Esencia pour Homme

Green and lush. To me, everything in this smells green. It is nature in a bottle, and it smells natural. This is my “ahhh” moment. My moment of deep breath and calmness and satisfaction, and I don’t even know why. There are some days when I need this. Something about this perfume soothes me and comforts me and transports me somewhere I’ve either never been or have long since forgotten. It’s almost nostalgic for me, and I’ve yet to discover why. Perhaps my Father wore something similar? Perhaps as a nature boy it just provides the smell of something I need? It was love at first sniff for me, and it was an instant fragrance for life, and I shall forever be fascinated as to why. It has a short lived bitter opening, perhaps from the Galbanum and the Artemisia? That almost dry sour note begins to mellow after just a few minutes, when the other aromatics begin to bloom. In no time at all it is sweeter and lushly verdant. The lavender plays a part, and wraps its branches around wild mint, and juniper cools as it radiates from skin. It has pine needles and fir trees and warmth, but it also has some coolness, like cloud cover on a hot day. It has a green sugarless sweetness that could almost make you thirsty. As it begins it’s dry-down, and the sun sets on the fragrant afternoon it created, the dirty leather boots I took off as I sit on the mossy ground begin to warm in the sun, just hinting to be noticed amongst the subtle impression of freshly chopped young wood, but it’s still all the shades of green that carry this through. There are way too many notes to try and pick out and pretend that one can notice them all, but I do think on certain days and different circumstances some peep out more than others, but the overall scent profile remains quite consistent, it’s green. Green green green and I could bathe in it! It is a succulent green, a moist blooming spring green. Verdant, minty. A bag of freshly pulled herbs and aromatics. It has moments of sticky pine resin melting in hot sun. It is pine trees blowing in a summer breeze picking up the blooming aromas from the floor of a dewey meadow of mint and juniper and needles and lavender leaves. It is the foliage of flowers rather than the petals, which is why I think it’s just all so green. It’s not the greatest performer for longevity, but I’m happy to experience it exactly as it is, even though I wish it could last all day. I have a lot of it though, so I am happy to overspray. I have a round bottle and a newer rectangle bottle, and they’re both the same. Esencia is a polar opposite to my second favourite green which is Ajmal Verde, which is an arid burned smoked green, from bonfires of pine and burnt conifers. A winter green. A cabin in the woods with a fire green. Whereas Esencia might be the same woodland, but in the early summer. Oh, and don’t get confused with this EDT and the EDP - they are not alike at all. The Esencia EDP is often mentioned as a better Aventus. This EDT could never be. I think they made a terrible mistake with the naming. If they wanted to stick with the Esencia name for whatever reason, they should have made the EDP version a flanker I guess, with a flanker name. It doesn’t even go to the same school as the EDT. Then they recently released an Elixir of the EDP, which is the EDP on steroids. So this EDT is the only one of its kind in the current line up. I just hope this lives for another 36 years.

Stubby bottle. First impression (so-called maceration be damned). Nice fragrance. Yes, it is comparable to the green Polo. No one is imagining that, or being blindly misled by the colour coding that manufacturers have been using for decades. Still, probably most of the resemblance is in the opening stages, and even then this smells more uniformly green than the Polo, or at least the bottle of Polo I've had for maybe eight or nine years. This is conifer green the way I seem to remember myself finding Polo to be conifer green the first time I sprayed it. This is probably more restrained or civilised, in that it doesn't have any ashtray or ballsy leather or pissy chypre thing going on on the same scale as Polo. This is quite mossy and soapy with some throaty powder in the opening, and there is a kind of animalic layer to all that, but the fragrance calms down quite quickly and is very soon if not immediately much less assertive than Polo. It veers off in its own aromatic direction. It still has depth though. Stuff like the styrax? Yeah, nice touch. I suppose the greenness has to remind me of the green Jaguar too, but I don't find this as dated as the Jag. (What's wrong with complicated fragrances, by the way? You people never heard of Coco Chanel?!) This may be one of those fragrances that's almost so refined and modest that I struggle to form an opinion as to whether I find it outdated or not. I really don't think I do. I might if I used it too liberally and ended up feeling as if someone had attacked me with a powder fire extinguisher. Either way, this is not hypermasculine to me. (My dad trying his best to use up a whole can of Brut after every bath--now, that was hypermasculine!) Yeah, sure, it's masculine, but it doesn't make me feel like Tony Montana, or John Travolta in a disco suit. It doesn't make me feel as if I ought to be chopping down trees. It perhaps does make me think to myself that--trees are great, aren't they? Snow-topped conifers in still forests? With maybe the odd red squirrel running about? Great. I'm all for trees. We should all be all for trees. A valid alternative to Polo--more "wearable", though certainly presentable--except maybe if you're a manly manly man's man and planning to head out into the Scottish Highlands to kill a king stag with your bare hands or something.

