11
Very helpful Review
Bitter fruity medicine for interesting times
Strange how time rushes by. You stroll leisurely through the pedestrian zone among neatly bearded thirty-somethings (or twenty-somethings?) with pomaded quiff cuts, feeling overtaken by e-scooters, TikTok, ChatGPT, GenZ, and the turning of the times. You think - just a moment ago, I was a university graduate, ready to offer my most productive years to the working world, and now the CEO during a client visit is surely 10 years younger than you, and people on the bus start to stand up for you.
When did all this happen, damn it! Almost 40 years of Sleeping Beauty slumber in the economic miracle, and then: BAM - pandemic, raw material crisis, war, turning of the times.
Everything everywhere all at once, and you: right in the middle, just as out of place (or better, out of time) as Patrick Stewart and the rest of the Picard cast.
Your birth year is as far from the Weimar Republic as it is from LGBTQ+. You find out how people really tick, and you believe you’ve woken up in another world: cold, polarized, resigned. And just when you feared that the never-ending and at best interrupted by Transformers superhero adaptations would mean the film industry is likely to be greeted by the groundhog for the foreseeable future, Disney shoves one soulless Star Wars iteration after another into the streaming ether.
May you live in interesting times - Thanks, Merkel!
What does this have to do with Kalan? This fragrance DNA in general, and Kalan in particular, condenses for me the feelings and moods that I tried to describe in the introduction - and I admit, it’s a bit off-topic.
There is an aromatic, leathery, synthetic base note, surrounded by fruity notes. Yes, the blood orange is prominently recognizable, as is the sharpness of the pepper. However, the composition feels unorganic, strange, and - although certainly spicy - rather cold. Here is assembled what does not belong together, or what does not occur together in nature - unless perhaps you run over an orange right after changing your tires. But don’t get me wrong: the concept is coherent and well-crafted, and in terms of the raw materials, it is implemented with considerable value. Perfume as an expression of olfactory creativity and freedom beyond natural constraints and societal conventions. It worked with salty caramel, after all. And it works here too, because Kalan doesn’t smell bad - just outside the boxes that my fragrance brain has reserved for perfume. Kalan is neither a spicy oriental nor a fougère. There is nothing clean or soapy, nothing cologne-fresh or ambry gourmand, nothing powdery, nothing animalic, nothing classically "perfumey," and yet the wearer is perceived as pleasantly scented.
The drydown fluctuates in my perception between slightly sweet and bitter/herbaceous, almost as if saffron were included. I can understand comparisons to "Baccarat Rouge 540 (Eau de Parfum) | Maison Francis Kurkdjian," "Instant Crush | Mancera," or "Spirito Fiorentino | Tiziana Terenzi," as they all play different instruments in the same orchestra. The medicinal-leathery, almost scratchy base note in Kalan, enhanced by the pepper, is common to all. This saffron DNA is currently one of the most duped fragrance compositions (especially BR540) and practically omnipresent in every German shopping mall after 12:50 PM.
Anyone wanting to stand out in line for the new sneakers will find Kalan a good choice, as it is far enough from BR540 to set its own accents, and its fruitiness makes it suitable for year-round wear. It also doesn’t lack in radiance and longevity: applied just before heading to the office, then quickly slipping into ankle-free slim-fit workout pants in the afternoon, the helicopter dad still receives appreciative glances from like-minded men at his daughter’s cheer dance performance after 8 hours. That’s how it should be.
Kalan accompanies you all day, all year round - more casual than smart and more extroverted than for an intimate date, but otherwise really versatile, except perhaps for the Patrick Stewart generation - it lacks seriousness and class for that.
I’ll stick my neck out and claim that with this DNA, as well as the completely different but equally leathery-synthetic direction taken by "Ganymede (Eau de Parfum) | Marc-Antoine Barrois," a turning of the times has also begun in the fragrance business, which will make later perfume generations ponder sentimentally over "1 Million (Eau de Toilette) | Paco Rabanne" and Sauvage Eau de Toilette much like my generation does over Kouros and Cool Water.
Well, apparently I have to learn this DNA, or continue wearing Sauvage. At least I won’t be accused of being mainstream with it anymore. Because in my opinion, that is currently being thoroughly overtaken.
