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A sparkling citrus-spicy-oriental
New York is, in a way, a skillfully executed study on certain facets of Guerlain's Habit Rouge. I feel as if both the citrus opening as well as the oriental-like dry-down have been reinterpreted, while constructing a completely different heart, resulting in a completely different perfume altogether, even genre-wise.
Both New York and Habit Rouge open with strong, lemony citrus not unlike e.g. Chanel's Pour Monsieur. Imagine a burp through your nose after having a sip of 7UP. Out of the three, New York somehow maintains that soda-like feel along its development. It doesn't turn into a bouquet of christmassy spices like HR, nor turns itself into a chypre as Chanel's PM does. Instead, the heart is dominated with sweet pepper (capsicum) and cloves. Call me silly, but I like like to think of NY's pepper note specifically as yellow sweet pepper.
Like said, I find the dry-down somewhat similar to Habit Rouge's. However, an autobiographical reference smell with even more accurate resemblance would be something we used to buy from a prank shop when I was a kid. I doubt anyone's familiar with the product, but there used to be a sort of putty or plasticine used for make-up, which had very distinctive powdery-vanillic smell. That's pretty much exactly the smell of de Nicolaï's New York after a couple of hours' skin time.
As I've lately grown into Habit Rouge, I've grown out of New York.
...oh yeah, my current bottle was purchased in 2011 - I don't know when the supposed reformulation has taken place, but mine smells great nevertheless.
Both New York and Habit Rouge open with strong, lemony citrus not unlike e.g. Chanel's Pour Monsieur. Imagine a burp through your nose after having a sip of 7UP. Out of the three, New York somehow maintains that soda-like feel along its development. It doesn't turn into a bouquet of christmassy spices like HR, nor turns itself into a chypre as Chanel's PM does. Instead, the heart is dominated with sweet pepper (capsicum) and cloves. Call me silly, but I like like to think of NY's pepper note specifically as yellow sweet pepper.
Like said, I find the dry-down somewhat similar to Habit Rouge's. However, an autobiographical reference smell with even more accurate resemblance would be something we used to buy from a prank shop when I was a kid. I doubt anyone's familiar with the product, but there used to be a sort of putty or plasticine used for make-up, which had very distinctive powdery-vanillic smell. That's pretty much exactly the smell of de Nicolaï's New York after a couple of hours' skin time.
As I've lately grown into Habit Rouge, I've grown out of New York.
...oh yeah, my current bottle was purchased in 2011 - I don't know when the supposed reformulation has taken place, but mine smells great nevertheless.
1 Comment
Vollbart 10 years ago
Very good description !