Comme des Garcons Comme des Garcons for women and men

Cloves should be listed in the top AND heart notes of this Comme des Garcons creation.
How this is not the case is quite beyond me, because it's pretty much all you can smell for a good part of this perfume’s life.

It opens loud, spicy, raw, and almost acrid.
Scary in fact.
An assault on the nostrils making you think that perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea after all.

And then slowly slowly, a smooth transition starts to take place.
The cloves’ intensity decreases, pushing the honey into the foreground.
This is how it continues until the changeover is complete and you are left with a sweet and lush golden honey scent.

Quite a brilliant tour de force!

A fragrance that doesn't stand half measures - it gives me the impression of being thought to polarize the attention and to split it in two main streams: wether for a full appreciation or a total 'disgust'. A painting done with solid colours: black and white; red and purple, no soft nuances in the middle...... A rich repertoire of spices, well assembled, stitched together with no particular evolution: it keeps the same aspect and impression it has given you since the first moment you sprayed it, even after the dry down. Long lasting so handle with care: it's got a quite remarkable consistence.
It reminds me....... Nothing, just itself!
Lovable.

The original COMME DES GARCONS is a serious spice bomb. No surprise, really, given the line-up of notes: pepper, cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon, coriander, and, it seems to me: CLOVE!!!!

This perfume--and concentration-wise, it is a perfume, not an eau de parfum--reminds me vaguely of Kenzo JUNGLE L'ELEPHANT. To be more precise, COMME DES GARCONS is like the spice core of JUNGLE L'ELEPHANT, without any of the moderating elements, the fruit, the vanilla, the patchouli.

It is unclear to me why anyone would categorize this creation as a chypre, given its lack of patchouli, oakmoss, etc. Yes, there is a bit of labdanum, but it is overwhelmed by the styrax, with the result that, to me, COMME DES GARCONS could actually be the Platonic Form of oriental perfume.

Intense, is the word to describe this composition, which must be applied very lightly in order to be appreciated. Lacking, as it does, a significant base, this perfume blends well with straight-up ambers to make a somewhat more wearable composition.

I like COMME DES GARCONS, but it has not induced in me the sort of eschatological delivery reported by other reviewers.

It's amazing! Love it with all my heart!
From the sharp spicy beginning, honey chypre middle notes, to truly incensy base.
It's individual, full of charisma, playful.
It's perfect for cold weather for sure, and I'm extremely interested in how it will show itself in summer)
Try it!

