First of all: 'Yuzu Man' smells good - fresh, a bit fruity, lightly woody, with a fine, subtle musk base. It is pleasing, has a nice presence, and for a citrus fragrance, it has more than acceptable longevity.
So far, so good.
But could it be that the people at Caron and their perfumer Richard Fraysse took a whole 11 years to create this scent?
Hard to believe. But after spending so many years distorting their own heritage through reformulations (I still can't believe what has become of 'Narcisse Noir'!), it seems their creative energies were so depleted that they could only muster enough for a fragrance of this kind.
But, as I said: It’s not bad, just boring, or rather - bland.
Now, Caron does have a quite respectable lineage when it comes to men's fragrances: The lavender legend 'Pour un Homme de Caron', the sensational animalic-oriental leather chypre 'Yatagan', the wonderfully smoky-floral 'Le 3me Homme de Caron', and the straw-metallic, somewhat unwieldy, but still great 'L’Anarchiste'. It may have seemed obvious that a fruity-citrusy scent would fit well into this lineup, but I expected more. Because as the lineage of the new fragrance shows: The introduction of a men's fragrance at Caron is something special and certainly not an everyday occurrence - just like the fragrances were.
This time, unfortunately, it is different. This time, for the special occasion, a completely unremarkable scent was chosen. 'Yuzu Man' is, in stark contrast to its predecessors, right in the middle of the mainstream. No statement on the fringes, where Caron has always positioned itself quite well - no, really right in the middle. Somewhere between 'Kenzo Power', 'Bleu de Chanel', 'Guerlain Homme', and Yves Saint-Laurent's 'L’Homme'. Here, everything is fresh, fresh, and again fresh, mixed with a few flowers and underpinned by nondescript woody notes, adorned with an exotic little fruit here and a trendy nuance there - that’s it.
A few years ago, such fragrance formulas would have been added to laundry detergents and fabric softeners. They fulfill exactly that purpose: They make clothes smell good and fresh, resist closet mustiness and cold cigarette smoke.
But does the whole guy want to smell like that?
No, he does not. At least I don't.
Perhaps this is also a phenomenon of the times. Just a few decades ago, fragrances were created that were primarily dedicated to the French man, leaving the American or even Asian men baffled (see Kouros). Today, however, the aim is to please everyone: Europeans, Americans, Asians, simply everyone - the globalized perfume.
And what comes out of it can be best admired in 'Yuzu Man': 'L’Equilibre' is the subtitle of the perfume - balance.
“Un homme en equilibre entre l’Orient et l’Occident,” Caron further explains. And indeed - 'Yuzu Man' is such a balanced fragrance that one instantly wants to suppress a yawn. Everything that could even remotely create a contrast and thus generate tension has been meticulously leveled, smoothed, balanced - et voilà: l’equilibre. The tensionless one-world fragrance, the fragrant minimal consensus. A feel-good scent for wellness freaks who constantly talk about Ying and Yang and have a DIY Buddha sitting at home.
Even the last fragrance from Caron, 'Eau de Reglisse', was such a scent: Harmonious and at peace with itself like hardly any other, the perfected boredom.
That it wasn’t always like this can be wonderfully studied with 'L’Anarchiste' (apparently also programmatically the absolute opposite of 'Yuzu Man', the global conformist) with its many, sometimes irritating contrasts: Caron’s fragrances thrived on daring opposites and the resulting tensions.
So where does this new approach of balancing, aligning, overcoming, the urge for balance, for calm and reconciliation come from? Is it cowardice? The fear of one’s own courage, that one could create something great and daring if one only wanted to?
I don’t know.
Rather, I suspect that this is a kind of iPad-ization of the fragrance world. Everyone, and in this case Caron, wants to create the perfectly styled scent. A scent that is still perceived as irresistible in the farthest corner of this world, that evokes rapturous desire in Asia or America - wherever - and quickly mutates into a style icon. But such a scent will not become 'Yuzu Man', as I hope no scent ever will.
To 'L’equilibre', I would like to respond with a 'Vive la difference'. Who would willingly want to sip a bland unity soup that doesn’t hurt anyone but also doesn’t do much else? Not me.
One more word about the yuzu fruit: Caron reports that Monsieur Fraysse was so taken with the sparkling and zesty notes of this exotic fruit that he took on the task of developing the first masculine citrus fragrance, a work of great originality, for the house of Caron: 'Yuzu Man'.
That a Japanese perfumer named Akiko Kamei (or Kanei) introduced the yuzu fruit into the Caron fragrance cosmos 26 years earlier is, of course, not mentioned, but was confirmed years ago by a spokesperson for the house to a 'Basenotes' member: “Le parfum (3me Homme) est viril, tonique et bien équilibré. Et véritablement international, car c'est une Japonaise Akiko KANEI qui l'a créé en y introduisant pour la première fois le Yuzu mandarine japonaise de l'île de Shikoku.”
As you can see, the yuzu fruit was introduced more than a quarter of a century ago by that brave lady, and not by Mr. Fraysse. Also, the word 'equilibre' is already included in that statement and was presumably part of the concept back then.
So, what Caron is offering us today is not all that new and revolutionary.
But so be it.
Those who can enjoy 'Guerlain Homme' and 'Bleu de Chanel' may like this fresh-fruity little water - it’s not that bad!
However, I would have preferred if Caron had reissued an old classic that has unfortunately been - as reported multiple times - ruined, perhaps slapping a 'pour Homme' or 'Man' label on it, but at least making it accessible to a wider audience - a work of the great Ernest Daltroff: the 1939 launched citrus fragrance 'Alpona'.
I am quite sure we would have witnessed the glorious rebirth of an eminent perfume.
But as it is, well ...
Japanese yuzu
Indian verbena
Australian sandalwood
Provençal fig
Lemon basil
Elysium
Nostrildamus
Clelly
Floyd
Axiomatic
Schoeibksr
NuiWhakakore
Cfr
Josch
SchatzSucher
Dannyboy
