Top Notes 
Grapefruit
Plum
Bergamot
Mandarin orange
Heart Notes 
Cardamom
Rosewood
Ginger
Base Notes 
Musk
Frankincense
Leather
Sandalwood
02/19/2015
ColinM
516 Reviews
ColinM
Helpful Review
4
Understated and underrated
Well this is a peculiar scent indeed. Deceptively simple, to say the least, and easily dismissable as just another synthetic designer (as if these were both negative points per se, by the way...). Basically Jako is a sort of plummy-citrus-soapy-woody (sandalwood) scent with a really clean look and a filthier musky-leather undertone, like a guy living a double life. Spicy notes and sweet nuances are there, mostly coming from tonka and vanilla, but they’re tamed down enough; more than sweet, Jako appears rather powdery to me, with a general slight smokiness, perfectly blended with all the brighter stuff – citrus, sandalwood, plum. The opening shows a juicy fruity accord which however vanishes quite quickly, at least partially, leading Jako to woodier and more “greyish” territories. It may sound a bit messy, but it’s just complex (more than it may seem), while smelling perfectly nice, clean, modern and fairly understated. Basically it smells like a martian hybrid between something like Jaipur Homme (for the spicy powderiness), the citrus-tart milkiness à la Kenzo Jungle Homme, and a couple of Lang’s, notably Cuiron for the plummy-leather stuff, and Eau de Cologne for the clean aseptic muskiness. All with that late-‘90s feel – a bit synthetic, a bit tacky, but in a good way. Somewhere at the crossroad lies Jako, with a couple of differences: it’s more subtle than all of those, and it has a couple of more peculiar nuances – something medicinal for instance, like cough syrup, and a slight, weird moldy feel underneath the rest. Overall I find Jako much interesting, quite pleasant to wear (regardless of its "interest"), fairly modern and really easy to pull off - you can forget about its complexity and stuff and just enjoy a clean, bright, discreet scent. The sweet-powdery notes make it undoubtedly a bit feminine, but in my opinion Jako remains overall actually quite androgynous and even a bit aloof – like a futuristic “robot dandy” if you want. Also, with some nice darker shades; the musk, the leather. It’s close to skin as I said, but you feel its understated radiance for many hours. The main flaw for me is the drydown, which is kind of boring and a little disappointing (light, short-lived and a bit “sweaty”).
7/10
7/10
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