Esencia Loewe pour homme... ...I was eying out this fragrance for a while now and now that I've got it I'm annoyed at myself for not having bought it so much earlier. I'm not that kind of person who throws around statements such as "best ever", "best of" ," top three", "best of its kind" because i firmly believe that each and every perfumer puts his or her best effort and knowledge into every single one of their creations. So it would be unfair to other green creations if go over board with praise for this Loewe's creation. I do believe however, that ELPH is a very special kind of green fragrance and I'm very happy that it is still with us. Imagine yourself anchored in a green luscious forest and all of a sudden you are part of a time lapse experience in where you go through spring, summer and autumn of that forest. Spring opens with a very fresh green blast with a minty touch created by the Artemesia and the grassy green of Galbanum. It is a nice crisp green. Summer follows with a deeper and less crisp green with the warmth of Geranium and very soft floral touches supporting the green pine elephant in the room. The florals warm up the green a bit. Autumn shows up after a while where dry woods and a herbal touch support the pine and fir to signal this fragrant year is nearly over. The green and herbal touches follow through all the way. The only criticism i have are the new bottles. Luckily I managed to get my hands on that round deep dark green opaque glass bottle and from a business point of view it certainly makes sense to only produce one bottle shape in different colors and sizes with one identical wooden cap and basic labels but i think LOEWE should consider to keeping the original bottle shapes at least for their most iconic fragrances. Old Spice and Tabac are examples of porcelain bottles still being produced....as iconic as those scents. I know Procter&Gamble changed the porcelain bottle of Old Spice to plastic but Mäurer & Wirtz didn't for Tabac. Loewe Esencia....three seasons in a forest in a bottle. It is a must for anybody who loves green scents. No, in fact it is a must for every collection.

GREAT CLASSY OLD-SCHOOL SPANISH FOUGÉRE "La Esencia de Loewe" is very masculine and sexy. It's the scent my wife prefers on me, together with BOSS Number ONE and YSL Sauvage Elixir. My impressions are a result of testing the previous reformulation that uses a green fat bottle with a big golden cap. The newest reformulation comes in a rectangular flask with a brownish colour and a wooden cap. Both reformulations feature a bottle size I enjoy: 150ml. It allows me to be generous whenever I apply it. Although the complexity and notes are different, this fragrance reminds me of "For Him" by Narciso Rodriguez, and both are aromatic fougéres. They do share some darkness as well but of different types. While "For Him" suggests a wet and dark twisty road, "Esencia" surrounds you with juniper, oakmoss and vetiver from an old gloomy forest. It attracts several compliments from the ladies and a bit of envy from the men. I always thought (and still do) this perfume to be too green to receive a lot of praise, especially from the feminine noses. I guess I have been wrong all the time. Even nowadays, this old-timer attracts a lot of compliments. Loewe has always been a brand with not a lot of acceptance, probably due to its pricing, usually a bit on the high side for a designer brand. However, its products have always been above average as well. It perspires pure old-school gentlemen's class. It's a complex perfume with all notes, and phases, very well mastered in a homogeneous blending. I consider it one of my all-time favourites and I wear it all year, day and night. Well... not really during the cold winter days. Performance is quite above average. Projection is powerful in all the development stages. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ My global rating: 8.25/10.00 - between 7 and 8 =above average; - between 8 and 9 = recommended; - bigger than 9 = don't miss it; ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ My opinion: It's old school, meaning manly, powerful, green and gloomy; it's a real pine forest scent and projects like a beast. Try before you buy. Music: "Green, Green Grass of Home" sung by Elvis Presley

