L'Eau Bleue d'Issey pour Homme
Issey Miyake (2004)

I first tried l'Eau Bleue d'Issey Pour Homme back in 2007, when it was a fresh release. I was hooked by it as I never were before with a scent. To be honest I didn't care much about perfumes until then. I understand that some people hate it, but I also know that it can smell quite different depending on the person. It can also change over time, although it remains an excellent fragrance many years in the bottle. (Thankfully, as I'm afraid Issey Miyake discontinued it around 2016). Since 2007 I've purchased several (at least 7 or 8 by my accounts), and used this fragrance almost exclusively for several years.

On my skin it presents itself as a very bold and unexpected combination of citrus (mainly mandarin, and a bit of lime) and herbs (rosemary, lemongrass, juniper) over base notes of cedar, sandalwood, amber and musk. And it's powerful enough to earn compliments at a dinner party, after a long day in the office and having put it early in the morning.

It's very unique, but mature at the same time. Has a lot of character. I got many, many, many compliments while wearing it. During these years I had 3 different girlfriends that kind of demanded that I used no other fragrance. ;P

How impressive is this? This was recommended to me some time ago. I was told I had to give it a sniff as it was totally in my wheelhouse, my vibe. At the time, I was more inclined to dismiss what appeared to me likely another tepid designer release I could do without. Boy, was I wrong. This one is a hit.

The scent is not "blue" as the attractive cobalt glass bottle would you believe. It does suggest blue, but a teal or aquamarine scent is more like it. Juniper and cypress on a cliff walk, some wild rosemary and samphire, a bit of a saline breeze. It gets a bit rosier and woodier into its dry down, with the herbaceous quality persisting into its dry down, muskier, earthier, patchouli and cedar most prominent in the base.

Jacques Cavallier put his heart into this one. Well done.

Stonker!
My kind of fragrance (mind you, I love Horizon). Herbal sharp opening, gorgeous drydown.

L'Eau Bleue is angular in its beak, zesty in its feet and silver in its reach. It all begins with the camphorous shrubbery of rosemary and the heavily devoted fir, whose needles sprinkled with an orange tang, are enlightened by a juniper pepper twist and a zen-like ginger bow, that together graze terrestrial wetlands ordained by sweet green balsamic resins. All this alchemy gives way to an aluminium feel that is cold, still, and yet liberating. Truly, a standout in the Miyake camp and a hesitating beauty of a scent; strange, introspective, minimalist, and futurist. Contrary to belief, blue is the warmest color.

I agree with Black Cloud, Seeroos, Reventon, and others - there's just something really off-putting in this one. Maybe it's the Nast(y)urtium...? But yeah - spice-rack, Indian food in a dirty diaper, in a rain-forest vibe is about right! Gross.

The opening smells cheap, fresh, clean, masculine and somewhat dated. There is a pepperiness that smells very mature and kinda "sweaty". Citrusy, 90's bro juice, that's what I get. It actually reminds me of Thallium Black. The drydown isn't bad but doesn't save this scent for me.

Performance is average, both in projection and longevity.