Source: Stéphane Humbert Lucas.
The Stéphane Humbert Lucas 777 line has two fragrances called 2022 Generation, one for men and one for women. Both are largely unisex fragrances that were released in 2013 and are pure parfum extraits in concentration, but they have very different profiles. I had very mixed reactions to these two fragrances, but neither one evoked any sense of place, any story, or any imagery in my mind. Nothing at all, in fact, which says something in and of itself. So, we’ll get right to it.
2022 GENERATION HOMME:
2022 Generation Homme is a perfume extrait with 24% concentration, and is described in the press materials I received as follows:
Powdery mist of agarwood
Dry and Distinguished Oud, vertical opus.Top: Yuzu zest – Blackcurrant – Mint
Middle: Cambodian Oud
Base: Precious Oud – Spices – Balsamic Notes.
Blackcurrant or cassis. Source: The Perfume Shrine.
2022 Generation Homme opens on my skin with a powerful wave of ISO E Super, followed by a crisp, chilly, leafy greenness that is a mix of the yuzu and mint. Subtle hints of tart, tangy, juicy cassis (or blackcurrant) dance at the edges. A warm, caramel-like sweetness fills the base, followed by a creamy woodiness and a sprinkling of cardamom. The overall impression is of intense ISO E Super with creamy caramel sweetness and abstract woods. It is a very airy, light, summery bouquet with initially moderate sillage of about 2-3 inches from 3 small atomizer spritzes.
ISO E Super. Source: Fragrantica
Regular readers know my feelings about ISO E Super. I despise it. I can put up with small quantities, especially if a fragrance has a plethora of other notes, but I become extremely irritated if a scent has a lot of the chemical. Some people enjoy ISO E Super, and a few find it to be a pheromone, while others are lucky enough not to be able to detect it at all. I don’t fall into any of those categories, and my nose is extremely sensitive to the aroma. But I’ll still grit my teeth and bear it if the ISO E Super manifests itself as a mere “woody buzz” (as Luca Turin once described it) or as mere pepperiness. However, I become positively livid when it wafts antiseptic or rubbing alcohol odors. I don’t buy expensive perfume to smell like a visit to a hospital where a doctor has disinfected my arm before giving me an injection. And I cannot bear it when that particular aroma hits me in massive quantities. Like here.
Source: drugs.com
2022 Generation Homme smells like rubbing alcohol and antiseptic on my skin. It’s sharp, chemical, and slightly peppered. It also seems to grow stronger with every passing minute, far outweighing the crisp, fresh notes. The latter all seem to blend into an abstract, amorphous haze of greenness, only occasionally accentuated by a clear burst of cassis. Or perhaps the problem is that there is so much of the damn, bloody chemical emanating from my skin that it’s hard for me to detect 2022 Generation Homme’s nuances behind the solid, brick wall of astringent mixed with caramel sweetness. It’s an odd mix, which renders me even more unenthusiastic about the fragrance.
Source: fantom-xp.com
If I focus really hard on everything but the damn ISO E, I can genuinely appreciate the creamy woodiness of the base, though it never once translates to my nose as actual Mysore, no matter what the notes may say. Generation Homme feels simultaneously both fresh and clean, as well as creamy, woody, and sweet. The mint and yuzu are quite abstract on my skin, lacking clear delineation, but they melt into the white musk in the base to create a definite sense of freshness. Their airy crispness lies in sharp contrast to the sense of a thick caramel creaminess mixed with dusty, exotic cardamom. Honestly, I find it to be a discordant mix. It’s like two different, non-matching perfumes have been melded together with a bridge of ISO E Supercrappy.
Source: layoutsparks.com
Generation Homme is said to contain two different sorts of oud. On my skin, a vague sense of some wooded smokiness appears at the end of the first hour, but I never smell “the noble rot” as agarwood is sometimes called. As with all the SHL 777 line, the oud that Monsieur Lucas uses never smells like the kind in Amouage, Montale, or Xerjoff fragrances. It is merely slightly smoky with a subtle muskiness and a tinge of sweetness. In any event, it takes less than 20 minutes for the oud to fade into Generation Homme’s base dominated by that caramel sweetness and the abstract, wooded creaminess.
I tried to tolerate 2022 Generation Homme, I really did. Regular readers know that I will put up with a lot of fragrances that are difficult, challenging, or unpleasant, including those with ISO E Super. I couldn’t do it in this case. The first time I tried 2022 Generation Homme, I lasted 2 hours before I scrubbed it off. The second time, I endured exactly 3 hours and 15 minutes before I couldn’t bear it any more.
