Esprit du Tigre

Esprit du Tigre doesn't actually smell like Tiger Balm, I have the stuff in my cabinet, but it has the same sinus-clearing effect. Mint is the dominant note followed by some soft and very natural clove, a twist of lemon, and something smoky. There is an Iso-E-Super type of synthetic cedar-wood base that I don't typically enjoy, but in this perfume it creates a watery effect that I like. Translucent as this fragrance is, it lasts many hours and projects in periodic wafts. It's is a good spicy cologne for the warmer months as it never becomes cloying, but I also enjoy the watery smokiness in winter. To me it has an interesting balance of warm and cool...like Tiger Balm. Edit: I see that 5 years later, almost to the day (May16, 2020!), I can now safely say that I only wear this in the summer. As soon as the weather heats up, every May, I crave this one without fail out of the hundreds of bottles in my possession. I find the heat actually helps it project, and it’s translucent quality prevents any chance of it becoming cloying. It’s like iced chai (the real Indian stuff, not Tazo)—spicy and refreshing. Still a keeper in my book!

This unique fragrance opens with a peppery, subtle blend of spices, mint, and incense with dark smoky wood. There is a trace of sweetness in the wood, either from the incense or from the resinous quality of the wood itself. There is also a bitterness to the wood, which may be from the camphor. I envision this as an extremely well constructed and unique, masculine interior space,(which is not to say that it is a "masculine" fragrance..it's very unisex to me). Perhaps it is the interior of a hunting lodge, or a cabin deep in the forest, intended for solitude, reflection, and meditation. In the dry down, there is the resinous wood, tempered by the cardamom and incense with a slight trace of the remaining camphor. The wearer of this fragrance displays an invisible sign which reads, "Do not disturb, or else."

Mmm...I love it. I can see the Tiger Balm alright but this is sweeter and a tad softer (thank goodness! lol) This is one bright herbal dream. I agree about the heavy dose of cloves, camphor and mint. I suspect part of the reason I enjoy this so much is because it unlocks all my many Far East memories. The magic of this fragrance for me though are the Indian cardamom and cinnamon notes. That's what makes this a love as these two add enough sweetness to prevent it becoming too masculine. There is some more green added via the vetiver. I think EdT most resembles Tiger Balm after an hour or two but closes smelling very green and delicious. This is a good fragrance to wear when you suspect you might be going down with a cold. I find it very comforting. Good silage and moderate longevity.

This perfume is absolutely stunning, despite my oldest review.... It awakens me both mentally and physically! It has a camphorus, spicy, warm presence that hugs my senses! I feel something smoky in the background, perhaps slightly peppery too... The peppermint here is sugary, edible, as if it's sweetened by anise and mastic! So lovely! In the 25 degrees, no matter whether day or night, this is an incredible perfume. Once you have worn perfumes of this quality, it is so difficult to compromise with mainstream fragrances. Perhaps brands should consider upgrading both their ingredients and their perspectives, because the gap between niche and mainstream slowly gets chaotic...

Esprit du Tigre is a fantastic fragrance. So unique. So well executed. So happy to own it. The opening is incredibly addictive - with that camphor/wintergreen/ Vicks Vapo-Rub blast. On my skin, it also teeters the line into smelling a bit like gasoline. Projection is great. Longevity is 6-8 hours. This perfume is the ONLY thing I want to wear on really hot, dry days here in Los Angeles. The cardamom here is a creamy, savory, nutty, soapy thing - it makes this fragrance totally wearable for women in my opinion.

This is classy juice, very masculine and definitely 30+. I've only ever worn this when for occasions, I don't see it as a daily use contender. Its very spicy, oddly enough it's warm and cold at the same time. The medicinal qualities of this scent are done well, natural and understated. It's a great one to have hiding in the collection as not too many people wear this but I'd strongly recommend testing first because it's a love/hate one for many people.

This is weird, unique and special. You need real guts to go for this one. Tons of camfor at the opening, which you may find unbearable. After 40 minutes or so, it turns out to an AMAZING sophisticated mature men fragrance, it reminds me a bit of Gucci Envy or YSL Nuit De L'Homme Perfume but much more intense. Worth a try. *This review was written after several full wearings of the perfume and not just after smelling this on paper or on wrist.

Esprit du Tigre by James Heeley is absolutely beautiful on my skin. It smells clean, sophisticated, and very comfortable. I've never smelled Tiger Balm, so I can't comment on whether this perfume smells like it, but I can say that I love this perfume and feel amazing when I wear it. My only nit pick is I wish it had better longevity, but I love to wear this perfume so much. Brilliant job, Mr. Heeley!

The combination of vetiver, cloves, cinnamon and camphor (this is actually their order of potency) is outstanding! Of the many heeleys i smelled, this one stood out the most.. So so sad -and bad!- the experience lasted only a couple of hours and then poof! All was gone!!

The use of mint is simply brilliant! Normally, mint overpowers every other ingredient and gives off a toothpaste vibe, but not in Espirt du Tigre. It is embedded underneath to lift off the whole scent profile to render it lightweight. I am loving it!

Love this! I don't think it's too strong at the beginning, full but mild. Well blended - the mint doesn't jump out too much, at least not on my skin. Was happy I ordered a sample of this. Unique and fresh.

Love the clove! Smells like a freshly made chai. I don't like drinking chai as there's usually too much suger added to it, but it smells nice.

