Essence

Review - Essence by Narciso Rodriguez What does it smell like? Feels like a cross between Anouage's Silver and that Nivea cream that comes in a blue tin can. A sparkling clean blend with a dirty/dark twist. TOP - Like I said this starts very creamy. Right off the bat you get some powdery musk with considerably dark Plum that's touched up with a bit of rose. There's a beautiful contrast of brightness and darkness in the top. At times this feels super bright and uplifting while at others it feels like it's sending you some dark subliminal messages at the same time. MIDDLE - Now with the kind of blend that Essence is it's tough to get individual notes. But it's not very tough to appreciate it's transition from a complex multi-faceted opening towards a simpler and more straight forward phase where each aspect of the composition shines through individually. Iris is the main note in this phase. This is the part of this scent where it smells corporate,clean and very very striking. This is for someone who knows what they're doing and this phase of this scent in particular feels very intriguing and bold. DRYDOWN - As with all NR scents musk remains the centerpiece. Providing the meshwork that holds this caricature together. This phase of the composition gives way to a very subtle rose and a very noticeable and serious benzoin base that adds a tad bit of a smoky touch while being powdery at the same time. And this is in essence (pun intended) is where this scent earns it's money. It's named correctly and you can see the meaning. It's not trying too hard. It's not punching above it's weight. It's a core or a crux of a beautiful experience that's just raw and imperfect. Like any imperfect person,or an incomplete thought,this has both the bright sides and the dark one's. At parts it feels accomplished happy and joyful while at others it's a laid back mellow and serious/corporate composition. PERFORMANCE - For a scent of this nature,it surely punches above it's weight. Gives me good 5-6 hours with a very noticeable scent bubble around you. The compliment factor on this shall be very good with how noticeable it can get. Don't get surprised however if someone asks you about what moisturizer/cream do you use rather than just complimenting your fragrance out an out. USAGE - This is the tricky bit. Marketed only for women. The bottle is tacky. Everything goes leaning towards the X-Chromosome. But the scent itself is unisex. Totally comfortable and okay to wear if you're above 25. Imagine a bright sunny picnic with your family on the beach or a garden. This smells like quality things and simpler happy moments. EMOTIONS - Very raw. Ver minimalistic. Very honest, transparent and straight forward. This feels happy without going over the top and dries down to a serious/corporate base. Intriguing. VERDICT - It's a solid release by the Spanish house that probably has the best bottles in all of the game. It's unique,very articulately blended, sparkling, a very high quality composition that will surely stand out in your collection.

This is the strangest perfume I've ever owned! It has a split personality! Although, at first, Essence is reminiscent of Estee Lauder's White Linen, which initially had me waving it away, screaming No! NO! NO!, this is actually much better. For one thing, it lacks the nuclear blast of aldehydes of ELWL, which always left me picking my eyebrows up off the floor. Essence is also much sweeter. During the first 45 minutes or so, the iris, rose, musk, and benzoin play out to emanate a very clean, rather bright, effect. After my nose initially adjusted to this stage, I was pleasantly surprised and relieved to find I didn't have the urge to reach for my sunglasses anymore. Still slightly sharp, a little metallic, but lovely. I was sure any further development would just result in a softer effect, like clouds moving in to cover the sun on a bright day, but still remaining on the cool and metallic side. Then comes the STRANGE and FUN PART! After Essence reaches the cloudy sunny stage, it goes bi-polar and does a complete 180!! I couldn't believe this was the same perfume!! I've got my nose buried in my wrist, now, because this thing has just MORPHED into the most beautiful, warm, and woody smell you could ever imagine! It's like I've just found myself suddenly in mysterious circumstances, transported to the middle of a strange forest somewhere, turning round and round, asking myself, "WHERE AM I? HOW DID I GET HERE?" I can see the full moon through the treetops overhead, but there's not a hint of coolness; I close my eyes and breathe in the warmth of the forest. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this part!!!! The iris and rose have melted together on my skin, along with the amber, to envelop me in such a yummy, ethereal, cloud of enchantment that I NEVER want to leave it!!! Then, like a slap in the face to wake one from a reverie, Essence morphs BACK to the beginning stage of cool brightness, evoking me to protest aloud, "HEY! WHY'D YOU DO THAT?! TAKE ME BACK TO THE FOREST!" This was a little disappointing to me, at first, but I find I am liking this stage more and more. All I can say is WOW!!! What a RIDE!!! I can't wait to spray it once more and do it all over again!! This perfume goes from sunlight to moonlight, then back to sunlight again. NONE of my other perfumes in my vast collection even remotely behave this way! This is a keeper! Highly addictive. Love, love, LOVE IT!!!! (Time for me to spray again! Did I say addictive?)

