You have to be a chypre junkie to appreciate, or even love, this fragrance. Because in contrast to many fragrances with a more or less clear chypre tendency, but with a different focus, 'Kintsugi' is a real thoroughbred or hardcore chypre
From the head, to the heart, down to the base - all the unfolding chords, facets and nuances fit seamlessly into the overarching chypre concept.
Speaking of 'seamless' - which brings us to the subject: 'Kintsugi', or also 'Kintsukuroi' is the Japanese art form of the decorative joining of broken porcelain. The fractures are glued together with the help of a gold-containing varnish and now run like golden veins through the brightly shimmering ceramic. Only through the break and the subsequent healing of the break does the actual art form called 'Kintsugi' emerge.
Applied to the fragrance of the same name, one could now come up with the obvious idea that the oak moss, so essential for Chypres, takes on the role of the gold varnish and combines the individual fragrance components equally.
But that's not the case at all, and that's what makes 'Kintsugi' so special.
Kintsugi is more like a Mitsouko 2.0
If the legendary Guerlain fragrance is dominated from head to toe by oakmoss, the patchouli, or a so-called 'patchouli heart', takes over this role in 'Kintsugi', an absolute that has been stripped of all the creaky and musty aspects of the once so popular patchouli oils by fragmentation. Again, those parts were put together that give a moist, mossy, woodsy-earthy scent, or as one supplier describes it: " ...you can detect dead leafs, wet wood and an earthy odour... It also recalls the smell of rain."
Patchouli, together with labdanum and bergamot, the indispensable oakmoss, has always been a secondary ingredient, and the perfumer wanted to achieve a chypre effect. But since the use of oakmoss (and the cheaper tree moss) has been reduced to a homeopathic dose, good advice is expensive and alternatives are feverishly sought. Synthetic mosses were used with varying degrees of success, and even oak moss, which was laboriously freed from the incriminated atranol, did not prove to be completely convincing, as it lost its ability to serve as a fixative.
After the failure of the main actor, the patchouli now apparently steps up to the ramp. Already for his chypre scent 'French Affair' Quentin Bisch focused much more clearly on this highly complex fragrance than on the no less complex oak moss. James Heeley's 'Chypre 21' was even more patchouli-centered. The moss, which is of little use to him, basically serves only as a fig leaf and adds another fragrance component to the chypre framework: algae.
Vanina Muracciole is also said to have worked with Japanese red algae, at least that is what 'cafleurbon.com' claims. In contrast to 'Chypre 21', however, the algae is less obvious in my opinion.
In general, 'Chypre 21' can be compared to 'Kintsugi', as both fragrances not only have a large intersection of notes, but also smell quite similar. Kintsugi' is in a way the extract version of 'Chypre 21', its even fuller, even darker, even more bitter-scented version. And indeed, the Masque scent far surpasses that of James Heeley in terms of durability and projection (which is a good thing, as the sparse 35ml should last for a while and the exorbitant price becomes bearable ...).
But, 'Kintsugi' is not just the perfume version of 'Chypre 21', the fragrance also takes the final and decisive step in reviving the chypre genre: it dispenses entirely with oakmoss and, as you hear, with the use of synthetic substitutes such as evernyl.
Thus, the mission 'Resurrection of a Believed Dead' finds its glorious, hopefully only temporary end with 'Kintsugi' and all chypre enthusiasts should actually be cheering with joy.
Alone, they don't...
In the comments on the fragrance, the associations range from painters' department, ashtrays, strict imitation leather, freshly cut raw potatoes, to bad breath
General helplessness is followed by brusque rejection, and only a few can take anything away from 'Kintsugi'.
Strange - I think this fragrance is fantastic!
I can understand all the cited associations to some extent, apart from bad breath, but I do not share them. The potato and the painting department are the ones I can do best, because I find a tart, dusty, vegetable, earthy and moist scent at the heart of the fragrance, the Patchouli-Ceur.
But despite the omnipresence of this patchouli coeur, the accompanying notes so typical of Chypres, such as bergamot and rose, are quite recognizable. Magnolia contributes a subtle white-flowered chord, 'Ambrinol' in turn the leathery and animalistic facets of 'Ambregris'. A hint of unsweet vanilla gives the fragrance a certain roundness without pushing it too much in an oriental direction, and violet and raspberry leaf provide a little green freshness.
The putty that holds all these notes together - to get back to the art form 'Kintsugi' - is said 'patchouli coeur'.
The creators of the fragrance wanted it to mutate into gold varnish and to decoratively cover the individual notes, similar to cracked ceramics.
Was this project a success? Is the entire inspiration implemented in a comprehensible way?
I mean, yes, very well
Purists will object naggingly that 'Kintsugi' is not chypre at all, as there is no oak moss far and wide. Yeah, you're right. The cathedral of Florence was also accused of not being a real cathedral at all, as it was not finished in the Gothic style, but in the new forms of the Renaissance.
There are times when things change fundamentally, and in terms of chypre fragrance, the changing of the guard of the oak moss by patchouli seems to be the beginning of such a time. Sure, the new, modern chypres smell a little different, especially in the rear, the patchouli leaves a slightly different basic tone. But everything that makes a chypre, the typical bitter bitterness, the mineral-salty dampness reminiscent of ink, the earthy-woody undertones - it's all there!
It should also be mentioned that 'Kintsugi' can be worn by all sexes. Men may find the fragrance too feminine because of its floral components, women may find it too masculine because of its dark-bitter hue - but wasn't that already the case with 'Mitsouko'?
Top Notes 
Heart Notes 
Base Notes 
Holscentbar
NicheOnly
Punkmotel
Eryina
