Mexico Soul

As soon as I came across the Mexico stories collection on Zara official site I was looking for assaying it. The collection as of now includes two pieces, A Day in Mexico and Mexico Soul. These new releases have been created by the perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux, they smell different from one another, and both are gorgeous, allegedly for day and night wearing respectively. The package is similar to the recent summer releases of New Your stories collection by Jerome Epinette, which covers Cool Heights, Greenery, and White Soho, a subtle carbon box with flipping doors and a colored elastic band for closing them, some hints from the perfumer written inside and a description of the collection. The bottle is dark brown, chic, yet I expected a magnetic cup to complete that format as a high-end Zara's cologne, which is miserably not there. First things first, according to the box's ingredients, the pyramid features lavender, sage, pineapple, melon, cinnamon, cedar, and vanilla other than the three main notes listed here and on the Zara official site. It's a warm, cozy, spicy cross between a gourmand and a semi-spicy oriental, a nice release by Zara that succeeds because it smells good and doesn't try to do too much. While it is familiar, I'm not automatically reminded of any other specific recent release of Zara. To my nose cedar is quite prominent from the beginning and sticks around for most of the life of this fragrance, with whiffs of pencil shaver now and then. Thankfully I adore cedar as a woody note and together with the vanilla and cashmeran, which here actually just smells like a sort of sweet amber, it creates a very soothing vibe. Mexico Soul confirms the modern masculinity trend, and its opening is promising: sensual cardamom, sweet cinnamon and a kind of like peppercorn drenched in warm, aphrodisiac bourbon vanilla. It opens up reminds me of Azzaro Wanted. They aren’t the same, Mexico Soul is much better in my mind, and doesn’t have that same lemon note sitting there. The cardamom, however, really hits the same chord in the beginning. Again, this one smells better, it’s got a fresher vibe with the minty and peppery accord, and the oncoming warmth of the rest of the notes. In the heart, in contrast to the intoxicating scents of spices and vanilla is a fresh and delicious pineapple blended with tropical melon. A few minutes into the wear, the sage note, struck my nose. I like it, helps to add a layer of freshness, in a warmer and sweeter type of cologne. The next phase of this Zara's jewel, the vanilla, really begins to come through. The cardamom is stronger at first, but thereafter it’s the vanilla’s fragrance. The first thing to notice here is how well the vanilla and cardamom pairs together. When the vanilla comes in, it is a sweet/spicy blend, with a solid amount of wood at the base. Cedar with a slight amber added. The pepper, sage, and cardamom bring a warm spice that livens up that already incredible vanilla/cedar combination. The very basis is a mixture of uncompromising masculinity embodied in cedar and cashmeran wood notes and the animalistic attraction of amber and leather, a soothing suede. As aforementioned, the amber vibe should come from the cashmeran and is not like the ambroxan we are used these days. Projection wise, the sillage of Mexico Soul is pretty darn strong. It’s not the loudest bomb of a fragrance ever, but it’s not going to require very much. I used about three sprays, during my test run, and that got me a noticeable scent bubble around me. This cologne hits at least 8 hours or more of wear. I sort of lost track of it, during this wear, but it was there throughout the day. It’s not weak and it performs very well. You’re not going to get ripped off by the performance and you just have to try on your skin in these autumn days. Seasonally, this one is for the colder months. Its too sweet and has a certain thickness to it, that’s not going to be great, in the high heat. Outside of that though, this one can hang beautifully in the air. In my opinion, this is the perfect "date night" scent due to its sweet, alluring vanilla base, but since there's also a degree of freshness present in there, it can be used for work and more casual situations as well, if you go light with it, and over the course of a day you appreciate it more rather than become sick of it, even though night out and clubbing are the best occasions. There are no discordant notes in the blend, nothing is out of place, and overall the ingredients feel like they're of good quality, mostly synthetic yet good (i.e. molecules from Firmenich, Givaudan, etc.). I think Mexico Soul is an excellent option for someone who kind of likes scents like Invictus, Versace Eros, and Azzaro Wanted, but ultimately finds them too crass, abused, and juvenile to wear on any kind of consistent basis. Mexico Soul takes a more elegant approach, it's a bit more refined. In the era of sweet masculines, this is an example of one that's been done the right way. Thumbs up. Side note: I might be wrong, but compared side by side on my hands, Mexico Soul is closely akin to Emporio Armani Stronger with You, the original release not to be confused with the Intensely.

Yes! I usually really enjoy the correlation between music, situations and perfumes, and I think this one really suits a particular kind of mood and soundtrack. Picture yourself in an Arizona desert. Weather's so hot you can see the horizon distorting in the background. You stumble upon a peyote cactus and are running out of water, so you say "What the hell. I'm gonna extract the last amount of liquid this plant may have inside" without knowing what you're getting yourself into. An hour later, you're just so tired, so thirsty, that small amount of liquid you managed to get out of the cactus was not enough to do anything, but something is starting to happen. The peyote is kicking in, and you can feel how the song "No Deposit, No Return Blues" by Sandy Bull is becoming your own personal imaginary soundtrack. Laying tired on the sand you look up the blue sky, wondering if you're gonna make it or not. You smile, and you don't know why, but you're having the time of your life, and you're living the present for the first time in many years. This is what Mexico Soul smells like to me. 8/10.

Blind bought this a few years ago, and am so, so glad I did. Something super comforting and cool about it, and suits every type of weather. Stupid as this may sound, it's like a reassuring hug from a guy you can count on.

I love this. Smell like a guy that I'd love to spend time with.

A nice and versatile, fruity sweet scent with subtle hints of cardamon, sage and vanilla. There's no way the note breakdown above is accurate, as the box indicates there's lavender, sage, pineapple, melon, cinnamon, cedar, and vanilla in this as well. I personally use it mainly as a cologne-like scent, to fresh myself up for a few hours, in stead of a perfume that's on you all day. Fit for spring, summer and even fall, I would say. Discontinued, but if you find it at your local Zara for a few bucks, I would definitely pick it up.

It reminded me of Coach for men in initial spray but changes a bit after. I catch the melon & its fresh sweetness but not sugary sweet. Feels flowery like Coach but doesn't go the soapy route, more elegant, sensual route. Drydown is very nice! I'm glad I picked it up!

Очень сладкий аромат и очень ядерный вначале. Чем то напоминает Fahrenheit Dior но там еще слаще.. В целом девчонкам нравится но аромат сугубо мужской. Ношу в основном на работу.

Bought it, as a blindbuy, in sale for €8. The fragrance being 120ml and edp sounded like a great deal. The bottle design is simple but nice. This is a woody orange scent that smells decent but doesn't project at all. It's also a very lineair scent that doesn't develop. Update 18-jan-2021: i have tried a lot of new zara fragrances since this one. I gotta say this one is the best smelling one. All the other ones are not well blended, too harsh and chemical. I like this scent the most, too bad the performance isnt that good.