Yes, it is this unique fragrance that got me hooked on perfume! There you have it. After years of thinking that 'Old Spice' was the best fragrance in the world (it is not that bad, actually), a friend who worked at the time in a perfumery gave me a tester sample some years ago. I did't try it immediately. One bored evening I decided: 'What the heck, nothing on TV, let's smell that soapie thingy, then I can tell my perfumery-friend that next time she'd better by me a beer.' Boy, was I wrong! It was love, lust, obsession, passion, desire, olfactory orgasm at first whiff. A Real Revelation. Some people are born again by reading the bible, some by stopping with alcohol, some by coming out of the closet, some by becoming parents, some by marrying, some by divorcing...
I was born again by smelling the first 'Comme des Garçons'. A transcendental experience. It dug up emotions long buried, it made me dream of a better world, of hope, of love, of pleasure, of another world, a better world. A world with 'Comme des Garçons' free for everyone.
This frag by Mark Buxton launched in 1994 is now widely recognised as a landmark fragrance that changed the world of perfumes. And led the way for Mugler, Lutens, Gaultier... It cleared the path for the whole niche market to be born. Without being a niche itself, because it was that good that a lot of people wanted it and it landed between niche and mainstream. It also proved that it was possible to concoct an abstract fragrance that was as magical, as bewitching, as mind shattering as the 'natural ingredients'-inspired classics like 'Chanel 5', 'Coco'... without resorting mainly to classic accords of flowers, sugar, aldehydes... and without the classical three level pyramid. I still find it a masterpiece and the fact that after 17 years it is still going strong, is a tribute to this stroke of olfactory genius. I will always have a bottle and use it for very special occasions. It was, is and will be one of my all time favorites. If they discontinue this, I will personally fly to Tokio to tell Rei Kawakubo, the woman behind CDG, what I think about that. I also think that the CDG fragrances started with this sensational bang and never reached this level of genius, accesability, wearabilty and sheer olfactory mastery, again. It is never better than a fantastic first time. Same with CDG perfumes.
What makes this fragrance so special?
It was the first openly unisex fragrance marketed like that. It was the perfume world that came out of the closet. No more powdery roses for women and sharp vetiver for men. But a fragrance that was so complex and bewitching and accesable that Mars and Venus found each other on common ground. If you ever have a marriage crisis or your gf of bf threatens to ditch you, forget Dr Phil and relation therapy, try this wonderful magic potion. It was also on of the first frags that was not OR powdery OR sugary OR flowery OR fresh OR green OR, OR, OR... It was resinous AND sweet-sour AND smoky-incensy AND with hints of sweetness AND with flashes of spices AND, AND, AND... It is a fountain of sensations that are hard to describe. You are at the same time moved, pleased, intrigued, bewitched, put under its spell and you feel oh so great that you discovered this special beauty. In its time it was revolutionary, even provocative. Buxton and CDG said 'Blah' against all the aldehydes and aquatics. And it now says 'Prrrt!' to all the vanilla bombs, fruity florals and breezy sweet nothings. This is A Personality. And a strong one at that.
Yeah yeah yeah... but how does it smells? Good question. The most important notes are labdanum (woody), cedar (woody), styrax (animalistic), galbanum (green), sandalwood (sweet woody), carnation (dry peppery), hay (earty), black pepper (spicy), frankincense (smokey), cinnamon (woody spicy sweet), geranium (dry flowery), cardamom (spicy), nutmeg (spicy), Turkish rose (flowery), French honey (sweet spicy) and coriander (spicy). Imagine all that fused into one harmonius fragrance and you know how it smells. Seriously, this one you really have to test. Words can heardly do justice to this special, truly one of a kind, werable wonder. You have to smell it, really.
Buxton has succeeded in first choosing the right on fist sight completely not bombinable notes and ingredients to make a sensational, pleasing and wearable fragrance. He has then succeeded in choosing a very precise balance of mutual proportions between the on first impression unmixable ingredients. He then has mixed them to perfection into a cohorent strong, personality frag fit for a larger audience. Faut le faire! And he has made the sillage and longevity and stability of this complex frag as sensational as its smell. No great but fleeting weak whiff that is sadly very quickly gone leaving nothing behind. So that you have to apply again from your very expensive niche bottle. An illness of a lot of 'Personality Fragrances'. Not so with CDG. The sillage and longevity are impressive. Good old (1994) quality. Learn and weep, beginning noses! So spritzing this on your skin, you are hit immediately with a whiff of another world. This magic potion is so weird, bizarre and at the same time cozy and comfy that you are really taken aback. And then the real magic begins: the development on the skin. The spices take turns in pirouetting on your skin. The incense says 'Hello', the earthy hay brings you down, the Turkish rose lifts you up, the cardamon peeps out, the honey zooms by... All the while you sigh with zen-like satisfaction during the whole CDG trip and you can't stop sniffing yourself. It is nose-nirvana. It is perfume magic. And on the level of 'Coco', 'Chanel 5', 'Bal à Versailles', so part of the abolute walhalla of perfumery artistry. Don't be afraid that it is too weird for you. The genious of this frag is that it is at the same time daring/avant garde and comforting/classic. 'Strangely familiar', yeah. This is once frag you have to try before you die and you will propably buy.
Warning: there is little fruit, little vanilla, no cotton candy and it is not syrupy sweet. But it is a hell of a fragrance. One of is kind but wearable by the masses. Genie out of and genius in a bottle.
I don't recommend fragrances, but I will make an exception. I recommend that you try and test this once in your life. Maybe it can change your life. Like it did mine. Maybe you too will become a Born Again Perfume Lover. Like me. Let's meet in Comme des Garçons-heaven!

