They're mighty busy over at Comme des Garçons this year: we've already had 888 & Monocle + Comme des Garçons Scent One: Hinoki, and we've still got a number of collaborative scents to come (with Daphne Guinness, H&M, Jun Takahashi & Stephen Jones). The latest launch is Series 8: Energy C, three new fragrances promising a "vitamin rush based on citrus fruit" to "wake up, feel positive, be positive".
Comme des Garçons has done citrus before, most notably with Series 4: Cologne. To my mind, Series 4 is underrated, and not least of all by me — originally, they were only in 500 (!) ml, and even in the newer 125 ml size, it's still more than I want to take on for a cologne, even a short-lived one. Energy C's little 30 ml bottles are a considerably more attractive prospect for those of us who already have way too much perfume. They also sounded "kickier" and more modern than the Cologne series, and as it turns out, they mostly are:
Energy C Lemon (notes: bergamot, citron, lemon, cardamom, angelica, incense, musk and vetiver) starts with wonderfully sharp and vibrant lemon with just a touch of sweetness (it smells like a Lemon Drop for a few minutes). As it dries down, it gets softer, and while it stays lemon-y, it isn't quite so vibrant. There is a bit of earthiness underneath, but nothing in particular stands out, and while I'm a firm believer in the notion that you can't go looking for longevity in a summer citrus, this one fails to hold my interest much past the one hour mark. There's an awful lot of competition in the summer lemon category, and so while Energy C Lemon is fun while it lasts and I'd wear it if I had it, it isn't an absolute "must have" in my book.
Energy C Lime (notes: lime, bergamot, green lemon, water jasmine, tea rose, lily, musk, cedar and white amber) mostly left me cold. Lime seems to be harder to do in perfume than lemon, and the opening of Energy C Lime, while adequately lime-ish, seems a little flat, with nothing even approaching the vibrancy of the Energy C Lemon. It loses what steam it has very rapidly, and the dry down is a not particularly interesting mixture of sheer floral-ish stuff and bland woody musk. Even if I owned it, I don't think I'd wear it.
Energy C Grapefruit (notes: blackcurrant buds, pink grapefruit, petit grain, jasmine, neroli, yellow mandarin, tree moss and iris) is the winner of this trio by a landslide, at least for me. Someone will have to tell me what the reference blackcurrant-grapefruit is — as soon as I smelled Energy C Grapefruit, I went searching for my sample of Yves Saint Laurent's In Love Again, but I'm not sure that's the right thing. I never found the sample anyway, but going on memory, Energy C Grapefruit is a drier (maybe much drier) version of In Love Again's opening of sparkling grapefruit and sweet berry candy. Energy C Grapefruit's start is beautifully effervescent, and it keeps right on fizzing on the skin for a good long time. There is a goodly amount of petit grain buzzing along with the grapefruit in the early stages, and as it dries down, the grapefruit gives way to a more orange-ish citrus blend. The base is pale woody musk with just a touch of something earthy-mossy (I can't decide if I can make out the iris or not).
Energy C Grapefruit isn't a powerhouse in terms of longevity, but it's reasonably lasting for a citrus scent, and it easily kept my interest for a couple hours. There's nothing terribly unusual or avant-garde about it (or about Lemon or Lime), and anyone looking for some Comme des Garçons weirdness would do better with Monocle Hinoki, but if you're looking for a summer citrus, I'd recommend trying the Grapefruit at least, and if you're looking for something in a more "classical" cologne mode, don't forget about the Diptyque Cologne trio.
Comme des Garçons Series 8: Energy C Lemon, Lime and Grapefruit are available in 30 ml Eau de Toilette; for buying information, see the listing for Comme des Garçons under Perfume Houses. Update: Energy C Lime and Grapefruit were developed by perfumer Antoine Lie; Lemon was developed by perfumer Nathalie Feisthauer.
Nice review, Robin! As we've already discussed at length, I'm glad I bought Grapefruit unsniffed as soon as I could, but I definitely find it more orange-y and for me the neroli note is really prominent. The neroli also makes the scent something I'd describe as “sweet” rather than “dry” (now Jo Malone's Grapefruit — that is BONE dry). I also can't detect the iris, really — but also don't really detect the black currant, jasmine, or pink pepper as such. For me this is more about petitgrain/neroli than grapefruit, but I like it. In fact, I'm wearing it today.
