Energetically New York

just works beautifully with my skin chemistry. my first ever "signature scent", firstly due to its elegant sandalwood dry-down, secondly because of its curated choice of only three (very harmonious, simultaneously fresh and spicy) notes, and thirdly because it's the only perfume i can afford to regularly repurchase. i have received countless compliments for this scent, but there's one i will never forget. on christmas day last year, with no family to go to, i was wearing it while sitting with a close friend on a beach in viareggio, a tuscan town by the tyrrhenian sea. a mild ten degrees celsius (strange for me, who has grown up in a colder climate), clear skies, the sea turning translucent under the weight of the setting sun, we were drinking cheap wine and eating pistachio ice cream when a middle-aged woman passed us with her dog. she had already walked by us by a good bit when she turned around, came up to us, and said, "one of you smells wonderful." we let her smell our wrists. pointing at me, she said, "it's you!" i pulled up a screenshot of this perfume, which she - endearingly - took a picture of with her phone. she wished us a merry christmas when she left. it was a very tender moment on a rather melancholic day.

I didn't expect to like this, I smelt it in the store from the bottle and I thought "meh" and i put it down. I decided to try it on my skin the next time I was at Zara and I couldn't stop myself from sniffing my arm all day with this on!! I went back to buy it. At first, it's a big hit of spicy bergamont and citrus, but the woody sandalwood dry down is where it's at, and I'm addicted. I didn't even know about Le Labo at this point even though I've walked by the Le Labo stores a million times but thought it was too stuck-up to go in. After reading reviews about this being a dupe of Santal 33, I have to try the real thing and I did, I fell in love with Santal 33 as well and bought 100ml of it during Black Friday. I love both Energetically NY and Santal 33. On me, the silage is moderate and the longivity is around 6 hours mark. Santal 33 has stronger silage and longevity on me 8-10 hours, but at that point the dry down is the same and the complexity is gone. I would say this is like a flanker of Santal 33 — a brighter linear sibling for day time and Santal 33 is the older more complex sibling for night time. But for a fraction of Le Labo's price, Energetically New York is a definitely a great buy!

This stuff is bussin!!! Picture this: You spray this on your first day and you are literally transported on a sunny day in an island, hot outside but the good kind, sippin on some cocktails then you are hungry, you do not like the menu in the bar full of junk food. Then you notice they have cucumber salad, you accept, you try the cucumber it smells wonderful, you go to enjoy your cucumber salad, anyways you go in the beach, you smell the ocean breeze, its so refreshing then you go to the forest and smell some jasmines, sandalwood and cardamom around you. Jokes aside, this is such a great fragrance, i have never tried a zara fragrance before and this stuff is magical, it's so nice just smelling the bottle cap everytime transports me to that island. This is a refreshing aquatic fragrance, yeah it has cucumber notes for me but the jasmine, cardamom and sandalwood are coming right away, definitely give it a try, in my opinion it's a safe buy but not for those that don't like cucumber scent haha. The price? Amazing just 30 euros!!! 10/10, it's an all rounder daily fragrance, all occasional fragrance for everywhere. Great alternative when it comes to searching for a daily frag. Overall: 8/10.

I bought it spontaneously. I was in a bad mood, went to Zara, smelled it, paid, left. I didn't even know at the time that it was supposed to be a dupe for Santal 33. Honestly, at first, I found myself with an average attitude toward it. I smelled the sandalwood, sort of liked it, but at that time I was wondering why I actually bought it lol Everything changed after the first tests in the colder weather. This perfume smells COMPLETELY different when it's cold, cloudy, and rainy outside. I don't smell pickled cucumber or detergents at all here. Instead, I lose myself in the creamy, sweet sandalwood, combined with the warmth of cardamom and oh my goodness, how beautiful it is. Also, I like to mix it with Molecule 01 and always get LOTS of compliments wearing this blend. When it comes to the comparison to Santal 33, ok, we have the same DNA here, but I wouldn't say it's a faithful copy of Le Labo's creation. Imo Santal 33 is much softer (at least on my skin). Nevertheless, if you like Santal 33 and don't want to lose a fortune, I would go for the cheaper alternative from Zara.

This is beautiful and very well blended, especially in comparison to other Zara fragrances (I absolutely despised Gardenia, orchid and femme - all of which smelled very cheap to me). Due to the cardamom and sandalwood notes, it has a similar vibe as Crystal Noir EDP. It’s definitely not a dupe, I’d rather say it’s the fresh and slightly sharper (not in a bad way) cousin of Crystal Noir. I don’t know why, but somehow I’d say CN is the creamy yet mysterious femme fatale in a black and classy dress, whereas Energetically New York is a well groomed, sophisticated person who likes to take walks in the rain and has a great taste in fashion. If you like CN and you were looking for a more unisex take on it that is suitable for all seasons, I’d recommend giving this a sniff. Can’t compare it to Santal 33 as I never owned it.