L'Eau Super Majeure d'Issey: Fragrance Review

Today I'm going to share my thoughts on the L’Eau Super Majeure d’Issey fragrance by Issey Miyake. Many of you will be familiar with this Woody Aquatic fragrance for men. L’Eau Super Majeure d’Issey was launched in 2018. L’Eau Super Majeure d’Issey was created by Aurélien Guichard and Fabrice Pellegrin.

Top notes are Citruses, Clary Sage and Rosemary; middle notes are Sea Notes, Sea Salt, Woody Notes, Cashmeran and Patchouli; base notes are Smoke, Amberwood, Tonka Bean, Leather and Madagascar Vanilla.

The bottle:

The elongated cylindrical bottle is extremely sleek and very luxurious looking. It has the most of any fragrance bottle on my shelf. I'm not going to measure it, quite frankly I've got better things to do with my time. But you can tell by the photos, it's a struggle to get this bad boy in. Ahem.

The opening:

It's the poster child for aquatic synthetic scents. It has modern flavours, it's not too hot or alcoholic and there is a nice dusting of woods coming over the top like a gentle wave that whispers and laps soothingly around the rocks on a sheer cliff-faced peninsula.

The Middle:

I'm picturing that long walk along the beach from Lowestoft to Kessingland, 16 years old. Dead of night in the summer. Drunk and angry, I have some tales from a broken heart to tell. I shout at myself as I stumble for an hour back to camp. All that rage got out of me. The sea air sponged it all up. Is that anger still out there on the beach somewhere?

I finally get some rosemary, which transports me to my wife's homemade cooking. She makes the best beetroot and cauliflower and the rosemary sprinkled on top gives it that richness. The scent takes a few twists and turns and almost gets its feet stuck, undecided whether it's a spicy woody fragrance or a playful sporty aquatic number. The truth sits somewhere in between.

The Drydown

I return to the scent after 10 minutes and get some of that leather and Madagascar Vanilla. It has a nice landing and I'm happy with the trip down memory lane. But it's not a fragrance that takes any risks. I sure took some risks down that coast. Walking back alone at night, shouting my lungs out, attracting all the wrong kinds of attention. Well the homemade beetroot and rosemary is on the lunch menu these days, so I guess everything turned out ok.