Sycomore Eau de Parfum

Chanel Sycomore EDP opens with a moderate projection of slightly sweet, woody smokey, green, and spicy accords. The opening is masculine, elegant, bold, unique, and very pleasant. The vetiver, cypress, juniper, and tobacco are the most noticeable opening notes. The vetiver creates a very noticeable earthy, grassy, woody, green note; the cypress and juniper introduce a pine-like, resinous, slightly sweet, and balsamic note, evocative of pine forests; the tobacco, pink pepper, and spices work together, creating a dark tobacco note with a hint of incense, bold, dark, and projecting. As the fragrance moves to its dry down, the sandalwood adds a noticeable sweet touch changing the fragrance initial slightly sweet note to mildly sweet, it counterbalances the strong green woody and tobacco notes. The violet and aldehydes are faint support notes, they are overpowered by the featured green, and dark notes. The fragrance has a very little opening to dry down changes, the opening has just a pinch of sweetness; towards the dry down, this note grows to mild. Once Chanel Sycomore EDP has reached its full dry down, it can be summarized as a moderate projection, mildly sweet, green, vetiver, cypress, juniper, dark smokey tobacco, and sandalwood fragrance with spicy, and incense-like accords. The fragrance feels bold, churchy, commanding, dark, dense, dry, earthy, elegant, earthy, exotic, expensive, formal, green, harsh, heavy, high-quality, imposing, intense, masculine, mature, mysterious, nicely-blended, nocturnal, piney, resinous, smokey, sophisticated, special, sweet, warm, woody, and very pleasant. BATCH REVIEWED: 2020. WOW RATING: 10/10. An outstanding woody, piney, smokey, green, and resinous fragrance. DISLIKE RATING: 4/10. The green vetiver, and dark tobacco and prominent. UNIQUENESS: 10/10. The combination of notes produces a unique scent. MASS APPEAL: 6/10. This is a bold fragrance for mature wearers, not a crowd-pleaser. PROJECTION: 4/10. Moderate, about 4 feet around the wearer. SILLAGE: 6/10. Very good, about 6 feet behind the wearer. APPLICATION: 4 atomizations. LONGEVITY: 6/10. Very good, about 6 hours, it provides a very good projection for 4 hours. SEASONS: Winter, fall, colder days, daytime, nighttime, and climate-controlled environments. OCCASIONS: Formal events, outdoor gatherings, office, business, casual, holidays, clubbing. This is an office-friendly fragrance. VERSATILITY: 7/10. A very good fragrance for casual for formal wear. GENDER: Masculine. AGES: 30 and above. RECOMMENDATION: Chanel Sycomore EDP can be purchased retail for $200 (2.5oz). It is an expensive fragrance but it worth its price for those that look for a mature, dark, and bold fragrance. This is a great buy. BLIND-BUY: No, sample it first. SIMILAR: These are examples of fragrances in the same genre. Amouage Interlude Man EDP is the darkest and greatest fragrance of this house; Amouage Memoir Men EDP is a very good, intense, dark, and green fragrance; Amouage Epic Man is a great, intense, smokey incense, spicy nutmeg, and leather fragrance; John Varvatos Dark Rebel Rider is a good, short-lived, dark, incense, tobacco, and leather fragrance; John Varvatos Dark Rebel is a good, short-lived, woody, leathery, tobacco, spices, and boozy fragrance; Louis Vuitton Ombre Nomade is a great, intense, mildly sweet, dark oud, smokey incense, sweet resinous benzoin, and spicy saffron fragrance; Bvlgari Man in Black EDP is a very good, mild, sweet tobacco, rum, leather, smoky, and spices fragrance; Mercedes-Benz Club Black Men EDT is superb, sweet vanilla, benzoin, smoky incense, and woody fragrance; Issey Miyake Nuit D’Issey Men EDT is a great, mild, dark, incense, and green fragrance; Mancera Red Tobacco EDP is a great, intense, mildly sweet, ambery, tobacco, oud, cinnamon, and saffron fragrance; Mancera Hindu Kush is a great, challenging, intense, incense, dark woods, and strong green accords fragrance; Montale Full Incense is a fantastic, intense, incense, dark woods, and green fragrance; Nasomatto Black Afgano is a potent, green, and incense fragrance; Tiziana Terenzi Ecstasy is a very good, intense, patchouli, incense, woody, and floral fragrance; Chanel Egoiste Men EDT is a good, intense, bold, black tobacco, and woods fragrance; John Varvatos Oud Men EDP good, mild, dark tobacco, incense, oud, myrrh, and spices fragrance; AllSaints Incense City EDP is a very good, sweet, ambery, and incense fragrance; Montale Arabians Unisex EDP is an impressive, strong projection, oud, leather, ambergris, and spicy thyme fragrance; Dior Purple Oud is a good, but challenging, intense, slightly sweet, oud, and spicy fragrance; Chanel Sycomore EDP is a superb, mildly sweet, green, vetiver, cypress, juniper, dark smokey tobacco, and sandalwood fragrance. SUMMARY: A moderate projection, mildly sweet, green, vetiver, cypress, juniper, dark smokey tobacco, and sandalwood fragrance with spicy, and incense-like accords. The fragrance feels bold, churchy, commanding, dark, dense, dry, earthy, elegant, earthy, exotic, expensive, formal, green, harsh, heavy, high-quality, imposing, intense, masculine, mature, mysterious, nicely-blended, nocturnal, piney, resinous, smokey, sophisticated, special, sweet, warm, woody, and very pleasant.

