Comme des Garçons has launched their fifth fragrance in collaboration with Monocle magazine, Scent Five: Syros. (Scent One: Hinoki launched in 2008, followed by Scent Two: Laurel in 2009, Scent Three: Sugi in 2013 and Scent Four: Yoyogi in 2019…)
Comme des Garcons + Monocle Scent Four: Yoyogi ~ new fragrance
Comme des Garçons will launch their fourth fragrance in collaboration with Monocle magazine, Scent Four: Yoyogi. Scent One: Hinoki launched in 2008, followed by Scent Two: Laurel in 2009 and Scent Three: Sugi in 2013…
Comme des Garcons + Monocle Scent Three: Sugi ~ fragrance review
I’ve complained already about the recent output from Comme des Garçons — they’ve become a kind of go-to house for variations, sometimes minor variations, on wood and/or incense.1 Mind you, they know how to do wood and/or incense, and in all truth, when they do break out of that rut, I don’t always like the result.2 So I have mixed feelings about their most recent launch, Scent Three: Sugi. It’s their third fragrance in collaboration with Monocle magazine (see Scent One: Hinoki and Scent Two: Laurel), and like the others, was developed by perfumer Antoine Maisondieu. And I do love it. It’s beautifully done, and I’d very much like to have a bottle — please, Santa, send the other two Monocle fragrances while you’re at it! — but unless you have the sort of never-ending interest in woody fragrances (and Comme des Garçons) that I do, you might not find it an absolute must-try.
I’ll start by repeating the press stuff, because it’s spot on…
Comme des Garcons + Monocle Scent Three: Sugi ~ new fragrance
Comme des Garçons will launch their third fragrance in collaboration with Monocle magazine, Scent Three: Sugi. Scent One: Hinoki launched in 2008, followed by Scent Two: Laurel in 2009…
Comme des Garcons + Monocle Scent Two: Laurel ~ fragrance review
The traditional, hand-made soaps of the Middle East are rustic (often brown and wrapped simply in wax paper), heavy (drop a full-size bar on your toes in the shower and you may be headed to the ER) and pungent with the aromas of plant oils and seeds — cumin, nigella, olive, bay laurel. The famous soaps of Aleppo, Syria, are olive oil based and fragranced with bay laurel (laurus nobilis), and they are one of the inspirations, along with the Lebanese landscape, for Comme des Garçons + Monocle Scent Two: Laurel — henceforth referred to as “Laurel.”
Laurel was developed by perfumer Antoine Maisondieu and contains bay laurel, incense, cedar, pepper, patchouli and amber. Laurel starts off smelling green and herbal — like a bruised or crushed fresh bay laurel leaf. Quickly, Laurel’s bracing green aroma is joined by “coarse” black pepper and smoky frankincense. In Laurel’s base, the original bay laurel scent (a perfume in and of itself) darkens and is joined by musty-sweet cedar. Then, something wonderful happens: Laurel’s notes combine to produce an accord that smells like one of my favorite flowers — marigold…