Eau de Parfum

straordinario ma assai difficile, questo profumo ormai fuori produzione nella sua formulazione originale, è per me un archetipo di bellezza poco accessibile. ho trovato per caso un tester dal mio pusher personale di profumi, che per sbarazzarsene me lo ha venduto ad un prezzo ridicolo. e poichè ne avevo letto come di una meraviglia l'ho preso al volo! ed effettivamente di meraviglia si tratta: un profumo astrattissimo e dicotomico, in cui le primissime sensazioni "sporche" di erba terrosa si smorzano presto su un effetto legnoso-floreale di raro equilibrio, trasfigurandosi infine su uno skin-scent lievemente dolce. non cito nessuna delle note della piramide semplicemente per il fatto che non si distinguono: qui siamo alla sintesi perfetta in cui non solo i singoli componenti non hanno alcun senso da soli ma acquisiscono valore nella totalità della sensazione olfattiva, ma anche per il fatto che l'evoluzione della sua percezione nasce da una iniziale sgradevolezza piacevole (non so descrivere meglio di così l'esperienza sensoriale che ne deriva) per assestarsi su un odore quasi innocente, che richiama vagamente il talco da bambini. come molti ritengono anche secondo me questa fragranza è assai simile al musc ravageur di malle, ma qui l'effetto complessivo è ancora più astratto e, per me, decisamente superiore. ottimo.

Not a fan of vanilla orientals and not a fan of baby powder scents, but this is one I can get behind. This could be a distant cousin to Shalimar and Prada Homme, and there is something about this that is cozy, familiar and comfortable. More smooth and soft than sweet, this will remind you of something you can’t quite put your finger on, and maybe this is part of it's charm. This is a clean smelling mellow musk that is not my taste at all, but this one works for me, maybe because it is nothing like anything I usually wear. I get zero flowers and almost no woods, this is 100% vanilla infused with lavender and it is quite beautiful and completely unisex and wears like a second skin. There is also a distinct animalistic note deep in this somewhere. Very hard to describe, but it’s what gives this an edge. I know this signature by Helmut Lang has a rabid cult following and I got extremely lucky and found a vintage pure perfume for a steal on line. I’ll appreciate this one for those special occasions. Rabid cult following now completely understood.

It's definitely easy to see Roucel's journey from this to Labdanum for LL to Musc Ravageur. Perfectly unisex skin-scent. The Le Labo has a bit more of an animalic "breath" to it, and MR feels like this structure pumped up on steroids (and with a noteable civetty presence). L de Lolita feels like the "beach" version of this scent. The sultry "used bedsheets" story that was supposedly the brief for this scent feels apropos. There is a soft, starchy feel to the aromatic lavender combined with the heliotrope and coumarin notes and a lovely human warmth in the well-behaved but definitely present musks/light animalics. Light enough to be worn any time but substantial enough to make an impression as it melds with the wearer's skin. I do have what I believe is an older parfum version--it smells more or less the same as the original EDP, if perhaps a little less diffuse.

This scent brings back lots of memories for me. My Yiayia (grandma) wore this perfume when I was a child, and recently I found some of it in her cabinet and it’s genuinely one of the best perfumes I think I might ever come across in my life. This is sheer perfection in a bottle. Is it powdery? Yes, but it’s so beautifully blended that it comes across as an elegant, put together, and graceful note, and to me it’s not overpowering. The scent is quite mature, a little too mature for my age, however, I hope that they make the very wise decision to bring back this scent because I would wear this for the rest of my life if I could.

For his namesake fragrance, Helmut Lang supposedly instructed Maurice Roucel to evoke the odor of his lover’s sweat. Mission accomplished, I'd say! This EDP does smell organically human, but also lived-in, comfortable, cuddly, sensual. Echoes of lavender and rosemary—remnants of his lover's cologne—are balanced atop a sweet, creamy musk with just a hint of something dirty at its core. To me, this is a fragrant abstraction of a lazy weekend, a morning after, a rainy day spent reading inside. ETA: Wearing this tonight (05.07.20), I came to a realization—Chanel’s Boy has a dry-down that’s strikingly similar to Helmut Lang EDP.