I walked into a Chanel beauty boutique in Seoul initially intending to purchase Coromandel, but unfortunately I felt it smelled a bit too feminine and lipstick-y on my skin for my liking (nothing wrong with that, just not something I preferred in that moment). The employee then suggested I try Sycomore and thought it'd be more to my liking. Well, he was definitely right. This is classic Chanel--a classy, woody, old-fashioned men's fragrance with traditional French craft, good to use all year round in my opinion. I know I previously equated Reflection Man by Amouage as a masculine counterpart to Chanel No. 5, but I honestly think Sycomore plays that role even better. (Not saying I like one more than the other, it's just this is more reminiscent of Chanel No. 5 while still managing to have a primarily masculine presence.) The opening is slightly harsh to some (people I know couldn't seem to like it), but I'm able to appreciate it for what it is. It's tangy, with vetiver mixed with aldehydes and a very subtle animalic note. I know aldehydes aren't everyone's cup of tea, but they're certainly mine, as I find the aroma comforting as opposed to dated. The scent profile seems to soften gradually into a more mellow accord of woods, but don't for a second think the performance is faltering. I sprayed this cologne prior to check-out at a hotel before, and from there, to the airport, to a four-hour flight, to a three-hour drive to where I was staying (about 12 hours total), I could still smell Sycomore projecting from my skin. How great is that! In regards to the Lalique comparisons, I honestly can't tell you whether or not they are similar because I haven't smelled Lalique's Encire Noir yet. I will say this, however--this is indefinitely the masculine Chanel No. 5. As such, this fragrance is not for everyone. Only a select group of people will enjoy and appreciate this scent profile, if I'm being honest, so you won't be able to blind buy this; you'll actually have to test it thoroughly prior to purchase to ensure your satisfaction. And it's really important to make sure you're 100% contented with this, and that it is a good match for your vibe and energy, because if we're being honest, it ain't cheap. However, if it does meet your tastes, be prepared to walk out feeling like a confident, distinguished, and honestly quite seductive gentleman (or lady, or anyone in between). You'll have the world in your grasp. -- EDIT: while I don't personally agree with the subjective opinion of the person 3-4 comments below mine, their description of the fragrance as a fitting signature scent for Lilith Sternin might just be the most spot-on comparison I've ever seen on this website. This fragrance is unapologetic, serious, cold-hearted yet soft and inviting when needed, and overall screams the sassy, sarcastic bad b*tch energy Lilith matches.

The initial smell reminds me exactly the smell of the walls and air of a smoke sauna: black soot on walls and whisks made of birch branches in hot water, very realistic experience, even unexpected from Chanel. (The only other thing similar to such a soot have been the top/initial notes of Beautiful by Estée Lauder -- the vintage version, not the modern one!) Then it tones down a bit but stays roughly the same and is quite similar to Guerlain's Vetiver Parfum. Sycomore disappears immediately on my shirt. So I would certainly prefer Vetiver Parfum which has the same profile but much stronger and which works on shirt too. Similarity with Encre Noire A L'Extreme -- no, except the only common vetiver base. All vetiver scents could be considered similar then. I just compared on both hands and Encre Noire A L'Extreme also supersedes Sycomore by its clear character and strong vetiver in it. Sycomore seems to be the least "Chanel" scent so far. Edit 07.07.26: finishing my sample at last. This time I recalled that I had actually tested this already 13 years ago in a shop! This was one of the last two to choose from when I was buying a whole bottle of Chanel. Back then with barely any experience in the scent world Sycomore reminded me mostly leather, like leather boots, it felt too distinctive and brave to wear outside and I still feel so even though I enjoy the smell, so the winner back then was 28 La Pausa which I still use and which is one of my Chanel favourites. Another thing that I felt when testing Sycomore today was the same thing as previously: this is primarily soot, the black tar-like substance or coating material that forms over time on the walls of a smoke sauna. I don't consider this scent as a vetiver scent at all, even though yes, there is similarity with Guerlain's Vetiver Parfum which is one of my best vetiver scents! They're similar but still too different at the same time. Just to be sure, I sprayed some "pure vetiver" on my other hand (which I consider my Vetiver Haiti by The Merchant of Venice) so I have a fresh experience of vetiver in my nose and yes, this Vetiver Haiti / Vetiver Bourbon, Grey Vetiver, Cowboy Grass, September and others that I consider vetiver scents and enjoy them as such are very different from Sycomore. Only when the initial soot disappears a bit over time then it turns slightly more to the vetiver kind. Both stages are nice.