The problem is that the ISO E Super simply becomes stronger and stronger on my skin. At the start of the second hour, it completely takes over, and Generation Homme is wafting roughly 70% rubbing alcohol antiseptic on my arm and 30% caramel, creamy woods. By the time the 3rd hour rolled around, it was 85% ISO E Super — and the number seemed to be climbing. It is undoubtedly an issue of my skin chemistry and how it reacts to aroma-chemicals in really large doses, so perhaps the rest of you will be luckier. But life is too short for me to put up with misery for the sake of a thorough review. 2022 Generation Homme is a complete scrubber for me, and a massive disappointment from a line that I had liked because it felt refined and wasn’t replete with aromachemicals.
Source: Stéphane Humbert Lucas.
The price does not make any of this more palatable. 2022 Homme retails for €235 for a small 50 ml bottle. I don’t know what the U.S. amount will be, but, whatever it is, it’s going to be too high for a scent with a largely generic, designer, mainstream profile of crisp, clean, woody musks with sweetness and a walloping amount of ISO E chemicals. The refined luxuriousness and elegance of the other SHL 777 fragrances — like the Khol de Bahrein iris-heliotrope-amber that initially caught my attention and made me pay heed to the line — is missing from 2022 Generation Homme. To someone who can’t detect ISO E Super, I’m sure it will come across as an approachable, simple, nice, easy fragrance that may be great for summer months. Perhaps, but that doesn’t mean that Generation Homme is original, interesting or even particularly niche in feel. And I personally do not want to spend €235 for a designer-like, mainstream scent with a generic profile.
I’m becoming more peevish and irritated with every word I write about 2022 Generation Homme, so let’s just get to the next one.
2022 GENERATION FEMME:
Let me start by saying that 2022 Generation Femme is better. Significantly better. In fact, it has some very enjoyable bits, though the scent is still largely unoriginal and with a designer feel, in my opinion.
Source: Stéphane Humbert Lucas.
Like its male counterpart, 2022 Generation Femme is an extrait de parfum with 24% concentration and was released in 2013. The press release documents that I received describe the fragrance and its notes as follows:
Sandalwood and crystallized almonds
Iridescent Perfume dedicated to sensual and artful women…Top: Imperial Almonds – Neroli – Nectarine
Middle: Heliotrope – White Tea – Galbanum
Base: Black Jasmine – Sandalwood from Mysore – Tonka Beans
Petitgrain art, “Young at Heart” via aromatherapy4soul.com –
2022 Generation Femme opens on my skin with sharp, pungent, intensely green notes of bitter neroli and galbanum, infused by equally bitter raw almonds and petitgrain. The notes may not mention it, but I definitely smell petitgrain and its particular form of woodiness. At the edges of 2022 Generation Femme, there is a touch of heliotrope which smells very floral, and is initially far from its usual sweetened, vanillic, meringue powder. The image of greenness and pungency — so well underscored by the galbanum — is countered by subtle flickers of sweet jasmine, but they are very subtle.
From afar, 2022 Generation Femme’s main opening bouquet on my skin is of an extremely bright, potent neroli scent with petitgrain. The perfume has a very retro feel to it, like something that I’ve smelled before, though I can’t place where. One of the blog’s readers, “Taleb,” wrote in a comment that he found 2022 Generation Femme to be similar to Cartier‘s Le Must de Cartier. It’s been years since I smelled the latter and, despite having a relatively good olfactory memory, all I can recall is of a crisp cleanness with white musk. The fact that Le Must left no impression on me says something, but the bottom line is that I can’t tell you if 2022 Generation Femme is similar or not. All I can say is that the perfume feels retro, and not strikingly different from some mainstream scents.
Abstract Green Fantasy by Bruno Paolo Benedetti. Source: imagesinactions.photoshelter.com (Website link embedded within.)
2022 Generation Femme slowly shifts. The almonds retreat to the background after 5 minutes, while a clean, white musk stirs in the base alongside a touch of creamy, initially greenish (non-Mysore) sandalwood. The neroli and petitgrain grow stronger, while the galbanum adds a touch of herbal pungency. I don’t detect any tea or tonka, and the jasmine’s syrupy sweetness is extremely minor. As a whole, Generation Femme is a very airy, crisp bouquet that feels almost chypre-like with its greenness. Three small sprays create a tiny cloud of roughly 2-3 inches at first, though the sillage drops to about an inch above the skin after 90 minutes.
