Splash Joop! 2011

I'm not into sweet fragrances. But just like a "kid", I need a fix of candy now and then. That's what my "Rochas Man" and "Individuel" is for. But for some God forsaken reason, this Joop! "Splash"? ...O God, its like the Best candy EVER ! I think I may have a serious problem.

I find myself going to the cupboard first thing in the morning, last thing at night, (even in the middle of the night !) Just to sniff the damn thing, or to spray it all over.

I can't let go of the bottle, either. It looks like a glowing green shard from an iceberg, melting in my hand. I'm wearing out my fingers on that (highschool machine shop knurling job) on it's sNappY metal cap. Surely you agree, Doctor. I've gone SNAP-Happy !

I know it's aquatic in the most generic way. I know it's fruity in the most infantile way. Not to mention if there's wood in the base, it must have come from a discounted pile of used veneer with the glue still on the back. YET ! I find it fizzy and sparkling -like a favorite yet unnamed flavour of "Fanta"! I just can't help myself.

Please Doctor, tell me...

Have I lost all maturity?

Have I lost all taste?

HAVE I LOST MY MIND ?!!!

(sniff, sniff)

Ever sit back and wonder why there has never been any "water" offerings from joop!? I'll tell you exactly why. They've taken the time to do it CORRECTLY. This fragrance doesn't try to emulate the smell of a "splash", who would?
This fragrance embodies excitement and surprise!

The scent starts off with a rude SMASH of fruit and labdanum. Sticky sweet, slick and juicy. The fruit almost has a...Purple vibe to it, so passionate and precise.
As it begins to dry you may start to wonder where the wood is.
The answer is, the wood begins to perfectly mingle with that ultra sharp pungent fruit, mellowing it, and offering some sort of control.
The woods really keep this fragrance from bitch slapping everyone who comes within 10 feet of you XD.
The cardamom and coriander offer a direct anchor to the shore of sanity, giving the composition nuttiness and spice.

I don't get any "Calone" or "Aqua" from this fragrance in the least. I am SURE of Joop!'s direction with this was to be exciting and refreshing, like a splash ;)

I admit I expected it to smell different.
Better, maybe.

But it does talk for it's name, though: Aquatic.
Coriander has as strong presence, and then sea water, then dry leaves.

It's all about summer.
Use it to practice sports, go to the gym, maybe even at the job.

I would definitevely not wear this one on a date at night, for example, or a club, or anything during the evening.

Sillage and Projection are quite decent, as most of the Joops.

Yes, I am aware that hardly anyone will read this comment anymore. After all, who still wanders to this underperformer? So how should I draw your attention to a flopped mainstream fragrance? Because Joop! Splash has not been produced for years, has a poor overall rating, and the brand has an image problem (Joop = cheap = mainstream, etc.). In other words: this stuff is worthless (?!)

It's almost sad … if it weren't for a few die-hard (?) fans who still consider it part of their collection. Currently, there are 52 in total, including one lady and me. Or maybe most are not even aware that it still exists ;-) … whatever.

So what else is there to report about this splash that doesn't splash? I can't say for sure, but I can't do without it. Without a comment. For some reason, I've felt for months that I need to do something good for this loser(?) or for all those who still own it - myself included. Crazy? Yes … Because for me, Joop's Splash is anything but a loser :)

Here we go:

In the last approximately 20 years, I only used a few perfumes that I repeatedly repurchased, until in 2012 the Splash came along for 1-2 years. Therefore, I had little knowledge, but last autumn I became more interested in the world of fragrances. I started stocking up on blind buys, of which of course every second one flopped and then found its way to the bay. Perhaps these zero rounds remind you of your own beginnings? ;-) It shouldn't stay that way, and around the turn of the year, I stumbled upon Parfumo. I read up on various scents and began ordering more purposefully and also using the SOUK for tests … And then I remembered the old Joop. Somehow, I was tempted to get it again - and I was not disappointed:

Because this splash smelled only vaguely like I remembered it, and completely different from everything I had used before. And that was the moment I began to engage more closely with the ingredients of our wonderful perfume cosmos:

So what is it that I like about this supposed mainstream flop? To cut it short: It's the cardamom, which I fell for in this Joop for the first time ... along with a bit of coriander, a delightful duo. Splash opens powerfully, citrusy-sharp and peppery-spicy at the same time, making it wonderfully zing in the nose (maybe that's why it's called that?!). Yes, if it can't do anything else - it can do this: cardamom paired with a touch of coriander, slightly green, spicy, aromatic, peppery; and this in contrast, but a very harmonious combination with a warm-soft-sour fruitiness. This fragrance manages to be both familiar and unusual, practically MainstreamPLUS. It brings just the right amount of that sweet/sour "Kasowari" fruit, flanked by a slightly peppery spice that I particularly enjoy. This "pleasing edge" regularly lifts my spirits, and I can always rely on its energetic endurance.

