11
RELIVING MY BEST and BEAUTIFUL MEMORIES FOR FEW TEN EUROS
Although I'm really short on money, I really try to live by a short statement, which in 3 words tells everything there is to know:
'Life is short...'
On 5th of January, 2022 I bought 50 ml of EGOISTE PLATINUM (for more my wallet was too thin) & as a thank you I got 5 quite high quality miniature testers (Givenchy, KENZO,...)
I made it my 'mission' to thoroughly try (test) them all, so that I can post at least a partial review about them on this web site.
I really don't know why I have chosen that KENZO HOMME EDT INTENSE will be my number two on the 'list', but so it happened.
When TESTING fragrances I have a habit to spray the fragrance twice on my left forearm and twice on the right. This is the 1st test & the 2nd one I usually do 2 days later. Same routine, but because usually in the tester is 1 ml (can be also 1.2, but here it wasn't specified), the end result is, that in average I got 3 sprays over BOTH whole arm(s) - in the 2nd test, before the tester was empty.
Now to the main points of my review, which I really shouldn't forget:
From the FIRST spray on, I was mesmerized & I almost immediately felt that I was taken almost 30 years in the past, into my youth and my memory took me somewhere near the beach and I could actually touch, smell and vividly see & hear, what was going on.
Anyway, a very pleasant experience on my couch at home.
If I wanted to exaggerate, I'd use the term lucid dream or dreaming in a state of wakefulness.
No, it wasn't so intense (it is not my intention to deceive you in any way - positive or negative), but it was not very far away from it.
Mainly those memories were 'real' (not a fantasy, because they were substantiated by my mother, because at that age she still had one eye on my whereabouts - well, it seems, that not a lot has changed in 30 years :)
But the main thing was, that at those times and places I was HAPPY, CAREFREE - a stark contrast to the cold winter outside and my pain - which is harder and harder to control, because it comes from the heart, the inside & at least for some time, faded away.
If I take ONLY those aspects of the fragrance, it is worth buying. Period!
So, before I continue: EXACTLY one week later I went back to the store & bought my KENZO HOMME Intense 40 ml (my hands were shaking, because even this tiniest bottle - 40, 60 or 110 ml - I could hardly afford & to be honest, I was sincerely hoping for the 60 ml variant*).
* insider tip from a long time employee there (how is this trustworthy, NO IDEA); so to paraphrase her:
"If you really like this fragrance, buy AT LEAST the middle variant, because the prices will without a doubt go up, not even stay as they are and DEFINITELY NOT fall even a bit."
But there is always something & I'll mention this (ONLY) one negative thing here first:
Someone who doesn't have so much money problems as I do, would probably not even notice, that this EDT Intense (I'm leaning to the conclusion, that the added word 'Intense' actually means something & brings this fragrance closer to the EDP. Said otherwise, IMO this isn't just a marketing stunt) is quite costly.
But don't get me wrong, for example: Sauvage Elixir has (again, just IMO) 'problems' with sillage (I'm NOT even touching the main problem of this fragrance - COST). And this is for such HIGH concentration & LOW content of the fragrance (60 ml) just UNACCEPTABLE.
If I try to compare longevity of those two fragrances, there seems to be a tie. But looking at the BIG picture (you surely know what I'm talking about), Elixir is AGAIN IMO a clear loser.
Why am I comparing exactly those 2 fragrances? KENZO probably doesn't have a question mark. And Elixir I chose because of the 'hype' around it & there is another reason:
In one month I was four times in the same fragrance store & I conveniently used the opportunity, when I bought two other fragrances (2 times I bought nothing, but who cares), to test Sauvage Elixir & attempt to find the 'magic', which people (apparently) see (smell) in it.
When it comes to smell (at least for the first few hours), Elixir is for me (barely) the winner. Yes, it smells REALLY NICE for the first few hours, but for me (especially at such a price) there is really nothing new, no 'WOW' factor & this is what I really miss (and I surely won't be the only one :)
I'm not even mentioning the absence of associations & memories, which are with this fragrance completely missing (AGAIN - at least in my instance and I admit this is one of the most subjective factors I'm describing here).
To continue, what is happening when I'm smelling Elixir and what I really miss and what I DO get, when I do only one quick (doesn't even have to be a 'deep') smell with KENZO HOMME Intense:
The scent(s) start their 'voyage' in my nose, they continue their way to the smell center in the brain (olfactory bulb) and end their (short) route in the amygdala & hippocampus, which are ALWAYS the source for triggering a memory with details and if you're "lucky" even an intense emotion.
