Molecule 01 + Champaca

Full disclaimer, as you may have seen in previous reviews of mine, I'm a big fan of this house and I own all of their perfumes and I always buy the full bottles blind ASAP upon release because I feel they disappoint so rarely and WELL that even when they're not at their best the perfumes are still very, very wearable. Again I was forced to import this privately from Denmark because it's not sold to Sweden from the Escentric Molecules EU webshop, so it took me a bit longer than usual to get my hands on this. First I would like to commend the bottle design. The outer package is the "standard" M01+ design language, however with the same side-opening box like the M01+Cistus, which I'm very happy about, but the bottle has a very beautiful design version of a the champaca flower on it, and I certainly see why they chose this deep red colour for the whole ad campaign around this scent because it does look stunning. The scent itself? Well, I WAS a little bit worried about escentric molecules entering flowery territory, even if we can argue that they've done it before with Iris, the champaca, the red flower, all of it made me think that maybe they will have gone TOO floral? But as I sprayed the first spritz and the surprising first waft of ORANGE hit me, my concerns were immediately lifted. Yes, the orange is a top note and yes, it fades VERY fast, but there's a DNA strand of that that lingers in the interpretation of the flower note as well that just goes SO nicely together, it's definitely a kind of continuation of the scent that just goes deeper and more red and, yes, floral. I'd say it's a very sophisticated floral, still, and I have for sure smelled a lot of perfumes that are way more "feminine" coded leaning than this, BUT in the same way that the M01+Patchouli DEFINITELY leans masculine, this one definitely leans feminine. I don't mind it personally, a study I read of has deduced that both men and women actually PREFER feminine leaning scents, so I'm all for it, but it might be a tougher sell for those struggling with the comfort of their masculinity. I got "rich old lady" by some who smelled me, which I also get sometimes when I wear the M01+Iris, so that's classy floral for you, BUT one comment that I wasn't expecting was that of a friend who is originally from the Philippines who said it reminded him very specifically of the scents the flowers they use in his part of the country for FUNERALS, and so we looked it up and damn right if the flower in question wasn't of the Champaca family! So this can definitely also be worth considering if you'll be travelling to a South-East Asian country. It's not a BAD thing, but yes, the risk is that you could come off as a bit funereal. Anyway, I like it a lot, it has a bit longer longevity than most M01+ scents and it shakes up the collection a bit. However I do worry that the M01+ line is starting to take over the entire Escentric Molecules house? Isn't it about time we get Escentric/Molecule 06 soon?

Imo, one of the best if not the best from EM. I've already spent way too much time with my nose glued to my skin just trying to take it all in. Yes, it's intimate and has rather weak projection, but it also depends a lot on your skin chemistry. Great for layering as well, especially with other floral perfumes or maybe even tea fragrances. My colleague tried it on both wrists: on one she wore Chanel Mademoiselle, the other was left plain. It smelled so different on each wrist, yet both combinations were gorgeous. We probably spent at least 10 minutes smelling each other's wrists :D For me, it was an instant buy. For my colleague, it was more like: "I need to remind my husband that our wedding anniversary is coming up soon..." As a huge fan of inoffensive, calming, second-skin fragrances, this is easily one of my top choices at the moment.

ISO E Super is such an interesting and enjoyable ingredient to me. I become anosmic to it after about an hour, but only for maybe 20 minutes or so, and then it comes roaring back to life. I love that sudden burst. This is a beauuutiful sparkling white floral. The orange blossom opens, bright and warm, and that warmth stays inside the champaca over the first half hour. The Michelia champaca tree is a heady, magical scent, but it’s hard to capture in the flower as a breeze will quickly carry it away. This is such a faithful reproduction—a breezy, decadent wear.

In love with this scent, feels so cosy on me and can suit for spring, summer and fall imo. A very subtle combination of the woody scent with a soft but lively orange blossom is what I like here. Bought a sample of it to test its performance, which is unfortunately very weak. Not sure yet if others around me cant smell it too after these hours - I should test this. Trying to compare it to the other Molecules as the original and Molecule+BlackTea seems to do more on performance with me.

A lovely fresh floral note which , as other reviews have noted, comes and goes in iso super's 3 D way. I'm not familiar enough with champaca to comment on the fidelity of the note here except to say that it's lighter than Ormonde Jayne's Champaca. I plan to wear it for a wedding later in July because it's not too heavy or overpowering. I suspect that longevity and perception might get confused with this one because it's still quite noticeable when I sort my laundry.