Narciso

Why is it no longer with us? Oh, why? This was one of the first perfumes that made me think "there is more to it" in this hobby of mine. I understood, then, that perfumery can be art. This is the scent of a fallen angel...the smell of the graces of heven still lingering on his wings, milky snowy gardenia and sweetened tender white rose....but he has acquired a sensual and sexual nature now, rendered through the musk; pulsating, animalic but still clean. Addictive warm profound musk. Capable of dulling the senses. The angel has dirt on him, the earthy vetiver and the smell of the woods of the forest in wich now resides, alone. Some of the more cold and somber facets of the gardenia still there...conveing his lonliness. The dreams of paradise ever haunt him but he is ready now to bask himself in his newly found human sensuality and vulnerability. This perfume has grace, delicacy, cleanleness, romanticism, but also eroticism, sensuality and warmness all in one. Everything, from the flowers to the musk to the woods are exceptional; the white cedar extract is humid and almost lactonic, and paired with that innocent yet "cruel" gardenia made for one of the most beautiful and touching "white" accord ever. It follows you everywhere and the musk and woods become a second skin. The opening has a particular effect, the florals made me think of white and pink lace and powder, but then they change in to something mature and detached. The person who wears this is elegant, complex and unforgettable. The scent fitted the brand's "high fashion bareness" quite well. The ads were some of the best imagery since Calvin Klein's Obsession, in terms of how the scent pairs with the visuals. The Narciso woman is a vulnerable, sensual, grounded creature. The packaging was well chosen, and the prodouct's price fair considered the quality. I wish the Narciso Rodriguez team could find in his heart the strenght to give this back to us. A reformulation should not be so difficoult with all the new well perfoming lilial substitutes. I understand infact that this was discontinued because it had lilial in it and removed from shops for safety reasons. I managed to buy a 50ml for an honest price (67,00 €) together with the Narciso Rodriguez Narciso edt, black cube version with transparent cap. I am even tempted to buy more (I scavengered every reputable italian online shop and found a few). My new bottle is from 2015, I can't quite decide if it is a little turned because the opening is somewhat sour...a sort of hair spray effect, and more earthy. Instead the bottle I had left to macerate for years has a potent floral round smell in the opening, never smelled something so beautiful, and the musk multiplied its hot effect!!! The liquid a vivid pink. I am leaving my new bottle alone to do the same. This is not comparable too much to his flankers other then the black cube Narciso edt...Narciso Poudree, very beautiful in iteself, is less woody, more tonka sweet, a powder bomb, the florals in it are another thing, so very different. The dna they share is through the body of musk (which I read was a mix of different musks materials united to recreate the egyptian black musk dear to Msr. Narciso Rodriguez). The same consideration can be made about Narciso Rouge edp, very make-upy, another love of mine. The one more close to it is the Narciso Rouge edt (the one with red cube pack and transparent cap), since it has the same musk and woodiness/earthiness but still...the florals/muguet in it give a different vibe. Narciso Neroli and Neroli Ambree start to deviate even further, with a more seasoned base; the new Narciso Cristal is not even a flanker anymore. For even more references in the Rodriguez line, all the Narciso For Her line I find very different, they don't even share the same type of musk, there it is a little more dirty. At the same time I must say that the house of Narciso Rodriguez has a very distinct identity and personality, dna is surely shared between all his offerings. You could blind smell all of them and you would know they are Narciso Rodriguez. I feel it is worthy of respect when a house manages to do that without being redundant. If I can finish this long review with a word of advice then I would suggest to everyone to give a chance to their men perfumes too; most of them are unisex and incredible, smell just like an androgynous angel! There is an aura of unattainable elegance and refinement about them, and many share the same clean yet carnal musk.

