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.

I have been a long-time lover of Narcisco's For Her. It was my signature about a decade ago when it came in a potent oil that was in a black roller-ball. Here we are many years later, and I have finally spent some time getting to know Essence. It starts out smelling like Nivea lotion--powdery, creamy, floral (mostly rose). As it develops on the skin, it becomes downright balsamic, and the iris starts to emerge. For the majority of time on my skin, it no longer smells like Nivea, but instead smells more like incense and musk. A real personal fragrance because it smells clean, but clean in a different way. Not like laundry or soap. More like when you step out of the shower and you can still smell the perfume that you put on hours earlier. It becomes part of you and sort of melds into you. I also noticed time and again that I smelled the ink from a ball-point pen. That is what gives it a metalic edge. It is kind of strange, yet somehow it works with all the other notes.

Essence First impressions are that the bottle is beautiful. Essene is pretty cheap here in Australia. I dont think its done very well. I got the gift set (50ml bottle and 100ml body lotion) for $59.00. I love the powderiness of Essence. Rose and Iris take center stage and they bloom wonderfully on the skin with a slightly spicy burst but the spiciness is still overpowered by the floral notes. I can understand the clear references to Baby Powder and when it settles down (or even when i press the bottle under my nose) i can smell something similar to baby powder but Essence has the makings of a scent that smells Expensive and very much Unisex to me. Staying power is very good especially when you spray it on your clothes. I could smell it on my footy shirt and shorts the next day.

This is my favorite of the house and very nearly my favorite of all time. The musk is lovely and clean -- clean laundry -- but still alluring because it has a very intimate clean skin scent quality to it. It is complimented by the iris and the rose -- these are perfectly blended, one doesn't override the other as often happens in floral blends. Iris is more noticeable at first but then the rose creeps up on you and its such a beautiful rose. A very dewy and fresh rose, not heavy or overwhelming. The balmy nature ensures that it projects well but not so much that your coworkers will complain. The musk is there even in the first whiff and stays all the way through. It's a masterpiece! What heaven must smell like... at least mine!

I haven't reviewed in a very long while but i'm here cos Narciso has me smitten once again. I have Narciso Rodriguez for Her & I knew how sophisticated it is. Narciso Essence was a must try eventually. So I did. A test pallet & some on my wrist, which is a MUST for me & that's because I want to be absolutly sure that every perfume I own & I wear will wear me & love me too. Gosh 30 minutes later & I was all hooked up by this sister perfume...I just went back to the shop and grabbed one for myself. Since then, we are inseparable. Everytime I wear it, I feel sexy, hot, sensual & sophisticated. I LOVE, LOVE, Looooooovvvve her. I love you NR-Essence!

For the first 20 minutes, all I got was roses. It was nice, but it was just like a lot of other rose fragrances. A bit later, the roses faded and the scent became more musky, creamy and soapy. If you were rating on subtlety, this would be on the polar opposite end from For Her, which before 2014 reformulations was quite loud. If you love For Her as I do, I would not suggest you purchase Essence without testing first. While it's very nice and very pleasant and all of that, it's not magnetic to me in the way that For Her was. This will go on my "Want" list, but it's not going on my "Need" list the way his first fragrance did.

I got a tester of this over a year ago and forgot about it. A few months ago I found it again, and boy am I glad i did! I tried it on my wrist in the evening, and although it took a couple of hours to get used to, I now love the scent of it. It's light, airy, clean and uplifting, perfect for spring, when the promise of summer is in the air, summer, or autumn, when you wish you could have just a few more days of sunshine and another light warm breeze before the cold settles in, or dark winter nights, to remind you of what summer feels like. I desperately want a bottle of this, and I hope they still have it in store...

A straight forward lightly sweetened soapy musk, with no screaming flowers - just the 'essence' of freshly washed skin and nothing more. And yes.. yes of course, a simpler and more economical option would be to just take a shower which I'll assume most folks here already do. But we all know how quickly that good old 'fresh out of the shower'-shower scent disappears once our hair dries and we're off to work, in whatever funky smog polluted metropolis we live in.. Enter Essence -- shower in a bottle goodness that lasts all day! Kinda makes me want to inhale deeply and sigh contentedly just thinking about it. I like.

