Brief reviews of three recent designer fragrances: My Burberry, Narciso by Narciso Rodriguez and DKNY MYNY. Bonus points if you can guess right off the bat which I liked best and which I liked least (hey, I'm nothing if not predictable) and do comment if you've smelled any recent launches we should all know about.
My Burberry
My Burberry takes its cues from the iconic Burberry trench coat, worn in a London garden after the rain, and yep, that's just what it smells like. Perfumer Francis Kurkdjian has done up a dewy floral in the modern style, and given it just enough of a warm golden glow to justify an autumn launch. It's youthful and optimistic, and the flowers (sweet pea, freesia and rose; other listed notes are bergamot, geranium, quince and patchouli) are kept sheer and clean. There's a soft touch of green, a bit of a peppery-spicy bite and a lightly sweet woody-musky base with the usual patchouli fraction to provide some depth and darkness to the dry down.
Verdict: Likable and easy to wear — I do like it a gajillion times better than Burberry Body. That said, freesia and sweet pea are not really my thing, and if they were, I'd go for the much prettier Carven L'Eau de Toilette, also by Kurkdjian, although that one smells more like spring than fall. Pricewise, the Carven smells more expensive but actually costs less than My Burberry; if you're willing to shell out even more, you could skip them both and go for the more elegant (and season-less) Pluriel from Maison Francis Kurkdjian.
Burberry My Burberry is available in 30 ($72), 50 ($95), 90 ($125) and 900 ($2800) ml Eau de Parfum and in matching body products, including a Moisturizing Body Mist (100 ml for $42).
Narciso by Narciso Rodriguez
I have seen a few reports that the new Narciso is similar to the old Narciso Rodriguez for Her, but I won't be able to help you on that score since I can't smell the old very well — it makes my throat close up pretty quickly. The new one is a bit of an oddity. It has a raspy, citrus + dry herbs + plant stems + fruit opening, almost bitter at times. It slowly evolves into a milky, stylized-gardenia floral with a vaguely camphorous edge, somewhere between wintergreen and mothballs. It's loud in the early stages, softer and quieter after the first hour or so but with some decent sillage even then. The dry down is a woody-ambery musk, slightly powdered, a bit vanillic, rather sweet. My first thought was that if there were such a thing as gardenia marshmallow fluff, this is what it would smell (taste?) like, but that makes it sound far sweeter and foodier than it is, so let's say a very thin schmear of the gardenia marshmallow fluff on a wood plank. It is reputed to have lots of vetiver, and perhaps it does, but it's a cleaned-up sort of vetiver, no more than mildly earthy. It's too musky to call it clean (and thankfully, the musk smells nothing like detergent), but it's not skanky in any traditional sense.
Verdict: Terrifically well done by perfumer Aurélien Guichard, and I had great fun wearing it. It's the sort of perfume where you discover something new every 10 minutes of wear. I'm not at all sure I really want to wear it long term, though...it's going in my purgatory basket for later consideration, but it's very much worth a try. And hey, that's a great bottle.
Narciso by Narciso Rodriguez is available in 30, 50 ($95) and 90 ($112) ml Eau de Parfum.
DKNY MYNY
Lots of sparkling and FRESH raspberry, a huge dollop of pink pepper, a drop of patchouli. If the patchouli were not so wan, it might be a fruitchouli; if the raspberry were not so synthetically fresh, it might be a fruity floral.
Verdict: With the usual apologies to any fans, this is what I'd expect a pink raspberry air freshener to smell like. There have been any number of fragrances lately that try to capture the energy of New York City in a juice that you could sell, well, anywhere, and they've mostly been dismal (Elizabeth Arden Untold and Calvin Klein Downtown come to mind), but DKNY MYNY is surely the most forgettable (and least New-York-ish) of the lot.
DKNY MYNY is available in 30 ($48), 50 ($68) and 100 ($88) ml Eau de parfum and in a rollerball ($24).
Hmmm, I guessed right that the NR was your ‘favorite’ of the 3.
Half a point for you then!
Narciso is my favourite release of the year, and one that’s made me completely reconsider my entire collection. Wore it for 6 days in a row last week!
Tried My Burberry today, after the SA described it as the perfume interpretation of the Burberry trench coat. Not so, it would seem – the trench coat is gorgeous and classic, the perfume is bland and pointless. Such a letdown.
It’s really probably just not me, but I’m very impressed. They just did a great job.
I have mixed feelings about the Burberry (and about trench coats, for that matter), but sounds like I liked it better than you did!
The SA also mentioned something about it smelling like ‘after the rain’, which just made me compare it negatively to Apres L’Ondee. Shame, really.
Oh well gosh…yes, it’s not Apres L’Ondee!
I guessed you would like the NR also, before I read the reviews. 🙂
I can’t WAIT to smell Narciso, I will be in San Fran on vacation starting tomorrow & it’s high up on my list when I’m perfume shopping. Gardenia Marshmallow Fluff on Wood. I’m game!
Have fun in San Fran, Mike! I’m from the Bay Area and I’m planning on heading there sometime this week, or weekend, to sniff our Narciso and give My Burberry a re-sniff! There are so many that I have to smell! I’m kind of behind 🙂
Have a great vacation in San Francisco, I’m jealous!