This is my all-time favourite perfume.

I used to walk past the Comme des Garcons shopfront near Bond Street regularly when this was released and the window display featured Amazonian manikins wearing the most wonderful floor-length rainbow, knitted dresses. There was no way I could afford the dresses but I could afford the perfume (and the original orange packaging matched those knitted dresses, in my mind).

It smelled like nothing I had ever smelled before and was adorable. So many perfumes have an off-putting note but this original CdG scent is just a wonderful, linear, warm, spicy, sweet smell that perfectly encapsulates the essence of those willowy manikins.

Thank you CdG for this wonderful perfume, it's the love of my (olfactory) life! :)

sheer CHAI TEA with no milk and no sugar... very strong the first hour, then it stays forever a bit more subdued but still heavy.

I like this a lot but can't think of it as a strange or wow original scent... it's indeed a powerhouse ( the balmy aspect makes it milder though which helps a lot to make it actually wearable). I can see that perhaps this was "new" in 1994, but still... it's a very recognizable smell... a handful of cloves and cinammon sticks all together with a clear sandal base. Go and smell a strong chai tea and that's exactly this! Exotic but too common place... not bizarre at all.

Now... although I quite like it and find it somehow attractive, I think this is not for everyday's use nor for everyone... you should give it a few testings before you buy. It may stay for years on your perfume cabinet otherwise. I think this works better in winter but it should bear some interest in hotter moments as well... don't feel intimidated by the first moments, it gets much milder.

Still... unlike some other orientals (or chypre in this case) this has no versatility... it's plain spicy chai and you'll have to work hard to wear it and give it your own allure instead of it wearing you... look at that walking cinammon tea there! or "look at that hot clove bomb there!"

Whoa! This one is really different if somewhat linear on my skin. I get a blast of coriander, pepper and what can only be described as a strange celery seed smell when I first put it on. After dry-down though, Comme des Garcons mellows out and the cinnamon and nutmeg come through. I get a very clove-like smell, although I see there is no clove in this concoction.

I'm not getting a strong honey fragrance, although it's definitely there. There's a little bit of a cedar vibe going on, but any florals that this mix has are completely overtaken by the spices and woods.

Another sniff and yes, I get in this order, cinnamon, coriander, pepper, cedar, nutmeg, cardamom and that faint odor of celery seed. Very different, indeed. I think I will use this one to "spice up" some of the more vanilla scents that I own.

Two hours later: the scent is fading to a point where it's quite pale, but the smell hasn't changed. It's just lighter and not as noticeable. If you like "different," you will like this one.

Added: Just as an experiment, I layered this with Pink Sugar and my oh my! I got a sweet, spicy oriental that's mouth-watering. Bonus!

I am crazy for this stuff!

My biggest dilemma is whether to wear it, drink it or eat it (I believe it would be delicious sprinkled on date and walnut stuffed baked apples!).

Nutmeg and honey, geranium softened by rose, cardamom and freshly ground black pepper... I feel its heat in the back of my throat...exquisite...

...Cinnamon powder, faithful ancient woods, smashed coriander seeds providing extra mettle.

Phenomenal.

My only gripe is, the atomiser on my precious 100ml bottle of Comme des Garcons does not spray, so I have to vigorously shake the bottle to extract a few drops from the nozzle.

But oh my, what a strikingly stirring few drops they are.

Comme Des Garcons EDP aka CDG "Original" is where everything started. The first relevant fragrance from this outstanding outfit and a sort of prototype for many of their following fragrances.

A blast of cinnamon and cardamom surrounded by huge amounts of other spices. A strong woody/rosey vibe is immediately detectable and perfectly blended to what will later become the house signature: incense. Everything is pushed to the limit but, with his mastery, Buxton has achived a perfect blend that's extremely unique, bizarre yet incredibly charming and wearable. Brilliant!

A landmark in modern perfumery!

