I’m still playing catch-up with last year’s fragrance releases. (Who am I kidding, I’ll never catch up with 2011 releases, or 2010’s…on and on.) Sisley launched its first men’s perfume last autumn: Eau d’Ikar (a fragrance containing lots of mastic), and I’m just getting around to sampling it.
In addition to mastic, Eau d’Ikar includes fragrance notes of lemon, bergamot, bitter orange, carrot seed, iris, jasmine, herbs and spices, tea, amber, cistus labdanum, sandalwood and vetiver.
Eau d’Ikar opens fresh and lemony, and it reminds me of “original” Monsieur Balmain with its warm and balmy citrus aromas. Next up is a strange — and strangely addictive — accord of orange, mastic, iris and a spicy green/herbal note. By mid-development, Eau d’Ikar reminds me once more of the past: the older versions of Hermès Eau d’Orange Verte, Chanel Pour Monsieur and Yves Saint Laurent Pour Homme. Right before Eau d’Ikar’s base notes arrive, the scent of jasmine mingles with citrus and places my nose firmly in “vintage land.” Eau Sauvage anyone?
Eau d’Ikar’s base has two phases: a sour/tart note emerges first and leads to an (almost) pine-y accord of talcy floral-citrus (reminiscent of the scent of discontinued Floris of London Limes talcum powder mixed with Choward’s Violet Candy). Eau d’Ikar’s extreme dry-down smells of ‘subdued’ vetiver-cistus-mastic and vegetal musk (carrot seed?).
Sisley claims Eau d’Ikar took twenty years to develop. (Stop giggling.) If that unlikely claim is true, it’s a shame so much time produced an unoriginal, mish-mash-perfume — a veritable men’s fragrance “anthology” in a bottle. Eau d’Ikar is not “bad,” just meaningless. Next!
Sisley Eau d’Ikar is available in 50 and 100 ml Eau de Toilette ($98/$165); it has minimal sillage and so-so lasting power.
Note: top image of Icarus [altered] via Wikimedia Commons.
I happen to try Eau d’Ikar few times since it’s release, but I didn’t like it at all. It’s so unoriginal, ugly made in my opinion.
Lucas: if people don’t like mastic…they certainly won’t like Eau d’Ikar…that said, the most I can say is that I find it “inoffensive.” Not the highest praise I guess.
just as you wrote up there in the review. Eau d’Ikar is so so so meaningless to me.
I can’t avert my eyes from the disturbing images of a man doing a high kick on his back!! What an unattractive position to find yourself in. What flabby cellulite thighs he has. Oh I could go on and on, oh we’re supposed to talk about the scent. Sorry I was seriously distracted.
Kelly: poor thing has lost his wings and is in freefall…blaming the BRIGHT Eau d’Ikar for the wing-melt! HA!
Ha, Kelly! You and me both! If that’s Icarus, it appears it was heft that made him fall to earth. Dude needs to spend some time on the elliptical machine.
I thought that guy was break dancing!
Oh wow…. how far the mighty have fallen. I adored Sisley’s Eau de Campagne and Eau du Soir from the ’90s. I have bottles of both and use them miserly since I’m told recent versions are no longer what they used to be.
It’s too bad about this. Thanks for the review, Kevin.
Opera: true…the old Sisley formulas have changed…and this one leaves much to be desired.
I tried Eau du Soir recently and just loved it. I can only imagine–if I tried the recent version–how spectacular the 90’s version must be. Must track down some vintage to compare.
Kevin, your review was informative and spared me from seeking this out in my attempt to explore more mens’ fragrances. It sounds like a muddled mess and there is enough of that and ‘meh’ fragrances out there already. Hopefully Sisley will make another fragrance for men that finds an angle, sticks to it and does a good job but until then, next.
AbScent: yep…they need to try, try again with the men’s perfume….
Abs-Scent – Good luck on finding the vintage. I’m not sure how to tell the packaging apart. My bottle was purchased in 2002, so still good. It matches my samples that date farther back. If you want to try some you may contact me at hotmail. I’m mollyseb over there.
Thank you!
Ahhh…Kevin, as I read, I thought you liked this one and was surprised at your ending! lol! It actually sounds good to me, but I’ve learned the hard way that you can’t judge a fragrance by its list of notes. Thanks for the review.
Rappleyea: you’re welcome. I liked a few phases of this one…but they came and went too fast.
The bottle is kinda interesting. The fragrance isn’t.
Ikat: wonder if the bottle took 20 years to develop, too? ha!
I keep smelling this when I am out sniffing with the boys, but forget what it smells like almost instantly. Not love, I guess, not even a crush.
TAMA: I know…it disappears pretty quickly on me…doesn’t leave much of an impression. (I DO need to buy some Choward’s violet candies though….)
when i first smelled it, i thought it smelled familiar, because its lemony, and like you say, similar to eau sauvage in parts. The lady gave me sample, i wasn’t excited but i have to say i have enjoyed wearing it more than i thought.
Morgan: well it prompted me to want to buy some of my old favorites…I haven’t had a bottle of Eau Sauvage in ages.
Great review and well deserved slap on Sisley’s face.
Their tendency to overuse their same old chypre base is tiring.
If they are not willing to bring something new to the table, they should stick to Eau du Soir and just stay away from eaux de cologne and men’s fragrances.
I think you’re being too harsh about this. In comparison with most new men’s fragrances, it’s actually quite elegant. If it’s trying to tap into a vintage stream, so what?
Rob: I like vintage vibes, even in brand-new perfumes, but due to so many IFRA ingredient restrictions, when companies attempt vintage these days their creations smell hollow to me (most of the time). Eau d’Ikar is certainly better than most of the crap produced for men these days, but…that’s a low bar to leap over.
Interesting review – thanks, Kevin! I must admit I do really like this one. But then I am a fragrance newbie! It just smells like the Mediterranean sunshine to me and it always picks me up, particularly in the middle of a miserable January.
Kristiane: no need to use the word “admit!” HA! If I hadn’t smelled so many other colognes in this mix I may have reacted differently. Eau d’Ikar feels disjointed, and, like most Sisley product…it’s way overpriced for what it is.
Your just expecting to much if you ask me, This is an, ok, maybe your right, a different composed parfum. It’s magistical the combinations of theme’s it goes is good, from on to another, it takes you, to experience more and new, but still… it’s one sent… you call it strangly addictive.. I think it’s a good perfume, with different stages of awareness and expirience. you just have to let it be.
if you dont like mastic and if you are no familiar or have memories of mastic, you want like the perfume. The mastic is a product of the island of Chios in Greece, Ikar was also greek and this perfume is strongly linked with the Greeks. Some forums say that mastic is a product of Corsica but this is absolutely wrong.
I see that this perfume should be worn during vacations in the Greek Islands. I smelled more than 1000 perfumes around, even more as i have 250 bottles and i dont find this perfume unoriginal. I do not recall any other perfume that has this compo. only the first stage of citrus reminds older creations like monsieur balmain and ean sauvage indeed. I see also the bottle nicely done and the of quality. The price is high of course but what i smell from this perfume is natural ingredients. The mastic has some tartness and cant be liked by all especially if you didn’t ever smell or ate mastic….but this does not mean that the perfume is not good….is not good if you don’t like mastic but if you do and you know what you are talking about, Eau d’ikar represents it 100%. I don’t know how many of us have more than 250 bottles of perfumes and another 150 testers and smelled more than 1000 so they find eau d’ikar unoriginal. I accept that someone may not like the perfume but this does not mean that is not good or smells unoriginal.