Brooklyn

There is one thing common to most Bond scents - their construction tends to be relatively simple and with that simplicity comes a clarity of structure. This is not always a good thing - the simplicity often fails to hide synthetic aroma-chemicals that have the texture or smell - or both! - of various body products such as inexpensive shampoos or body lotions. With Brooklyn though, the simplicity and clarity of the structure is brilliant, and that is thanks to Laurent Le Guernec's carefully chosen ingredients, and the deft - and light - hand that he used to blend them in masterful balance. The opening is airy, one might say ethereal, with juniper leading the charge with a diaphonous grapefruit note in the background along with a hint of cardamom that flits in and out of perceptibility. This is not a sharp opening though, and although it is very light overall there is a depth that is perceptible that keeps Brooklyn from feeling like so many other lesser 'fresh scents' that are overly chemical or piercing, as if someone had turned the treble control of a stereo way too high. No, Brooklyn has depth and balance from the moment it hits your skin. It really does call to mind a gin and tonic, although much more than that, too. As it progresses the woods come into their own as does the soft leather note - which here smells more like a soft suede, actually - all the while surrounded by the wonderful juniper note that is never sharp or abrasive as it can sometimes be. The berry element of the juniper note is present and long lasting too, although Le Guernec keeps the berry note very very light and restrained and it sits in a higher register than much of the rest of the perfume, thus it is noticeable and yet never obtrusive. Speaking of registers - or to step into a more musical analogy, octaves - Le Guernec's brilliant formula here exposes just how wonderful intelligent simplicity can be, and how it can do much to enhance the structure of a perfume. To continue with the musical analogy, the 'sound stage' of this perfume is very wide, and the separation between the notes is easily discernable. Whereas some perfumes have such dense and obfuscated structures that they feel like the equivalent of a band with 2 (or 3!) bass players, Brooklyn is wonderfully tight trio of airy citrus/berries/juniper, woody guaic and cedar, both dry and yet neither scratchy or heavy, and anchoring notes of soft and deep suede and a prominent but soft and expansive white musk that manages to play an enchanting and continous bass ostinato that explores an almost dream-like atmosphere. Le Guernec's style is of a calculated simplicity and while it doesn't always work for me (ie: Astor Place, which smells nice but doesn't hide that shampoo like texture/scent, which is inexcusable for a product in this price range), when it does, it is sheer brilliance (Harrods Ltd Edition, Washington Square, etc). Brooklyn joins that list of brilliance.

Bond no.9 totally out did themselves with this wonderfully blended fragrance. Honestly I have never smelled a fragrance like this ever. Brooklyn is the correct name for this fragrance. The bottle is the correct design for this fragrance. This fragrance is vibrant, energetic, ruthless and in your face...AT FIRST. Then like anywhere it begins to settle and becomes a place you can call home. This fragrance is a woody-spicy-oriental. It features cardamom, geranium leaves, cedar, grapefruit, juniper berries. Guaiac wood, cedar wood, cypres and leather. Its hard to detect all the notes at once because all of them come flying at you left and right, up and down. As it settles I definitely get the grapefruit, woods, and leather. To me these 3 are the dominant parts of the fragrance. As far as projection and longevity this fragrance is just weird. Others have said that this fragrance has very poor longevity 3-5hours max and that projection is non-existent. I must admit when you first spray this fragrance on you will swear that that it has vanished within 30mins. YET when it hits that one hour mark this stuff starts projecting hard. I have had people 5 feet away able to smell me. The more this stuff settles on your skin the stronger it gets. I consistently get monster projection and longevity. This is one that is really hard to describe. I would just suggest everyone to sample this extraordinary fragrance as I will not be able to give an accurate description of the goodness of this fragrance. I feel that Brooklyn is the perfect name for this amazing composition as it is bold and in your face. Representing BK to the fullest!!!! Sillage/Projection: 9/10 (Projects for a good 5 hours) Longevity 10/10 (12+ hours typical from all Bond no.9 fragrances) Scent: 10/10 (Never smelled anything like it, which is a good thing) Compliment factor: 7/10 (Will get compliments, though it may be “too in your face” for some) Purpose: 10/10 (Can be worn for any purpose) Season: Any season Bang for the buck: Worthy of the price. Nothing on the market does what this does. Niche quality for sure.

