Tuesday, 18 September 2012

Perfume-MDCI Parfums-Invasion Barbare


Sweet typical fourgere infused woods with a hint of amber-y sweetness and discreet lavender coolness marks the opening of Invasion Barbare by MDCI Parfums. It is a instant like to me, as I am a bit biased towards oriental fourgere perfume with the type of quasi wormwood-y hint.

L’Artisan’s Fou d’Absinthe come to my mind, as Invasion Barbare has this resemblance of it,  but in a more withdraw way. If Fou d’Absinthe is like this artistic guy who has this warm personality and makes you want to sniff a bit more because it’s kind of addictive (if you like those sort of woody yet aniseed spiced scent), then Invasion Barbare is like the a more businessman-like older brother of Fou d’Absinthe, I guess it’s due to the lavender and the slightly cool-powdery accord in the scent, Invasion Barbare smells like the kind of all-purpose perfume a guy in a suit might wear to work as well as to the after-work parties. It has this calm gentlemen vibe, yet modern/fashionable enough to not be mistaken as one of those oldie-but-a-goodie aftershaves and more self-assured to make a stance rather than being too sweet/distracting/womaniser-smelling—I have Le Male, Pi and a lot of the so-called metrosexual trend perfumes in mind (not saying anything negative about Le Male etc, in fact I like it, it’s just that I find in comparison with those either too sweet or too aquatic trends in the ‘male’ perfumes, Invasion Barbare is much a safer yet charming choice in some situations).

The dry down is like slightly soap-y(without the powdery soapiness)-clean-floral-musk mixed with a little bit tamed leather-y undertone. Somehow, it reminds me a little bit of Narciso Rodriguez’s limited edition of For Him-For Him Musk.

As I believe, perfumes don’t have genders attached, and I do find Invasion Barbare can be pull off by a woman perfectly, if she has the personality. Somehow, I can compare Invasion Barbare to the new release of Shalimar flanker from Guerlain, the Shalimar Parfum Initial, both has this slightly powdered accord, Shalimar Parfum Initial is more caramelised while Invasion Barbare keeps the cool of the powdery notes, with a splash of leathery musky charm, which I find more pleasing to the nose.

As much as I enjoying this scent, this is really overpriced! I thought Bond No.9 was a huge money-sucking machine, but at least you can find their fragrances at discounted rate in some quite reputable fragrance websites; while MDCI’s Invasion Barbare is hard to find and I guess people have to pay the (over)price if really wanting a bottle of this.

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