Absolute LOVE from me. Clean, soapy, aldehydic goodness in a beautiful bottle! The musk in this does not remind me of the same musk in any of the For Her versions, but it could just be because most of those compositions have other base/middle notes besides just musk that can alter the dry down of the musk. This does not say it has aldehydes in it, but it's very sparkling and clean, soap-like, that I would venture to say there are aldehydes in this. This is just the most perfect clean smelling fragrance that is an easy grab and go. To me this is not like clean laundry (Pure Musc in the white bottle reminds me more of clean laundry), this is more like fresh out of the shower, and just applied some soapy smelling body lotion (many are saying Nivea cream in the blue tin, which I can see). This scent lasts very long on me, albeit not super intense projection, but I'm sure if you spray on your clothes and hair, it would increase both projection and longevity. This is the kind of scent that if you sprayed it over your unscented or lightly scented body lotion, it would last and last and last, and you would just be cocooned in this fresh out of the shower scent bubble all day. Super easy to wear, as I said, grab and go, not much thinking involved. Think freshly washed skin that's just been moisturized! Love this so much! Wish they didn't discontinue it...

My signature... there is no better clean laundry scent, in my opinion. I initially ordered a 2ml atomizer sample off of eBay when doing a little research about the best dryer-sheet-like scents and in a way I wish I hadn't, because now I've been burdened by the discontinued fragrance curse. I tried to supplement my craving for Essence with For Her, as I've heard others say that the soapy musk thing is pretty signature to Narciso Rodriguez's identity, but it pales in comparison. This is not a particularly challenging perfume, but it doesn't need to be. Essence works during all seasons and all times of day. If you wear fragrance to bed, this is the crown jewel of bed fragrances (although, I try to refrain from doing this so as to ration my bottles.) Not to mention, the longevity and sillage here are incredible. The powdery quality from the iris does not read as dry or sneeze-inducing, but rather like a lotion scent as many others have mentioned. While I do enjoy a heavy and dirty musk from time to time, Essence's musk is light, clean, and extremely wearable. Sometimes I wish I had a more niche, pretentious scent to claim as my signature, but the beautiful blend and simplicity here is undeniable. Worth sampling but please don't fall in love with it like I did, for selfish reasons... don't need anymore competition buying secondhand.

I am always looking for a subtle skin musk and had not been lucky yet. All musk fragrances smell either white musk (= laundry/soap/shower products) or are too openly sexy (NR for Her edt, Black bottle)for my taste. I tested today this one and the Delicate edp version and this one is wining so far. I seem to like it a lot. I do dont smell any rose, any powder or any soap here, which all are a good things because i am not a fan of either mentioned. To my nose this is clean sweetish musk with a hint of cedar. It has a bit metallic smell in the begining but later it warms up and dissapears. It is not similar to For Her line, but i dont think it should be, it is a different fragrance. Maybe it is my nose playing tricks on me, I can not stop thinking how this one reminds me the drydown of Light Blue, but i guess that the cold/fresh musk and cedar (not in the notes, so maybe i am imagining it) combo that makes this impresion for me. I have to test several times to see whether i want a full bottle or a little decant to me, or whether i want a warmer skin musk and this one is too much cold/fresh/clean for me. sillage close to skin, logevity very good. one little spray lasted for hours and i could still smell it after shower.