A DEFINITIVE 0 : 2 for Kenzo (but again, a very SUBJECTIVE experience, so I'll 'allow myself' giving you an advice in the middle of all this words AND IF YOU CAN, follow it:
It doesn't matter, how adorable words I will still use BELOW for the description, how KENZO smells.
Everything about this review (and majority of others) is to a degree (especially this one, because I'm new here & don't have so much experiences) SUBJECTIVE:
PLEASE, do me a favor and don't make a blind buy. Period.
Now it's out and I can continue:
Although the brain retains its 'plasticity' ALL its life, the odour receptors for Elixir obviously didn't have the need to make any such connection for me. :(
Rather the opposite (my experience) is true for KENZO (the main reason I bought it *), but I must emphasize that the scent is ALSO very pleasing, nice & soft - understatement (my mother used the adjectives 'intrusive' & 'harsh' - probably just to annoy me, because after few days she was nearer to my 'wavelength' :) .
* NOT ONLY just because it triggers a memory on a scale level of movie 'Total Recall' with Arnold Schwarzenegger. No, just kidding... :)
With confidence I say, that durability is way ABOVE the AVERAGE & that the sillage is beyond my expectations, especially for an EDT (Intense or not :)
I'll leave the descriptions, where comparisons are made with OTHER individual fragrances & described with notes, to other reviewers, whose collections of perfumes are bigger and they have much more experience than me, to write reviews in such a way as described in this paragraph.
I have ONLY one request for you ALL:
Please don't be too harsh on me & don't 'tear up' my review. I tried my best to bring you my experience with this fragrance nearer to you all & English is not my 1st language. Besides that, this is only just my 2nd review.
If the review was even a bit helpful to you, a click on the 'proper' button will take you less than a second & the same is with the award. But don't get me wrong:
If you have something to add: A compliment OR the opposite of it, please do so.
Thank You all in advance.
P.S.
You may look up on the web the synthetic substance 'Calypsone'. It is one of the ingredients in this fragrance (only today it was changed from 'Sea Breeze' - I think / hope, that my proposal in the forum had at least something to do with this) & I have the feeling that it gives some of the magic to this fragrance, which caught me in its net.
'Life is short...'
On 5th of January, 2022 I bought 50 ml of EGOISTE PLATINUM (for more my wallet was too thin) & as a thank you I got 5 quite high quality miniature testers (Givenchy, KENZO,...)
I made it my 'mission' to thoroughly try (test) them all, so that I can post at least a partial review about them on this web site.
I really don't know why I have chosen that KENZO HOMME EDT INTENSE will be my number two on the 'list', but so it happened.
When TESTING fragrances I have a habit to spray the fragrance twice on my left forearm and twice on the right. This is the 1st test & the 2nd one I usually do 2 days later. Same routine, but because usually in the tester is 1 ml (can be also 1.2, but here it wasn't specified), the end result is, that in average I got 3 sprays over BOTH whole arm(s) - in the 2nd test, before the tester was empty.
Now to the main points of my review, which I really shouldn't forget:
From the FIRST spray on, I was mesmerized & I almost immediately felt that I was taken almost 30 years in the past, into my youth and my memory took me somewhere near the beach and I could actually touch, smell and vividly see & hear, what was going on.
Anyway, a very pleasant experience on my couch at home.
If I wanted to exaggerate, I'd use the term lucid dream or dreaming in a state of wakefulness.
No, it wasn't so intense (it is not my intention to deceive you in any way - positive or negative), but it was not very far away from it.
Mainly those memories were 'real' (not a fantasy, because they were substantiated by my mother, because at that age she still had one eye on my whereabouts - well, it seems, that not a lot has changed in 30 years :)
But the main thing was, that at those times and places I was HAPPY, CAREFREE - a stark contrast to the cold winter outside and my pain - which is harder and harder to control, because it comes from the heart, the inside & at least for some time, faded away.
If I take ONLY those aspects of the fragrance, it is worth buying. Period!
So, before I continue: EXACTLY one week later I went back to the store & bought my KENZO HOMME Intense 40 ml (my hands were shaking, because even this tiniest bottle - 40, 60 or 110 ml - I could hardly afford & to be honest, I was sincerely hoping for the 60 ml variant*).
