The Forward

Imagine...you have prepared some citrus fruits to take out for a coastal walk, particularly pomelo and grapefruit, and have sprinkled a little salt on the sliced fruits to remove the bitterness and bring out the natural sweetness. You head out and enjoy the now slightly salty-sweet fruits near a blooming jasmine vine that is gently filling the air alongside a soft sea breeze. You feel refreshed, relaxed and calm. The Forward is a versatile interpretation of a citrus-sweet-woody fragrance where all aspects are refined and controlled. It starts with a fresh blast of crisp citruses and white florals, then moves to a salty, sweet tonka bean and vanilla combination, and ends with a powdery yet creamy sandalwood. Whilst not a “groundbreaking” scent profile, the quality of ingredients and presentation are very high and well thought-out. This is an excellent offering from Mind Games and one of the best in the Soulmate collection. Who? - I think this is unisex. When/where? - I think this is extremely approachable to wear all year round, for any occasion/setting. This reminds me of? - I get aspects of Jo Malone’s Wood Sage & Sea Salt and Xerjoff’s 40 Knots and Torino22.

This is the pinnacle of the Mind Games collection in my opinion. It is versatile and can be worn all seasons. It is mass-appealing, I can’t imagine anyone being put off by this scent. It’s sweet but not overbearing like in Le Male Elixir. It’s salty but not polarizing like in 40 Knots. It’s creamy like Chanel Allure Homme Edition Blanche but more interesting and it has much better longevity and sillage. The bottle, concept, and presentation are all fantastic. Nathalie Benareau got her inspiration for this fragrance from her trip to Madagascar, where she saw women proudly extracting mandarin near the ocean in a salty breeze. “The Forward” came to her as a name of empowerment and motivation. This takes facets from multiple popular fragrances and spins it into a unique combo that also smells very simple due to how well it is blended.

The Forward is such a wearable, easy-going fragrance. My first foray into Mind Games, this was a good first impression of the brand. As others have stated, the pomelo is a unique note compared to most of the contemporary offerings out there, very smooth yet bright. The salt, sandalwood and tonka bean combo in the heart takes me back to chilling on the beaches in Barbados, just leaves you wondering "why can't life always be this easy?" Project and performance on me is very good. It does remind me of Miami by City Rhythm but it's smoother and more refined, which is expected given the price difference. My only regret is that I only got a 5ml decant when I should've gotten the 10ml. If you're looking for a summer time fragrance that could be your signature, The Forward may be it. 9/10

the opening is bright but the middle is so sexy. I'm not a white floral girl but the jasmine in here really holds the citrus and the vanilla, tonka, and cashmere base notes together. The vanilla and tonka are sooo rich and creamy, but not too cloying for warm weather. This feel suitable for all seasons. For many this is masculine leaning but on a woman, I feel like that's what makes it so sexy. It's like a grown woman citrus gourmand and I fw it!! I have a decant right now but I want a full bottle so I can go beast mode with it. Definitely need this for summer! It's giving me kept housewife who vacations to France solo to remind her husband that she is still THAT girl. I definitely feel like THAT girl when I wear this!

Someone sell me a bottle for cheap plz I really love this smell def my top 3 scent of all time. I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want

I'm not normally into Gourmand. I'm a freshy fan for Summer but this offers another dimension to my nightime Summer rotation. Sweet, creamy, salty, some citrus peeks out. Its sexy. The notes lend themselves to a colder weather wear but you can taste the saltiness. I'm testing it in near freezing temperatures, and it is warming. It works in cold weather. Really looking forward to seeing how it plays out in hotter weather. My 1st experience of Mind Games and its a good one. Longevity is 8 hours plus on my skin. And it's a great scent and blend. Unisex- 9.0

I love this scent profile. It’s nothing unique, similar options can be had ranging from Chanel’s Allure Homme Edition Blanche to Xerjoff’s Uden, but The Forward is my absolute favorite out of them all. Beautiful blend of smooth citrus, a dash of salt and jasmine against creamy sandalwood and a bit of gourmand sweetness from the tonka and vanilla. Incredibly soothing, this never fails to brighten up my mood when smelling it. Exceptionally expensive, but the blend is sublime with excellent performance. Great summertime gourmand.

