Esquel Xerjoff 2007

Esquel starts off sweet and citrusy, with aromatic herbs like lavender . As the scent develops, it takes on a hint of nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla, and the lavender becomes a little more woody, the dry down is a powdery nutmeg, cinnamon vanilla musk scent that is actually quite lovely. The vanilla musk seems to be the stable state because it lasts for the rest of the day. There's plenty of sillage throughout. A good perfume, especially in the later stages, but not worth the price.

Actually, such a playful headline is completely inappropriate for such an excellent and exceedingly exquisite perfume.....

It's somewhat like writing: “Long live the KWIIEEEN”.....

So please kindly overlook this little faux pas ;-).....

ESQUEL is, according to Xerjoff - and in my humble opinion - a ladies' fougere.....what ultimately makes it “feminine” is primarily its wonderful base....but more on that later.....

As we know, the focal point of a fougere is usually lavender.....a fragrance note that I typically don’t shout “HERE” for.....

However, with Esquel, everything - really EVERYTHING - is different.....

Immediately after the first spray, there is an impression of a rather classic cologne for about 5-10 seconds......but that changes almost immediately....and I suspect it is the myrtle that makes the decisive difference here......

After this brief first impression, the scent quickly becomes wonderfully aromatic, herbaceous, and spicy......even the lavender shows a completely unknown face......it now appears to me almost ambered..........since I don’t particularly appreciate amber (which isn’t even in it ;-)..), I am extraordinarily surprised at how much I like this “ambered lavender” note.....

Soon, a softly powdery iris and an exceptionally beautiful, earthy, sweet-resinous, and warm-woody spikenard join in......a fragrance ingredient that I have only recently come to consciously know and love.....

Both orange blossom and rose remain pleasantly in the background.....while petitgrain and cinnamon come forward a bit more.....however, at no point do they act as “soloists,” but are always completely harmoniously embedded in the overall composition.......

At this stage, Esquel now takes its turn towards the “feminine fougere”......

The scent becomes increasingly softer and more balsamic.....opoponax, patchouli, and tonka give it a creamy-resinous, yet still airy sweetness (not that thick, cloying, and unpleasant sweetness often found in indie resin scents ;-)...)

In my opinion, it is the musk and vetiver that keep the scent at this stage from becoming too heavy and sticky, and they truly masterfully regulate it.....

If I weren’t a “frequent sprayer,” for whom 50ml of a beloved scent lasts only about 3-4 months, and if ESQUEL weren’t so pricey, it would have long since found its way to me.....

But what isn’t, can still become ;-).....

PS: Intensity, longevity, and sillage are of course just as excellent as the entire scent .....

“Floral Fougère for Women” I read at Xerjoff. Aha.
I haven’t dealt much with Fougère so far, as it’s only for boys and has a lot to do with lavender. My fragrance taste clearly leans towards the “feminine” side of the spectrum, and lavender is almost always a dealbreaker. But “Esquel” is so enchanting that I now have to confront my fragrance prejudices.

Lavender is at the center of the fragrance from the start. Lavender… unmistakable. Whole Provençal lavender fields sway blue-purple in the wind. Still, there’s no typical soapiness and no herbaceousness. Which lavender variety, spikes or flowers, with how much linalool, linalyl acetate, and cineole, a well-known chemist might be able to tell me, but I’m guessing it’s an absolutely high-quality absolute. The myrtle-infused lavender has a somewhat ethereal quality, feels incredibly soft without being weakened, and delights me with a kind of herbaceousness instead of herbiness, initially uplifted by a subtle citrus melody and then becoming increasingly floral. Not clean, without hygienic-fresh astringency, but rather broadly supportive and not smelling “cultivated” like a cupboard or soap dish, but rather “natural” like landscape and summer. In the slowly and beautifully developing floral notes, I can discern the rose and the orange blossom when I smell concentrated, but there’s no individual note that would spread characteristically; rather, a general, slightly spiced floral quality that wraps around the lavender core.
The basic Fougère pattern would lead from dripping green ferniness to a mossy base to a green and lavender-tinged coumarin accord. I can clearly identify the coumarin/tonka from the late middle; there’s also a hint of patchouli… and very distinctly an amber accord, which is not listed in the fragrance pyramid. The lavender floral quality culminates in a warm-powdery, strongly ambered softness and lasts a remarkably long time.
The Fougère principle without overly harsh green, but with summer flowers and amber… yep, the “floral Fougère for women” works if you stretch the term quite a bit. And it’s completely to my taste. One could simply call “Esquel” a lavender-amber.

Esquel is an Argentine Andean town in expansive grass steppe, where a stone-iron meteorite with beautiful gold-green crystal inclusions was found in 1951. This shooting star gives the name to “Esquel” - yet I find myself smelling in southern France… where there’s rather little Andean grass in the cool mountain wind.
“Esquel” is enchanting and brings me the otherwise avoided lavender very close in this floral-amber-fougère way - so close that I don’t want to miss it anymore and want to spend summer evenings in 2012, especially those planned in Provence, with this scent on my skin.

