Fragrance Notes
L'Eau d'Issey Pour Homme Gift Set
The unusual thing about the L'Eau d'Issey Pour Homme Gift Set, from Issey Miyake, is that it sets a kitchen spice directly against a Japanese citrus and then refuses to decorate the result.
The box holds the Eau de Toilette at 125ml and a 40ml bottle. Nutmeg is not an obvious partner for anything bright. On its own it is dry, a little dusty, faintly bitter at the edges, and it usually turns up buried in warmer compositions where its job is to add weight. Here it is near the front, rubbing against yuzu, which is itself an awkward citrus, sharp and peel like with none of the sugar you expect from fruit. The two of them scrape against each other in a way that is genuinely distinctive. Sandalwood is the third and final material, smooth and faintly milky, and it does the quiet work of stopping the whole thing evaporating.
Three materials, and it wears like it. The fragrance does not unfold so much as hold its position, which makes it easy to live with and easy to recognise on someone else. Jacques Cavallier is credited with the composition, and the discipline of it is the point: there is no third idea hiding behind the first two, and nothing has been added to soften the contrast.
Presented as a gift set, it is a safe choice for a man whose taste you do not know well, since the scent is clean, dry and far from sugary, and it reads correctly in daylight, at work and in warm weather. Anyone who finds modern men's fragrance too sugary will be relieved by it.
Issey Miyake is a design company from Japan. The studio dates from 1970 and the company from 1971, with offices in Shibuya, Tokyo, and a first retail space opened in 1974. Experimental construction and pleated fabric are what the label is known for, and its perfume business began in March 1992.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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