Fusion d'Issey Issey Miyake 2020

Fusion d'Issey is part of a new trendy family that includes fragrances with mineral scents, such as the newbie Hermes H24, for example. Solid, inorganic, and crystallized substance, minerals derived from a natural geological process. In creating perfumes, minerality is a subjective concept because there is no family of minerals in the strict sense. With its moist and salty facets, the mineral notes give perfumers an alternative way of expressing freshness in their creations. Predominantly ozonic notes, such as Calone, with a light and slightly scented aroma of anise, marine, suggestive of the sea, rocks, and iodized air. A perfumer can also use cashmeran for its salty facet and amber and final notes of fucus that evokes bitumen and stone, respectively. In Fusion, I bet the dyad coconut water, and fig nectar turns out just too milky and mineral, wonderfully. The ingredients of modern perfumery have come a long way in recent years, and there have certainly been many successful scents based on coconut milk. Fusion turns around three keynotes: a mineral lemon, solar sandalwood, and volcanic patchouli. Since this D.N.A., it should be clear that Fusion is quite different and not just another l'Eau d'Issey.

Instead of a citrus mix bomb, a more old-school blend, Fusion opts for an offbeat approach that's not afraid to dabble in artifice. As a starting point, the lemon zest opens along with a highly distinctive amber background. Here the nose opted for lemon "primofiore," a citrus fruit quality from Syracuse, Sicily, harvested in winter. Soon, a relatively dry and mineral accord joins the yellow citrus fruits and unfolds notes of lactonic, milky, tender, and sweet coconut water and salty, dry, and penetrating fig. The fig leaf milk makes the coconut trend towards its creamier side. Fruity? No, I wouldn't say it, far from it. Fig turns out green and woody, more from the tree and leaves than luscious fruit nectar. The hand of the master perfumer Nathalie Lorson is palpable. I pleasantly recognize chords present in other creations of her. The freshness of the modern take on coconut water and fig milk outlines the backbone of the fragrance, you'll get them right away, and this mineral and salty accord will be the signature of the perfume.

Just a clarification: the mineral notes have the advantage of being more lasting than citrus notes, extending their freshness to the heart of a fragrance and the dry-down notes. The explosive freshness of a lively, bitter lemon meets the intensity of spices in the heart. It isn't easy to distinguish the middle notes one by one; instead, I feel a compelling aromatic and slightly spicy accord that derives from the mixture of fragrant rosemary, eucalyptus, and balsamic cardamom, a greenish hint of geranium, and a sweet touch of nutmeg. The accord is decidedly mineral, very sunny, and it emulates the scent of minerals basking in the sun; it almost seems to smell a wet river stone washed by a fall of violet leaves juice.

Deep in the base, a creamy shade of sandalwood contrasted with a sincere earthy, almost lava, patchouli look. The sandalwood in this is tremendous and sinks deep into the dry down along with other notes. Ambroxide, created from minerals and a slight fragrance of ambergris, is the ingredient showed, but I think there are at least a couple more to refine that mineral and salty quality. Here the amber of manufacture is smooth, has no marine nuances, and is far from the "Diorish" Sauvage vein.

My last words about Fusion d'Issey, it's a mineral fougère fragrance, polished and clean, nearly unique, with average longevity and moderate sillage, influential in the first hour, and then turns into a skin scent. The overall smell is delightful and compliment-worthy. It is suitable for warm weather, both Spring and Summer seasons are OK, daytime, for leisure and working time.

I based the review on a 100ml bottle I have owned since April 2021.

-Elysium

This new Issey Miyake proposal is sophisticated, smells great and brings something different, especially considering current releases.

Having said this, the fragrance should be elevated to the halls of Olympus... Or not?

It'll depend on the priorities of each person, but the truth is that it isn't a perfume that will dazzle everyone, nor does it appear to be its intention, either: Fusion d'Issey doesn't come to revolutionize perfumery at all... But what it does, is smell stylish.

This one is a fragrance for lovers of the modern trendy but with some different - but subtle -nuances.

- The scent:

Fusion d'Issey gently opens citrus, herbal and exotic. It's fresh, slightly aquatic and from the beginning it's charmingly aromatic.

Fig nectar and coconut milk add some subtle nuances here in an unexpected way, which are really great. They'll remain in the development of the scent, when soft floral and woody notes appear merging with rosemary and cardamom, which will continue to be present throughout the dry-down.

In the last part patchouli and sandalwood take center stage, floating on a light sea breeze subtly aromatic.

- Longevity & Projection: It's a moderate-to-smooth projector, with a nice but short trail. The scent radius lasts 4 to 5 hours, although it remains about 7h as an skin scent.

- Ocassions & Mood: Perfect for sunsets on chillout clubs having a drink - spring, summer, early fall - : It's relaxing and comforting... Just perfect.