Fougeres are easily my favorite type of fragrance to wear. This is a problem, simply because there are so many damn good fougeres out there to try. Does Loewe Esencia standout? Hell yes! For the simple reason we stay on the upper end of the stem of the fern; Loewe Esencia is so perfectly green. The first spray vaults us to great heights (think leafy green tree tops) with a smooth lavender and a beautiful pine note, some tarragon and petitgrain and the smallest bit of basil. The extra fresh and herbal opening gives way to a spicy mid that gets slightly soapy.(that nutmeg note is so good!) The florals float in with a nice rose and jasmine that get a minty fresh push from the geranium. The base runs sweet and slightly earthy with some tonka, vetiver and patchouli. As for the dry down, imagine an artisanal shaving soap that was kissed with the slightest bit of incense. This is standard Loewe: rich, bold and beautiful. I get a solid performance from this fragrance; a good 6 hours. Esencia stays close to the skin and that's fine by me. This is a fragrance that can be worn inside or outside the office. Perfect for cooler weather, so think autumn through spring. To me Esencia lends more to day wear and is for the 30 and up crowd. Give Loewe Esencia a few sprays when you need a green, fresh reminder of spring during a dry and chilly autumn day.

Well, I have to say I'm slightly staggered. I got a super cheap sample of this on sale & wasn't too sure about it at first wear. It starts off powerful & green with some petitgrain, citrus, juniper and lavender. It then rolls out a beautiful artemisia, which I really love, along with a big dose of pine and fir as well as some floral notes. On dry down there's a leather to be reckoned with along with hints of musk, moss and sandalwood. It projects like crazy & leaves a nice, polite trail. It also lasts right through to the next day! What's not to like then really? I guess I was just a tad uncertain as it is pretty old school, but that's not such a bad thing in this case, as it's still unlike anything else I've come across before really. I'm also not usually into anything quite this fresh either, but on my second wear I was sold. It really seems to sit nicely with me and is eminently versatile too. The clincher for me came the third time I wore it. My partner virtually never comments on my fragrances, other than to tell me I'm obsessed, but when I walked past her with this on, I heard her say to her sister, "I REALLY love boys when they smell like that!". She then proceeded to surprise me with a full bottle, something she's never done. I think it's fair to say that that's a definite big two thumbs up from both of us for Loewe Esencia!

I got a test vial of this, applied liberally to one wrist and I was prepared to chalk it up as a "no" based on the tar-smoke-green opening which I didn't like too much, there was a bitterness and acidity that I don't experience in other scents that use the sweeter side of smoky aroma (as with those that invoke incense). But as it started to dry down I was amazed at what I was experiencing - it went from "meh" to "WOW" within ten minutes. The herbal weight of the middle notes really started to register just as some of the sweeter notes begin to negate the opening acidity. by the time it fully dries down it becomes a rich, patchouli-heavy resinous evergreen slab of deep green delights. There are a lot of pine scents - this just isn't one of them. It does have some fresh pine resin in there, but it's just a supporting actor in this case. There is a deep earthy richness to and enough floral sweetness to keep it from just being "Encre-Noir-Pine". This one is captivating and ever-evolving on the skin (at least it works that way on me).

Really love this fragrance. I found out about it by successively selecting my favourite notes on the 'Perfumes' tab here, until only one fragrance remained. I don't think I've worn another fragrance so much and I own about 170-180 samples and bottles. It has elements which remind me of a classic chypre, others which remind me of a classic fougere like Azzaro pour Homme, but its main angle is an elegant, complex and high-quality green scent. Performance is outstanding. The dry-down is gorgeous, probably my favourite. This is very masculine in a similar vein to Azzaro PH but it's more refined, less rugged. It's masculinity comes from the fresh green notes, herbs, berries and woods, rather than musky animalic notes, so you can actually wear a fair amount of it and take advantage of its 'powerhouse' nature without feeling that you're cloying the air around you with crotch notes or schmooze vapour. The green notes - mostly pines and oakmoss - give way to subtle florals, tarragon, berries. Wonderful. I will be wearing this a lot.

