J’Adoube
Mind Games (2022)

Sweet, fruity drink opening. Starts to get musky in the dry down. The sparkling rose and powdery patchouli are easily detectable. Becomes more feminine in the drydown. Never feels cheap.

The Mind Games line by Axel and Marina Shalbaf calls itself a sustainable luxury perfume "crafted in the spirit of chess." The Nose behind "j'adoube," which was launched in 2022, is Nathalie Benareau. It is not just named for chess moves, it is meant to evolve and unfold like a game of chess--which is no doubt the ultimate perfumery mind game, to get buyers invested in perceiving the symbolic action described by the perfume house. "J'adoube" literally means in French chess, "I adjust." It informs one's opponent that one is adjusting one's pieces in an over-the-board game. Outside of chess, "j'adoube" can mean "I approve," or "I give my blessing." The expression derives from the ceremony of "dubbing" in French knighthood, like "I dub thee Sir Lancelot." I find "J'adoube" sophisticated and pleasant, supremely wearable for its degree of complexity. However, it is not wildly original: it is reminiscent of various scents by Xerjoff, among many others. When you first apply it, there is a blast of sweetness from the mandarin and red current and pomegranate, but with a kind of inner dissonance makes that sweetness more than gourmand. Then leather and patchouli and some brew of ingredients I don't know--Ambrostar and Sulawesi--start to bring out a powdery, witchy, stormy sweet masculinity. Susbsequently it evolves into a beautifully balanced light but enduring leathery gourmand. Projection I suspect would be mostly in the first hour, but longevity is strong: I put it on before bed and still smelled it in the morning.