In addition, it’s a wise choice for the gym and the office during most of the year, too - the contrast of cold & heat makes a good effect -.

- Conclusion: An exotic fougere, charming, modern, soft and easy-to-wear, although maybe not for everyone.

... But it has style.

When Fusion was first announced I was thrilled about a new Issey Miyake line (not just a flanker) and the note breakdown was actually very interesting and the cherry on top was having a name like Nathalie Lorson attached.

I knew it would take a while before it was available here so in the meantime I decided to watch some reviews even though there aren't too much available but most of there are lukewarm at best. Most reviewers agreed it was fine but kind of boring, nothing too exciting.
When I finally got ahold of it and I was pleasantly surprised! Yes, it's nothing ground breaking but it is a very very nice fragrance, it's fresh, stylish, playful and it's also versatile. I love coconut done right and I feel Fusion d'Issey nailed it better than others such as Light Blue Sun (which I actually enjoy a lot) and Cool Water Intense (which is kinda nice but sort of a chemical mess).

Perfromance is nice, I get 7hrs with decent projection for the first 1.5 - 2 hours, not a projection monster but it will hardly offend anyone.

Awesome release by Issey Miyake

The bottle for Fusion is a bit of eye candy, good job marketing! Actually, the bottle itself does not seem to be the only thing that Miyake’s marketing department have been working long hours on : the entire background story with volcanoes, molten rock (the “mineral solar scent” supposedly emulating rocks in the hot sun), water, earth, fire, air, hot and cold are all a very grandiose theme for something that in my eyes is more down to earth. After testing for most of a week under different weather conditions, I can report that the main players are definitely the fig & coconut supported by rosemary & ambroxan and combined with the heart notes it gives off a rather aquatic feeling more than a fougere. Not overly masculine, but very pleasant.

Even if the notes are quite different, I do get some similarities in the base to one of Nathalie Lorson’s other creations, K by Dolce & Gabbana. On one hand due to the rosemary/ambrox/ISO-E combo, but on the other hand also due to the rather underwhelming performance of both of these.

All in all, Fusion is a nice summery aquatic/fougere with a twist – nothing mindblowing but still enjoyable. So we’re basically left with two options here : If you’re not into scents whose performance is far from beast mode - just skip it! If you’re just a big Miyake fan and/or find the pretty bottle to be a nice addition to your collection, go ahead and enjoy it – just be prepared to bring an atomizer. Personally if the performance wasn’t less than average, I would probably be rating it higher.

I was disappointed with this scent. Seeing the large number of voices similar to Kenzo Homme Intense, I expected something different. I really like coconut in perfumes, but not in the version in Fusion.
The very beginning didn't make a very good impression. As it later turned out, the opening is the best part of this perfume.
Fusion opens with sweet coconut milk accompanied by lemon in the background, but it disappears after a few minutes. The fig is not very pronounced, but it probably works with the sandalwood to enhance the creamy accent. So coconut is creamy, very sweet and more feminine. We can smell the familiar scent of summer tanning cosmetics. This accord will never be particularly masculine, but I know men's perfumes in which it is made better and in a more interesting way.
This opening isn't the worst, it just doesn't suit my taste. For me it is too bland, mushy and too feminine.
I was also surprised by how delicately the Fusion sounds from the very beginning. It doesn't come off the skin very well, it's mild, close to the skin and somewhat indistinct.
Okay, the opening is average in my opinion, but it still does the best job in terms of composition and you may like it, but what comes next? Well, nothing interesting. After 10-15 minutes, a lot of ambroxan comes out, which I don't like. Fusion is synthetic from start to finish, but I wouldn't mind if the top notes were followed by a more interesting development. However, we have ambroxan vapors which, together with the breaking through coconut, make the scent irritating and artificial.
There is no freshness here either, apart from that sprinkling of citrus in the first minutes. Sometimes I have the impression that there is a bit of a watery atmosphere here, but in my opinion the tones of ambroxan killed this composition. However, looking at the mainstream market, some younger users may like this scent.
The parameters are poor. The projection, as I have already mentioned, is intimate and indistinct from the beginning, but the longevity is only 3-4 hours on my skin.
I wanted to try the Extreme version, but after trying the basic Fusion my enthusiasm waned, especially since the company's samples are so sparse in terms of juice that you have to buy more than one to get to know the scent well.
I really appreciate Nathalie Lorson, but she failed this time. Regal White for Zara in a similar but less sweet style turned out better, with a more interesting composition enriched with vetiver and better parameters.
However, if we do not have too high expectations and we like creamy-watery scents with coconut and fig, this is not a bad option. Provided we get it at a good price. I recently bought a 100ml bottle so that I could test Fusion in the spring. For low price it's cool.