K Dolce & Gabbana 2020 Eau de Parfum
3
Helpful Review
What. A. Charmer.
I'll be honest: when I test-sprayed this on my testing surface (after blind-buying it, due to a great sale), I kind of thought I'd been had by a gimmicky bottle and internet hype again (looking at you, UltraRed). All I got from it was "Dylan Blue, slightly modernised" - so, I shrugged it off as a "safe summer smell," and then I tested a couple of other new arrivals I'd got that day. Somewhere along the way, the dry-down of K EDP was lost to the overpowering grapefruit of Light Blue Forever lingering in my nose, and I just stuck it up on the shelf, figuring I'd give it a go when it got a little warmer.
One morning, however, I was unsure what to wear out of my new arrivals, so I passed the decision-making on to my best friend, who has a rare talent for making random selections from my collection that turn out to be exactly what I needed to be wearing that day. I sent her a pic of the new bottles, and she chose K - and, as per her M.O., she really hit it out of the park.
--
On the first skin spray, I let it sit for a second, sniffed, and got back the same olfactory data as I had off my non-skin test. So, working with the mindset of "slightly softer and more modern Dylan Blue", I gave myself about 10 sprays and went about my business.
10 minutes passed.
Suddenly, I found myself doing the "investigative sniff" manoeuvre, because I was getting a waft of something vaguely spicy in the air. Immediately, my mind jumped to these "guarana and chilli" nicotine pouches that I favour, and I thought I'd left the tin for those open - but that was not the case. So, I opened the tin to see if I was somehow smelling it through the plastic... and as my hand was en route to my nose, I caught a whiff of my arm, and immediately followed it with a deeper sniff. Lo and behold, K had evolved, opening up a bit, and in doing so, had become properly intriguing.
--
Having now smelled my way through the whole scent evolution an untold number of times, I have to say, D&G really pulled off something special here. The opening is almost pure Dylan Blue, and that impression lingers over the top of it. Then, the fig and citrus come out to play, and it takes on a bit of an Acqua di Gio Profondo vibe, with a touch of green to it. And then, at about the 10-15 minute mark, the chilli/pimento note settles in - just under the blue top, just above the cedar/vetiver/patchouli base - and WOW, does it ever work.
Sweet blue/green citrus, over masculine florals and subtle heat, all atop a base of clean woods. The note breakdown looks illogical, but the end product is just fantastic. My only minor quibbles with it are (1) that the drydown on clothes smells a little soapy - but it smells great on the skin, so that's fine - and (2) that it does cause one to go slightly anosmic to it - but that seems to be all the rage in perfumery these days, and if I put nose-to-skin, I can still smell it just fine - so it's barely an inconvenience.
Tl;dr: It's an actually unique blue. If you see it for a good price, absolutely grab it.
9.7/10
One morning, however, I was unsure what to wear out of my new arrivals, so I passed the decision-making on to my best friend, who has a rare talent for making random selections from my collection that turn out to be exactly what I needed to be wearing that day. I sent her a pic of the new bottles, and she chose K - and, as per her M.O., she really hit it out of the park.
--
On the first skin spray, I let it sit for a second, sniffed, and got back the same olfactory data as I had off my non-skin test. So, working with the mindset of "slightly softer and more modern Dylan Blue", I gave myself about 10 sprays and went about my business.
10 minutes passed.
Suddenly, I found myself doing the "investigative sniff" manoeuvre, because I was getting a waft of something vaguely spicy in the air. Immediately, my mind jumped to these "guarana and chilli" nicotine pouches that I favour, and I thought I'd left the tin for those open - but that was not the case. So, I opened the tin to see if I was somehow smelling it through the plastic... and as my hand was en route to my nose, I caught a whiff of my arm, and immediately followed it with a deeper sniff. Lo and behold, K had evolved, opening up a bit, and in doing so, had become properly intriguing.
--
Having now smelled my way through the whole scent evolution an untold number of times, I have to say, D&G really pulled off something special here. The opening is almost pure Dylan Blue, and that impression lingers over the top of it. Then, the fig and citrus come out to play, and it takes on a bit of an Acqua di Gio Profondo vibe, with a touch of green to it. And then, at about the 10-15 minute mark, the chilli/pimento note settles in - just under the blue top, just above the cedar/vetiver/patchouli base - and WOW, does it ever work.
Sweet blue/green citrus, over masculine florals and subtle heat, all atop a base of clean woods. The note breakdown looks illogical, but the end product is just fantastic. My only minor quibbles with it are (1) that the drydown on clothes smells a little soapy - but it smells great on the skin, so that's fine - and (2) that it does cause one to go slightly anosmic to it - but that seems to be all the rage in perfumery these days, and if I put nose-to-skin, I can still smell it just fine - so it's barely an inconvenience.
Tl;dr: It's an actually unique blue. If you see it for a good price, absolutely grab it.
9.7/10