Serpentine

This is a fun little offering from CDG but it's not essential. Opens up totally naturalistic and grassy and then seems to get more and more synthetic and urban as it dries down. Theres a note that comes out at the end of the drydown that I recognize from CDG 2011, sort of a slightly chalky, somewhat sweet concrete note that I really enjoy. It's somewhere between fresh cut green grass and freshly poured concrete and Its very nice! The issue here is performance. It opens up strong but it's gone within 2 hours on me. I enjoy the 2 hours, but when I can wear the much stronger CDG 2011 (which come to think of, is a concentrated distillation of the best aspects of this) I don't see much of a need. 5.5/10 Edit: After wearing this a few more times, it's really won me over. While I still get performance issues, I've found that there is much more going on than I originally thought. Its a very unique and worthy offering from CDG. The clean grassiness in the opening that I originally described as naturalistic is actually interestingly futuristic. It's like grass that is somehow so grassy that it becomes some sort of dystopian replicant of grass. The individual elements are combined in such a clinical way that they make up an entirely new scent. The drydown still contains traces of CDG 2011/a new perfume, and it does lose some of it's fun as it goes but I think its worth a sniff for any CDG fan. 7.5/10

I absolutely adore Serpentine. I briefly had a store near my work that stocked CdG scents, and I spent some days sniffing them all and wearing a few before buying this one. A beautiful and brainy scent. Immediately attractive, but also intriguing as you mentally pick it apart - a garden of flowers, green stems, asphalt roads surrounding, cars and city smells in the distance. A completely personal reference: this always brings to mind a line from Steven Jesse Bernstein's harrowing spoken word piece, Face. He is being tormented by a school bully and "misty lavender donuts of shame" appear before his eyes. I think of this not because of anything harrowing or shameful in the scent, but because I see these holographic lavender-coloured misty donuts of idealized "pollution" when I smell this. A cautionary note: I returned to the office after spraying this on my wrist at the store to test it out (hopefully discreetly as scents were not common in my workplace). As I sat down, my coworker suddenly had a panicked look in her eye, and said, "what smells like shoe polish?" I quickly went into the washroom and scrubbed it off. I still bought it later that week because I'm a freak like that. But it goes to show how niche scents can bother, you know, normal people. I've since gotten compliments on it but I see this and other niche scents as something for me and people in my life who appreciate them.

Did not expect to love this, but I do. There’s something familiar in here that I recognize from certain sandalwood scents that makes them smell like sexy sweat, but instead of being sandalwood-adjacent, it’s wafting around with green and soapy notes. The green soapy note I can see how some people compare to Mugler cologne. But compared to Mugler this is airier, 3-dimensional, grittier yet cleaner, where mugler comes across as very flat (and a little disgusting when you discover the “semen note”). The asphalt plays the part of that gross cigarette smell a lot of modern men’s fragrances have but without making you smell like a closeted smoker. But the magic here are the aldehydes. It’s easy to screw up an aldehydic fragrance and make it smell like grandma or grandpa (looking at you, yuzu soda). But here they just augment the soap a bit and lift all those green notes into the air and make them sparkle. It’s easy to go nose blind to these and that’s why some reviews say it doesn’t last for them. If you find CdG Soda magical and want a green soapy scent with that magic, this is it.

Chromatic scale Serpentine evoked: White / Fluo Green / Silver / Black / Pale Pink / Dark Grey Some random impressions. Boatloads of aldehydes, *gunpowdery* spices, musks, incense, woods, iris-y notes. It evokes brand new spaces as opposed to brand new objects. Big warehouses. Concrete, wet white paint, linoleum, immaculate walls, industrial lighting, cars, subways, ads... To all of the above, add a smooth powderyness probably linked to some orris-related accord which provides a subtle perfumey vibe necesseary to preserve the fragrance from becoming a mere exercise in style. Absolutely wearable, novel and modern...which I guess are all adjectives to describe CDG. Once more, Austuguevielle's artistic direction doesn't let me down and, when it comes to modernism, CDG is confirmed to not fear any rival. A big winner. Rating: 7.5-8/10

