Issey Miyake
Issey Miyake
76 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
A bracing slap of lime brightened with coriander's peppery spice creates an almost medicinal freshness, herbaceous and deliberately astringent. The synthetic quality announces itself immediately—this is clearly not a natural citrus expression, but rather a crystalline, almost steroid-enhanced version of freshness that feels slightly otherworldly.
The leathery heart emerges with calculated restraint, adding a cool, metallic whisper rather than any genuine leather character. The spice persists stubbornly, now layered with woody notes that feel architectural and geometric, preventing the fragrance from ever settling into comfort or warmth. This phase is decidedly cerebral, intellectual, slightly alienating.
Amber and woody notes establish themselves as a cool, synthetic base that remains deliberately transparent and distant. Rather than enveloping, this dry down feels observational—you can smell it clearly from arm's length, maintaining its aloofness throughout. The fragrance ends as it began: conceptual rather than sensual, cool rather than embracing.
Nuit d'Issey Bleu Astral occupies an intriguing liminal space—caught between the crisp meridian clarity of a fresh fragrance and the shadowy allure of something altogether stranger. The lime-coriander opening promises convention, but this is a false flag. What unfolds is a fragrance possessed by an almost architectural austerity, one that privileges synthetic transparency over naturalistic warmth. The leathery heart notes arrive not as soft suede or buttery aniline, but as something cooler and more synthetic—a tactile illusion rather than an olfactory one, as if you're smelling the *idea* of leather rendered through crystalline molecules.
This is fundamentally a fragrance for the cerebral wearer, someone drawn to conceptual perfumery over sensorial comfort. The woody-amber base feels deliberately restrained, refusing to bloom into the soft, enveloping cocoon that most designers would engineer at this price point. Instead, it maintains a peculiar distance, like studying a landscape through frosted glass. The spice accord (88%) manifests not as warmth but as sharpness—coriander's peppery bite persists throughout, preventing any softening.
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3.0/5 (82)