I get compliments every single time I wear this. This is the perfume I grab when I'm off meeting clients and want to smell fresh, clean, bright, modern and polished. It's more sophisticated, nuanced and longer lasting than Jo Malone's Wood Salt and Sage, it's maybe a distant cousin. The Forward lasts and lasts on me and is easily layered with other scents and body products. I especially like this sprayed over Jo Malone's Lime Basil and Mandarine body cream. One of my favorites from this house.

If you enjoy citrus, salt or tonka in fragrances then this is a must-try. This is unique and beautiful. Opening is salty citrus then the tonka starts to come out as it dries down leading to some of the powder aspect that people are getting. It’s unisex but leaning slightly masculine. It almost smells like there is a touch of lavender in this causing the slight lean of masculinity. I love it, but not sure if I would prefer it on me or a man..

Another great offering from the Mind Games. Not looking into the notes I’ve tried on my skin. And at first I feel a strong beach vibe with a bit of coconut and tropical flower on the salty skin. However it developed quite unexpectedly into beautiful somewhat masculine mix of myrrh and vanilla. After checking the notes I was a bit puzzled but I understand how this well blended concoction can reveal an array of notes.

Beautiful. Elegant simplicity with a smart twist. Pomelo and lemon sparkle over a saline breeze, then the sweetness of Madagascar vanilla and tonka folds in. That tension between tart citrus, salt, and creamy gourmand is the hook. It feels refined yet easy, office-safe and versatile, totally signature-scent material and a true dumb reach. I actually prefer it over Blockade. Among the best from Mind Games.

Very good. I agree that it opens like Bal d'Afrique but evolves into a more spicy/vanilla/woody direction. The dry down is more jasmine-y, but still fresh. Whereas the Byredo becomes more green and fruity. Both smell amazing. The MG lasted a bit longer. MG might be slightly more versatile. The spicy/woody/vanilla gives a bit of that edge for different occasions. I would use interchangeably. 8.5

Actually a 10/10 for me. You could pull this off in summer due to the freshness and citruses, also during winter due to the spicy vanilla. Lasts 8/9 hours for me and sillage is insane. It’s one of those fragrances where you just feel the bubble surrounding you the whole day. It’s very wearable and easy to like. Not overly salty at all to me & worth it if you can get a good price!

My favorite scent from the Mind Games house. Opens with a burst of clean masculine citrus that dries down into this sensual creamy, yet still clean cashmere and vanilla smell, wrapped in salt. The dry down leans feminine, which I find so interesting when the opening is the opposite. Young yet sophisticated and supremely unisex in a way that my bisexual ass really appreciates.

I love this. Beautiful cross sectioning between subtly sweet citruses, sea salt, creamy vanilla and tonka and airy florals. Great performance and longevity and I think both men and women could pull this one off. Great for warmer weather, but could be absolutely year round. Dressed up or casual versatility. Cost is high, but the quality is absolutely there.

Beautiful, bright and fresh, perfect for spring/summer. It's the creamiest citrus sandalwood out there, with a pleasant vanilla tonka bean base that doesn't go too sweet. I get a bit of sunscreen, but quite different from other suncreen accords. Has very chill vibes, I would wear this on a vacation or a day by the pool but not at the office.

So...I'm obsessed with Ellis Brooklyn body spray Sun. I'm looking for a perfume that smells exactly like that and this one is it. Unfortunately the body spray does not last on me. I don't know if I should bite the bullet and buy a full bottle,it's just so expensive but if anybody wants to sell their half bottle message me please.

I see a lot of men's reviews here and also men's fragrances have crept up to front of the "Reminds Me Of" section - but this is a gorgeous fragrance on a female and didn't smell masculine at all on me. Really nice quality. Ladies don't be afraid to try this one.

Perfection! Mind Games executed every note in this fragrance, but the tonal bean salty vanilla dry down is chefs kiss! Glad I opted to test this and Queening before blind buying Queening. I prefer The Forward over Queening but both a beautiful vanilla scents.

Finally figured out what it reminds me of. EOS Vanilla Cashmere lotion & body wash. I do quite enjoy it allot but definitely not worth the retail price to smell like something in Walmart that’s $10 but will pick it up once I find it for a good deal.

