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This was a re-release, and presumably slightly tweaked, version of the original 2000 rendition which I have not had the pleasure of smelling. But if people think this current version is inferior, then the original must have really been something else.
I try really hard to avoid assigning perfumes a gender when I am testing them, but I still find things that I simply would prefer to smell on a woman than on myself. The more perfume I try, the easier it becomes for me to just smell fragrance and feel that it is something that works for me. Helmut Lang EDP was a little bit of a breakthrough for me in this sense, because the first time I wore this I decided that it was overly floral, and therefore a bit too feminine. But the beauty here is sublime, and once it seeps into you the enchantment unfolds.
It opens with a soft explosion of orange blossom, lavender, and hint of heliotrope. Right from the beginning there is a foundation of borderline-clean musk, that adds heft to the ethereal nature of the flowers. I find it interesting that sites like Fragrantica don’t list musk as an official note; it is the back bone of this fragrance.
A few minutes in, something really lovely happens in the heart. The orange blossom seems to bloom after the lavender and other aromatics recede, and it leaves this impression of fizzy orange flavoured musk that really becomes the soul of this fragrance. The powdery elements of the heliotrope never cross the line of suffocation, but you sense its presence as if the breeze had blown the odour back through an open window.
It all comes to rest on a creamy cedar base – my guess is the atlas variety – and slowly dissipates like fog being burnt up by sunshine, as opposed to progressing through a series of accords to ita final resting place. This billowing perfume lasts on me a good part of the day and doesn’t project loudly, and yes, at first glance you might perceive it as something you are used to smelling on women. But all you manly men, sometimes you need to let yourself feel beautiful.
