Le Sel D'Issey Eau de Parfum

#48 of My Fragrance Journey - Issey Miyake Le Sel d’Issey - The Ocean, Remembered on Warm Skin I’m completely drawn to this fragrance. Le Sel d’Issey feels like a secret the ocean whispered just for me - intimate, untamed, and strangely human. Over 30 years ago, Issey Miyake captured the rush of running water; now, with this Eau de Parfum, they’ve gone deeper. This isn’t just another “aquatic” scent. It’s the sea itself - alive, mineral, and endlessly evocative. That first spray hits like an alarm. Salt hits warm skin, bright and bracing, like standing too close to the waves when they crash against the rocks. There’s no sunscreen sweetness or coconut cliché here - just the sharp tang of brine, the earthiness of seaweed tangled on wet stones, and the cool, green breath of oakmoss anchoring everything. It’s not a postcard beach - it’s the real thing: raw, mineral, elemental. You don’t just smell the coast; you feel it, a jolt of wind and water that wakes the senses. After a while, something shifts. The salt begins to melt into warmth - amber flickers like sunlight on damp sand, incense rises like the smoke of a distant fire, and dry woods emerge, steady and grounding. It’s not a transition so much as a dialogue: the sea meeting the shore, the coolness of air blending with the heat of skin. The freshness remains, but now it’s wrapped in something softer, more human, quietly sensual. By the dry-down, Le Sel d’Issey becomes a memory - a coastline after the storm, embers fading in a seaside bonfire, salt still clinging to your hair. The scent hugs close, magnetic but never loud, lasting easily ten hours while evolving in subtle waves. It lingers like a secret you can’t quite let go of - alive but intimate, wild yet refined. This fragrance doesn’t smell like a holiday or a bottle of “blue.” It smells like the ocean distilled through memory and touch - the meeting point between water and flesh, energy and calm, wildness and grace. Every time I wear it, I feel that quiet electricity again: salt, warmth, skin. Le Sel d’Issey isn’t just a scent - it’s a moment, suspended between sea and shore. And once it finds your skin, it doesn’t just stay there. It lives there. More scent stories and visuals on Instagram - @lavendercloudsjd

This is a really interesting fragrance, on paper the seaweed note is really strong and prominent, it's almost too much. On skin its a different story, this is where this fragrance really comes alive and develops throughout the day. On my skin, this opens with that oceanic seaweed smell, after 5 minutes this settles and the seaweed almost acts as the base adding complexity to the salty, aquatic freshness. After about an hour or so the middle notes come through and the incense is subtle, but again adds to the complexity and depth to a fragrance that would be pretty ordinary. For me after a fews hours this becomes a complex fresh marine fragrance that is really unique. On paper I did not like this at all, I can understand why people do not like it but if it works with your skin it really is one of my favourite releases of 2025. I don't get any of the amber notes other people talk about here on my skin, but again on paper it is prominent and contrasts a little too much with the marine notes. This summer here in Australia this has been my biggest compliment getter so far, especially with women and those who are really into fragrances. This will be in my summer rotation but I cannot see myself wearing it in the colder months. Not blind buy safe I don't think. Lasts 10+ hours

I just got a good deal on this even it’s redundant since i have the EDT already im still bought it. But if you only have Bois Imperial it’s not redundant, because it’s different. EDP got most of Le Sel DNA as the backbone , but the addition of scent profile here about the sparkling fresh and bright opening only stayed around 5mins then you slowly find the warm and sweet scent of Amber coming through while the bright opening go away, mean while the incense coming too. And this kind of incense very similar with the incense ADG Profumo but it’s like only 5% as little touch of transition , more importantly getting into drydown the Warm and Sweet Amber always there in the back (10%)accompanying the main back bone of Le Sel DNA and i believe this amber oil is the same like SWY EDT and SWYI that my friend usually wear. This makes it perfect to use Le Sel EDP at the Spring and Fall, in the hot humid weather i got a bit cloying by the warm and sweet scent. So that’s it my review of this EDP.

Honestly, I really like this perfume’s scent, it’s seductive in an amazing way. I feel like it has that Amouage Decision vibe (I won’t really compare it to that though, because in my opinion Amouage is creamy, classy, and more luxurious). But when I tried them side by side, this one gave me a bakhoor/oud smoky scent that’s actually nicer than Amouage. Amouage is just a different thing honestly. Comparing it specifically to the smoky/incense side and the frankincense (luban) note. I grew up in Yemen and this is the real, authentic luban scent. What I also liked is that sometimes it sits on the skin for a long time, though other times I feel like it fades. And even though I like it, so far nobody’s complimented me on it, so that’s why you really need to try it for yourselves. Also, compared to the EDT version, when I tested them side by side, the EDT was way weaker and just average. And next to Kenzo EDP, this one made Kenzo feel like a pretty basic/simple perfume in comparison.

I absolutely love this fragrance, a very high quality oceanic scent that's perfect for summer days and nights. To me this smells like I just finished a long surf session, the salt notes mixed with a smoky undertone is addictive to me, it has a subtle sweetness from the amber as well which really finishes it off and makes it super versatile. I chewed through my bottle as I was wearing it every day in summer and I got a ton of compliments from both girls and guys, its not super loud where it makes it obvious you are wearing a fragrance most of the compliments were just "you smell really nice", so I would say it is very blind buy safe. Projection is pretty solid for the first 2 hours before dying down to a skin scent, and longevity is really good for a freshie I would get probably around 7 hours, I would 100% recommend if you are looking for a designer freshie that smells 10/10 and is more unique than the copious amount of citrus bombs on the market today.