Note de Yuzu Heeley 2017

I am currently testing a range of James Heeley fragrances, of which I previously only knew Sel Marin. I was led to Note de Yuzu through the search for a citrus scent with decent projection and longevity. Mission accomplished, I would say! Although the scent associatively takes me less to a lemon grove and more to a sailing ship.

The salty note gives the fragrance an aquatic quality, but in a completely different way than most marine scents do. These often smell too "green" instead of "blue" to me, reminding me of algae and seaweed rather than the sea and freshness. This is also the case with Sel Marin, or with Montale's Embruns d'Essaouira, both of which evoke a harbor more than the sea and possess an unpleasant iodine note for me. I have always preferred distinctly "blue" scents as maritime fragrances, like - a cliché - Nautica's Voyager.

Note de Yuzu shares a fine musk note in the base with this fragrance, which supports it subtly yet decisively and gives it some depth. However, apart from that, Note de Yuzu takes a different path; it is, literally and metaphorically, a "yellow" scent. On this sailing trip, you have the scent of the sea in your nose, unclouded by seaweed, algae, fish, or shellfish, and you are close enough to an island to catch the scent of the lemons that tempt you to go ashore.

James Heeley's Note de Yuzu is for me the provisional end of my search for a lasting and intense citrus fragrance; I like it better than, for example, Patricia de Nicolaï's Eau de Yuzu, Acqua Viva by Profumum Roma, or Nudas Veritas by Ateliers des Ors, which I have tried recently. Now I am eagerly awaiting Initio's Rehab, which should be arriving soon.