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Notes08/12/2019
StellaDiverF
213 Reviews
StellaDiverF
3
"New Car Interior"
Club Design opens with a fizzy, petrichor-like humid earthy smell, as well as a pungently marine, almost fishy saltiness. The humid earthiness reminds me of the opening of Thierry Blondeau Narcisse Emoi, while the brash fishy note smells like a relative of Calone to me. Because of the pungency of the opening, and my struggle with most synthetic fishy marine notes, Club Design can be quite nauseating to me, unless on a hot day when the opening evaporates much more quickly.
The soft suede leather reveals itself on my skin usually around 2 hours in, and doesn't completely shake off the fizzy humid earthy aspect and pervasive fishy marine note until after about 5 hours. I can see the rubber/new car interior comparison, as the fragrance is indeed quite artifical-smelling for a leather-themed perfume, but more on an overall, abstract level. On a more specific detail level, I'd agree more with the comparison to Hermès Galop, as the suede in both perfumes shares this chewy texture similar to turkish delight to me, as well as an abstract musky fruity undertone. However, the fruity syrup in Galop is replace by fake petrichor and artificial marine notes here at first, and then by a more heightened medicinal bitterness of saffron later on.
When those artifical-smelling opening notes completely disappear in the late dry down, Club Design is indeed quite comfortable as a sleek suede skin scent, flankered by a discreet musky fruity woody cedar to my nose. The sillage is usually moderate on my skin, while the longevity is often 8-9 hours with one good spray.
My opinions on Club Design have been constantly swinging left and right during those a few weeks when I wore it. At first I was instantly repulsed by the difficult opening notes, then I began to doubt whether its artificality is actually a masterstroke, and again I question myself if I'd given Club Design a second thought if it had come out from a brand with a much lower profile than the Zoo, and again and again. But then, when I compare it to other perfumes that play around the idea of artificiality, such as Vaporocindro and Dinudisit by January Scent Project, Womanity by Thierry Mugler, La Fin du Monde by Etat Libre d'Orange, Club Design doesn't feel as compelling as them to me.
While I was initially taken aback by most of them, the dissonance between unabashedly synthetic elements and more natural-smelling elements soon evolves into an unexpected harmony as well as a fascinating, complex puzzle that draws me in. But Club Design just feels like layering an elegant suede perfume with openly synthetic elements to make it more "edgy". The suede skin scent is proper, the synthetic petrichor and marine notes are provocative, and a salty suede leather skin scent has great potential, but the end result in Club Design doesn't seem to elevate the idea beyond individual elements.
As a side note, I only tested Club Design on my skin, but haven't yet tried it as a fabric scent as it's intended (apparently its coumarin and safranal exceeds the upper limit for a skin perfume according to the official website). It's possible that it might work better on fabric, but as a personal perfume, I would only recommend Club Design if you're looking for a scent reminiscent of "new car interior" with an unapologetically synthetic vibe.
The soft suede leather reveals itself on my skin usually around 2 hours in, and doesn't completely shake off the fizzy humid earthy aspect and pervasive fishy marine note until after about 5 hours. I can see the rubber/new car interior comparison, as the fragrance is indeed quite artifical-smelling for a leather-themed perfume, but more on an overall, abstract level. On a more specific detail level, I'd agree more with the comparison to Hermès Galop, as the suede in both perfumes shares this chewy texture similar to turkish delight to me, as well as an abstract musky fruity undertone. However, the fruity syrup in Galop is replace by fake petrichor and artificial marine notes here at first, and then by a more heightened medicinal bitterness of saffron later on.
When those artifical-smelling opening notes completely disappear in the late dry down, Club Design is indeed quite comfortable as a sleek suede skin scent, flankered by a discreet musky fruity woody cedar to my nose. The sillage is usually moderate on my skin, while the longevity is often 8-9 hours with one good spray.
My opinions on Club Design have been constantly swinging left and right during those a few weeks when I wore it. At first I was instantly repulsed by the difficult opening notes, then I began to doubt whether its artificality is actually a masterstroke, and again I question myself if I'd given Club Design a second thought if it had come out from a brand with a much lower profile than the Zoo, and again and again. But then, when I compare it to other perfumes that play around the idea of artificiality, such as Vaporocindro and Dinudisit by January Scent Project, Womanity by Thierry Mugler, La Fin du Monde by Etat Libre d'Orange, Club Design doesn't feel as compelling as them to me.
While I was initially taken aback by most of them, the dissonance between unabashedly synthetic elements and more natural-smelling elements soon evolves into an unexpected harmony as well as a fascinating, complex puzzle that draws me in. But Club Design just feels like layering an elegant suede perfume with openly synthetic elements to make it more "edgy". The suede skin scent is proper, the synthetic petrichor and marine notes are provocative, and a salty suede leather skin scent has great potential, but the end result in Club Design doesn't seem to elevate the idea beyond individual elements.
As a side note, I only tested Club Design on my skin, but haven't yet tried it as a fabric scent as it's intended (apparently its coumarin and safranal exceeds the upper limit for a skin perfume according to the official website). It's possible that it might work better on fabric, but as a personal perfume, I would only recommend Club Design if you're looking for a scent reminiscent of "new car interior" with an unapologetically synthetic vibe.
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BoBoChamp
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