers disagree radically about is whether capturing the smell of suntan lotion—whether Coppertone or Bain de Soleil—is something that any perfume should really be doing. I'm inclined to answer "no" to that question, not because it is somehow wrong aesthetically, but because it seems stupid to pay big niche bucks for something one can find in a homely little blob of sun protectant. Fortunately FIRE ISLAND does not remain purely a suntan lotion facsimile throughout the duration of its life on my skin. I find that the neroli and tuberose mingling together with the musk end up producing a not unlikeable perfume in the drydown. But I must say that I'd rather skip the suntan lotion opening and, in fact, when it's hot outside, tiny wafts of those top notes continue to emanate off my skin.

In the end, FIRE ISLAND strikes me more as a novelty scent than a perfume, when all is said and sniffed, along the lines of some of the more literal vacation-ready offerings from the house of Comptoir Sud Pacifique. I would not choose to wear FIRE ISLAND as a perfume during any season but summer, though I suppose that it might offer a therapeutic escape during the depths of winter, if one were holed up all alone in the midst of a snowstorm.

I was so curious about this Bond No. 9 and thanks to a lovely Parfumo, I was able to swap for a decant of it. Hawaiian Tropic would have been nice... at least something like that. Well... laundry detergent was mentioned and floral milk instead of sunscreen, etc. But I don't want to be deterred and will test it myself :)
About the scent:
I can't really detect a proper scent opening on myself. I imagined it to be spicy with fresh notes. What does ozone actually smell like? Surely not like laundry powder!
Fire Island comes across scratchy and musty with a perfect laundry detergent note... slowly I can catch a hint of cardamom struggling to break through this mustiness.
So, I continue sniffing... Suddenly it starts to smell like clean laundry with a slightly bitter undertone. Where is the musk, please? Ah... somehow it comes out bitter here with a light floral bouquet trying to fight through a load of laundry powder.
But I'm not giving up yet :)
Patchouli, laundry detergent, and slightly creamy, Fire Island now presents itself. The tuberose that has joined in is unfortunately also very scratchy on me :(
But with the musk and patchouli together, everything now seems more harmonious... even if the scent is too bitter for my personal taste... it could certainly appeal to those who prefer non-sweet scents.
1 1/2 hours later, Fire Island is now also pleasing on my skin, the scratchiness is no longer so scratchy, laundry powder reduced to a minimum and not so bitter anymore... but it's still too exhausting for me to wait for the "hmm... this is going quite well" ;)
The longevity is about 9 hours and the sillage is quite decent.
The bottle... the familiar star in radiant gold-yellow with the sun.
I envy the women whose skin chemistry is perfect for this scent and personally, I think men can wear it quite well.
A summer scent... albeit a bit heavy.
Conclusion:
Laundry detergent-flower cocktail on sunscreen... but honestly, such a sunscreen would personally bother me in the sun. I don't want to smell like a fire island in laundry scent :)
Sorry to everyone who likes it... I truly wish you all the best with it. And don't get me wrong... it's definitely not poorly made... but not compatible with my skin chemistry or nose ;)