Mousse Illuminee Grand Cru

Such a great fragrance. It is a smoother, much smoother version of Moussie Illuminee (MI). The absinthe and moss are the main players, grounded by the champaca and patchouli. There is a slight sweetness, almost like a hint of cinnamon— it does contain ingredients the relate to cinnamon. It lacks the ashy tobacco note from the original. Manual Cross: keep cooking!

I like this one over the original Mousse Illuminae as it’s deeper and not as sharp. It’s not as linear to my nose anyway. I’m not going into the notes because others will do that far better than myself. Definitely not a blind buy unless you are familiar with the Rogue lineup. Is it worth 285 dollars for a mere 50 ml bottle ? IMHO yes !

I like several from this house, but I was disappointed with this one. To my nose, the original is better (than both this one and the first flanker). In general I’m not a huge fan of flankers, mainly because they get way overdone but also because there are only so many interpretations of a fragrance that I feel are needed at all. For such a small house with so few selections, if you have a second flanker to the original it better be something really special over the original and first flanker, especially at such a high price. The original had no problems with performance or projection. The original was unique, while having classic traits. The original didn’t really have anything to improve on. It’s one that if you didn’t like that profile already, there’s no need for a different version. This isn’t worth the price, and isn’t worth owning a full bottle in my opinion. There is no wow factor at all, and is just an unoriginal interpretation at this point.

Very interesting scent. You get the cypress notes, like a deep forest, then a beautiful incense note, that feels deep and meditative, the rose and champaca are there, in the multilayered development of the scent. The drydown is slightly sweet and spiced, I guess because of the absinthe and cedar. The opening might be a little challenging, but it rapidly starts evolving from heavily aromatic herbal incense to a spiced, slightly sweet woody scent with just a little floral touch. Very complex and beautiful scent but needs a little time to express its soul.

I almost bought this blind at launch but I decided to get something else. I saw a lot of bottles pop up for sale discounted a week or so after launch so I'm interested in reading honest takes of this version with genuine deer musk. Love natural deer musk, love the original and hope this lives up to it.