It’s primarily pomelo and salt with tonka that gives a play-dough like vibe (which I love.) The dry down is so nice! At first I thought it leaned masculine but the more I wear it, the more unisex it feels.

The Forward is versatile a refined alternative to popular fresh fragrances, unique gourmand twist on summer fresh luxurious presentation and high-quality blend it is sophisticated, polished and beautiful

“Imagine a fresh citrus breeze coming off the ocean, then hours later you’re left with the softest, smoothest vanilla wrapped in cashmere. Not edible vanilla—luxury vanilla.”

I'm not in any way a vanilla nor qourmet person but this makes me ferral for catching a snif during the day. SO tasty, zesty, a little bit smoky. Fun and games in a bottle

Wow! This is awesome! Salty citrusy opening (reminiscent of a paloma for sure), with a softer woodier vanilla dry down. Dreamy. I’ll be wearing this all summer!

Que cosa mas deliciosa!!! Un saladito dulce y fresco, si le da una similitud a Allure edition blanche pero mas refinado y gustoso, recomendadisimo

So easy to wear! Very beautiful, it has sillage but also feels soft due to it's creaminess. I believe it's perfectly unisex. Absolutely lovely.

Photo realistic Orange Julius scent. Im in love. Masculine leaning.

The review below me... total dipshit... this scent is spectacular

I had a sample of this fragrance.. I like to use the samples I get when I go to bed so I can sniff off as much as possible and actually test the longevity of it.. if it sticks throughout the night we can go on search and capture’ mode.. It leans towards that feminine creamy sweet vibe but it’s not a feminine fragrance! It’s pretty good! Really really good! Not something exclusive for girls.. but it does remind me off girl fragrances. I could pull that off regardless... Sweet, creamy and clean... soft but pretty strong.. jesus so strong... It reminds me of Initio Rehab.. Vanilla vibes.. or Naxos by XJ.. Excellent longevity wow!!!! I prefer if she use this instead of me.. Mind Games is a crazy power house.. Only high quality scents..

I’ve grown a bit tired of the lemon-vanilla trend, but the salt, floral nuance and pomelo in this one make things a bit more interesting. It becomes a wearable summer scent. Very cute 🥰 The brand’s perfumes generally seem designed to be crowd pleasers; at least from what I’ve tried so far... sooooo there’s not much risk-taking. And this one fits right in. Still, I’d say it qualifies as a gourmand: the vanilla and tonka base pull it toward a light biscuit-like aroma, which is something I’ve always liked. Best of all, the sweetness level is never cloying; that’s what won me over the most. Tag(s): Lemon-vanilla, salty, beach-friendly

I've enjoyed testing this over the past few days. I can see myself grabbing it often as the weather cools, because it's warm and comforting. Citrus IS detectable in the opening - but I may not have picked up on it without seeing the notes. It’s fleeting. The floral aspect is almost like heliotrope. If I were to blind guess at the notes, it would look different than how it's listed. The drydown is powdery, which I assume its the cashmeran. I get vanilla, nuttiness and hints of sandalwood. It's almost gourmand, but it's a bit too powdery to be edible. But I really, really like it.

A nice light citrus that gets saltier during the drydown. I would actually argue that this fragrance gets better as it dries down, despite people in the reviews saying that the citrus disappears rather quickly. Smells delectable, like a drink almost. Pretty unique too. I do not think this is a feminine fragrance, but I don't think it's a particularly masculine one either. Unisex leaning slightly masculine maybe? Kinda reminds me of a more masculine and citrusy Jo Malone Wood Sage and Sea Salt, though the similarity might be a little far-fetched. 8.5/10

For me it is a quite heavy, fruity, musky pomelo. A very good scent, that people always are blown away by when smelling it on paper, unfortunately (perhaps because of my skin chemistry) it’s a bit too heavy to wear in a formal occasion. Trust me, people will smell it, and it kinda becomes a warm musky waft that is mildly off putting ngl. Not exactly fresh, and is not blind buy safe simply because you must try it out around other people. Scent on paper 10/10, scent on me 5.8/10, longevity and performance is great, but it does mean it is heavy.

conflicted about this one. it's a sweet salty summer-appropriate vanilla perfume, but something in this reminds me of my uncle's cologne (the pomelo?) making this feel somewhat masculine in a way i can't personally appreciate. great performance in my experience as is consistent with the rest of mind games' extrait-concentration fragrances.