I’ve repurchased this because it was on special. I haven’t changed my mind from all those years ago. Firstly to be clear, reviews here very mislead. This is not a clove forward scent. It’s by all means detectable however this is a vetiver and to my liking an incense scent. Infact, my memory serves me correct. It’s almost a carbon copy of PDM Byerley - a touch smoother. It’s distant cousin would be Guerlain Vetiver Extreme which ironically lasts way longer for an EDT - though this is more complex. Unfortunately it has poorer than average performance for a Heeley perfume and indeed has only a fraction of the performance of Byerley at about two to three hours of decent performance. The camphor that is talked about is fleeting as an opening and the mint disappears and softens quickly revealing a bodied grassy vetiver with incense. My appeal for this is the fact that it’s a bit less raw than Byerley, which is rougher. The pleasure is when it works for a few hours and sometimes that’s all I need where as Byerley and it’s contemporary from Bottega being almost medicinal are not something that I want to usually smell for 12 hours.

Minty camphoraceous clove and cinnamon over sweet creamy woods Really not as provocatively sharp as people want you to think in the reviews below. Essentially a slightly anisic camphor meets clove type fresh top note that quickly settles into a woody cinnamon lined warmth on your skin. The clove is relatively subdued on my skin compared to some of the Santa Maria Novella or old school barbershop bay rums I have encountered, blended nicely with cinnamon and the underlying sweetness to produce a warm and full resonance. If you can take CdG White, FM Noir Epice of LV Piper Nigrum, this will be a walk in the park. Indeed I find the mineralic bitter elements of Sel Marin more challengingly bitter and the chilling minty green opening of Menthe Fraiche significantly sharper (I love it nonetheless) in comparison. I’m actually considering purchasing a bottle (if only Heeley still offered a 50ml..) as a cold weather early morning scent to open the airways and set the mood for the day. Doesn’t last very long, which actually makes it perfect for my intended use.

Oh no - it's another unaffordable beauty! I got seduced into taking a sniff of this in a department store, as I've loved other Heeleys and I'm mad about tigers, and about tiger balm. Had no preconceptions whatsoever, as I knew nothing about the notes - which is just as well, as from the list on here I should have hated it ... mint? vetiver? undefined 'green' notes?- none of those are ever really good ideas in my view. But I was shamefully wrong - this stuff is SAVAGELY good. I just get bristlingly brilliant hot spices, especially a giant reeking cloud of black pepper, with a warm woody background I could have sworn was rosewood or mahogany or some other tropical hardwood. Yes, there are tinges of strange medicinal tangs but that only makes it more interesting. Deep and dark and utterly convincing. Didn't get enough of a spritz to really measure its attacking or staying power but both seemed respectable. Went and paid for a proper sample set from Heeley immediately. I'll need to see how it does, but all looks set fair for a roaring success.

I really expected to hate this from the reviews below, but also because I don't enjoy sharp spice notes. Esprit du Tigre is not a clove heavy tiger balms scent, regardless of how many times you read it below, it is an attempt to cool what is usually described as warm spice (clove and cinnamon) with the use of mint and the distinctly intensely cool facets of camphor. However this really does not deliver a harsh or piercing experience as does sniffing a dollop of vicks or tiger balm. It is very much a mixture of the most delicate incarnations of otherwise sharp notes (clove, camphor and mint) supported by a very stable and mellow woody base. The result is that it comes across very vibrant and energizing, slightly 'sports' medicinal because of the obvious associations, but not at all sharp or bitter. Very unique overall, and something I still need to keep on processing before i can fully make up my mind on. For now it is a strong like.

When I heard Esprit du Tigre was “medicinal”, I thought I might like it because I *love* other frags that have been described as “medicinal” (Black Vines by Kerosene, and CK One Shock for Him), and I have always liked the smell of Tigers Balm, Vicks Vaporub, Ben Gay, Mentholatum, etc. But this isn’t like those, it’s too dry and bitter. In fact, once I get past that initial blast, it reminds me of Bvlgari Aqva Amara, which means “bitter water”. For some reason, dry frags never seem to perform well on my skin, and this includes Mechant Loup by L’Artisan, which features a wonderful hazelnut note. If you want something bitter, I think Aqva Amara smells better than Esprit du Tigre, although not very original or groundbreaking.

This is a guilty pleasure for me, a game of mind mirrors. Tiger Balm invokes images of wondrous healing powers and speedy recoveries, hot and strong like a big muscular badass striped puss. If you have the same complex, you can wear this to remind yourself that there’s something you need to heal from, and that you can do it, if it’s a time like that. It hardly projects and does not last long. Maybe real tiger balm would do the trick as well? But then this does just about accomplish the feat of making it smell like acceptable fragrance. It’s just a novelty, really, but if it’s a smell you like, you may have trouble resisting. PS: Yes, try Piper Nigrum! Similar, but to me, more interesting.

The problem with spicy fragrances like this is that they are kind of reminiscent of every other spicy fragrance. There is some "hot" note in here that is used in all these types of perfumes, and it overwhelms everything else in the bottle at some points. All that said, I still like it and I still enjoy it. This has a fantastic classy dry down that smells clean, freshy and herbly. A wonderful scent I think for warmer months, despite the spice. Performance isn't great and it does lean masculine enough that I'd want to layer it with something myself. Ultimately is too quick to be a skin scent to make this that desirable for me, although it smells lovely. For intimate arrangements. 7.5/10

With an icy start, medicinal camphor and menthol in the lead, Esprit du Tigre clearly assumes affiliation with the balm of the same name. But if the ointment version is a real hot-cold, the perfume is more cold-hot. Indeed, after this first breath of freshness which is felt even on the epidermis, the temperature then warms up with great blows of spices. Clove, pepper, cinnamon... and a strange little saline note that pops up in the middle of it all. Finally, just like the balm, the perfume soothes tensions. It seems to melt into a shy finish between dry wood, vetiver, balsamic notes and light leather. Lovely