Loewe have for a long time impressed me with solid quality and reasonable prices. They are really good on aromatic flavors, and this is their best. Technically Esencia is a chypre. Of chypres you have leathery (Polo), woody (Yatagan), fruity (Mitsouko), fresh (Pour Monsiur), citrus (Eau Sauvage) and so on. Then there is the fougeres, and there you have amongst others the aromatic genre (Loewe pour homme). The spicy ones are usually orientals (with bases of vanilla, amber, incense...). But Esencia is neither of those. It is an aromatic chypre! To me it has almost nothing in common with Polo or Yatagan, but much more with aromatics. What Loewe did here was to take the concept of Loewe pour homme, strengthen and improve the aromatics and change the base to more chypre (oakmoss and tremoss) and less fougere. The result is Loewe-style spanish aromas (wide, juicy, medium strong but lots of flavors), with a refreshening top and a GREAT drydown. Really good, one of the best from that era, and still highly wearable. 9/10

Imagine all the ingredients were kept in containers around this large cauldron brought out to prepare a rich and complex mixture of the many many notes indicated above. Then imagine a cat walked on that shelf and all the containers fell into the cauldron, breaking and mixing up. That's what this fragrance smells like - complete chaos. It isn't a composition, it's a concoction. It's like of Roja's parfum colognes went from their jazz roots and turned punk. It's everything, all at once, altogether. And it is all of that in the best way possible. I've smelt many perfumes - but very few quite as unique yet pleasing as this one - pleasing being the key word. It is not challenging to appreciate or difficult to wear. Even to this day. It is all things to all men - except during the very high summer heat :)... This sits on my shelf as a unique designer along with Narciso Rodriguez For Him - unique versatiles that show that you don't have to be safe like all the blue fragrances out there to be easy to wear... 9/10

Glorious green fougere. Esencia is a soft, beautifully blended coniferous scent with a masculine heart. The florals blend with the greenery to create that soapy dry down, but it’s an herbal, luxury soap that smells clean and refreshing. I love pine/fir fragrances, and this is one of the great ones. In the version I have, the sillage is moderate but it lasts through the workday with 4-6 sprays. However much I love this version, I can tell there is something either missing or replaced in the note breakdown, no doubt the real oakmoss. This must have been a real beauty pre-reformulation! Still, even with a bit of that depth absent, Esencia is a fine fragrance in its current version...well, the one that reads: Esencia Loewe on the bottle. There are a few versions circulating right now. If you love green fougeres, this should go on your list of things to try.

I came across this one last week and tried it on a whim in a shop I usually don't frequenty. What can you say about a 1988 release that's green and coniferous, with 30 plus notes, extremely complex and a fougere!? I confess I tested this with the EDp side by side in my arm, and the EDP had a much nicer opening. But 10 minutes in I was loving the classic EDT. The current formulation is not beastly but has everything I want in a classic men's scent. Oakmoss, green, pine, vetiver, ooohhh! Does this compare to today's Sauvage in cultural relevancy? Who cares. I say that is like comparing apples to oranges. And since when do I enjoy being culturally relevant? A classic masterpiece that I will be adding to my collection soon once the temps dip a bit. A solid 3 season scent here in the Northern Hemisphere. They don't make them like they used to.

Unavailable in my country, I asked to a friend to buy me one when she went to Spain... I blind-bought it just by the notes. It was certainly not a mistake. What a great marvel O_O.... So awesome, so classy, sweet and deep, versatile and shafting. At first, it's very sweet, like a super special soap (like Image by Cerruti) and then, a deep obscure woody scent comes. And here's the true gem. Like Encre Noire, but not as dark and powerful (and as i'm a Encre Noire lover...) . Very gentle, classy, deep, woody but so sweet. If you search a woody thing without all that classical sharpness which belongs to this type of perfumes, go for it. They managed to success to create a very fresh woody, almost aromatic, and just for it, this is a marvelous perfume. My new favorite one, Viva España !