It smells like bitter pine and a walk in a forest during late autumn. You have asphalt and fallen leaves which are starting to slowly rot under your feet. It is quiet, the air is crisp, as it just stopped raining. You're alone. But you are perfectly happy with that. My brother gifted me this fragrance when I was very young, it was... 10 years ago. Since then I switched countries and places and I didn't take Serpentine with me when I was moving. Recently my mother sent it to me via post and... it didn't change one bit. It still smells the same way it used to smell when I was way younger. I find it impressive the original scent survived this long. For me this is best worn when it's chilly outside. It's a beautiful, high quality, complex and unique fragrance. And, like almost all CdGs, it's not for everyone.

As literal as it gets in the best way this scent captures the environmental story of car crash - the choreography, the set, not the vehicle. you are the vehicle. It isn't gruesome, it's like a ballet, or a stunt for a movie. It's meticulously controlled chaos. straight grass clippings. clean pavement that has been baking in the sun so long its radiating waves of heat. fresh air - this note I am most impressed with tbh. to capture literal fresh air. nothingness. incredible. finishing back in sweet grass with a whisper of sweet florals. like an out of control car that serpentines off an empty highway into the open field of a median before catching air to land upside down in fresh grass on a perfectly sunny day. pure art.

Makes me think of a laundromat at dusk on a main street where the fresh clean steam from the dryers meets the warm (not hot because it's dusk) asphalt. Remarkable really how the main notes of this one are present and accounted for. Avant-garde enough to pique and keep my interest while still being totally comfortable. Very cool how the synthetic notes eg asphalt smell so natural. Average performance. Leans masculine. Also, CdG is quite price-friendly. Highly recommended to fragrance fans foraying off the beaten path. Rating - 7.5/10

fresh grassy aldehydes. don't really get the asphalt in here. this is the perfume that brought me here, i had never smelled anything like it before. beautiful beautiful scent of urban grass. a sterile but maintained lawn with dew in spring. there are moments when i spray it and it comes out like a spicy artificial green, like a sharp uncool mint almost. other times when it lasts a bit longer, i smell the iris so clearly. i really wish it lasted longer than 1 hour.

I love a lot about Comme des Garcons, particularly how boring they find the concept of "pretty". For me, the opening of Serpentine is very soapy green in a good way, very much a city park grass on a cloudy morning. And the dry down on my skin remind me of the first drops of rain landing on hot pavement on a humid day. I love the atmosphere of it and I love wearing it at work especially on hot days. It's refreshing.

Another masterpiece from comme des garcons. I do get the “park in a city” vibe but to me it smells more like a futuristic, clean and slightly metallic green scent. It smells very fresh but with some edge to it so it never gets boring. 9/10

Love this! Fresh air, wet grass & asphalt! Opens very bright, fresh & dewy but the asphalt becomes more noticeable as it dries down. I personally didn't have major issues with performance, constantly got whiffs for around 4 hours.

A weird one, no doubt. To me this smells like New York City in June. A friend once told me it smelled like CURRY. (!!!) I don’t wear it anymore, but can’t bear to get rid of it.

Grassy like sticking your nose to the ground, on a morning where there’s still leftover dew.

Soooo good. Green and noxious in such a nice way

Applies mostly thick wood with a lesser green streak. Brisk plant contrasts pillowy soapiness that's not powdery and only adds texture. Sappy wood twigs with a faint leafy bite. Mellow and creamy. Surprising how it lives up to the name in not an off-putting way. Top note is the highlight while soft woody base takes time to develop. As others noted, more city park than wild nature with the scent of fresh cut grass on a mower and damp streets nearby. Light skin projection, but not the worst. Clothes deliver more airy green that's still soapy/creamy, but in a realistic way. As wood becomes more refined and warm, everything harmonizes much more delightfully on skin. It becomes more fresh and natural with a needed gentle sweetness. As an aficionado of green scents, much of the opening felt pretty mid but settled into an impressive blend. Alas, by that point, the skin application fades a bit. It's close! Definitely benefits from heavy application. The clothing spray is still going milky green, which is a good trade off. I suppose it's worth trying as that dry down is pretty damn nice and unique, despite being on the weaker side.