In my search for a spicy, masculine lavender scent, I was kindly recommended "Esquel" by Xerjoff here in the forum. Well, "Esquel" is neither spicy nor even remotely masculine in my opinion - but what a fantastic fragrance, I am thrilled! :-)

The opening of lavender with myrtle, very gentle yet reliably supported and enveloped by bergamot and a hint of lemon, is absolutely masterful and magnificent! Until now, I had only had a few rather random and not very pleasant encounters with Xerjoff fragrances, but here I perceive excellent quality and, above all, masterful composition and orchestration of the fragrance notes in relation to each other and in their further development. And I must again give my highest praise: if someone were to tell me at this stage that this was an unknown vintage fragrance from the early to mid-1980s, I would believe it immediately, so balanced, harmoniously rounded, dense, deep, and full in their quality and fruity juiciness are these notes here. Grandiose! Again, a proof that such things are still possible today, despite all regulations and shortages, if one truly desires it and masters their craft.

In the transition to the heart note, this already beautiful accord is further widened by the bergamot, coming through petitgrain and orange blossom, and so to speak deepened and expanded into a glowing orange that shines from within in many facets, an exceedingly pleasant and successful appearance characterized by a kind of dark radiance and glow in which rose and ylang-ylang let the characteristic fine, delicate, and beautiful floral buds bloom. In this phase, which lasts for several hours, the fragrance, in my opinion, is pure beauty, fullness, elegance.

As it progresses, cinnamon initially appears, followed later by musk, opoponax, patchouli, and tonka, "turning" the fragrance with the support of a dark, very naturally soft vanilla in a direction that is for me rather lightly creamy-sweet, slightly soapy. At this point, the fragrance loses me in terms of the possibility of wanting to wear it myself; in my view, the character becomes distinctly feminine, without ever being even remotely gourmand or truly sweet; it is rather a very pleasant light creamy soapiness, yet with depth and substance at every moment. I think this is the "warm-powdery, strongly ambered softness" that Louce so aptly describes. After hours, the vetiver has finally contributed to the fragrance resting on a now dark and slightly herbal but still sweetened base.

A wonderful fragrance of the highest quality and masterful composition that prompts me to take a closer look at the other fragrances in the "Shooting Stars" series soon.

This is the first fragrance from XerJoff that I really like. "Esquel" was also the last fragrance I tested three days ago and wanted to comment on the next day with a re-test, and then it happened: My sense of smell was completely gone due to an infection, something I had never experienced in my life. Since this morning, I can smell everything again. Of course, I first tested two fragrances that I know well to determine if I could actually smell properly again.
Now "Esquel" is the first fragrance I am commenting on afterward. Of course, I could have done that based on my notes. But I didn't want to. I've never done that. There was always at least a faint trace on my skin.
Now I smell exactly the same again as I did three days ago.
"Esquel" starts immediately woody with a hint of citrus. Along with that, I smell a strangely foreign, unfamiliar scent, herbal, spicy, and slightly peppery. But I can also smell a mild lavender.
Since I couldn't test or do anything meaningful, I at least researched what myrtle and spikenard are meant to be and how they are supposed to smell.
The myrtles I have in summer do not have a scent. But real myrtle is supposed to smell spicy, sweet, and herbal, fresh with a hint of eucalyptus.
I have smelled something of that kind each time, but I wouldn't have been able to name it; it doesn't smell exactly like that. It also reminded me a bit of the scent of blueberries and their leaves, like you find them wild in the forest. And I recalled that blueberries are called "myrtille" in French.
This unique and unusual scent blend lasts about 2 hours on me with a subtle sillage.
Then "Esquel" changes as the sillage becomes significantly stronger. Furthermore, "Esquel" now becomes beautifully aromatic, resinous, woody, bitter, and sweet. This sweetness is probably caused by the flowers, which I can't smell separately due to the strong other scents.
With the aromatic warm resin note, spikenard may be meant. But even here, it has a delicate scent of light patchouli.
In this phase of the fragrance, I am reminded of "Epic Woman" by Amouage. However, it is more floral and spicy and woody in a different way.
However, the progression of "Esquel" allows all the ingredients that have already come together to persist. However, they take a back seat, and now it becomes almond-scented for me; I smell woody cinnamon bark and tonka as well as vanilla.
I can't distinguish the two in a duo and possibly with heliotrope. Now "Esquel" has indeed reached a distinct gourmand stage. Nevertheless, the artwork is successful in that the previous composition is not devoured by it. So to speak, the base has not become a scentless gourmand.
A beautiful strong fragrance just the way I like it. And a true XerJoff, because the longevity is not only excessively good, the intensity that begins with the onset of the heart note remains until almost the end. Although the sillage is not particularly expansive.
On one hand, especially at the beginning, it is a unique fragrance. On the other hand, when it transitions from the heart note to the base, there are not only allusions to Epic Woman but also to "Mon Amour" by Haldimann or fragrances from Marly, Eau Extreme No. 1 ALzD. I don't want to talk about twin fragrances. At most, "Mon Amour" by Haldimann is very similar, but it doesn't have the intensity and longevity.
I would classify "Esquel" as unisex. And importantly: No cumin.
Oh yes, Angua is right, "Esquel" is indeed a little scent 'oh là là'. If it weren't for the price.