Ok, who puts these notes as the main notes of a perfume?! Mirabelle, espresso accord and cocoa powder? (Btw, I had to google Mirabelle, I didn’t know that was a plum)
I mean, I find it a bit stupid as I was smelling it without checking the notes and at some point I was wondering if what I was smelling was flowers – rose and peony and a little more googling turned out Aus Liebe zum Duft and their more real list: bergamot, warm milk?!, patchouli, lily of the valley, peony, musk and precious woods.
Although honestly, the notes didn’t help much.
My initial thought was that it smelled a bit like Chinatown (the sweet fruity warm opening) and Lexington
Avenue (the nutty sweet coffee and I thought I detected some smoke) but in a more subdued fashion. Could be the fact that I dabbed this and not sprayed it like I do with the other two but it still struck me as a lighter combination of these two.
Which brings me to the question – does New York smell of sweet fruit, coffee and cigarette smoke? As those seem to be a recurring theme in Bond’s NY perfumes.
I already described practically the whole opening, but if I were to ignore my associations, I’d say it smells like plums dipped in chocolate with some booziness added to that chocolate. Yummy!
After some time the florals take over. I still can’t believe I pegged peony without looking at the notes. 🙂 Although lily of the valley completely escaped me before and after knowing the notes. The whole perfume is kind of a strange mix of the notes I described, which work together rather well until the drydown and the musk. Unfortunately, it’s the kind of synthetic musk I think of as the clean musk that overtakes my nose and won’t let me smell anything and that is what happened here.
I know many people enjoy that type of smell but for me it ruined this perfume. I was bound to love a light type of mix of two of my favourite Bonds.
Pic taken from Bond No. 9 site.
Tagged: Bond No. 9, Perfume review, Sample of the day, So New York
All I am - a redhead 
Dear Ines, I love hearing you thoughts on your various samples. I quite enjoy So NY, with it’s rather discreet coffee note, but I don’t think I ever tried Lexington Ave, so will have to look out for that one now:-)
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Asali, I barely get the coffee note (extremely discreet if you ask me) and I tried it on a friend and on her it smells more like a black tea note (and is much stronger than on me).
I wonder how will you like Lexington avenue. I was trying to write why I think it’s better and I just came up with it’s more. 🙂
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“…if I were to ignore my associations, I’d say it smells like plums dipped in chocolate with some booziness added to that chocolate. Yummy!”
That’s the kind of line I like to read, Ines. Sometimes I think it’s best just to say, Screw the notes – this is how the overall scent expresses itself to me; this is the story it whispers in my ear … that kind of thing.
Looking forward to hearing what you’re wearing next. Do you commit to these samples for a full day or just a few hours? (I’m thinking about how I might whittle down my own samples pille … sampling more, while still having time to wear my full-bottle favorites).
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Oh, I don’t wear my samples! 🙂 I mean, as a perfume for the day. I had some bad experience with applying samples I haven’t properly tested before.
I sample them on my wrists several times, during a couple of days and I write down my thoughts (I’m usually testing two, one for each wrist) and when I feel I got enough to write something of a short review, I do it.
I’m choosing them completely arbitrary – which one comes out of the box once I put my hand in it.
And I’m wearing perfumes I enjoy every day. 🙂
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Hmm, I sense I might have musk issues at the drydown stage with this one too, if it crossed my path. Sounds a bit random generally, but I speak as someone who doesn’t care for coffee… Yep, can’t see me making a beeline for the tester, so thanks for the heads up!
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😀 Glad I could help eliminate possible smelling choices! 😉
Although I know exactly what you mean – there are some reviews that efficiently eliminate some perfumes from my list of things I haven’t tried yet (but would want to).
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I haven’t smelled that one. I agree with you that Bond No. 9 has a distinct set of notes used over and over again that are supposed to represent the city. I think the base is a wet concrete smell though.
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:))) Wet concrete? That sounds like fun. I will smell it again to see if my mind connects the base to that smell.
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Ines, mirabelles are the TASTIEST little yellow plums. Soooo tart! I ate them every single day I was in Paris a few years ago. I also wish that the chocolate plum part of So New York lasted longer. I love its opening notes, but am also less fond of the florals and musk.
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Ah, Ari, you made my mouth water! 🙂 I love plums in any form so I really need to try these.
Speaking of chocolate plums, have you ever tried that? That’s one of the yummiest chocolate things I ever ate.
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