CoSTUME NATIONAL Scent is a fragrance that is so familiar to me but I don’t know what the “familiar” is. This drives me nuts, but as soon as I’m able to get over guessing what Scent reminds me of, I’m able to like the fragrance.
The fragrance is a bit of “everything” at first. I get lots of sweet amber and crisp cedar. These notes are some of my favorites but Costume National does them differently. It wears sweaty and skanky on me. It smells like if my sweat had a woodsy base. (An unusual thought really). From a distance or a quick sniff, I get pretty and sweet woods with tart florals, but the closer I get to it or the longer I sniff, I get that synthetic sweaty/skanky musk note. It isn’t overwhelming and does add something. But, I can see the dirtiness turning some people off. Despite the floral notes, this one wears very masculine on me. After 30 minutes of wear, I had to look up if this wasn’t the “homme” scent. No, it’s unisex and it is Scent. I see that but it is more masculine that majority of mainstream men’s and women’s fragrances! To be fair, the “floral” notes are jasmine tea (not very floral in the floral realm) and hibiscus which wears much more like ambrette musk than a flower. This is a fragrance that I love after hours and hours and wear. The dry-down is so sexy on me. I’ll get a whiff of it and think “man, something smells fine up in here” and then realize it’s me 🙂 The dry-down is ambrette, musk, and woods. It all attaches itself to my skin, smelling both primal and sophisticated.
I like Costume National Scent EDP, but I feel it lacks something on me for most of the wear. I only start to really love it after, no joke, 3+ hours of wear. When I get to that stage, I love it. But, the other 3 hours, I feel like something isn’t “working” for me. However, Costume National Scent layers so nicely with other fragrances. It adds a sweaty amber note. More of my floral fragrances need that. So, Costume National Scent isn’t a fragrance that I see, for me, standing alone. It’s something I see enhancing any other fragrance to make it sexier. This is what makes it worth having in the collection. (However, I do like Scent Intense much better).
Contains the following listed notes: amber, jasmine tea, mother of pearl hibiscus, and woods
Give Costume National Scent a try if you like a little bit of “skank” or you are an amber fan. Costume National Scent reminds me of a few other fragrances such as Annick Goutal Musc Nomade EDP, Serge Lutens Muscs Koublai Khan EDP, Moschino Glamour EDP, and 06130 Cedre EDT. It also reminds me of a discontinued Roberto Cavalli fragrance, Oro, I think that was the name, and a discontinued fragrance in the “Pheromone” line.
The 1.7 oz. retails for $75. It is available at Apothica. Currently available at a discount on fragrancenet.com.
Hey! I have a real “what does this remind me of!?” feeling about Scent. I think it’s YSL Nu in EdT but I couldn’t be certain.
Hmmm, it’s been years since I tried Nu, either 2001 or 2002. I think it is still in production, so I’ll have to try it. I do remember liking it at the time. Nu was a very mainstream incense scent if I remember correctly.
This one is too masculine for my tastes. Like you, I thought it was for men! I then realized it was unisex, but still too masculine for me.
I didn’t find it too masculine for me to wear, but it does lean more towards the masculine end of the spectrum.
I love this one!