L'Eau d'Issey pour Homme Oceanic Expedition

Great stuff. You'll notice the grapefruit immediately, it's pretty strong. What this reminds me of is a Sunday morning in summer. Brilliant weather, you get up before anyone else does, go cycling for an hour, get back, shower and then make breakfast as everyone else is slowly getting up. All the windows are open, you can hear the river and people laughing and kids playing outside, the hum of a perfect summer day. I'm a great fan already and will go for a second bottle before the season's out, no doubt. As with all Issey fragrances, longevity is disappointing. On my skin at least they all disappear after just a few hours.

The grapefruit opening note is one of the best I've smelled. You can imagine the sour, refreshing citrus peel at once. This lovely grapefruit is soon joined by neroli and ginger. The effect is magic. These bight and cheerful citrus soon tone down, as they always do, giving way to a nice marine accord supported by light musk. It is this musky citrus dry down that gives Oceanic Expedition a similarity to Dior Homme Cologne. They aren't the same scent, but in the same family. The Issey Miyake DNA is here, unmistakably, but it is toned down and smoothed out. Good stuff, and a great summer fragrance.

Smelled this at a department store and to me this was smell-wise a 90% copy of Cartier Declaration Cologne. Very citrus and fresh with a lot of especially grapefruit and ginger going on. Main difference is that The Miyake has a base with white musk and the Cartier with vetiver. Thumbs up as Declaration Cologne is one of my top favorite summer fragrances and very hard to get so this is an excellent replacement. The Miyake has excellent projection and longevity for a fresh scent. Not original but very well done indeed! Thumbs up: 8.5/10

This one’s way better IMO Thant the original L’Eau. It preserves the same essence but spicier. It’s got a sharp strong opening of grapefruit blended with the ginger note, smells like a sea breeze of the Pacific Ocean. Sweet , masculine and fresh . Good longevity with soft moderate silage. The bottle is gorgeous, just wish the cap had a translucent finish so it matches that beautiful blue gradient.

A more marine interpretation of the brilliant, even legendary original. The citrus is still present but not as sharp as in the OG or the excellent 'Yuzu' flanker but this completes a great trio with a hint of marine saltiness. Kind of as if you combined l'Eau d'Issey PH with Acqua di Gio (but less floral than those two), this should give you a rough idea. Very nice!