Nice Bergamote
Eau de Parfum, Essential Parfums (2018)

I guess the bods at Essential were scratching their heads when they decided to call this one simply ‘Nice’ – hey, they could have at least shown some sign of interest in the thing they were marketing by going for ‘Naiyycce’ or thereabouts. Ah well, nice it must remain.
This is a bit of an injustice to this zesty, zingy citrus, which has all the sparkle and tart wide-awake energy that one would hope for. I’ll even forgive the indole-free jasmine (a personal dislike, I prefer my jasmines to growl a little) and sweet tonka following up behind, as long as the high song of the bergamot remains in the foreground. Don’t expect wonders, but this is a hit-the-spot cologne-type scent that’s great to shake off lethargy or to bring a cooling puff of relief in the heat.

Nice Bergamote by Essential Parfums (2018) is indeed a nice perfume, and also proof positive that most people in the online fragrance community (especially those on a certain other website I won't name) really just "smell" by reading the listed notes of a perfume, even comparing fragrances based on those notes alone, and not by with what they smell. If you are someone who smells with your nose, you will absolutely understand this is a just as much a jasmine and rose perfume as it is a bergamot one, coming across like Petit Matin by Maison Francis Kurkdjian (2016) without a hawthorne flower or linden note. All in all, I'd say Antoine Maisondieu was inspired by the compositional style of Francis Kurkdjian himself, and that's okay if the yielded results are this good.

It goes without saying if you are someone who shrivels at the thought of laundry musks or ambroxan-heavy bases, this is not for you and you should turn back now without ever even getting a sample; because Nice Bergamote very much is of that particular ilk, and for fans of things like the aforementioned Petit Matin, or any of MFK's Aqua series, any of the legacy Creeds Pierre Bourdon worked on, so forth and such. The bergamot really only feels obvious in the opening puff. Beyond that, the rose and jasmine push forward, but more so the rose in a way that reads very MFK as mentioned. Ylang also assists in softening this up, in place of a more-obvious synthetic musk, with the ambroxan and tonka padding the finish. This will last until you wash it off, so be warned on that.

Of all the Essential Parfums fragrances I've smelled so far, Nice Bergamote is the first one to feel a bit more towards the unisex end of the spectrum, while other things so far have swung pretty far towards men favoring them, and others like Divine Vanille by Essential Parfums (2019) or Rose Magnetic by Essential Parfums (2018) have more of an intent to lean into tropes women are conventionally predisposed to like better. An intentionally balanced unisex fragrance isn't necessarily a bad thing, as these sort of citrus floral fresh ambrox and laundry musk sort of things are very wearable, agreeable, and tend to last, even if they don't necessarily come across very memorable beyond the big notable genre-defining entries. Nice enough, I suppose, and too inexpensive to nitpick the filigrees when the execution is this tight. Thumbs up

Nice Bergamot drew me in differently than other perfumes. I dismissed it at first because of the longevity, but one could not have both natural ingredients and long lasting silhouette. I totally could see myself wearing it Monday to Friday as I casually went about my day. It's a clean lightly sweet scent that appeals to both men and women. Imagine a guy/gal in the corner of the room, he doesn't want to be the center of attentions but you remember him nevertheless. That is what this perfume seems to me.

A simple scent that smells nice and refined but lacks performance. I'd describe it as smooth and soft citrus soap with a good dose of feminine florals.

Low projection and longevity that hung around about 4-5 hours.

Nice Bergamote smells like summer in a bottle. Bergamot laced with ylang-ylang and tonka bean. Bergamot of course is the main ingredient. The ylang-ylang and tonka bean are soft, not strong like in other perfumes. Very bright and cheerful.