Source: hatdieungon.vn
It takes a little bit of time for 2022 Generation Femme to stop being primarily neroli and petitgrain in focus. The almond reappears at the end of the first hour, though it is subtle and quite muted at first. It now smells like the hard-shelled, vanilla-coated, European sweets that you see at Italian weddings called “Confetti” (or “Jordan almonds” in America), but the aroma is still overshadowed by the neroli and petitgrain. 2022 Femme only changes around the 90-minute mark, when the heliotrope and tonka fully rise up to the surface, softening the pungent, woody-citrus duet and providing a lovely, thin dusting of almond vanilla and heliotrope sweetness.
Meringues via motherearthnews.com
As some of the regular readers know, I’m a sucker for heliotrope’s soft serenity and comforting delicacy, so it’s definitely my favorite part of the scent. I’m even happier when it becomes a more prominent part of the scent. At the end of the 3rd hour, and the start of the 4th, Generation Femme is really pretty blend of raw almonds, green neroli, heliotrope almond meringue, and vanilla tonka powder. It’s far from being gourmand in nature, thanks to the bitterness of the bright neroli which keeps the sweetness in check. Instead, 2022 Femme is now a mix of citric freshness and bitterness, with sweetness and powdered coziness. The perfume hovers just an inch above the skin at this point, feels softer and has lost some of its clean musk.
Source: merlyimpressions.co.uk
Despite the heliotrope’s prettiness, it doesn’t remain as a constant presence. Generation Femme is primarily about neroli on my skin, and the perfume regains that focus about 5.5 hours into its evolution. It is primarily a bouquet of green, spicy, bright and bitter neroli with tonka powder and only a light trace of heliotrope. Tiny flickers of almonds remain, but what is much more noticeable is a new creaminess in the base. It doesn’t smell like Mysore to me (and you know what a finicky snob I am about sandalwood), but it is lovely nonetheless. It’s a smooth, creamy woodiness that is lightly spiced, and it works very well with the neroli. The whole thing is dusted with sweetened powder, but it only occasionally smells like heliotrope in a distinct way.
For the most part, Generation Femme’s middle phase centers mainly on spicy, powdered neroli with sweetness, all resting atop fluctuating degrees of creamy woodiness in the base. The latter begins to fade away as the hours pass, leaving a drydown that is just neroli, vanilla, and sweetened powder. In its final moments, 2022 Generation Femme is a simple blur of vanilla powder with a trace of spicy neroli. It lasted just over 14.5 hours on my perfume-consuming skin.
ALL IN ALL:
Source: backdropsforyourlife.wordpress.com
As a whole, both 2022 Generation fragrances seem intended to be different takes on crisp, green freshness combined with sweetness and woody creaminess. They’re both simple, approachable, easy scents that would probably work well in the summer months, and I think they are quite unisex in nature.
However, I also think that they lack distinctiveness or originality. 2022 Generation Femme feels like a more expensive version of a commercial, mainstream profile, but it is generally well done. I have no words to express my antipathy towards Generation Homme. There are plenty of niche fragrances that inundate you with aromachemicals, especially ISO E Super, but that doesn’t mean that it’s justified, in my opinion. Particularly for the increased cost. I expected a lot more from the SHL 777 line.
Both fragrances costs €235 for a small 50 ml bottle. As noted above, the complete 777 line will be in American stores at Luckyscent and Osswald NY at the end of April. I don’t have the American prices, but €235 translates to just under $325 at today’s rate of exchange. My experience with European exclusives is that the final American price is usually much less, so my rough guess for 2022 Generation would be around $295 a bottle. That’s merely a personal guess, though.
Generally, I try to provide comparative reviews or assessments for you to make up your own mind about a scent. If you’re interested, there are some brief, early comments in a Basenotes thread on both 2022 Generation fragrances, but I’m afraid I’m insufficiently inspired to talk much more about either one of them. Generation Femme is the better of the two, in my opinion, and a fully unisex fragrance that you may want to try if you’re someone who loves citric freshness with bitterness, greenness, vanillic sweetness, and some creamy woods. For the sake of politeness, I have no further comment on the other one.
Disclosure: Perfume sample courtesy of Stéphane Humbert Lucas. That did not influence this review. I do not do paid reviews, and my opinions are my own.
I didn’t tried these 2 – I admit that I was simply put off by their name (superficial as I am). It sounds far too generic and boring for a trustworthy scent, but in fact the feminine one might be very much my cup of tea (with all that almonds, heliotrope, tonka, nectarine…). I haven’t encountered such an interesting brand for a long time !