I am still keen to sample the lime, though you don't offer me hope for it. Lemon is a little tempting, but you're right about there being so many. I'm also always very afraid that any lemon scent will remind me of nothing but furniture polish. What are some of your favorite lemon-heavy scents. Again, so happy to see this review.
Joe, IMHO, you picked the right one to get unsniffed. It is orange-y in the heart, I agree, and someone on basenotes compared it to Hermes Orange Verte, which I don't think is offbase for the dry down. But if you call it sweet, I think you've got to go try In Love Again — that is way sweeter!
And BTW, where did you read the Grapefruit had pink pepper? I didn't see that one.
My favorite lemon is Carthusia Mediterraneo, but you know, if you've got the furniture polish association I don't know if anything w/ tons of lemon will work for you. I do think that will change for future generations since a) almost nobody polishes furniture anymore and b) cleaners now have such an incredibly wide range of scents.
Oops…and meant to add that Kevin tried these real quickly in a store, and IIRC he liked lime the best. So!
Sorry to hear that the Lime was disappointing. I'm looking for a lime fragrance for my 15-yr old son,who loves their smell. I'm trying to keep him away from all the Axe body sprays so popular with his peers. Does anyone have any suggestions for a lime fragrance that works?
The best I've tried is Geo. Trumper West Indian Lime — no staying power, but then, no decent lime or lemon is going to have staying power. Crabtree & Evelyn also came out w/ another version of West Indian Lime recently, but I haven't tried it. Floris Summer Limes is ok, but softer than I'd like. Hope others will chime in here…
You know, I think I keep getting “pink pepper” in my head when what the notes say is “pink grapefruit”. Sorry! And if you compare CdG to Jo Malone, you'll see why I say “sweet”… and also “soapy.”
Laughing about your comment regarding no one polishing furniture anymore. So true. I'm thinking I also equate lemon scents with everything from Joy liquid to air freshener. I love general lemon scents (and flavor), but it's hard to find something that doesn't cross the line into making me feel I just opened a cleaning product. Kevin's recommendation of Monsieur Balmain is also a good one.
You should probably still try a sample of the Lime, Jirish. I also have been meaning to try the new Crabtree & Evelyn — I still own their old discontinued West Indian & Sicilian Lime and liked it well enough… much better than Axe in any case! Also, Kevin reviewed Anya's Garden “Kaffir” scent a few months back and it sounded good (though Kaffir Lime is a unique scent) — I'd like to try that one, but the line is somewhat expensive.
Sorry… forgot one more. I highly recommend Jo Malone's “Lime, Basil & Mandarin”, which is really one of my favorite scents.
See, when I was young, there was regular dishwashing liquid and lemon dishwashing liquid…now you can buy almost any scent you want! So I think the association will change over time. The Balmain is really nice, agreed.
Was going to say that my reference grapefruit-blackcurrant is Guerlain AA Pamplelune – but YYMV 😉
Can I be mean? Because Kevin & I were just talking about Pamplelune this morning, and I think we're agreed that it is the reference cat urine — so yes, YMMV is right, LOL…actually I think Pamplelune is maybe the single best example of how differently we experience scents, and I don't think it is all a matter of skin chemistry, I think it is perception-based as well. Would love to do a major trial & have 10 people put on Pamplelune and ask 50 people each what they think it smells like. Then repeat w/ Miel de Bois maybe, LOL…my own “wearable” urine scent.
Hope you are feeling WAY better!
Can't believe I forgot that one — it's one of my favorites too! But then again, since my son has smelled that on me, he might not be keen to wear it himself. He's at that insecure stage where he's afraid of anything remotely girly. Sometimes I think there's nothing more insecure than a teenage boy — and I used to be a teenage girl! Thanks Joe and Robin for all the suggestions — hopefully something can keep him from the dreaded Axe.
