Calvin Klein
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
A sharp burst of grapefruit blossom cuts through with bergamot's peppery edge, immediately joined by mandarin's softer sweetness. Within moments, the paradisone ignites—a peachy synthetic flare that feels almost artificial in its perfection, creating a citrus-aquatic hybrid that's crisp but oddly soulless.
The seawater note emerges, bringing a mineral salinity that wrestles uncomfortably with the increasingly prominent lily. Rhubarb adds a cosmetic tartness—almost like pink grapefruit skin—whilst the floral accords tighten around a synthetic core. This phase is the scent's longest and most awkward, where nothing quite settles into harmony.
The musk and amber attempt to provide warmth, but against the persistent vetiver's green dryness, they create only a faint, chalky residue. What remains is largely olfactory memory—a skin scent so delicate it's almost imperceptible, more a suggestion of freshness than any actual fragrance presence.
CK All arrives as a deliberate contradiction—a fragrance that whispers rather than declares, yet somehow refuses to be ignored. Alberto Morillas has constructed something deceptively minimalist: the grapefruit blossom and bergamot don't announce themselves with the typical citrus fanfare, but instead establish a pale, almost watercolour quality, as though the opening notes have been diluted through gauze. There's a brightness here, certainly, but it's the brightness of fluorescent tubes rather than sunlight.
The paradisone—that synthetic peach aldehyde—becomes the fragrance's nervous system, activating a curious aquatic-floral tension with the seawater note. It's here that CK All reveals its true character: not quite fresh enough to be purely ozonic, not quite substantial enough to be a proper floral. Instead, it occupies an uncomfortable middle ground where lily and rhubarb attempt to add dimensionality, with the rhubarb providing a tart, almost cosmetic quality that feels more aldehydic than fruity. The synthetic accord (76%) isn't a flaw—it's intentional architecture, creating that detached, slightly clinical aesthetic that defines the scent's personality.
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3.5/5 (190)