In tackling Issey Miyake's Nuit d'Issey for this review, I'm doing something for the first (and probably last) time: sharing my thoughts on a scent that I've only smelled on a card, not on my skin. I know full well that once a fragrance hits your skin it can be an entirely different experience, but frankly, what I've smelled on the card is enough to keep me from ever spraying this stuff on my skin.
No way. Not unless I have nothing else to do and nowhere else to be, and I can shower off at a moment's notice.
The first blast is so heavy, it's overwhelming. It's thick, and cloying, and oppressive. The prominent note here is "woods," but it's that really sharp, cedar and pine smell, and in this case it's heavily mixed with the smell of something burning. Incense and "spices" are among the officially listed notes, so perhaps those are the offending actors here, but whatever it is, it's gross.
It's too much. It's like taking a really strong, bold, rich coffee and then not using enough water in the brewing process. This smells like a wet, burnt log of cedar wood. I'm struggling to get past this smell just to see if there's anything else in here that I can detect, something that would salvage the experience ... and there isn't.
The best I can say is that the burnt odor eventually starts to fade, but that very dominant and too-strong woodsy smell sticks around and blocks whatever else might going on in this fragrance. Supposedly there's some grapefruit, and some leather, and I can't help but think that it sure would be nice to be able to smell those. Alas, if those notes are there, they are fully buried.
Even the bottle is a disappointment. The cap is heavy and long (fully the size of the palm of my hand) and it narrows as it goes from its base to its top, so what you're grabbing onto when you open the bottle is a thin wedge. With as heavy as the cap is, I can guarantee you I'm going to accidentally drop it at some point, because there's nothing here to grab onto.
I really wanted this to be an awesome fragrance. The notes all sounded fantastic. But I can't see myself ever wearing this for any reason.
2/10 stars.
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