Narciso Narciso Rodriguez 2014 Eau de Parfum
4
Very helpful Review
Artificial Nebula of Woody Amber Floral Musk
Narciso Eau de Parfum continues the tradition of Narciso Rodriguez's beloved white musk, but this time, contrary to the For Her and Essence lines, the musk in Narciso takes the back seat.
The notes in Narciso seem to be consciously kept undefined and non-realistic. The opening is a dewy, refreshing, even sharp floral that reads more like watery magnolia than gardenia to me, but as a milky, even nutty undertone develops over time, the abstract floral accord gradually shifts towards the direction of gardenia.
Because of its overall nebulous nature, Narciso evolves in an incremental way: the floral sweetness is little by little taken over by an opaque woody amber, further underlined by the prune-like tart-sweetness of rose. While I can understand the aesthetic of deliberately maintaining an artificial, non-natural feeling in a composition and appreciate it in a few innovative fragrances, unfortunately in Narciso, the sharp synthetic cedar, the densely opaque amber, the creamy white musk, and the nebulous sweet floral, all together create an combined effect of plastic doll out of laundry, a smell and an image that I don't particularly enjoy.
The late dry down sees the woody amber fading away, allowing the signature clean patchouli and white musk combination of the For Her series to surface and to stay until it completely disappears after about 10 hours. The sillage is mostly moderate throughout.
Being a fan of the previous For Her and Essence lines, I had high hope for Narciso. But in the end, the Egyptian musk that I find utterly memorable in For Her plays only a minimal role, and the amorphous and intentional artificial interpretation of floral and woody amber, while interesting on paper, eventually rub me the wrong way in execution. Suffice to say that Narciso is not my cup of tea. But I can understand how its opaque, nebulous nature can be seen as a mysterious, enveloping aura. If you enjoy modern clean abstract fragrances in general and are looking for a warm floral ambery musk, you may want to give Narciso a try.
The notes in Narciso seem to be consciously kept undefined and non-realistic. The opening is a dewy, refreshing, even sharp floral that reads more like watery magnolia than gardenia to me, but as a milky, even nutty undertone develops over time, the abstract floral accord gradually shifts towards the direction of gardenia.
Because of its overall nebulous nature, Narciso evolves in an incremental way: the floral sweetness is little by little taken over by an opaque woody amber, further underlined by the prune-like tart-sweetness of rose. While I can understand the aesthetic of deliberately maintaining an artificial, non-natural feeling in a composition and appreciate it in a few innovative fragrances, unfortunately in Narciso, the sharp synthetic cedar, the densely opaque amber, the creamy white musk, and the nebulous sweet floral, all together create an combined effect of plastic doll out of laundry, a smell and an image that I don't particularly enjoy.
The late dry down sees the woody amber fading away, allowing the signature clean patchouli and white musk combination of the For Her series to surface and to stay until it completely disappears after about 10 hours. The sillage is mostly moderate throughout.
Being a fan of the previous For Her and Essence lines, I had high hope for Narciso. But in the end, the Egyptian musk that I find utterly memorable in For Her plays only a minimal role, and the amorphous and intentional artificial interpretation of floral and woody amber, while interesting on paper, eventually rub me the wrong way in execution. Suffice to say that Narciso is not my cup of tea. But I can understand how its opaque, nebulous nature can be seen as a mysterious, enveloping aura. If you enjoy modern clean abstract fragrances in general and are looking for a warm floral ambery musk, you may want to give Narciso a try.