Derring-Do

Before I begin, let me say that I absolutely love Ineke's entire presence as a fragrance designer. Her scents are sophisticated, the packaging stellar, she herself a class act, and her whole product line is the work of a top drawer artisan perfumer. The packaging and intention behind this scent are typically stunning. The gray/blue box with various striking images photographed by her husband, mostly featuring water droplets on slick surfaces. So much thought and deliberation in the choices made here, per usual with Ineke. The scent itself is quite lovely. A peppery fresh fougere dominated by an aquatic, rainy accord. The top is super fresh, and always gets responses upon the initial spray. It breaks my heart to say that, sadly, the ensuing projection and longevity are a mutual letdown. It's just not strong enough, and is just gone too soon, requiring frequent reapplication. Ironically, I've gotten better use of it as a fabric freshener, as it seems to cling to clothing slightly better than skin. Again, I love Ineke's work, and otherwise applaud her entire product line. And make no mistake: this is a compelling fragrance...at first. But for $95 (75ml), it just doesn't last long enough or project far enough to justify the niche price. Because the market is saturated with masculine fresh-cleans...alas, that's what ultimately makes it a deal breaker for future purchases. If, lo and behold, a "parfum intense" variation of this came out, I'd be all over it. ★★1⁄2 (out of ★★★★).

A spring scent. Wind chimes, slight breeze, green grass, temperature in the 70's F, white linen sheets hanging to dry. The house is clean from all of the chores mom assigned, sun is out, playing 'that cloud looks like a...' with sibling, Sunday 11am, May 1st, Central Valley, California. We had apricot and peach trees in the backyard. Can be a nice professional yet comforting, light, watery, peppery opening that fades, cool, with florals and a slice of citrus dancing on top of water type of scent. If I put it on before work, I would be totally safe doing so. It will not choke out anyone unless you open up the cap and dump all the contents on your head. It dries down to a lovely clean comforting laundry skin scent. It adopts a beauty with simplicity approach to perfumery as an art. High quality materials, simple, beautiful, like a minimalist watch face on your wrist. I can imagine many liking, maybe loving, but not hating. Fragranticans love opulent big, complex fragrances, and I get it. Judge it for yourself. Unisex 100% Pretty good longevity for a freshie for sure! 6 hours at room temp for me. Ehh... 80/100? Full 100's go to groundbreaking scents. This one is short of that; it is just very nice. FB worthy? Yes, if you agree with what I described.

I had a bottle of this when Ineke first released it. I wanted something niche I was wearing a suit everyday and wanted something that fit that vibe. It was the mid 2000's and aquatic scents were everywhere. I found Derring-Do to be perfect for spring and summer in Florida's humid heat. I did not get the cool water feeling of it as it was much lighter and more sophisticated to my nose not to mention it just did not smell like cool water. It was a fresh water aquatic (no salt at all) and the floral from I guess the cyclamen and magnolia floated over some very light woods. Fresh, nice in the humid heat and unobtrusive in the office. I never replaced my bottle as I just wasn't that into aquatic scents but if I was wanting something light and fresh for spring this would not be a bad choice.

Would've been a killer 80's 90's crossover scent, the fougere acquatic. Although not on the note pyramid violet leaf dominates the opening and mid of this fragrance. Think peppery fresh green

It's just flat our lazy to compare this to Cool Water. I swear people just see or hear "aquatic" and it's an immediate impulse to compare to Cool Water. Cool Water is more musky and floral. This is more citrusy and woody. The pepper in Derring-Do also brings out an interesting element. Both Cool Water and Derring-Do are fine...but the biggest thing they have in common is the strong water notes. Otherwise, they take different paths...especially on the dry down. My only complaint on Derring-Do is the sillage. It's almost non-existant. It's definitely a skin scent and while it's fine to constantly hold your wrist to your nose to enjoy it, it kind of kills the idea of wearing a fragrance. It's such a lovely, springy scent...I wish it had more projection. Spray it liberally and allow it to get on your clothes. Not FB worthy, but worth the sample to enjoy on a nice sunny day.

I usually hate aquatic scents but this one is nice (for the genre) very fresh, clean, citrus like soapiness. Clean musky. Reminds me a bit of Jake's house from Henry Rose. That type of genre. It smells like it was made from good materials because I'm not getting a headache and this genre usually bothers me. My husband really liked this one. Male for sure. I just can't see these types of scents on a woman but if she likes fresh aquatics with clean musks and soapy citrus this is a good one. Would be refreshing on very hot days.

This is a masculine, citrus-aquatic. It shares some similarities with Nautica Voyage, Versace Pour Homme, and Gendarme. There is no doubt in my mind this is a crowd pleaser. It's a slightly sweet citrus with some beautiful floral notes and a lovely aquatic feel. It doesn't have the apple notes of Voyage or the tonka of Pour Homme, and it also has a bit of a clean-laundry vibe in the dry down. Supposedly this is unisex but I don't think so. It's for guys all the way. Beautiful fragrance through and through. 7/10

Opens like windex to me. I’m not the target audience but it really just smells like cleaning products to me. It’s not horrific, but is a boring aquatic floral on the dry down. It gets more wearable with time as the woods start to come out and it really softens into a skin scent (i can barely smell it). I don’t really see the point in a fragrance that spends 30 minutes being unpleasant, just to smell like basically nothing.

