Comme des Garcons Series 2 Red: Harissa

Harissa has a unique kind of freshness created by chilli pepper and tomato leaves, it balances just like that, very on the edge to be not too food or michelada like. It has a faint fuzziness and good a zing while not loosing Comme de Garcons abstractness in one of the few lighter examples of this without incense or wood. Please bring it back CDG!

Bam!!! Harissa opens with a stong, soapy powder of miscellaneous cleaning products which sounds bad right? However my experience of fragrances tells me that this is the effect of not seeing the wood for the trees and these usually make for complex and unusual perfume. Harissa certainly didn't disappoint on that front, bags of character then developed, such as the tomato vibe which reminded me of Blood Concept a little. The exception being that this composition has a warm breeze of spices which are harder to pin point although I swear I can smell the myrrh of palisander here too especially in the drydown. I'm at the drydown right now and honestly I can't stop sniffing myself. The tomato vibe has become less vegetable now and it's just a lovely soft scent. Again the longevity is average projection is a low skin scent, there's definitely a time and a place for scents like this. Like when you want to enjoy them yourself without others even catching wind of them. Once again another wear would be beneficial to suss out exactly what is going on. Verdict is good from me...Comme des Garcons are such a cool house!

Imagine a tomato leaf between your fingers, tear it, smell it - this is how Harissa starts! Fresh summer scent, green and strong, but not like forest green, no.. it's so tasty "green" and I like it a lot! I can imagine on a hot summer day this is all you want :) It's not an obvious freshness, it's spicy and even sweet (when develops) but it stays kind of fresh (like recently gathered vegetables) - sounds weird, right? But it is nice, unusual and very modern fragrance. PS. I worn it couple of times and I like it more and more. It's not a winter fragrance therefore I'll save it for the warmer time, but definitely an unusual FAV!

For me this is the best fragrance of the RED CdG series, It's warm and spicy, yet with strong fresh/spicy opening that is just right and amazing for one EdT! Drydown is light, but there. And sweet, but not too much. This is because of the saffron, it gives certain dash of urban luxury. Overall, love this scent, ideal for everyday use, lovely spices. Fresh, but not too much so it can be worn all year. I even think it's perfect for fall. My rating: 8/10

It's a nice, warm, spicy fragrance, but I actually wish it were a bit more potent. This is very enjoyable, but in terms of heat I was expecting hot sauce, and got ketchup instead. This perfume is much more subtle and approachable than the notes would have you think.