So I decided to "rediscover" this from my personal collection recently. I'll try to 'distill' this into a more visual context, and in a moment, the why of it all will become more clear. Imagine you opened a cedar chest. Not an imitation-cedar-really-pine chest, but an honest cedar chest that still gives off its original aroma. It's unmistakable. Next, you grab a bottle of Gilbey's or Tanqueray, and you open that as well. Then you proceed to pour the contents of the bottle into the chest. In fact, repeat the procedure a couple of times for good measure. You have Bond No 9 Brooklyn. It's cedar and gin, simple as that. I'm not saying it's bad, but it's a bit heavy on the gin elements (juniper berries, largely). If that's your thing, then this is probably right for you. But in rediscovering it, I found it really linear. The way it began was the way it continued and after a couple hours of what became a nuisance, it was more annoying than an autotuned pop song. And I'm not sure it captures (or ever intended to capture) the sense of place implied in Bond No 9 fragrances. Maybe it's been a while since I've stayed more than a couple hours in Brooklyn, but I don't recall it smelling like a gin mill. Again, it's not entirely unpleasant, but it does become cloying over time rather than fading (I'm writing this 10 hours into wearing it, it shows no signs of waning). I'm not certain of those who've criticized it for being too sheer or 'weak", but that wasn't the case with me and I sprayed it only on pulse points. Clearly, your mileage may vary. Safe to say that I'll resign this to the back of my collection and not revisit for a while.

I love the scent. So far my favorite bond I've tried, and this is my go to summer/spring scent.. Or when I don't want to smell like anyone else. To me it's totally unique. Like one reviewer said below me.. If someone knows of anything that smells like this for cheaper I'd gladly buy it, but since I can't, I still keep coming back to Brooklyn. I get a fresh opening. Very green and spicy and clean. After a hour or so it starts to settle down and loose a bit of the sharpness it has. This also doesn't really change or have a difference in the dry down from the opening. What you smell is what you get, start to finish. For me it's mostly woods, spicy, clean. I get cypress, I get leather, I get cardamom, juniper berries, wood, rum or gin. It's like this clean smelling scent is wrapped up into a woody/spicy oriental aura. Best used in warmer weather but I wear it year around. Longevity is on the weaker side of bonds, but it's still not a slouch. Better then most of my designers. This isn't a projection beast either, but get in close to someone (arms length) and they should notice it. Its more of a strong silent type of fragrance. I think also, when I wear it I smell it so much that I go kind of scent deaf to it. Not something that's gonna kick your door down, but will be there knocking loudly. All in all, I will get it again when my bottle is empty.. Not because I want it, but because I have to. A must have for me, and a try for most.

Good GOD I love this stuff. It definitely can be offensive to some, I get it. It's very dry, very dandilion/gin-like but I just adore it. It's been my favorite for a long time now. The downfall with Niche houses is... the price. Over $200 for this at the store and still over $150 on most discounted sites. I wish someone could tell me of a cheaper designer fragrance that this smells like. OR better yet, I will swap with someone who has this and doesn't like it or wants to try something different. Update: I just bought it for a very resonable price. It's my special occasion scent, since I cannot afford to wear this as a signature. It is by far my favorite scent in any fragrance I have ever smelled, however the projection is sub-par from how I like it. I'd rather wear less of something with a big projection than more with a small projection. The longevity is squared away though. It lasts 8+ hours easily on my skin, but it's very, very subtle after the first hour. As for bvlgari man smelling similar, I agree to an extent. Bvlgari man has the same dry, woodsy, slightly sweet factor that is similar to Brooklyn, but the longevity is nowhere near to equal. If you want a much cheaper (price and quality) alternative to a fragrance in the same genome, than go with Bvlgari man. As the description says in the box of Brooklyn, this fragrance, and all bond fragrances are considered works of art.