Narciso white cube is one of my favourite ever scents, I'm heartbroken it got discontinued. I understand why but I so hope they decide to reformulate it in line with modern regulations, it really is a masterpiece of perfumery. I think if you like it, you will love it, but I can see that it can be difficult to love in the beginning because of it's sharpness. It's worth the effort to learn to love it though. Everything about it is perfection, the gardenia and rose are very delicate but creamy and sharp. The gardenia is earthy and green, the white rose is light and delicate. The musk is absolutely beautiful, very sensual, deep, sexy and skin like. The vetiver and cedar add a glorious depth and warmth to the sharpness. The dry down is very lotiony and when I shower at night before bed, it is still there after 10+ hours, and the steam from the shower releases the most sensual lotiony, warm skin like musk ever, I LOVE it. It's one of those fragrances that makes my eyes roll into the back of my head when I smell it! I only get the white rose note in the inside of my elbow, not really anywhere else. I assume this is because the skin there is more protected from evaporation and has less air exposure. I think the cedar notes come from Iso E Super, I pick this up in the woodiness and if I layer Molecule 01 with this, it doesn't change the perfume in any way, it only boosts it - so I think it must have this within the composition already. When I layer with other scents I usually pick up on subtle changes but not here. The musk in Narciso does a very good job at being on the cusp of "dirty", it's just on the edge of that it is clean or is it dirty? I think it smells like warm, sensual and sexy skin, wearing a delicate and expensive floral lotion. Narciso smells expensive and well made. Every part of it is intentional. This isn't sweet, it's mostly sharp, creamy and woody but as it dries down it gets slightly softer , lotiony and almost sweet, but not quite! Narciso has incredible longevity but does drop to a skin scent for me after a few hours. Longevity is excellent but definitely doesn't project that much on me. I often get compliments on this perfume from people close to me. I've never smelled it on anyone else that I am aware of. The opening of Poudree is very similar to this but it's much warmer and sweeter in its heart and base. It reminds me a lot of a very floral musky Hypnotic Poison in its dry down. They are not similar really during wear apart from a resemblance in their openings. I find this very different to the Rouge EDP and EDT, they are makeuppy powdery scents.

I truly have a love/hate relationship with this fragrance. Possibly because I attempted to wear it in the summer heat one year, and it just made me feel so nauseous - this scent is way too heavy for warm weather. The first time I ever smelled it, I sprayed it on my wrist at Sephora in the dead middle of winter. After leaving the store and walking around downtown in the cool, dry air, I couldn't stop myself from sniffing my wrist every thirty seconds, craving more and more of this musky, white floral scent. After telling myself time and time again that I really do not need another full-size bottle of perfume, I ended up buying the gift set online, which came with shower gel, body lotion and a 90ml bottle. Back in 2017, I used this nearly every day from January to May, which is around the time I met my boyfriend, so this scent definitely brings up some good memories of our early days. It was June of that year that I mistakenly, stupidly, wore it when it was hot and humid out, and from then on I could barely get a whiff of it without getting a headache, for the past 4 years. Fast forward to today, when I decided to give her another try, as it's a cold, rainy day and I'm stuck in bed with gastro, can't get any sicker so might as well give her another try! She meant so much to me! Lo and behold, she has found her way back into my current rotation. This fragrance is mostly linear to me, there is nothing too complex about it, but sometimes simplicity can be a great thing. Upon first spray, I do get the perfect blend of gardenia and rose. There's a cloud of powder enveloping them too. They continue to linger in the background as musk and cedar come into play moments later, and I feel as though I'm in a dense forest with those flowers at my feet. I just close my eyes and drift into a creamy, woody paradise. The powder stays for the whole show. One spray is all you need for this one to last all day. Any more than 2 sprays could be headache inducing. It's a good everyday perfume, suitable for the office if you spray lightly. The sillage is impeccable; I've gotten compliments on it from people standing 12 ft away. So disappointed to find out this has been discontinued, because it seems to be so popular. I'll be using it sparingly, and can't wait to try other Narciso perfumes.

