L’Eau Super Majeure d’Issey

I just bought my first 2 bottles of Issey Miyake, this L'Eau Super Majeure and Pour Homme Intense. I am NOT a fan of summer fragrances in general because their performance is usually not that great and frankly most of them smell a lot alike with citrus and "aquatic" notes. My opinion has pretty much evolved to "seen one, seen em all". So for me, summer fragrances are commodities and any one will do. The only half dozen that have really impressed me with scent / performance / and price are Bulgari Aqva Atlantiqve and Aqva Amara, Versace Pour Homme, and Guerlain Homme EDP, Al Haramain L'Aventure and L'Aventure Knight, plus Lalique Encre Noire Sport. But reviews said Super Majeure had a unique scent profile and good performance. It was $25 for a 100 ml bottle. So I gave it a try. I have to say, the scent profile is not your usual happy summer citrus bomb. The citrus here is a little darker than something like Versace Pour Homme. And the Cashmeran, Patchouli, Leather, and Smoke keeps that slightly darker feeling going through the mid and dry down. Although this has "Aquatic Notes" and "Sea Salt" listed, I don't get nearly the aquatic feel that I get from Aqva Atlantique. There's Amberwood and Tonka but the sweet notes are always overshadowed by the darker notes. For me, this is not really an aquatic and not a bright summer citrus bomb. It's a little bit unique. The best way I can describe it is a summer fragrance for mature men in a suit or nice casual wear. I really like the smell and it is different from 90% of what's out there. What I'm not so thrilled about is the performance. Granted, I tried this in cold, dry Feb air at about 25 deg F. So, maybe a fair opinion has to wait until warmer weather. But I sprayed Aqva Atlantique on one arm and the performance wasn't close in that same weather. So initially, I'm treating Super Majeure as a gym, office, or errand dumb reach sort of scent. If the performance is better in warm weather, I can easily see this being a "night out" fragrance for me. I was hoping for a bargain priced home run. I think I got a double. EDIT 5/26/2021: OK this is the part where I admit I was WRONG! I've had a chance to wear L'Eau Super Majeure D'Issey several times now and the performance is actually really good. Today I wore it to my doctor's office for an annual physical in 84 degree F heat. I sprayed it on about 2 hours before my appointment. The nurse was doing the usual temp, pulse/ox, weight, and blood pressure at the beginning. She puts the blood pressure cuff on me and asks, "what's that cologne you're wearing". I told her and her reply was, "do you wear it like all the time, it smells like it's coming out of your pores". LOL, I almost broke out laughing. I must go anosmic to this stuff. I couldn't smell it. But she sure as hell could! Even wearing a mask! And no, I never lost my sense of smell with Covid-19 or anything like that. I just go nose blind to fragrances really easily. So based on multiple wearings now in fairly warm weather, I'm upgrading this from a cheap dumb reach for errands and the gym to my top shelf for summer day or night, casual or dressed up. It smells great / unique and the performance is actually much better than 95% of summer fragrances.

This is absolutely beautiful. It has a bit of an abrasive edge when you first smell it, but it settles down wonderfully! It grew on me so much. The first time I tried the original L'eau Majeure, I hated, but after sitting for a year and giving it a few more chances, it became so beautiful to me. I still don't like the opening of the original, but the drydown is great. As for this one, I get the Megamare comparisons, but this is much better to my nose. This one smoothed out all of the rough edges and harsh qualities of the original, the opening is dialed in, and the phases it goes through are all fantastic. The performance is decreased a tiny bit from the original L'eau Majeure, but it's balanced much better. It starts out with some heavy florals that can be off-putting if you have never smelled it before, but they fade in strength relatively quickly into a lighter yet extremely natural jasmine note. As it dries down, the florals fade even more and are replaced by a realistic aquatic accord that reminds me of childhood beach trips. The final stages turn down the florals even more, along with the aquatic accord, and you are left with a sweet, vanillic, drift wood scent that is light and playful. The performance is still quite good on this, not quite as good as the original. It lasts about 7-8 hours on my skin, which is phenomenal for an aquatic fragrance. It projects pretty loudly for the first 2 hours and slowly dials things back as the wear goes on. The original lasts 8-9 hours on skin and has even stronger projection. This is a fragrance best suited for the warmer months, it can absolutely hold itself up in cooler months, but may come off as strange due to the accords. This is 100% a unisex scent in my opinion, the florals and wood are perfectly balanced and anyone can wear this, although I will say it is a mature and serious scent to me. My biggest piece of advice for both L'eau Majeures is to give them a few chances before making verdicts on them. They are both excellent fragrances, niche quality and need to be experienced multiple times before they can really be understood and appreciated. 87/100