This review was, by the way, created without the aid of artificial intelligence. I only googled something at most. I’m still from yesterday.
When did all this happen, damn it! Almost 40 years of Sleeping Beauty slumber in the economic miracle, and then: BAM - pandemic, raw material crisis, war, turning of the times.
Everything everywhere all at once, and you: right in the middle, just as out of place (or better, out of time) as Patrick Stewart and the rest of the Picard cast.
Your birth year is as far from the Weimar Republic as it is from LGBTQ+. You find out how people really tick, and you believe you’ve woken up in another world: cold, polarized, resigned. And just when you feared that the never-ending and at best interrupted by Transformers superhero adaptations would mean the film industry is likely to be greeted by the groundhog for the foreseeable future, Disney shoves one soulless Star Wars iteration after another into the streaming ether.
May you live in interesting times - Thanks, Merkel!
What does this have to do with Kalan? This fragrance DNA in general, and Kalan in particular, condenses for me the feelings and moods that I tried to describe in the introduction - and I admit, it’s a bit off-topic.
There is an aromatic, leathery, synthetic base note, surrounded by fruity notes. Yes, the blood orange is prominently recognizable, as is the sharpness of the pepper. However, the composition feels unorganic, strange, and - although certainly spicy - rather cold. Here is assembled what does not belong together, or what does not occur together in nature - unless perhaps you run over an orange right after changing your tires. But don’t get me wrong: the concept is coherent and well-crafted, and in terms of the raw materials, it is implemented with considerable value. Perfume as an expression of olfactory creativity and freedom beyond natural constraints and societal conventions. It worked with salty caramel, after all. And it works here too, because Kalan doesn’t smell bad - just outside the boxes that my fragrance brain has reserved for perfume. Kalan is neither a spicy oriental nor a fougère. There is nothing clean or soapy, nothing cologne-fresh or ambry gourmand, nothing powdery, nothing animalic, nothing classically "perfumey," and yet the wearer is perceived as pleasantly scented.
The drydown fluctuates in my perception between slightly sweet and bitter/herbaceous, almost as if saffron were included. I can understand comparisons to "Baccarat Rouge 540 (Eau de Parfum) | Maison Francis Kurkdjian," "Instant Crush | Mancera," or "Spirito Fiorentino | Tiziana Terenzi," as they all play different instruments in the same orchestra. The medicinal-leathery, almost scratchy base note in Kalan, enhanced by the pepper, is common to all. This saffron DNA is currently one of the most duped fragrance compositions (especially BR540) and practically omnipresent in every German shopping mall after 12:50 PM.
Anyone wanting to stand out in line for the new sneakers will find Kalan a good choice, as it is far enough from BR540 to set its own accents, and its fruitiness makes it suitable for year-round wear. It also doesn’t lack in radiance and longevity: applied just before heading to the office, then quickly slipping into ankle-free slim-fit workout pants in the afternoon, the helicopter dad still receives appreciative glances from like-minded men at his daughter’s cheer dance performance after 8 hours. That’s how it should be.
Kalan accompanies you all day, all year round - more casual than smart and more extroverted than for an intimate date, but otherwise really versatile, except perhaps for the Patrick Stewart generation - it lacks seriousness and class for that.
I’ll stick my neck out and claim that with this DNA, as well as the completely different but equally leathery-synthetic direction taken by "Ganymede (Eau de Parfum) | Marc-Antoine Barrois," a turning of the times has also begun in the fragrance business, which will make later perfume generations ponder sentimentally over "1 Million (Eau de Toilette) | Paco Rabanne" and Sauvage Eau de Toilette much like my generation does over Kouros and Cool Water.
Well, apparently I have to learn this DNA, or continue wearing Sauvage. At least I won’t be accused of being mainstream with it anymore. Because in my opinion, that is currently being thoroughly overtaken.
This review was, by the way, created without the aid of artificial intelligence. I only googled something at most. I’m still from yesterday.
Translated · Show original
4 Comments
Reads excellently ✅
It also has something noble, ethereal, respectable, chivalrous, and masculine about it.
I don't experience it as BR-like at all; for me, this one is much sweeter, more vibrant, transparent, and sparkling.