My husband and my son always buy presents for me together does not matter if is our anniversary or Christmas...and both agreed to buy this for me for my today's birhtday (they have a very good taste, that is why I allow that)...The result? I love it! I do not know how long it will last in my skin, (my first application was an hour ago) do not know which are the components because everything is well blended and very delicate, but what I know is that this Essence is wrapping me like a shawl of velvet, and it makes me feel very special, happier and even smarter! Today I also got Chloe and I can not wait to try it...

I spent so much time looking for a fragrance like this one... yes, it reminded me a little of Pure Linen, but only in the first few seconds. Then it's: feminine, tasteful, cozy, delicate, simple, like a white feather on which you sprayed an antique powdery potion. It caresses the senses, not a single note seems aggressive. I wouldn't recommend it for a blind buy or a gift, it's too personal. Great lasting power, yet a very soft sillage. Yet, you need to be bold to wear this. Nobody will feel it unless they get really close, but you might act like you're wearing the most irresistible perfume ever.

Out of all NR perfumes I have, this has the best chemistry with me. I cannot get over about how this became very beautiful after I sprayed it on my skin. Tantalizing, clean, and sensual. If you smell at first time it'd seems like other musky powder white fragrances. The projection is oddly massive, once I wear it to work and my co-worker from 2 desks apart noticed my smell. She complimented it, she said it smelt like simplicity. I don't know, but I like how it wears on me too. One of my best perfume I ever wear, and to add the bottle is art itself. Every penny worth, kudos to NR.

Beautifull scent, totally agree with the comment below. I have this scent for a while now and i hope it last for a long time. Otherwise i will be sad. Its for me a linnen like scent, which gave a warm/clean feeling. I realy like the combination of musk with the iris. On my skin it smells very comforting, i keep smelling it. And gladly this is possible for the whole day. For me this scent is more a intimate scent. You have to come close to catch the hint of it. Which i personally prefer. So if above sounds good to you to, fingers crossed if it gets on stock again.

I'm a fan of the Narciso fragrances, I have two of them already and sampled this the other day, and I wasn't disappointed. It's a fresh musk that is just gorgeous. It's not too overpowering either, which is great, however the lasting power is average, lasted about 3 hours on me and then it was gone. It would probably last longer if sprayed onto my clothes. However, it's still a really interesting fragrance that is not your typical "run of the mill" type, but it is quite expensive for a fragrance that doesn't last particularly long.

I’m a big fan of NR fragrance and NR for her EDT is my signature and EDP is close 2nd so i have high hopes when i try this on, but this is not a sensual musk which contains “for her" line. this has clean musk with bit of fresh wibe on it, I love the laundry detergent smell of the opening dry down is combination of musk and Iris on my skin. Longevity is moderate and not as much as NR FOR HER, at least on my skin. Definitely you should have a fan of not only musk but also a Iris to love this perfume So I do love this.

Because I love both NR for Her EDP & EDT, I had to try this one. When I sprayed it on my wrist, I was a bit taken back; it was so harsh and, as someone mentioned, somewhat metallic. Then, while I was having coffee, it settled into a nice flowery musk and stayed that way for the rest of the day. I must admit that it did remind of me of a laundry detergent a bit... but I like it. I don’t mind getting this for myself. It is clean and feminine, I thought this would be perfect for a daytime & spring to summer wear.

I just can't help it, I have to buy a bottle soon! This scent is perfect for summer - clean, crisp, relaxed and fresh. It feels like a white linen shirt worn on a warm but breezy summer day. I love the iris and musky notes that settle into a light, soft, feminine scent brightened by the wonderful, very natural citrus note (which is not listed in the notes but it's present from the begining till the end. The sillage is rather light, this is definitely a skin scent but I find the longevity very good.