I have a great relationship with atmospheric scents, and this is one of them. It opens with a note that reminds me of grass and lemon balm. It is green, fresh and bursting with life, but like many CdG scents, this one also has an industrial and slightly dystopian side... In the middle; that liveliness suddenly stops and everything around you turns grey, a kind of greyness as if nature has been stripped of its colours... You find yourself among rain-soaked stones. Everything is still and everything is unhappy. Like the phase transition in Silent Hill, the atmosphere suddenly becomes muted, and you feel as if you are inside a computer game, in an artificial environment. Everything is there, the trees, the grass, the flowers, the benches, but they are not real. Someone has placed them there for you. The moment you bend down to smell the grass, it is no longer green and alive. It smells grey and clean, as if stripped of all the dirt of life. Tag(s): citrusy, grassy, muted, grey, wet stones, aldehydic-fresh, industrial

Serpentine opens with same smell as a dewy park that has dandelions and a variety of other weeds growing in it and this fragrance stays very close to my skin... and somehow it just keep staying. About ten minutes after spraying, I began to have to touch my nose to my wrist in order to still smell it, but it has lingered all day as a skin scent, even after I took a bath! It smells less and less green as the hours have passed and a bit more like concrete and wood. I think it starts out smelling like a wet unkept lawn, but in the nicest way. I love the smell of my front garden after it rains and Serpentine's opening is very similar to that. The scent's dry-down is less wet, but still fresh and green, and its longevity has astounded me. If you like that, this is a fragrance you'll probably enjoy, but keep in mind that there is little to no sillage with this one, especially if you're used to wearing "compliment-getters" that others can detect.

kind of disappointing honestly. a pretty basic green vegetal scent, not bad by any means, don't get me wrong, but there really isn't much depth to it. i was super excited about the asphalt accord, but it doesn't come through at all, at least not on my skin. maybe it's just a body chemistry thing. i don't usually care much about sillage but i have to say the performance on this scent is not great, especially considering the price point..... oh well. you win some you lose some EDIT: I'm really coming around to this one.... I was pretty underwhelmed at first but the grassy green with the lightest ashphalt undertone is super nostalgic and summery. I was expecting it to lean more heavy on the synthetics but I quite like how fresh and clean this is. The grass is by far the standout note here. Smells like taking a leisurely walk on a hot August day after your neighbors just got done with the mowing.

A modern abstract by the ever eclectic CDG House, this grassy woody synthetic beauty designed to accompany an art exhibit is only for adventurous modern perfume lovers. The notes are grass, green leaves, galbanum, iris leaf, aldehydes, asphalt, musk, nutmeg, labdanum, cedar, benzoin, juniper and guaiac wood and they create a nice green woody feel that evokes big spaces like open fields, large warehouses, modern skyscrapers, highways, very ultra modern and futuristic. As one reviewer correctly points out, nature meets metropolitan perhaps evoking the artistry it was designed to accompany. Beautifully composed and moderate sillage/projection, this is an eminently wearable perfume for those who appreciate modern abstract perfumery art.

Very nice wet, dewy grassy note, though I feel like it's more present smelling it up close nose to skin than in its projection. Further out, there is still a sense of green but the aldehydes are more prominent. They smell a little violet-y, a little potpourri (but in a good way). I'm not sure I get straight up asphalt, but there is something a little sticky and tarry about it, again in a good way. I like this for sure, and it's a good value for the price (currently ~$100), even if it's not an essential addition to your fragrance wardrobe. It's perfect for the beginning of spring. 8/10.

Serpentine had a pretty dramatic evolution on me, but was bright and soapy throughout. Not as synthetic or challenging as I'd expected. Opens with grassy and woody notes, and something zippy (it even seems kind of lemony to my nose, despite lemon not being listed as a note). Dries down to a more classic floral soap with a touch of musk. I can't speak for the asphalt note because I'm not sure what that smells like in perfumery. A nice, unique bright bright green scent.