This one is a very nice, creamy yet fresh concoction of white florals, citrus & vanilla. On first wearing, I considered adding it to my buy list but after a few more wearing's, I decided that ultimately, its not for me. This is mainly because I have other frags that do this style better & also, the main drawback- Very light performance.

I like this ALOT. The opening is a bit sharp from the citruses and salt. The dry down is my favorite part. It's so cozy and smooth. The cashmeran , vanilla & sandalwood really balances out the initial sharpness. This scent is perfectly unisex. Longevity is 4+ hours.

Salty citrus scent🧂🍊🍋 not special for the price. The dry down gets better and is a mild sweet/salty scent. Easy to wear everyday and doesn’t cause headache. Not bad

just got this in and it is great easy to wear if u like sweet with a little salt sprinkled in very unique and still appealing fs with def be getting a full bottle

I really like this one, I get a more masculine (less sweet, more citrusy/slightly woody) version of printemps blanc

The most underrated fragrance from the collection. This stuff is sweet, salty, yet still fresh and unique.

Initial aquatic citrus - the dry down lends more amber woodsy notes.

I wish the bright, salty citrus opening lasted... It's gone within 10 minutes on my skin and clothes. It goes from a yell to a whisper very quickly, and 3 hours later the vanilla and sandalwood are the only things left to write home about. This could have easily been a refreshing summer scent, but not when it's this short-lived for such a high price point. The citrus just doesn't stick around. If it works for you, consider yourself lucky! Mind Games has been extremely impressive so far, but not The Forward. It's not because it doesn't smell good... it does. But considering the price point, this does not last nor project nearly as long as it should. Overall, fell verrrrry short of my expectations from the initial spray.

This is my first experience with Mind Games and I can’t say it was good because it was a sample given to me along with a perfume I purchased. The top notes is so screechy with the citrus and there’s nothing particularly amazing about the dry down either (just soft citrus and woody notes from what I can pick up). The citrus component of the fragrance is overpowering that it smelled like the lemon scented wet wipes that are given to you at seafood restaurants and I definitely don’t want to smell like a sanitizing product. I’ll give their other fragrances a try, but this was not a banger as some people in social media have described and on my skin veers masculine instead of a pure unisex scent.

On my skin, this skipped the opening almost entirely and moved into the heart within a minute. What I got was a distinctly masculine barbershop vibe — shaving soap, clean aftershave, and a very conventional men’s fragrance feel. I didn’t get any femininity from it at all. To my nose, it doesn’t smell niche or particularly deep; it just smells like a pleasant but rather ordinary men’s perfume. Personally, I find it too boyish for men over 35 and far too masculine for what I enjoy wearing.

Ok I take back what I said about mind games as a whole. I was just pissed off that blockade is an exact copy of Hacivat on the drydown. The forward smells beautiful. You get like a key lime pie citrus fresh opening with a very nice vanilla & jasmine drydown. I’m copping a full bottle of this when it’s on sale! Prices are still ridiculous though but it’s a beautiful scent! Edit: it ended up being way to much vanillin on the drydown for my taste so I swapped it out.

Opens with a fresh citrus and salty brightness before settling into a woody tonka-vanilla base. On my skin, it leaned quite masculine and eventually turned powdery. Longevity and sillage were okay — not weak, but not standout either. Overall, a clean and modern fragrance that would smell great on a man, but not something I’d wear myself.

I love many Mind Games perfumes, but I am glad I did not blind buy this one. It is too masculine for my personal taste. It is a salty cashmeran scent to my nose. It’s not a bad smell, but not what I personally would choose to wear. I might like it on a man, though.

Citrus and vanilla almost like marzipan with a peel of an orange. Honestly one of the nicer ones from Mind Games, I am honestly positively surprised, and I think if not for the price this is underrated.

smells just like poets of berlin+vanilla vibes, with that super green slightly harsh opening,dry down is a fresh citrusy vanilla-ish scent,good for hot and tropical weather/vacays