Series 7 is the latest themed set of fragrances from Comme des Garcons. The series scents tend to be less complex than the "regular" perfumes in the line, and many of them focus on a single note or accord.
The sweet series strikes me as less adventurous in concept than the other series Comme des Garcons has released so far, although of course, adventurous does not always sell. Garage, for instance, from the synthetic series, is a brilliant evocation of the concrete floor of, obviously, a garage, but I would be very surprised to learn that it is a big seller for the line. At any rate, I have tested 4 of the 5 scents in Series 7; here are my brief impressions:
Burnt Sugar has notes of star anise, cinnamon, orange blossom, spice cake, honey, jasmine, milk, and vanilla. Based on the name and the notes, I was expecting something like a spicy, Asian-food inspired Crème Brulée, but this is something else entirely. I do like the spices in the top notes, but it fades rapidly to a lightly spiced floral with just a slight hint of synthetic milk & sugar. The whole thing is very short lived.
Sticky Cake has notes of almond, honey, dates, pistachio, iris, milk, brown sugar, ambrette seeds, cereal notes, and myrrh. This is a very sweet, powdery iris fragrance, with some doughy & nutty undertones. It is kind of an odd scent, and doesn’t smell like any sticky cake I am familiar with, but I don’t dislike it. It is probably too sweet for me, and I doubt I like it anywhere near the price, but it is at least worth another try, and alone among the 4 listed here, it has good lasting power.
Spicy Cocoa has notes of bergamot, grapefruit, chocolate, cardamom, fennel, coriander, black pepper, chilli, and cocoa. I rather liked this for the first 5 minutes. It smells like Mexican hot chocolate, spicy and slightly bitter, with a nice dose of fresh orange on the side. After that, it started to smell faintly synthetic, and after 15 minutes it was too faint and nondescript to have an opinion about it either way.
Wood Coffee has notes of cardamom, liquorice, ginger, almond, coffee, wood, patchouli, and vanilla. It starts with a heavy, heady mix of spices, patchouli and coffee, and calms to an earthy, woody, lightly sweet patchouli with a touch of coffee. The spices are very subdued once it settles, and I cannot smell almond at all. As I generally detest patchouli in any significant concentration, I will disqualify myself from commenting further, other than to add that the lasting power leaves something to be desired.
At $80 for 50 ml, these are considerably more expensive than the other CdG series, and it is hard to see what justifies the price. Personally I found the leaves, red and incense series far more interesting (I have not yet tried the sherbet).
I would love to hear comments on Nomad Tea, which I have not yet tried.