What? … How can that be? After all, 60-70 users rate its H & S as quite weak. This brings me to another point that (only very slightly) might explain why I perceive this splash so differently than most Parfumo users, who probably find it rather weak and short-lived. Because my batch has an endurance of > 10 hours and the sillage is great, as if the scent has matured!

Oops?! Perfumes that mature? Probably nonsense, but this is not the first time I've experienced this. Because I had the same experience with one of my other favorites, namely Sean John's Unforgivable: Parfumo's longevity 5.9 and sillage 5.6, while this fragrance lasts on me for up to 10 hours - at least on a shirt - (see my comment) ... Probably also matured ;-)

Anyway, with Joop! Splash, it's not just the reliable longevity and sillage, but above all the scent itself that simply smells unusual and probably appeals to me for that reason - whether it has "matured" (certainly not gone off!) or not …

Regardless, it's too late to lament much about it. Joop's Splash is off the market, and no one is seriously interested in it anymore (last comment 3.5 years ago). I, on the other hand, have stashed away a second 125ml bottle to appreciate it for a long time. Because I look forward to every time it’s my turn to sweeten my day,

the (un)beloved Joop!

Yes, the new Joop! Splash is certainly worth a few lines!

Aha, there is cassowary fruit pickled in seawater - what on earth is that supposed to be? I suspect it’s a purely imaginary note. At least it’s not a Joop! invention; it already appeared in Ermengildo Zegna’s “Z Fraicheur 2008.” What is offered in the top notes of Splash is rare, but not unique.

Alongside rather little citrus freshness, I mainly smell a light green-bitter note. It is subtle, and it has to be, otherwise it would be awful. This note reminds me of the very eccentric perfumes Skarb by Humicki & Gräf, as well as the perfume Mark Birley. Well, and that is unfortunately hard to describe; I especially recommend testing Skarb to get to know it. Somewhere, this note lies for me between celery, carrot seeds, absinthe, and a light suede scent. And such a note is rather restrained in Joop Splash, appearing from head to heart and yet shaping the first impression.

Let’s approach it from another angle: This light green-bitter freshness has something energizing about it. It’s like a tap on the shoulder - hello, awake! Just as an unusual choice of words or unexpected sentence structure grabs the reader's attention, one stumbles over this strange scent note.

After a few minutes, a bit of oriental volume spreads as a counterpoint. Okay, I think, freshness meets the Orient - that usually fits like a glove. However, since both sides of this contrast are somewhat subtle, it actually seems well-coordinated. The tension is drawn very tight here, but not overstretched!

This could be where it ends, although based on all my experience, I expected the oriental breadth to take over and become unattractive. But Louise Turner has avoided this predictable development, and Splash holds another surprise for us: woody-powdery notes emerge, which then make up the entire drydown. That, in turn, is nice, also familiar, but can already be perceived as boring, as many perfumes have recently taken this direction - from Bulgari Man to J’S Exté Man to Wonderwood.

And Joop! shows us with Splash something else: the new puristic-woody direction seems to survive the winter and is apparently also being used in current spring and summer fragrances! Sport scents, on the other hand, seem to be “out”! I’m fine with that.

Of course, there are also some complaints. The entire exciting scent development takes place in the first hour; afterwards, there’s only wood and a bit of sea freshness - even if it lasts for a while. I would have wished for the individual phases to last a bit longer. Moreover, the scent is quite inconsistent; a continuous style cannot be named. An unusual, almost experimental first phase turns into a beautiful, but by now already familiar base. That doesn’t quite fit together - customers who make their purchasing decision too hastily could be disappointed. I attribute the irritations of my predecessors to the lack of a clear line in Splash.

My conclusion: Splash is not a great scent and not a must-have, but it has surprising and beautiful aspects. It’s wearable. I think we’ve received worse from the Joop brand in recent years.