Comme des Garcons 888 — March’s Turn

Here´s an abbreviated post from me today (bet you thought you´d never see the day, huh?)We´re still in the thick of holiday family festivities and the kids are underfoot, which is messing with my powers of concentration.

First, welcome to our new look!Which you all saw on Monday before I did because I couldn’t figure out how to clear my cache! It´s kind of finished, but we´re still tweaking, and as I said in the comments on Monday, please please please let us know if you´re having any issues navigating the site, any suggestions for improvement, anything broken, etc.I am not sure whether Contact Us is working properly, and we´ve had some other glitches.So.Be patient, but please don´t assume we´re aware of a problem – go ahead and complain! Also, I’m learning to navigate a system with new bells and whistles, so bear with me while I learn the format.

Today´s review is of Comme des Garcons 888, which I have been enjoying for the past several days.”Comme des Garcons 888 was released for one week inLondon and won’t be available again until March of 2008.Perfumer Antoine Lie created 888, which was intended to capture the smell of gold. They settled on Safraline, a molecular derivative of saffron, created by Givaudan. Other notes are pepperwood, curcuma, coriander, geranium and amber.”

I am fond of the CdG line in general, and I admire the audacity of some of their scents even if/when I find them bordering on unwearable.I look to CdG for interesting ideas, and I can think of favorites from most of their series, including Incense, Red, Leaves and Synthetic.There´s been lively debate on the blogs recently regarding How We Feel About CdG Getting into The Luxe Game.Separate from the price, though, Luxe Champaca and (even more so) Patchouli certainly have their fans.Play, another recent offering, I am pretending does not exist.It´s like a spoof of a boring mainstream scent – and congrats, guys, you hit that ho-hum note right on the nose.

So I was a little worried about 888, with its LE rigmarole and eau-de-gold blather. Here’s what I got: 888 opens with a huge blast of pepper and coriander, but there´s also a strong, old-fashioned classic cologne note.The effect together is effervescent and really, really appealing.Right away the tone is set: okay, we´re going to have fun here.If anything, I´d have named this one Play.I don´t get much metal, for those of you avoiding 888 because of the m-word.”Curcuma” suggests either ginger or turmeric, and I´m going with the latter – along with the amber and saffron that begins to dominate as the cologne fades, there´s a mustard-like note.

888 is a wearable scent, while at the same time retaining its quirky, arid strangeness.The drydown is dry and bitter, like bancha tea leaves, with only a touch of amber.My favorite part (which doesn´t work very well in public) is sniffing it up very close on my skin, when I get the geranium too.

Verdict?It is not hitting me over the head with its astonishing virtuosity, and I didn´t Have A Moment (like I did, for example, with Palisander) where I sniffed it once and then reached into my wallet in a fugue state for my credit card.Having said that, I´m enjoying it, I don’t have five other things that it reminds me of, and 888 deserves its place in the CdG lineup.

glitter image: galaxyplastic.net