I can’t say I’ve ever truly liked a Joop! fragrance for myself. Joop! Homme is far too commonplace for me, every other guy seems to have a bottle, and I find it pretty offensive – most guys that wear it overapply it, making the whole thing too much. Jump and Go are just more of the same ‘fresh’. However, I wasn’t going to rule out new scents before sniffing them. According to the press machine, “the scents aim to capture the excitement of an urban adventure by night”.
The masculine smells like a combination of Gaultier’s Le Male and the original Joop! Homme. This is not difficult for me to imagine at all, the Perfumer must have been on a bus journey into Bristol town centre on a Saturday night. Those are both of the scents of an “urban” night out, and the mens room in a club will nearly always have a cloud of both by the doorway.
Thrill opens with an incredibly harsh Lavender note, which feels very cold. Also, there is a fermented Apple note in the top. It progresses to Lavender and Geranium with watery floral notes trying to break through, and feels very much like Le Male at this point of the fragrance.
The Vanilla and Amber sweetness of Joop! Homme becomes more pronounced towards the drydown – which is mostly a heavy sweet Vanilla on top of a Musky Wood note.
Top: Bergamot, Crisp Apple, Frozen Lavender
Middle: Cedarwood, Geranium
Base: Amber, Sandalwood, Vanilla
The feminine opens with a burst of sweet but light Fruits. A bright Peach note is apparent and takes over the fragrance for a short while. There is something dark about the fragrance at this point too, so it doesn’t smell entirely girly and innocent, but is still very pretty.
The heart smells like Iris flowers, in a similar way to Bvlgari’s Omnia Amethyste. Very slightly Violet-y and powdery with a small floral bouquet supporting the Peach and Iris. The Peach note remains present throughout the heart, but before the Vanilla drydown appears there is a distracting acidic note.
It dries into a sugary sweet Vanilla and Musky Wood note, similar to the masculine but much softer.
Top: Bergamot, Dewy Leaves, Peach Juice
Middle: Iris, Lily of the Valley
Base: Vanilla, Tonka Bean, Sandalwood
I prefer the feminine over the masculine, mostly because of the associations with Le Male and Joop! Homme, but also because the feminine is really quite pretty
The scent opens with Orange peel. It’s not just orange though, there is Tangerine as well! It smells convincing for roughly 10 seconds then smells like a “faked” and oddly synthetic Mandarin. If you are looking for an Orange scent, then Hermes has got that covered with the much more effective and convincing Concentrée and Eau D’Orange Verte. I don’t get any of the listed ‘Berry’, Imperial French (what?) or otherwise.
Britney Spears Hidden Fantasy: The flanker resembles the original in this case. It’s essentially Fantasy with the rough cotton candy note removed. A relatively polite fruity-floral of no discernable interest, aside from the fruits are more tropical smelling than sugary. Drydown is creamy and woodsy, with a fruit cocktail dessert – straight from the tin.
Kylie Minogue Couture: Kylie’s releases have mostly sugary sweet messes – Showtime was a strawberry jam oddball and the less said about Sweet Darling the better. This is probably her most grown-up release so far, that said, why is someone who isn’t really a fashion designer using Couture for a name? For a brief moment in the top-notes, it smells like a slightly sweet Flower by Kenzo. Then a strange citrus note takes us into distinct “Kylie territory” – sugary floral. However this is much lighter than the other fragrances bearing her name – think icing sugar not cane sugar. Reminds me of a sweet I ate as a child, but can’t really remember what it was or when. Into the heart it feels like Insolence would smell if it had taken sleeping pills, a quiet (but louder than the rest of the fragrance) Violet-Berry-Vanilla-Musk accord. Dries into a Vanilla-Musk-Woody scent.
Lacoste Love of Pink: Last years Touch of Pink flanker (Dream) smelled of cherry drop sweets. This years limited edition flanker has a very short-lived fruity topnote, which turns into a cheap-smelling sugary Musk really quickly and stays there. Wish it smelled as good as the 
The opening is complex and interesting – warm and sweet, lightly spiced, earthy and woodsy with smoke. There’s a lot going on in the first few minutes, and it gives the impression of fragrant woods being burned in a fireplace.
What I smell on the opening is a strange, sweet sweaty note. The note I usually associate with sweat is Cumin, which isn’t present here according to the notes I’ve seen. It’s quite strange, but I’m pleased it doesn’t last too long. 3 smells as though it has been built on top of the spicy ‘CdG Parfum’, but with a loud enough sweet citric note that it almost blocks it out and makes it quite different.
Another Comme des Garcons fragrance is evidently inspired by 3. The limited edition H&M which was released along with a clothing range. When first sprayed, H&M smells like “deep heat”, the stuff that you put on sports injuries, and is more tart and acidic citrus than 3, with a different rubber and gin note. The drydown is grey feeling Cedar with a tangy lemon citrus – it also brings to mind rubbery petals with pine wood. H&M is fun and if you can get a steal on it, go for it.
2 opens with a blast of nose tingling Aldehydes, not at all like the fatty aldehydes used in No5 or White Linen, with bright fruity notes. A slight sugar note lingers for a few seconds, then the smell is of a fruit cocktail – but not overly sweet like many fruity florals are. The Magnolia note is very prominent to me, too, and it smells almost feminine for a while.
Eau de Parfum opens with a strong blast of sweet spices, it’s almost dry. There is also a note that smells “sticky” to me behind the spicy opening – lots of Nutmeg with Geranium, with the other spices as a background. What first struck me about the fragrance was the distinct feeling of calm it creates. It relaxes me. The image it evokes is an old Herbalist’s store, the medicines all smelling beautiful and a warm glow from the gas lamps. Imagine the smell of all the spicy things from a store like ‘Lush’, and I think you’d get an idea.