I love your detailed and faceted reviews – many thanks!
You’re very welcome, Mi’lady, I’m so glad you stumbled upon the blog. And I really look forward to getting to know you and your perfume tastes better.
As for these two scents, I don’t blame you for being put off by the names or finding them to be rather generic. I do, too. Not very interesting, I must say. With regard to the female one, do you like pungent neroli? Because that is far more prominent than the softer notes like almonds or heliotrope. There really isn’t the sweet juiciness of mandarin, in my opinion, and I don’t smell any nectarine at all. You may be luckier.
Speaking of almonds, heliotrope and tonka, did you get the chance to try Khol de Bahrein in your quick visit? Because if you didn’t, THAT is the one you should definitely look for next time you go up to London. It’s my second favorite from the brand, with tons of heliotrope and tonka, all swirled into really expensive iris. If you’re interested, you can look up my review for more details, but that is one that I would definitely recommend for any heliotrope (or iris) lover.
Oooh, tons of heliotrop and tonka + plus Iris ?I Of course I read your review – and then I went to order a sample of Khol de Bahrein from FiF, so I don’t have to wait another month until I can be back in Harrods… (and no, thanks, but no pungent neroli, please)
Hurrah! I’m so hoping you’ll like it! You know, I really dislike iris scents, but Khol de Bahrein… that’s a complete exception to the rule. And I find myself often thinking about it when I want a comfort scent that is simultaneously elegant and sleek (as opposed to more cozy, sprawl-in-your-sweatpants-scents). Something about Khol de Bahrein is a perfect mix of refinement, cool elegance, and calm coziness. I’m so hoping it will be the same thing on your skin. (I know all about skin chemistry and all that, but I confess that I will be a little crushed if yours does something terrible to the scent. So, fingers crossed, Mi’Lady Grey!)
Ugh! I was practically gritting my teeth through your review of 2022 Generation Homme! It must be horrendous indeed if you scrubbed – we all know you have admirable endurance. Thank you, Kafka, for you endured long enough to write the review and warn off others like yourself who hate that wretched aromachemical. At these prices, really? I look at the pretty bottles and do think someone will be had. That’s a shame.
It’s hard for me to write about fragrances with ISO E Super because I know full well that hardly anyone has my degree of sensitivity/awareness about the note. Perhaps my skin amplifies it more than most, or perhaps my nose is neurotic, but I know others generally just shrug and have no problems at all with the aromachemical. They can smell a fragrance, and that will NOT be the main thing that comes across to them.
But I can only write about what I myself smell, and it’s hard to minimize the role of the note when it’s essentially the vast majority of what is wafting off one’s arm. It would be fine if the ISO E Super just appeared like the “woody buzz” that it sometimes manifests itself as, but, on the rare occasions when it is pure antiseptic, my tolerance goes down. Way down.
And, yet, I know that the vast majority of people will smell Generation Homme and wonder what I’m talking about, or say, “it’s not so bad.” Well, it really is on MY skin. But even putting aside the ISO E Super issue, Generation Homme simply isn’t anything special, complex, or distinctive, imo. It should be better than what it is — both for the price and for a line that doesn’t usually put out such unoriginal or commercial creations.
Anyway, thanks for understanding where I’m coming from, Jules. I know there have a been a few fragrances where you yourself struggled with the aromachemicals.
You and I have different taste in scent, I think, but we may have similar skin and sensitivity. Nothing lasts on me, as yours, and I can not tolerate ISO E Super or Trisamber, and I’m sure that’s not all (but all I can remember). And, of course, these wretched aromachemicals DO last when the lovely stuff fades oh so quickly. But that is one reason they are used, is it not?
The Femme sounds rather nice, but I doubt I’d shell out for a bottle.
I may be immune to ill-effects from Iso E Super, as I only have a vague idea of what it smells like (but then, it seems to be used more readily in fragrances marketed to men, and those tend not to be to my taste anyway) and don’t recall recoiling from, say, Encre Noire or Terre d’Hermes. I did overdose once on Ormonde Jayne Ta’if (three sprays) and can’t wear that one anymore – and OJ is well-known for relying on Iso E Super. Hmm. Don’t know, but I’m *probably* not bothered by it.
It sounds from this and other things that you’ve said in the past that you aren’t bothered by ISO E Super, and I think that’s wonderful. 🙂 In fact, I envy you enormously. My life would be so much easier if I couldn’t detect it at all. I frequently wish I were one of those lucky people who try Molecule 01, and can’t smell anything whatsoever or who find it to be a lovely pheromone.
