This Is Us! Zadig & Voltaire 2021

In the past, there was the circus or revue act 'The Lady Without a Lower Body.' Not my genre. I've never encountered one in the wild either. But now, a fragrance arrived at my home as a sample included with an online order, which promised, in a way, the opposite. A perfume made solely from base, butt, lower body: Wow?! :)

Moreover, it comes from a brand that has intrigued me for a long time due to its cleverly sounding name. Zadig & Voltaire makes one dream of enlightening tales from the sharp-tongued French critic, more precisely: of the colorful adventures and the happy ending of his Zadig.

But what does the fragrance 'This is us' tell us? The title could hint at a kind of key or signature scent of the Parisian fashion brand, but it likely points more to the unisex character of this perfume - as there have already been 'This is her' and 'This is him' for several years, marketed by Shisheido, the licensee of the French fashion chain; both sound pyramidally interesting and have been rated well here.

If you take a closer look at the texts printed on the new bottles (as a word person, I tend to appreciate such things), it becomes clear that unisex is not all there is. Intergenerationality is proclaimed: a scent for the whole family. While everyone is supposed to be 'forever young.' Additionally, alongside this transgenerational and universally sexual Us scent, a 'This is me' fragrance has hit the market, which apparently addresses ONLY the young or even children ("Kids"), selling them a defined, strong self (ME). Its pyramid reads quite similarly: sandalwood-vanilla on musk. While for the exclusively little ones, the (practically imperceptible) patchouli of the family scent has been replaced by 'cashmere' (presumably the soft-sounding synthetic wood-musk Cashmeran).

25 years after the unisex revival heralded by the decades-long mega-seller CK One, these refreshing, sympathetic, and welcome new target group formats seem to be a good thing. However, they have been oddly layered with strangely flat fragrance note pyramids. An integrative overall scent from kindergarten kids to great-grandmothers? Perhaps even including the resident dogs, cats, and hamsters into the pleasantly scented Us fragrance team (as long as they promise to smell forever young!)?
That would save space in the bathroom, which soon only a few will be able to afford due to rising real estate prices.

The problem (charitably put: the intriguing, interesting, minimalist…) is now: this We-fragrance wants or cannot quite tell a story. After spraying, it unfortunately reveals itself more as a muddled scent. 'This is Us' has no plot and hardly gets anywhere. It lasts only moderately long and projects weakly, which is hard to criticize.

Even the sequence of notes, as indicated here, made me raise my eyebrows: A pyramid without top and heart notes? Only classic, heavy, and long-lasting base notes combined? Without anything on top or around? The pyramid as a bungalow or as an underground garage? As a deep bunker for a comfortably snuggling extended family??

Well, what does the nose say: Because even if nothing citrusy, fruity, or floral is indicated, a scent must start with something. And it does, it cannot do otherwise: Sweet, vanillic, and with a typically sandalwood-creamy note, it begins. It doesn't smell bad, but it also doesn't come across as fresh or even distinctive. During the subsequent regular nose dive over the wrist, one might think they can sense a few nuances of vaguely milky fruits in this rather consistently (stubbornly!) maintained sandalwood-vanilla: coconut-fig-peach or fig-pear-tangerine, something like that.

And so it sandalwood-vanillas on - about as contoured or indifferent as a better sunscreen or skincare product - on and on. In the end, everything remains largely the same: I haven't encountered a serious appearance of patchouli, spice, or earthiness. A completely softened feel-good musk underpins this type of fluffy, flat wellness cream scents, so also here. Against this four-generation blend (pureed and stirred for two generations without and two with teeth…) the rounded, soft, all-embracing integrative CK One was, of course, a fresh-spicy aroma cannon.

None of this is directly unpleasant, not bad, not exciting. Somewhat soothing; even numbing?
I am not sad that the revue acts of ladies without lower bodies seem to be dying out. I wouldn't be sad if this bungalow base note combo scent with little (milky fruity) heart and no head eventually goes extinct.

Voltaire will remain. And Zadig too. Stories will be told as long as there are people: in tales, novels, contes philosophiques; or here in comments that are now called reviews. Or in scents, music, images that can tell a story.

Whether Zadig & Voltaire will remain - or more specifically this milky mediocre flat scent 'This is us' - I do not know. It probably doesn't matter. Here, at least, they haven't told me anything exciting, stimulating, or captivating during my three test runs. Certainly not enough.
And a poppily printed bottle along with a thought-provoking, universally integrative We-concept does not evoke any desire to own or wear it, even for a word person and collector who is receptive to such things.

I continue to prefer to live out minimalist whims with fresh chevrefeuille or verveine soliflores, with earthy patchouli or vetiver solis, or with lavender solo sonatas, like those from Monastère de Ganagobie. All of which undergo more transformations and have more to tell than 'This is Nuts.'
Or, why not, once again with CK One. They all actually go transgenerational too, right?!