Bond No. 9
Bond No. 9
242 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Bergamot flashes briefly before black pepper detonates across the composition, its sharp heat immediately joined by lily of the valley's soapy green sweetness—an incongruous pairing that somehow works. Within minutes, coffee bean muscling through, bitter and uncompromising, turning the opening progressively darker.
The gourmand core fully emerges: cocoa powder mingles with espresso, whilst chestnuts add an almost savoury, roasted quality that prevents this from becoming a simple dessert fragrance. The pepper persists as a prickly undercurrent, creating fascinating friction against the sweet notes, as rum begins its slow seep from the base.
Vanilla and patchouli dominate the skin stage, creating a sweet-earthy haze punctuated by leather's subtle smokiness. Sandalwood provides creamy texture whilst rum lingers like the memory of spilled liquor, the entire composition settling into a warm, slightly boozy skin scent that clings tenaciously for hours.
I Love New York for All reads like a love letter to Manhattan's artisanal coffee culture, where pepper-dusted espresso meets the steam-kissed warmth of a Greenwich Village patisserie. The opening feints towards brightness with bergamot and lily of the valley, but this is mere politeness—within moments, the fragrance reveals its true appetite. Coffee bean and cocoa arrive with the intensity of a double ristretto, their bitterness tempered by the starchy sweetness of roasted chestnuts. There's a deliberate tension here between restraint and indulgence, the pepper lending a crackling heat that prevents the composition from collapsing into confectionery.
What makes this genuinely wearable rather than purely edible is the robust base architecture. Patchouli provides earthy ballast whilst rum-soaked vanilla and leather create a burnished, boozy warmth—imagine the scuffed seats of a cocktail bar at closing time, when the air still holds traces of the evening's excesses. Sandalwood adds a creamy woodiness that rounds the sharper edges without smoothing them entirely away. The leather note keeps things grounded, providing just enough animalic bite to remind you this isn't hot chocolate for children.
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3.8/5 (854)