Comme des Garcons Series 1 Leaves: Calamus

Acorus calamus, often colloquially known as sweet flag, is an aromatic wetland herb believed to have healing properties. Its essential oil has a bewitching scent profile, green overtones with an unusual musky dampness, and cake batter and buckwheat qualities. I have some in my possession and I find the aroma to be addictive, almost intoxicating. There is a compound, beta-asarone, produced by the plant, which is a known carcinogen, and sadly it has been banned for perfumery use by the EU. There are alleged low or zero b-asarone oils out there, but they seem quite difficult to obtain. In CDG's Calamus, Bertrand Duchafour made the effort to reconstruct its scent profile with an angelica root note, which is somewhat adjacent in character to calamus. While this is far more angelica forward to my nose (and I am surely not complaining about that, as even angelica root is restricted and Duchafour has managed to make if really fleshy here), the impression of calamus is indeed here, perhaps more its leaves than roots, with some underlying baking spice and amber. This is a very different shade of green, where it may not at first "smell" green but it surely *feels* green. Celery seed oil is listed in the notes breakdown and are discerned by my nose, further imparting that somewhat fatty, spicy quality of calamus. Calamus grows more watery and peppery, with just the slightest milky translucency, Zen-like, a hum of calm marshes. It reminds me of kayaking on a warm, breezy day, passing by water lilies and aqueous vegetation. Wet leaves and ripples, a lotus, reflections both literal and figurative, these are the sensations that it conjures up for me. This is not for the results-driven fragrance enthusiast but rather for one who has come to appreciate tuning into one's own breath in the moment. Calamus grows more watery and peppery, with just the slightest milky translucency, Zen-like, a hum of calm marshes. It reminds me of kayaking on a warm, breezy day, passing by water lilies and aqueous vegetation. Wet leaves and ripples, a lotus, reflections both literal and figurative, these are the sensations that it conjures up for me. This is not for the results-driven fragrance enthusiast but rather for one who has come to appreciate tuning into one's own breath in the moment.

The word "amazing" gets thrown about a lot these days, but it's that word that came to my mind the first time I smelled Calamus. Me: "sniff, sniff." My Brain: "AMAZING!" One reviewer thought it too wild, too green and too natural but I respectfully differ - there is no such thing as too wild, too green or too natural. I feel like a woodland sprite wearing this...my feet are bare, my hair is wild, my perfume is the sap from green plants, rain-kissed leaves and the forest floor. This is nature's tonic and it is perfect. Sillage is good, a little goes a long way. The scent lasted throughout the day. It never turned sour much to my relief, and the notes seemed to revolve versus evolve, which was really interesting. I had my nose plastered to my wrist all day. Mmmmmmmm. EDIT: after having worn this several times, I'm sad to find that after the 2nd time of wearing it, it faded quickly, and continued to do so in subsequent applications. So disappointing, as I really love this scent. If it were less expensive I would keep buying it, however it's not a good investment in my opinion due to its poor lasting power.

Fell in love with Calamus since the very first instant I smelled it but for any reason I didn't pick it. Recently I had the chance to get a sample and it is still just how I remembered it: beautiful lush greenness opening, bright and sparkling... seductive with its red nuances and facets, a colourblind clash that nevertheless is the perfect rendering of that carnal spike. The scent settles once the smell of the celery seeds take on a greater role, the greenness turns more 'vegetable', wilted, a bit dry-hay-like, turning to a more mature and darker vibe. Projection is not much, I would like it to be a bit more, but has a decent longevity so it is quite wearable and hard to cause you fatigue. A memorable avant-garde green profile!

The notes here don't reflect, at ALL, what I get from this fragrance. Not powdery in the least. No amber. Not musky either. This is fresh, green, wet leaves and to me, is so very similar to L'Artisan Premier Figuier edt. Fresh. Green. Leaves. I was at a friend's house last weekend and he has a fig tree. I couldn't detect any scent from it but it seems I absolutely adore fig scents so maybe it's also fig that I detect here? Or more likely it's the bamboo. Don't know cuz I've never been able to detect a scent from bamboo either. But I DO know the scent in the air while the lawn is being mowed. That's this. Along with fresh, wet, green leaves. It's a green stunner, this one!

I love this. It doesn't have great performance (do any cdg perfumes have good performance??) but it smells like absolutely nothing else out there. Green, but not in a typical perfumery world green (bergamot, vetiver, moss etc etc) but rather like an actual fresh morning spring reeds on the lake kind of green. Dries down to some kind of milky/latex smell but stays largely natural. The celery seed note is very strong, once you notice it you won't be able to ignore it. Very unobjectionable but also interesting, great to wear on a daily basis.