HS3

Recently, the house of Narciso Rodriguez released a his and hers limited edition version of their hugely popular musc series in EDP form (and a new, different formulation). I was in Saks over a month ago when my SA showed me the limited edition musc for him tester they had from under the counter. She said that they had only gotten 3 bottles, and they had all sold the day they got them. I tried the tester and got the familiar Narciso musc notes, but with a twist. This is like a combination of the musc oil for him and the regular musc for him EDT. It is said to be “a tribute to musk” and it lives up to its billing. It’s by no means a dirty musk – you won’t be howling or wondering whether people will think you just forgot to bathe. Among the listed notes are musk, iris, and pink berries.

A few weeks went by and I got an email from my SA that she had gotten a couple more bottles in and had one put aside for me. It was only $59 (minus the 10% off for a Friends & Family event), but the difficulty of tracking a bottle of this down makes the price a non-factor. It’s no easy feat to find one. I eagerly picked it up (and was also talked into a bottle of the new Tom Ford Urban Musk by the Tom Ford reps on hand during the event… another fabulous musk) and wore it that night.

The bottle is gorgeous as well – it’s similar to the regular musc for him, but the lining inside the heavy glass is metallic. The sprayer is also just as full and sturdy as you’ll find on the EDT. I am by no means a one scent kind of person, but if I was forced to narrow it down to 10, this would certainly be a top contender. I’ll post a few more photos of the great bottle this week.

I’ve always liked finding real photos of bottles, rather than just the press release images or product shots that are doctored to look perfect. Those images make it hard to really see what the bottle looks like. A perfect case of that would be this Maîtres Tailleurs.

I always assumed it was more of a variation on the MPG bottles, but in fact, it’s completely different. From the product shots, I didn’t realize it had the flat sides and round front and back. You would also never realize how nicely constructed it is. The wooden cap has great texture and feel – there’s a great deal of heft to the bottle and things fit together nicely like they should. No shoddy Bond No. 9 style caps (I have 3 that the inner metal ring is loose and cames off), or caps that make you think you’ll break them to pull off either.

It has a good, full spray and the mechanism doesn’t seem like it’ll have any issues in the future with fizzling out or leaking (Creed! That’s you, here).

Gorgeous bottle – it has a great color to the glass and picks up different light and seems to color shift. Sometimes it’s blue, sometimes purple. I didn’t have much luck showing that here, but it’s quite nice in the hand. Incidentally, the liquid inside is just as nice – a crisp, modern take on a traditional EDC.