It's very similar to old Mugler Cologne, with far better parameters and a little stronger emphasis on the same notes. Green, fresh, dewy, grassy-leavy, with just a hint of violet. Great thing for spring and summer, very refreshing. On my skin lasted surprisingly long, I would say extremely long for that type of scent, around 12h. -If you want to learn about my approach to reviewing, please see my profile bio-

On my skin I'm getting STRONG aldehydes and dew as soon as it's on. I get much more of a metallic/sweetwater/floral than anything distinctly grass or asphalt. It wisps away pretty fast as it dries down. There's a slight musk which balances it out a little for me, but overall it's much too femme for my usual scent profile.

smells like a city, the pavement is prominent, its like your beside a park, you can smell the grass and trees. its like your laying your cheek on the pavement as you get whiffs of the park ahead. its pleasing in a non serious, very visceral, kind of funny way. dry down is soapy

This, to me at least, is a freshly cut grass while having something urban and edgy feel about it. However, it really last no more than 5 minutes on my skin unfortunately.

Wet grass and aldehydes, slightly floral. Serpentine in terms of a fresh green lively scent, not the reptile or the rock.

My girlfriend said I smelled like soup... But in a good way It has a slightly sweet vegetabley smell

weird and futuristic green. grass and vines growing out of concrete next to a laundromat

Straight up grass and asphalt. Clean and industrial, cozy and weird, I like it!

The green has turned soapy, in a pretty good way.

The opening is freshly cut grass (woven with weedy floral scent) and asphalt or glue. The combo stayed pretty consistent through out. The sillage, though, leaves a bit of soapy notes. Depending on what you like, you might love the soapiness. But for me it's a bit too plastic, like Head & Shoulder shampoo. There's a trace of incense and woody notes along side, combined with musk, they lift the grassiness to a more airy one and not a damp one, which is nice. Dries down further to a nutmeg-ish note, which seems to be a very consistent one amongst a lot of CdG perfumes (CdG, CdG 2, CdG 2 Man, Ouarzazate, and even Black, although it's licorice) and my brain seems to group them all to one big no-no, as it's rather unpleasant for my nose personally. Sadly I have to skip all nutmeg-related CdG. It's a conceptually strong perfume, though, as always from this house. Might smell interesting on other bodies than mine. ~*

I had high expectations for this perfume since I have been searching for an asphalt smell for years and it just isn't here. Instead, you get a nice green wet smell that to me smells like wet aloe plants. The smell is nice but it's so faint and it's not for me either. If you think this perfume sounds interesting I would recommend Demeter Fragrance's Thunderstorm since it has a similar smell that lasts longer and is far cheaper.

I actually like the smell; it's green and watery. I didn't get the asphalt part. The problem here is the longevity; it vanished off my skin after one hour or so. Edit I read the comment below me after I wrote my review, and im a bit WTF; 12 hours longevity?! I sprayed many perfumes on different parts of my hands and arms; it's been a few hours and I can smell all of them apart from Serpentine.

A realistic grassy fragrance. It reminds me of sitting at the park and splitting blades of grass with my fingers. Or the smell of my knees after a soccer game when I was a kid. Earthy, green, and fresh. Definitely suited to summer/spring. Nonetheless, it doesn't really resonate with my present taste. It is too one noted -- I prefer perfumes with more mystery and depth.

On paper a truly interesting scent: something like a city park with traces of industrial materials and plant material. However, this is the first really aldehyde-forward fragrance I tried and it showed me that I’m particularly sensitive to it. That is, I could smell nothing but that particular molecule. If you detect aldehydes easily, this is sadly a pass.