* insider tip from a long time employee there (how is this trustworthy, NO IDEA); so to paraphrase her:
"If you really like this fragrance, buy AT LEAST the middle variant, because the prices will without a doubt go up, not even stay as they are and DEFINITELY NOT fall even a bit."
But there is always something & I'll mention this (ONLY) one negative thing here first:
Someone who doesn't have so much money problems as I do, would probably not even notice, that this EDT Intense (I'm leaning to the conclusion, that the added word 'Intense' actually means something & brings this fragrance closer to the EDP. Said otherwise, IMO this isn't just a marketing stunt) is quite costly.
But don't get me wrong, for example: Sauvage Elixir has (again, just IMO) 'problems' with sillage (I'm NOT even touching the main problem of this fragrance - COST). And this is for such HIGH concentration & LOW content of the fragrance (60 ml) just UNACCEPTABLE.
If I try to compare longevity of those two fragrances, there seems to be a tie. But looking at the BIG picture (you surely know what I'm talking about), Elixir is AGAIN IMO a clear loser.
Why am I comparing exactly those 2 fragrances? KENZO probably doesn't have a question mark. And Elixir I chose because of the 'hype' around it & there is another reason:
In one month I was four times in the same fragrance store & I conveniently used the opportunity, when I bought two other fragrances (2 times I bought nothing, but who cares), to test Sauvage Elixir & attempt to find the 'magic', which people (apparently) see (smell) in it.
When it comes to smell (at least for the first few hours), Elixir is for me (barely) the winner. Yes, it smells REALLY NICE for the first few hours, but for me (especially at such a price) there is really nothing new, no 'WOW' factor & this is what I really miss (and I surely won't be the only one :)
I'm not even mentioning the absence of associations & memories, which are with this fragrance completely missing (AGAIN - at least in my instance and I admit this is one of the most subjective factors I'm describing here).
To continue, what is happening when I'm smelling Elixir and what I really miss and what I DO get, when I do only one quick (doesn't even have to be a 'deep') smell with KENZO HOMME Intense:
The scent(s) start their 'voyage' in my nose, they continue their way to the smell center in the brain (olfactory bulb) and end their (short) route in the amygdala & hippocampus, which are ALWAYS the source for triggering a memory with details and if you're "lucky" even an intense emotion.
A DEFINITIVE 0 : 2 for Kenzo (but again, a very SUBJECTIVE experience, so I'll 'allow myself' giving you an advice in the middle of all this words AND IF YOU CAN, follow it:
It doesn't matter, how adorable words I will still use BELOW for the description, how KENZO smells.
Everything about this review (and majority of others) is to a degree (especially this one, because I'm new here & don't have so much experiences) SUBJECTIVE:
PLEASE, do me a favor and don't make a blind buy. Period.
Now it's out and I can continue:
Although the brain retains its 'plasticity' ALL its life, the odour receptors for Elixir obviously didn't have the need to make any such connection for me. :(
Rather the opposite (my experience) is true for KENZO (the main reason I bought it *), but I must emphasize that the scent is ALSO very pleasing, nice & soft - understatement (my mother used the adjectives 'intrusive' & 'harsh' - probably just to annoy me, because after few days she was nearer to my 'wavelength' :) .
* NOT ONLY just because it triggers a memory on a scale level of movie 'Total Recall' with Arnold Schwarzenegger. No, just kidding... :)
With confidence I say, that durability is way ABOVE the AVERAGE & that the sillage is beyond my expectations, especially for an EDT (Intense or not :)
I'll leave the descriptions, where comparisons are made with OTHER individual fragrances & described with notes, to other reviewers, whose collections of perfumes are bigger and they have much more experience than me, to write reviews in such a way as described in this paragraph.
I have ONLY one request for you ALL:
Please don't be too harsh on me & don't 'tear up' my review. I tried my best to bring you my experience with this fragrance nearer to you all & English is not my 1st language. Besides that, this is only just my 2nd review.
If the review was even a bit helpful to you, a click on the 'proper' button will take you less than a second & the same is with the award. But don't get me wrong:
If you have something to add: A compliment OR the opposite of it, please do so.
Thank You all in advance.
P.S.
You may look up on the web the synthetic substance 'Calypsone'. It is one of the ingredients in this fragrance (only today it was changed from 'Sea Breeze' - I think / hope, that my proposal in the forum had at least something to do with this) & I have the feeling that it gives some of the magic to this fragrance, which caught me in its net.
2 Comments
Seeker78