Speaking of Ormonde Jayne, it was one of her fragrances that triggered my sensitivity to ISO E Super. Montabaco. Gallons and gallons of ISO E Super to a degree that far surpasses any of her other fragrances. Geza Schoen made it essentially only a few small notches down from his Molecule 01.
You know, what I *am* super-sensitive to is the Dreaded Tolu. And patchouli (though I have found ways to enjoy it). So I am sympathetic – nothing is worse than being assaulted by a note that makes you feel ill.
But what really slays me, and it’s especially difficult to pinpoint, is whatever-it-is in the base of quite a number of Estee Lauder fragrances: White Linen, Beautiful, Beyond Paradise, Knowing, even Private Collection, which should have been right up my alley. (For sanity’s sake I am going to pretend that Cinnabar and Youth Dew do not even exist. 🙂 ) I’m fine with them on fabric or paper, but if I wear them – two hours in, or maybe three, I start feeling nauseated. If I don’t scrub at that point, I *will* vomit.
Two of my three aunts wear Lauder fragrances and I’m not bothered by smelling the scents on other people – just on myself. And it isn’t, to be specific, an actual smell. I’ve run across the effect with just one other perfume: Sonoma Scent STudio Vintage Rose (which is now discontinued and has been revamped into Rose Volupte). I have absolutely no idea what it is.
I find the mystery of you and the Lauder scents fascinating, especially as it doesn’t seem to be an actual, specific note for you. (I assume you’ve done a Fragrantica cross-checking to see if there is any single element that all the scents have in common, right?) Interesting too that the difficulty seems to be limited to your own skin, while smelling the fragrances on others is not a problem.
You know, you need to go all Sherlock Holmes on this and get to the bottom of it. Even if it’s only for your own mental curiosity. Or, perhaps, mine… lol 😉 😀
I find this quite intriguing, and so I poked around. It may be an accord of rose/mimosa/jasmine and most surely a synthetic one at that. I could not wear any of these Lauders without nausea either, but I haven’t even sniffed them since the 80’s and my memory is not specific, just a general feeling of awfulness!
Terrific that our experiences are opposite. In fact, I am one of the lucky ones who are close to numb to ISO E Super. In fact, I recently bought a small bottle of Molocule One just to make sure – I pick up probably 15% of what you pick up, and consider myself dumb/brilliant to the aromachemical.
Having said all that, I’ve been looking for a more refined and interesting version of Tom Ford Oud Wood. That’s a crowd pleaser – I’m often in a “crowd” – thus my interest in something “this side” of the tracks. An hour at a niche retailer [scent] me in the directon of Generation 2022, so I picked up a full bottle.
I don’t get much if any offending ISO E Super. Nada. I like the spicy oud-wood and feel it fits what I am looking for (a crowd pleaser that I find minimally interesting).
Separately, S 777 recently did something exclusive for harrods that I sniffed a month ago – and instantly loved. Awesome woody, Indian spices with creamy musky floral base. Get your nose on that!
I envy your numbness to ISO E Super! 😀 ;). As for Generation Homme 2022, I know a number of men are big fans of it. I actually recommended just a few days ago to someone who emailed me for recommendations on a casual, refined scent that he could wear to things like NFL games, and I hope we enjoys it as much as you do.
With regards to the new SHL Harrods Exclusive, I was sent a full bottle, but I’m afraid I dislike it. I think you and I have have very different skins in terms of what notes are amplified or that we detect, so I suspect it’s very different on me than it is on you. But if you have found another SHL you love a lot, I think that’s wonderful. It’s a great brand in general, imo, and one that I far prefer to Amouage these days given the latter’s recent releases.
I’ve been meaning to crawl back to you and ask for forgiveness. I am shocked, actually. After buying a full bottle of this at osswwalds in NY (great spot) I now consider it unwearable. The synthetic spice burns my deepest sinus cavities and there is only a shadow of what I remember purchasing!! Apparently I am SUPER sensitive to ISO E, but in an environment where my sniffer becomes overwhelmed I must go numb to that aromachemical. Fascinating. I also pick it up in compositions trying to be spicy ouds and many other spice bombs (<– no pun, I actually like that fragrance).
Bottom line for me is to remember to test in a calm neutral invironment AFTER I've given my receptors some time to recover!!!