A fragrance to seduce a Parisian poet-lumberjack by the campfire! I first smelled this in 2016, and I absolutely hated it, but apparently my tastes have become more sophisticated since then, because I'm going to upgrade it now to a Love. What a shocker! I'm really enjoying this small dabber bottle of the EDP that a generous friend gave me. I will admit that the first time I encountered this, back in 2016, I announced that it smelled like "fancy bongwater." I don't know what I was thinking. I suspect that I did not understand the nature of vetiver, a note I now adore, at least when it's done right. (I did love Misia right away, which came out the same year, and I continue to love it beyond all reason, but Misia is predominantly floral, which is automatically more conventional.) Now when I smell Sycomore I smell piney trees and a photorealistic moss, with cypress and spicy autumn leaves and the faintest tinge of smoke. I think this would smell incredibly sexy on my husband, but I want to hoard this sample all to myself. I'll wear it whenever I want to smell like a perfect camping trip, with the snap of fresh juniper and maybe an active volcano in the distance. I just have Sycomore on the back of one hand for now--I wanted to be careful because of my initial reaction--but I plan to apply it more generously the next time I want to smell sexy, androgynous, and decisive. I don't think it's technically a fougère, but the strong vetiver note might make it function like one. I don't know if I'll wear this often enough to consider a full bottle, especially since a little goes a long way with this stuff, but I feel like it will be a great addition to my growing collection. I mostly gravitate to supergirly florals or supersoapy aldehyde accords; sometimes I will go with fruit, musk, and woody notes, but I'd say the vast majority of the fragrances in my collection are pretty much the opposite of this perfume. I feel like it's important to explore different facets of yourself. My best friend wears this one when she wants to feel like a bad boss bitch, and maybe it makes her feel that way because it is so resolutely and defiantly unfeminine. But that doesn't make it overly masculine either. This just smells like outdoors, and that's not a gender to me.

Sycomore is indeed a fantastic vetiver, which is however blemished by the existence of Encre Noire EDT, it's no secret at this point. However, to answer the most urgent question, they are definitely not the same (Sycomore and EN EDT), and Encre Noire al'Extreme is a completely different fragrance, not even in the same genre. However the question remains, could you wear Encre Noir EDT and pass it off as Sycomore? Absolutely, I'm certain 9 out of 10 people would probably think they are identical in the opening. The reason why they feel so similar (imo) is that there seems to be a very characteristic combination of a cypress raw material I immediately recognized because it is commonly used in men's cosmetic products as well as vetiveryl acetate aka molecule 03. I am no expert by any means, but I get both of those in both Sycomore and EN which always reminds me of dry crushed Autumn leaves, bitter green, very dry, but also ethereal and oddly addictive. Beyond that point the two fragrances diverge pretty significantly imo, the dry down is practically incomparable. Those familiar to the les Exclusif line know that the common motif is an iris accord, shared by almost all fragrances of the line to some degree, as well as really luxurious high end musk accords in the dry down. Sycomore has exactly that, a powdery violet like iris accord and a ridiculously 'pure' smelling vetiver and musk dry down, like smelling at 1080p as opposed to Encre Noire's 480p drydown which largely dries down to cedarwood and cashmeran. I definitely get some sandalwood softness in the drydown which is unique to Sycomore. Longevity is admittedly better too, but not by a long shot, you maybe get another 2 hours, which granted is an improvement. Verdict: Sycomore is in my mind, undoubtedly the best vetiver money can buy (given that inky vetiver is my favorite vetiver) and for someone as obsessed with vetiver as I am it is an obvious purchase. However, just one tier below sits Encre Noire EDT which you can get for 1/8th of the price and it will cover all the bases for you.