Good job on Narciso IMHO too. There is something new popping up every few minutes. Almost antithetical to the For Her, which is rather linear and a straightforward musk more or less. It’s not listed, but I definitely smell patchouli and bergamot there, along with vanillin. Not smelling any of the cedar though. And the rose and gardenia are subtle – playing hide-and-seek. It reminds me a little bit of Tocade – but not as linear (which is a good thing in my book).
I actually bought a bottle yesterday after wearing it for a few days and repeatedly enjoying the surprises that keep peeking out along the way.
I got the smallest size they have, which is 50ml. No sight of the 30ml though… The 90ml is really chunky and probably a great design for guys but not for my hands. The scent is unisex so my guess is that men will be purchasing that size 😉
Glad someone else found it interesting!
The cedar just smells like “wood” to me.
Ditto! It was a nice surprise.
My Burberry was flat, boring, indistinct and uninspired and is a disgrace to the Burberry name. NR for NR has some possibilities. I’ve already forgotten the 3rd one.
LOL…but tell us how you really feel!
I am going to be My Burberry’s only defender. Then again, I did not think it had much to live up to in terms of the Burberry name (as a perfume house, mind you — I ignore the fashion).
Oh… now I’m even more curious about that Narciso. I love the way the bottle looks, and it would be great if the 30ml bottle were widely available. Sounds interesting, or at least not boring.
Joe, will be curious to hear what you think!
Some brands still seem to hold back the 30 ml size until later…or maybe it’s the decision of the department stores, I don’t know.
900mL for $2800?!? Why and WHY? Why do I want that much and why would I spend over twice as much per mL?
Does it come with a coat and matching handbag?
So they can display it on their website, mostly, is my guess. I’m going to guess they don’t have a whole ton of those waiting in the warehouse 😉
You do sometimes see the original NR for Her in 30ml bottles (I got mine cheap from a department store wanting to get rid of its end-of-line stock) , so maybe if Narciso does well that will happen too. (Come Xmas, there will be all sorts of gift sets and offers and stuff, I guess.)
I’ll definitely be giving Narciso a try on the weekend. I’ll pass on t’others.
I’m sure they’ll appear eventually…they’re shown on the NR website, but they don’t sell their fragrances online.
I gave myself a decent spritz and was immediately met with a scent that reminds me of rosewater . No idea how my scent-brain conjures that out of the notes listed, but my scent-brain can be very stubborn at times and I can tell this is going to be one of those times. Rosewater it is and always will be, and that is not a note I enjoy in perfume.
The rosewater eases off and I’m left with a dryish musk, sometimes fluffy, sometimes a bit chalky. Enjoyable, but nothing special. Even were I tempted, I have a bottle of Cacharel Noa at home that does the same sort of work at the cost of $25 for 30 mls. 🙂
Rose is listed in the notes, and now I see I did not repeat the notes here at all! They are on the announcement though:
https://nstperfume.com/2014/07/14/narciso-by-narciso-rodriguez-new-fragrance/
I hardly noticed it, that’s so funny that it was your major impression.
Argh, I went to the mall last weekend and didn’t see the new Narciso anywhere! Dying to try it.
Pretty sure it’s still exclusive to Bloomies in the US (?)
Is it just me or does My Burberry smell a little like Jour d’Hermes?
It did not make me think of Jour d’Hermes, but interestingly enough, Pluriel did…
I’m surprised by how much I’m falling for Narciso. It’s not the sort of scent I would have thought I’d like, from the notes listed, and I’m not really familiar with the original For Her scents. The first time I sprayed it, I liked it but thought it was maybe on the sweet side. I went back for more today, after reading your review, and managed to get a sample from the SA. Paying more attention to it, I enjoyed the crisp opening (have sprayed a couple times to get it again!). The sweetness arrives, but it stays really muted and creamy rather than sugary. And after several hours, the cedar/wood takes a prominent role for me, feeling almost smoky or incensy. Not sure if I’d buy a FB (they only had the 50 and 90 mLs) but I’ll definitely use up my sample. Now, if I could find the 30 mL…..
Keep an eye on Sephora…they have small sizes (including rollerballs) of some of the older NR scents, and likely they’ll get this one eventually.
Thanks! I was hoping for precisely that. I’ve even been stockpiling my points in case they bring something really great out as a bonus mini at some point.
Not surprising that you enjoyed Narciso the best out of the three, Robin. It is a really beautiful, and versatile perfume.
I was pleasantly surprised, by how quickly I fell in love. Bought the Narciso gift set with the 3 oz. bottle, as an early Chanukah present to myself. While I admire For Her EDP (anosmic to the EDT), it never seemed to last long on my skin. Narciso, on the other hand, lasts forever on me.
Nice present, congrats! I may look for a lotion in this one.
I didn’t like My Burberry when it came out: the EDT was shrill with too much freesia and/or what was supposed to be quince. Fast forward to EDP and my sentiments have changed. It’s still very much a dewy floral but I think the drydown is different enough to warrant a try.
Now I know why I like it! It reminds me, albeit very remotely, of HM for men EDP.
Well, I might grudgingly give it a shot, but hey — if the EdP is so much better they should have done the EdP first instead of wasting my time. Ha!
(But do not mean to be grumbling at YOU. Thanks for the report!)
Haha, how very inconsiderate of them!
You’re welcome, and do report back if you get to smell the EdP. 🙂