Smells like green soap shavings. Kinda powdery, fresh and soft scent. Wouldn’t make sense wearing this outside, more of a netflix and chill, cuddling type. Smells so good and comforting but hard to notice unless up close. I havent tried overspraying and i wont at this price

Green, dark, and dominated by woody base and aspects of vetiver. Somewhat eccentric but perhaps likeable on the right person. The issue I experienced was the very limited performance. It is difficult to recommend due to this.

you know how dogs go outside and they have a certain smell when they come back in? if humans did that, this is what we would smell like. lol its interesting but..no

Did not feel at all. Like fake Byredo Blanche... so tiny silage only smells on the hand. People telling “it’s your perfume if you can’t feel it”. Well

Incredible disappointment. I didn't want to take the plunge on a full bottle when CdG is known for creating avant-garde, considerably unwearable fragrances. So I got a sample from the Perfumed Court, and I'm honestly so disappointed. This is EXACTLY, and I mean EXACTLY, the same as Mugler Cologne. It's a complete dupe, and it's so much more incredibly expensive. It smells like straight up orange blossom and petitgrain, slightly soapy, sweet, and with a lush bitter edge. I smell no iris, no aldehydes, and so natural city-esque accords. Just straight up sweet, orangey-soap. I almost wonder if my Perfumed Court sample was mislabeled. That's how similar the two are.

An insipid, extremely synthetic-smelling fragrance. Starts off with that soapy, watery dill note which runs throughout so many of the incense-based titles in this line; The texture is thin, sharp and squeaky, with a slightly medicinal sweetness. There's nothing natural or rugged about any of the green/woody components. I don't pick up on the asphalt note either. Not impressed.

I. MUST. HAVE. THIS. It seems cold and green....exactly like what I want. This will be glorious for a Slytherin like me!

This recalls summer moments spent walking through basketball courts or parking lots surrounded by well-tended fields of grass. There's just enough cushion and lift from musks and iris behind the asphalt note to feel natural and dream-like. It's a fantastic green scent, and complex enough to keep you thinking and wondering about it. There are subtle bitter, woody, and spicy facets that inspire more fantastical landscapes, but they sit quietly in the background. It also doesn't lean too heavily into a soap accord, which some fresh-green scents can wander into. This is the aroma of the outdoors on a day where you get up early, pack a bag of sports equipment, and joyously run through the park with your friends.

I fell in love with this fragrance. It’s green, moist, just like the smell of freshly cut grass that I smell on my morning spring runs. It smells very similar to Laguna by Salvador Dali but with better longevity. But Laguna only costs around 20 Euros for 100 ml, while this costs 75 Euros for 50 ml. So it’s a hard argument to get a full bottle of Serpentine. Nevertheless, it’s beautiful.

Contemporary green. Nature meets metropolitan. Starts fun, young, fresh, sunny, zingy and happy! Sweet, green grass mixed with musk and some woody and metallic notes. There is certain electronic and futuristic vibe about it. Sadly, dry down gets sweet, musty and boring, but I still really like CdG out of the box approach to theirs creations.

Deliciously green. I was excited on smelling the tester, so bought it straight away. I thought it smelled a bit like my favourite, Balmain's "Vent Vert." It wasn't until later, that I realized it's quite similar to Lalique's "Encre Noir" which is a lot stronger. But that's OK, it's another delightful addition to my "green" perfume wardrobe.

this fragrance smells different every time i spray it. the first time i sprayed it in the shop i got fresh cut grass, asphalt and aromatics. pretty minimalistic futuristic green scent. after wearing it a few times you realise it's pretty girly. not recommended if you're a dude. the pollution note becomes evident as well and is pretty gross

Sunwarmed pavement mixing with the trimmings of cut grass. A wonderful supporting cast of notes which turns this somewhat novelty creation into wearable perfume art. A surprisingly hefty dose of woods and spices that balances this aldehydic and pure greenness. Ahhh I love this brand so much. The absolute pioneers of experimental fragrance.

Another tour de force from Comme. First time I smelled it, it was like "whooaah, what is this? I gotta have it!" Green grass and the smell of a big city. Absolutely addictive. One of my signature scents. J'adore!

fresh, clean, green, soapy... less like asphalt and more like concrete. Kinda has the same base scent as other CDG frags. I can sense Odeur 10 in this somewhat. Or a less floral version of 2011 CDG.