This is a very classy and elegant scent. Just bought a bottle blind, and the scent isn't as strong that I though it would be. I will not concider it as a "powerhouse" like many do. It's more fresh and aromatic in a very classy way in my opinion. Starts quite strong and seems unbalanced, but the magic comes very soon. After 10-15 minutes the scent smells very elegant, and lovely of fresh vetiver, dry pine and oak moss. Can be used for all seasons. Perfect for fuzzy gentlemen. Longevity is very good, and sillage is above average. If you are fan of classic colognes like Guerlain Vetiver, Paco Rabanne pour homme, Tsar, Jazz and Pasha I will highly recommend this elegant scent. The bottle is also a sight for sore eyes ;)

THIS REVIEW IS BASED ON THE ORGINAL VERSION. Where do I start, omg this juice is perfect for the fall-winter. A real spicey fougere with a slight intoxicating smokey leathery vib. There's a real herbal base of oakmoss and lavender which brings out the best of the other notes as they mingle together on my skin. When I smell this juice, I think of a the classic "Gone with wind". As Clarke Gable and his masculinity attracts Vivian Leigh. Clarke is dressed up in his tailored suit, and smelling so good wearing Esencia. Longevity and Sillage is excellent, lasts well past 6hrs on me. If you enjoy a real spicey fougere with pine needles and fur with a smokey leathery vib..this juice is worth acquiring. 8.5/10

Green spice, with everything nice. I sprayed this on my wrist and have been walking around taking it in. The initial notes hit you in the face, the following green kudsed it better and asks if you are ok, covering you in a blanket of discarded branches from the forest floor. The dry down gets spicier, warmer. Honestly I thought I didn't like it at first, but I'm new to this and the further I walk around the town smelling my left wrist or even let it rise and ride the coastal wind, the calmer I'm getting. Truly a green, made for those warm in every meaning of the word. 8.5/10 This is my second review and based on one test. Try it. Tell me what you think

I own both the old reformulated round bottle and the new design, and they smell pretty much the same. The only small difference is that the old bottle appears a bit creamier, but it's negligible. I expect the new bottle will probably develop with the same qualities at some point down the line. Regardless, Esencia was reformulated long long ago, stripped of oakmoss, but it still remains a fresh, elegant and well balanced coniferous fragrance that fans of classic structured scents will surely appreciate. Loewe still manages to impress, after all these years, even after the redesign of this and Loewe Pour Homme.

I spent seven years searching for this fragrance, my signature fragrance, the one I default to on fussy days or when I am short of time. The one I buy two bottles at a time. I could smell it in my mind's nose, a dry evergreen smoothness, but a hybrid evergreen in which no single note could be discerned. Evergreen almost as an ideal to which to aspire. Masculine yet somehow beautiful. My first whiff of Esencia my eyes grew big as saucers. I found it. Esencia is beautiful, masculine, evergreen, dry, masterful and long-lasting. If they ever stop making it I will cry.

Genuinely one of the most exquisite and refined green fragrances I have ever smelt. It is delightfully old school, a well-rounded fragrance that is timeless and masculine. This does make one think of Polo, but in the sense that Polo is the unrefined uncle that is more flannel and denim and this is the nephew who lives in the Country Club circles. Great performance for an EDT, and I would argue that this is a nearly year round fragrance depending on wear you live. I wouldn't wear it if its excessively hot and humid, but definitely safe enough for springtime

Just bought a 150ml bottle after finishing (and loving) a 5ml sample. What a disappointment - the bottle is nothing like it. The bottle is legit from a large retailer, but the scent is very different. The green heart is almost absent. What is going on Loewe? I had one spray left from my sample, sitting now with a spray on each arm. One has great projection - excellent bright green notes and very complex. The other (the 150ml bottle) is dull, no green character, no projection, all basenotes and pepper. How disappointing!