Review of Issey Miyake, L'eau d'Issey

Upon first smelling this on myself, I was not that enthusiastic. I pictured stuffy cottages and a woman rocking on a chair knitting by the seaside. Not a horrible mental image, but not very exhilirating either. It smelled a bit powdery, with more of a mild aquatic scent at first, rather than the florals which I was expecting. I almost thought it was too "mature" of a scent for my age.

Yet after 30 minutes and during the rest of the day, it began to surprise me.... much like the nerd in the back of the class, who eventually evolves into a hunk by the end of the school year. Sort of. Basically, the floral scents began to unveil themselves more visibly, and the scent morphed into a pleasant, relatively cool floral. (How does this happen? Simple, the alcohol/oils begin to mix with your body chemistry, producing a different smell over time, and the upper notes of the perfume gradually fade off, revealing the middle notes (normally florals) and eventually, at the very end of the day, the lowest notes (normally musks/ambers/"heavier" oils).

Not a warm scent, but still managed to smell inviting, uplifting and fresh without smelling too "icy cold" or too masculine (i.e., overpowering musks). This is quite an accomplishment, in comparison to the other perfumes I've experienced in my lifetime thus far. This is a very tranquil, subtly cool scent with constant reminders of water-based flowers like lotus in the picture. It is invigorating without projecting any in-your-face citrus scents.

Ok, so WHY is it still so pleasant without having any apparent warm vanilla? This was a sincere puzzle to me. I found out. It has this amazing oil chemically derived from whale intestines. It's a musk that basically floats on top of the sea ocean after the whale dies. Yes, that's right. Whale intestine musk. It's in Chanel and other top brands. Was very expensive for a while, but then this dude figured out how to make a chemical synthetic version of it, so then it got cheaper because people could mass produce it. It smells absolutely delightful. Light, musky, feminine... cool without being too warm.


Thank you, Whale, but we will not need your intestine musk anymore. Although dead whales never did have the capacity to sign wills permitting usage of their intestinal musk. I got this photo of you for free, too.

Some of the qualities which really hooked me about this scent:

(1) The cool white florals last throughout the entire duration of the scent. I felt like I could smell the freesia and lotus continuing on and on, over the course of several hours. Ok, I love the lotus. I feel like I'm in an exotic Asian garden right after a fresh rain. This is quite a valuable perfume quality, considering the other perfumes I've tried usually melt off into either a stale vanilla or too-masculine musk (or at worst, an acrid, stale scent) as the hours pass on.

(2) It is a very calming scent without smelling too much like puff powders and the stuffy kind of florals. It actually smells very spiritually awakening and uplifting. Throughout the course of wearing this perfume, I feel like I'm meditating by a pond at dawn, smelling the dew and lotus right next to me, the sun warming my back. Why do I compare this perfume to meditation in particular? Because meditation is both uplifting and calming when done properly, and those are two of the significant traits I love about this scent.

Note: I think this is a scent that wouldn't overpower boyfriend and knock him off his feet. It's very inviting and calm. It relaxes me, so it would probably relax boyfriend. Hopefully not to the point of falling asleep, but it's a laid-back yet feminine and graceful kind of scent. There are barely any heavy musks in here, no acrid vanillas to the best of my knowledge, so fear not... you should NOT emerge smelling like a bathroom air freshener. It's one of my most favorite scents. There is something so catchy and different about the special mix of scents. It's sensually interesting, rather than just "cute" or "sexy."