Encounter, a 2012 release by Calvin Klein, seems like it flew under the radar a bit, and perhaps it did get somewhat lost amidst the seven other fragrances Calvin Klein released that year. But it was arguably the best of the bunch.
Honorine Blanc and Pierre Negrin, with a total of eight other male fragrances between them prior to creating Encounter (Negrin had formerly worked on Ralph Lauren's Polo Black and Sean John's Unforgivable), worked together to compose something that would embody the idea of "a contrast of freshness and warmth."
What makes Encounter so impressive, however, is that there are no contrasts, only complements. The first thing I noticed was the almost total absence of a top note (or notes) in the opening. Most scents come out of the corner swinging away: Lemon! Bergamot! Patchouli! Pepper!
But it's not just the top notes that are apparently missing here in Encounter -- everything is missing. Let me state that another way.
Encounter is like a medium size choir, perfectly balanced so that no single voice shouts above the rest, and yet each individual voice can be heard clearly as part of the whole.
Encounter is understated, but deep. It is quiet, but polyphonic.
There are notes of sweet liqueur (cognac, mandarin-flavored rum) to be savored along with peppery jasmine and spicy patchouli, while the low voices bring the depth of oud, cedar, and musk to the ensemble. The mind and the nose flit back and forth: Is this woodsy? Is this spicy? Is this darkly sweet?
Yes, it is. All of those thing, all at once, interwoven.
It doesn't project far. It doesn't need to, that's not the kind of fragrance this is. Instead, it remains subtle, but it lasts for many hours. It's almost impossible to believe that the same designer also launched cK one Summer 2012 and Eternity Summer for Men 2012 in the same year.
I'm taking away a few points for that user-unfriendly bottle.
8/10 stars.
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