I do not understand the hate on this fragrance honestly, it is so unwarranted and makes me believe people do not appreicate unique fragrances, anything that is mainstream like the rest of the thousands and it is all fine. This is so beautiful and complex deep, rich and dense marine aquatic. Very rarely you encounter something that is so unique and goes against the unsual boring norms and maybe that is why this challenges people? Granted it would be an aquired taste but the sheer amount of negative reviews opposed to positives are just unbelievable. Somebody once had said this is in the same realm of AdG Profumo, and I kind of agree with this anology but this just has so much more depth and richness to it. If AdG Profumo is designer then this is the niche version of it - simply put. I am not even mad I got this instead of the Profumo as this emulates that smokey marine dark aquatic vibe more faithfully with salty accord and better performance. Furthermore, the tonka in the base adds to the smoothness and gives it a very nice balance. I do not detect much vanilla from this but I think it helps further with the richness in the base. This said, I agree with @benyq that the cashmeran note is a little weird and gives it a plasticy rancid smell and I guess this is the major gripe for most people, but I feel its just one aspect of its layers that compliments the smokiness in a way. And honestly, it is much better to what you get in the L'Eau Majeure, which is much harsher. Overall, I absolutely adore this, and L'Eau Super Majeure surely does not deserve the hate but rather commands taste. Being realistic, it would be better to try first (which is difficult considering this scent was casted away by the community) and appreciate the beauty in its own time. MUST TRY!

So, you can literally steal a bottle of this and the original at discounters for the 50ml, so I did! Truth be told, that size is perfect as well because the bottle is not quite as cumbersome. Fantastic presentation and sprayer. The top notes of Super are extremely herbaceous and fruity, with the salty marine freshness ramping up at lightspeed. I can definitely sense the L'eau D'issey style here. Of course highly tweaked but the theme is the same. Drydown is a touch sweet with the tonka, smoke and woods. Ever so slightly ambery. The tonka gives it a bit of depth and honestly makes it quite interesting as I don't think I have any others within the genre with a noticeable dash of it. It isn't quite linear to me but doesn't cycle through the pyramid, rather melds one into the next. It is hot as hell in Florida this summer so I will get good use out of this one. I really enjoy it. For the style and genre, this has pretty solid performance. I got about 6-7 hours total, with a nice detectable bubble. I would say casual and could be good for the office as well. All ages. There is something that I have noticed is that with heat, this thing becomes a force to be reckoned with (nice little pun for ya there). It blooms and becomes a bit loud with humidity. A bit subjective if you like that quality or not but just a heads up! I think this one is quite solid. Thumbs up.

You might expect to smell the same as the original L’eau Majeure D’Issey but this one comes with absolute mysterious depth of captivating aroma. I picture myself standing by a breezy coast, maybe a cliff at night time, I hear the wild water is smashing against those dark rocks and bursting the ocean smell. And the breeze stirs up the aroma with the freshly washed drift woods the grass and maybe the forest behind me. I feel more power in this one and yet such a comforting aroma to feel nostalgic and relaxing. This fragrance is definitely NOT for typical clubbing (I did centurie ago) scent but more impressive and sophisticated yet serene and calm, almost like Zen or Spa environment type. It’s not another typical aquatic mass pleasing fragrance but rather absolutely signature unique aromatic scent with bold salty sea vibe and dark and woody aroma. If you are more of soft sweeter aquatic or zesty fresh after shower type of guy, maybe this is not for you. But this one has a mysterious element to it so you have to let it develop on your skin for some time and wait until grows on you. Personally it is my absolute favourite next to the original L’eau Majeure. The longivity is also very good as well as the silage. It’s worth it to add to your collection if you don’t have something smells like salty aromatic woody fragrance. Very well done!