I choked on my coffee reading your comment. Is it awful to admit that I grinned at the monumental change in attitude? 😉 😀 Slight kidding aside, I do feel badly for you because your life would be so much easier as a perfumista if you were anosmic to the blasted note, just as mine would be. ISO E Super in so much but particularly in woody compositions, Western quasi-“ouds,” florals, and even crisp, green or vetiver compositions (Terre d’Hermes, for example). The key, imo, is HOW MUCH of it has been used. Same with any other aromachemical, really.
A lot of fragrances are somewhere in the ratio vicinity of 75/25 synthetic/natural in composition, but when that 75% consists of the super powerful aromachemicals, the very large molecules really do impact the nose, imo. I’m all for semi-synthetic fragrances because there is much greater sillage and longevity, but I like my fragrances to smell somewhat “natural,” and large quantities of things like ISO E Super, Ambroxan, Norlimbanol, Javanol, etc. etc., make it difficult if one has any sensitivity at all.
At least you now know where you stand, and what you must do in the future when testing fragrances. Personally, I think it’s always best to test things at home because you have time to see how a scent may develop over a number of hours. Smelling things in a store doesn’t give you that opportunity. Plus, their air filtration systems (and the lingering traces of other things in the air) does make it harder to detect all the nuances or notes.
Glad I gave you a sense of satisfaction (you deserve it!). The revelation to me is that I no longer question my recoil to a fragrance that burns my nose. I am tempted to argue with myself, that the fragrance is deep and complex and that I just need more training to appreciate it. But now that argument is weightless.
I know, for example, the worst offender in my collection is Boccanero – something I thought interesting in a perfume store but at home simply tore up my nose and throat. Beyond unwearable. Instead of questioning the sophistication of my sniffer, I am now confident it is a chemical compote that offends my receptors. Good, got it.
I am even getting too much synthetic from a fragrance I really enjoy – Epic Man. It’s a beautiful composition until everything fades (4-5 hour in) and what is left is supposed to be oud, but to me it is prickly and offensive ISO E Super or something related.
By all accounts, Epic Man has been badly reformulated. What I tried earlier this year astonished me, and was like absolutely nothing like what I had read and what had been reported, including the focus of notes and the strength of the fragrance. It had an astonishingly commercial vibe, right down to the synthetics. Friends or readers who own old bottles of Epic and have tried recent bottles (especially those with the metallic cap) say it’s been “butchered” in reformulation, and heavily watered down.
It sounds to me like your nose is getting more acute (in a good way) and more experienced as well. But depending on what version of Epic you own, your nose may not be the only issue….
As for Boccanero, all the Orto Parisi line takes Nasomatto’s typical aromachemicals to a whole new level. (And it’s not like Nasomatto didn’t have a high percentage of super-potent aromachemicals to begin with!) But Orto Parisi is like aromachemicals on steroids, in my opinion.
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Dear K,
I share with y ou same love for Heliotrope fragrances, better when accompanied by the creaminess of orris.. maybe that’s the reason why I love L’ Heure Bleue so much to buy Shem El Nessim 🙂 I find them to give me peace, serenity but also a languid and sweet sensuality. Could you suggest to me other fragrances you love about this theme?
Than you for your patience!
Have you tried SHL 777’s Khol de Bahreïn ? Iris with heliotrope and amber. It’s the one Iris fragrance I own, and that’s purely because of the heliotrope/amber addition.
Oriza L. Legrand’s Héliotrope Blanc can be very powdery but, on the right skin, can also be soothing and calming. But I worry that it may turn to scented baby or talcum powder on the wrong skin.
Guerlain’s Cuir Béluga is mostly about heliotrope on my skin, but it doesn’t have much projection and longevity on me.
Your best bet out of the lot and the one that you’re likely to enjoy the most, in my opinion, is Khol de Bahreïn. Plus, that’s the one with a powerful and central iris note as well. In fact, I personally consider it to be more of an iris fragrance than a heliotrope one.
Thank you very much, I always skipped Khol because I thought it was too sweet, but if you say it worths a try I will test soon for sure, I always find mutual feeling with your taste.
I am so happy to find your scathing review of Generation 2022 Homme. I have finally found some objectivity after all the praise for this scent – it gets 4.4 rating on fragrantica! Have these folks actually smelled it? It goes nuclear on me – I can only keep it on skin for about 30 minutes before I am forced to scrub. I have 5 SHL’s and some are very good (Oumma, Takamakan, Black Gemstone and Soleil de Jeddah), but Gen 2022 Homme is hard to figure out. What were they thinking?
Have you tried Panthea or A Wish Come True? Dreadful, dreadful stuff. Simply dreadful. Talk about only managing to last 30 minutes…