Top Notes 
Heart Notes 
Base Notes 
03/02/2016
ColinM
516 Reviews
ColinM
Comme des Garçons' unreleased aniseed scent!
Somewhere halfway two other prominent Japanese brands making (sometimes) nice scents – Comme des Garçons and Kenzo, and a tad below – yet connected to – the majesty of Yohji Homme, there lies “mat; very male” by Masaki Matsuhima. The aesthetics are clearly closer to Comme des Garçons and Yohji Yamamoto, and so is the inspiration of this scent for me – quite minimalistic, “urban”, dark and hypermodern; but some notes and the overall texture definitely remind me of a couple of Kenzo’s, notably Kenzoair for a similar use of “transparent woods” and a sort of light, grassy-watery breezy vibe. Finally I can’t not mention Lolita Lempicka Au Masculin for the top anise accord, here filtered through a contemporary Japanese sensitivity, and also actually smelling a bit more quality and less juvenile than in Lempicka’s rendition. Just add Comme des Garçons Black’s smoky licorice to the scents I just mentioned above, and you’ve quite a good picture of “mat; very male”. In fact it’s pretty much that: smoky licorice, breezy anise, “airy” woods, an almost unperceivable hint of birch-suede, with a touch of water and a Japanese sense of peaceful, ephemeral suspension. Be prepared to a massively light scent, but it lasts for a decent amount of time.
Shortly a very compelling modern take on a woody-anise-licorice theme, quite “synthetic” in spirit but actually fulfilling and “round” enough not to smell annoyingly artificial, or too harsh. Nothing top notch, but it’s very (very!) decent. Very easy to like, very versatile, not too derivative, quite unusual too due to its “aquatic black” sort of atmosphere – a transparent, breezy ambiance yet with a subtle, weightless black feel amazingly paired with the sweetness of anise. It can still be found for relatively cheap on eBay, if you like the names I mentioned in my review I’d definitely recommend it.
7/10
Shortly a very compelling modern take on a woody-anise-licorice theme, quite “synthetic” in spirit but actually fulfilling and “round” enough not to smell annoyingly artificial, or too harsh. Nothing top notch, but it’s very (very!) decent. Very easy to like, very versatile, not too derivative, quite unusual too due to its “aquatic black” sort of atmosphere – a transparent, breezy ambiance yet with a subtle, weightless black feel amazingly paired with the sweetness of anise. It can still be found for relatively cheap on eBay, if you like the names I mentioned in my review I’d definitely recommend it.
7/10