You know, you're probably right. I have had very little experience with cat urine, never been a “cat person”, if you know what I mean. Right before I got the mono, though, a skeletal stray cat we had been leaving food out for started knocking on our second floor door – yes, just finding her way inside and whacking her paws against the door until we came to see who it was. Our landlady very unexpectedly begged us to adopt it – she is a heart-tugging little sight to see, I suppose – and based on the jaw-droppingly high vet bill I invested in her today, I guess she is now ours. Hopefully, she doesn't make me change my mind about Pamplelune. (Hey, any perfume-related name suggestions? My husband wants to call her Gary, and we can't have that.)
No, I can't be right for everyone. Seriously, it is not a matter of taste — if it smelled to you like it does to me, there is simply no way on earth you'd be wearing it.
Congrats on your cat! Coco is too obvious, isn't it? Ah, what about Dzing! Then you could get a 2nd cat and name it Dzongkha — yeah, Dzing & Dzongkha. Way better than Gary.
I tried Fresh Sugar Lemon today. If you want a departure from furniture polish, this one aims more at Lemon-scented Clorox.
(scrubber)
Hm, perfume-ish cat names…
Malone, Miss Dior, Stella, Chanel, Angel, Alien, Montale, Lolita, Fracas, you could compromise on the Gary and call her Bvlgari, Demeter, Jardin, okay I'm stuck.
Weirdly enough, I'd thought of Bulgari. Thanks for all the help, you two are much better at this than me.
LOL!
Bulgary? Then you are both happy 🙂
I am just waiting for the vitamin C lemon from CdG to arrive sometime within the next, few days. Of course as usual for me (and this need to change, I know) I ordered it unsniffed. I chose lemon because number one: there is never too much of lemon for me, there can be too much orange or grapefruit, but never enough of lemon! I eat lemon slices with or without sugar, I love Pacifica's Lemon blossom perfume, and any other lemon products. Lemon is such a basic citrus, but it just never overwhelms me and I love it. Since i've gotten a sample of Series 8 grapefruit and I hate to admit that… I love it! My poor wallet is getting anorexic:)) With grapefruit It is not such an easy story like it is with lemon notes so I wasn't going to risk but i also didn't expect that when I do smell it, I'm going to enjoy it so much. We'll see whether I'm going to regret that I chose lemon instead, but I'm sure I'm going to purchase grapefruit soon. I just wasn't expecting it to be so softly nice, a little floral, very fresh without smelling like any cleaning produtcs. It's not bitter or sour at all, it is so delicate and beautiful not only for it's grapefruit note but just as a summer perfume.
Hope you will love the Lemon — do come back and tell me what you think when it arrives! I'd really like a bottle of that Grapefruit myself.
My bottle of lemon has arrived about 2 hours ago (yaay!). I sprayed some of it right away, now I think I waited long enough to state my opinion. First of all – just as I expected there couldn't be any lemon fragrance go totally wrong on me. Just as I thought it started with this vibrant, yummi lemon opening. The whole room smelled so beautiful after I applied some on my skin. Then the biggest, nicest suprise came when the fragrance started to dry-down: I've got this gorgeous, so Comme des Garcons finish. At least I think that everything I've pretty much smelled from their series products, shares the ability to stay sheer and a little bit vibrant even in it's base notes. I think there is also a hint of woods/acquatic notes in it. Yeah, a little bit of an acquatic note, but not the nasty-acidic one, just smooth, like a fresh breeze, oceanic note. In fact I like it very much, it could be worn by a guy too, even though I couldn't imagine my boyfriend wearing it:)) He likes it on me though, when he walked into the room he was like: smells sooo good, what is this stuff? I think lemon is a bit more of a real unisex when compared to grapefruit (which is totally feminine to me) but still not totally musculine. I'm tempted to try lime even though it's not very recommended by Robin. The notes SOUND great, but I believe that it can turn out to be really flat and uninteresting. Oh well maybe I'll get a sample from luckyscent just out of curiosity. Love the little bottles by the way!
So glad your unsniffed purchase worked out for you! And hey, it'd be WAY cute to have all 3 bottles lined up, LOL…
i LOVE guerlaind pamplelune, just bought a bottle, and mandarine basilic too, could not decide which was better:)