Like so many other “fresh aquatic” scents, it smells like grain alcohol that hasn’t been mixed yet. Given a few minutes, a bit of citrus seeps through and it smells okay. Derring-Do is a nicely mixed citrus fragrance. Not like a cleaning product, but still, nothing special here.

"Derring - Do" is a very sharp citrus fragrance on my skin, at the opening it had a "bathroom cleaner citrus" sharpness that was enchanced with watery notes, not the gentle kind, but more on the salt water side. In all honesty I did not get any flowers and it develop very masculine on my skin. The dry down brought the same soapy sharp musk I've encountered in some creations by INEKE, but here it's even more sharp and even more soapy than in other INEKE perfumes. This and the unbearably sharp note of citrus that still lingers all trough the dry down, makes "Derring Do" rather unwearable for me. It might of course work for some, but this is definetely my least favorite perfume of the range of INEKE, also I really don't think this is worth the price tag.

Ineke Derring-Do opens with a sharp soapy note which can also be found in the first three releases from Ineke. It's less aggressive in Derring-Do, but still enough to overpower all the other components. I can't really smell magnolia here. What's accompanying the soapy note and the clean white musk, is a slightly sweet woody smell, albeit very vague and blurred. The sillage is relatively soft and the longevity is around 8 hours. Although marketed as a fragrance for men, I find it fairly unisex and neutral in feeling. It would be very appropriate for office use, but personally I find myself at trouble to cope with the sharp soapy note in a few Ineke scents. Considering its price and availability, I won't particularly recommend it.

I do not see it in the ingredients as lavender and even coffee; and yet are very present. However, I find this scent very similar to many others and also even ordinary. The aromatic-fougere scents are very difficult to create, they tend to expire in the obvious: Derring-Do succeeded in full.

I can’t really describe this scent other than by saying it smells very bland, almost like a cleaning product. It’s not a bad scent, it’s just a “default” scent. 4/10

Nice fresh opening but later has kind of a waxy fake plant smell. Not for me.

Smells like I took a shower with synthetic body wash gel, 2/10

I honestly couldn't smell a thing when I first spritzed this perfume. I was utterly anosmic to it, and then after about half an hour it suddenly started developing into something very beautiful on my skin! This is a very watery aquatic with a twist of citrus. I know that other reviewers have said that it leans towards the masculine side, but only in the same way that Tom Ford Black Orchid can be masculine. This fragrance is a delicate, beautiful, gentle and very feminine fragrance to my nose. The wonderful thing about Ineke frags are that they are of stunningly excellent ingredients and tend to morph and shape shift continuously, into wonderful amalgamations with your own body chemistry. I love this perfume house!

In all fairness, I have to confess up front that I'm not a big fan of anything that has an aquatic note, especially if it falls in the fougere category. With that said, I do have an open mind about things and can say when something is amazing, even when it's not something that I would personally choose to wear. In this case, that's NOT the case. It's not bad, but there's also nothing compelling about it that moves it beyond the average fougere one can find in the men's cologne section in most department stores.

Ineke DERRING DO is another of this house's masculine-leaning unisex fragrances. This one, too, is probably too masculine for me, but the quality of the ingredients is indisputable, and I would heartily recommend it to guys looking for a fresh citrus woody summertime scent. I find that all of the INEKE "unisex" compositions really lie on the masculine side of the M/F divide, and DERRING DO is no exception to the rule, but I do appreciate its fineness—for what it is.

Fresh and aquatic out of the gate, then most prominently a lingering sour note, doesn't read as citrus exactly. Very modern, and of a style that's just not my cup of tea. Reminds me strongly of at least one thing I had from one of the major houses that I parted ways with, YSL pour homme maybe. Also tangentially of GIT, but the exquisite complexity isn't there.

Very pleasant scent - I find myself agreeing with those that mentioned Cool Water. A lighter, brighter (more citrus?), more crisp and more floral take, but quite similar nonetheless. The aquatic accord reminds me of the one used in Kerosene's Summer of 84. I don't think it's quite worth it for the price, though

a little like Chanel Bleu but with less citrus, more depth and something almost metallic. This is mellow and clean and classy. There's a nice wet grassy mossy forest scent, which is probably oakmoss and a touch of white musk. I'm not a huge fan of the marine category, but this one is very nicely done.

Derring-Do smelled more masculine than unisex to me at first, but I think the right woman can carry this one off. This is fully green/aquatic to my nose, quite nice, and not overpowering. Modest sillage, but this might be overpowering if someone applies it with a heavy hand. Very nice and fresh.

Huge fan of Ineke...this one is very good...as others have noted it's a masculine aquatic fragrance with a touch of flowers, woods and citrus...I don't see the comparisons to Cool Water as others have noted...worth seeking out and works totally unisex...

vast may meadow with rain&wind on me... but unstable. And nice balanced. Little bit sweeter than Andree Putman Preapatation. Merit: keeps aloof (together with Preparation)

Agreed, it is like cool water, but i feel a bit leather floral Musk also in it... but in this price it is ok, longevity is moderate !!!!

That's true, Derring do is aquatic with a touch of leather and magnolia. Very fresh fragrance with a poor staying power.

Much like Cool Water with leather added. Aquatic with leather. Nothing special, but nice for what it is.

...optimistic, but beware of subtle sharp grass note at the end (may not appear on some skin)

This one was just a basic drugstore aquatic frag. Yawn