Rating: 10/10

Noticing its price, I couldn't find something extraordinary and satisfactory, but not bad all. A soft and modern chypre perfume, an absolute CdG perfume! There's a signature in the house's perfumes, something muddy and charming; something that puzzles you to wear it or not!
Unlike most of mates, this one is neat and clean, at least cleaner than its relatives. Warm and alluring but only in opening, dry out is normal and common.
If you're perfume addict and have enough money to waste, buy it, there are some moments that you need an extreme extraordinary perfume to match with your irregular dress; it's for that time.

longevity 10/10
sillage 10/10

CLOVE!! CLOVE!! CLOVE!! CLOVE!! CLOVE!!

then

HONEY!!! HONEY!!! HONEY!!! HONEY!!! HONEY!!!

Loud, screaming and cloying.

Do it yourself at home: blend cloves with honey and you'll get it.

It smelled very frenetic and medicinal off the sprayer, which intrigued me, rather than deterred me. On my skin, however, it was a much more focused and seductive fragrance. The opening notes are green and spicy (mostly cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg) on me. Only a few moments pass before cardamom and pepper take center stage, with cinnamon and nutmeg retreating. It quickly dries down into a slightly peppery cardamom-incense skin scent. It's soft, spicy, and sexy, in my opinion. I usually have trouble with cinnamon and cardamom notes, but this fragrance feels exceptionally well balanced on my skin.

Definitely full-bottle worthy!!!

I would recommend it for those who enjoy full-throttle fragrances.

It's a definite yes from me on this one. CdG starts out with a heavy, intoxicating blast of nutmeg and cardamom; not that far from my old, dear friend KL. After a brief interlude of sharp, masculine cedar wood, it settles into a soft, warm, honey-sweet scent.
At first I thought it might be too heavy for everyday wear, but if you apply it an hour before leaving your house, giving it time to settle, it's perfect for bleary winter days.

This scent isn't an ordinary one and is not for everyone. If you like warm woody incense spicy scents you may love it or at least understand it. Iа you don't like such kind of scents you'd better not even taste it, you'll find it stinky and buying it will be waste of money.
I cannot call this scent outstanding (Etro's Messe de Minuit for example is more unusual and extraordinary) but it is a very interesting one and you should get used to it. It's not a plain fragrance and averaged fragrance (like most of popular modern fragrances are), it opens with many shades.
At first it reminded me pickled spicy cucumbers, but then came the worm incense with spices bitter and sweet at one time near the skin. The edp is strong and long lasting, it surrounds you with warm sweet cloud. I think it is for evening use and for cold weather, not for summer!
It sounds better on men like many other unisex scents. I don't recommend it for young girls, it will be better on mature women. And try before buy )))

I don't understand the hype for Comme des Garçons stuff. Especially this YUK cologne. Maybe its my skin chemestry but I don't like this at all...like most of CdG line.

Too much cinnamon... Smelling like christmas apple pie or pumpkin pie hehe


5,5/10

Worst buy of the year for me. Horrid juice that smells like Cepacol throat lozenges and never develops past that stench. This is one niche frag to try before you buy.

I totally felt in love with this one. Like... Love at first sniff. Very trange, unique and destinctive. Like Mariotgomez's comment. I recognize that when I go to a bar, almost boys and girls fall for me, eachtimes I wear CdG parfume. Wierd, in a good way. Modern, attractive, dark, special.

I agree with rebella's comment. I have had this Eau de Parfume for some time now. It is very unique and destinctive. There have been days when I love wearing it and other days where I can't wear it. For anyone who is looking for unique fragrances, look into those from CdG.

Ooooh my Good! I don´t know how to describe this perfume. It is very complex, abstract and excentric. Not for everyone I guess. It smells different each time I use it, some days like honey, cinnamon and sweet milk and some days strong pepper, wood and resin. And I love it either way. I think it´s addictive... but in some ways I don´t even think it smells good! But if not, it smells very, very interesting... My husband agree whit me, and try to steel it sometimes! ;)