This is my second review here and just as important as the first one😄. I was a little bit nostalgic lately, this was my signature from the first time it came out till it was discontinued and disappeared totally from the shelves in my country. You can imagine the heartbreak I went through.. Although meanwhile I found my new signature and I am totally happy with that, I wanted to have this again, so I ordered The Verset version, thanks to @Thesmellofmynose review below. I had the Nicolas white from Yodeyma in the past but I decluttered it, because I felt it to be too synthetic and harsh and I had the real thing back then so I didn't needed it. If you want the Narciso, but it is not available for you (I think you still can purchase it in the US), you can safely order Vivian by Verset!! As someone who used up around 50 bottles of the white cube, I can tell you that the Verset version is fantastic. It projects and lasts very well. Very very close to the original, 95%. The first spray was different, but as it develops on my skin, I cannot really tell apart. Maybe a tiny little less creamy. I don't feel the need anymore to start a petition to bring back the Narciso. And also wanted to leave this comment, so more people get to know about a fantastic substitute and hopefully it will stay on the market. Update - I have found a sample of this during moving and got very excited, because now I can compare it to the dupe🥳. So here is my comparison: Initial spray is a bit different, Vivian seems to be a bit harsher, but this harshness fades quickly. Narciso has this balsamic, milky creamy undertone from the early dry down, from the first hour or so. The Verset version gets to this stage only after 3-4 hours. While waiting for the Verset's dry down, I could tell them apart, Vivian was fresher, more powdery, and the rosy aspect came forward a little bit more. I thought that this will be the main difference, but no, just Vivian dries down much slower. While Narciso disappeared from my skin after 5 hours, Vivan stayed for 8, until I had a shower, but she was still present quite strongly. I have to say I was very surprised, because in sum, I found that the Verset version is better quality. Staying power is better and a bit stronger. Hope they don't reformulate.

🗣Narciso Edp By Narciso Rodrigue: (Square White Cube) The Perfume That Started It All, And Launched Many!! For Me, Like Many Other's On Here, This Simply Is The "BEST"!! Of The Best Narciso Rodrigue Square Cube Line!! It's Absolutely Pure, Clean, Sexiness In A Bottle, And Yet Is Professional And No-Nonsense/Straight To The Point At The Same Time!! (Could Actually See An Executive High Powered Business Woman Wearing This Fragrance, Conducting A Meeting In A Boardroom) And Taking No Crap From Anyone, Trying To Undermine Her Ultimate Authority!! And Yet When She Leaves That Environment, She Oooozes Non-Stop Sex Appeal, In A Head Turning Way!! For This Fragrance Deffo Is The Best Of Both Worlds, And Nearly Could Be Wore At Anytime, And In Any Situation No Problem!! It causes people to very much sit up and pay full attention to you, And Yet Manages To Bring You The Most Beautiful And Wonderful Compliments Ever!! It Smells Of Pure Undiluted Class And Sophistication, And Leaves The Most Beautiful Trail Behind You, Everywhere You Go Causing People To Ask Suddenly "What Is That Gorgeous Fresh Aroma Im Smelling"!! It's So Beautifully Blended, And Each Note Compliments The Other That Follows!! And Unfortunately This Great Lady Seem's To Have Now Been Sadly "Discontinued" By Narciso Rodrigue!! A Very Bad Mistake In My Opinion!! I Find It Perfectly Unisex, And Deffo Any Man Could Carry This One Off No Problem At All!! And As It Wear's On My Skin It Deffo Reminds Me Of "Dior's Midnight Poison" (Although Not As Screechy) Another Great Fragrance" Sadly Lost And Gone Forever!! And Although Not Listed, I Can Deffo Smell Patchouli In The Drydown Of This!! A Simple White Floral, (Gardenia) Soft White Rose, In A Creamy Powdery Musk/Woody Base Of Cedar, That Is So Never Out Of Place!! I've Never Owned A Perfume That Draws SOoooooo Many Compliments, And Literally Is A No Brainer, To Reach For And Basically Can Be Wore At Anytime And With Any Outfit!! Work's Well Daytime Hour's, And Yet Is Perfect For A Night Out/Going For A Classy Meal!! An All Round Yearly Winner From Start To Finish!! And So Sad If It Has Been Stupidly Discontinued!!