Bond No. 9 Saks Fifth Avenue DNA For Her and For Him

I fully realize that the hype surrounding these fragrances has long past after their 2007 launch. The buzz over Andy Warhol’s Silver Factory (arguably the best fragrance Bond No. 9 has produced) surely overshadowed any remaining excitement surrounding these scents. Even so, painting a few rooms in our home has prompted Mr. TMH and me to move furniture, belongings, organized clutter and general stuff from one room to the next. That moving process uncovered many of my belongings that I thought I had misplaced. I have never thought of myself as an unorganized woman and in fact my job requires that I be highly organized. There are only so many hours in the day and I would rather help save someone’s life than have a perfectly divided sample drawer in my home. I will get there eventually. Ah … I digress. What I found included my sample card of these two fragrances. So you see with such divine intervention, I must review them now until I misplace them again!

First, Saks Fifth Avenue DNA for Her – I really wanted to like this one. I really wanted to call it my own and buy a full Swarovski crystal bottle of it and display it like a piece of artwork on my dresser. But alone, it disappoints me – very unfortunately so. The list of notes is incredibly promising and all things that I enjoy: gardenia, tuberose, jasmine, vetiver and vanilla. Nice enough right? Unfortunately one of those notes subdues the white flowers and renders them dusty to my nose, like dried petals rather than creamy, bloomed ones. For a gorgeous white floral fragrance I defer to Jo Malone Vintage Gardenia, Estee Lauder Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia and even Annick Goutal Songes. I am very disheartened to say this because I am certain a lot of love and care went into the creation of this fragrance. But truthfully I cannot wear it on its own.

Saks Fifth Avenue DNA for Him is a different story altogether. The peppery, fresh, masculine bouquet makes me wish I had tested this a few weeks ago in order to buy it for my husband as a Valentine’s Day gift. To my delight, the “aquatic notes” never dominate, and although I find it difficult to describe men’s fragrances, I find this one very appealing. I am not certain how unique it is, for it seems I have commonly smelled fragrances like this. The notes include bergamot, aquatic notes, cardamom, amber, cedar, chili, black pepper, incense and guiac wood.

Now, for the ultimate experiment, what if we layer these two together? The beautiful and helpful sales associates at the Bond No. 9 store in New York City suggest it a fabulous idea. First dabbing For Him, followed by a generous dab of For Her creates an intriguing, earthy, peppery floral fragrance that I like so much I could care less whether the petals are dried or not. Granted I still detect the facets of For Her that I do not care for, but the gentle domination of For Him makes them somehow more tolerable. I think I just may keep these two vials to myself and wear them together. That is, if I don’t lose them.

Bond No. 9 Saks Fifth Avenue DNA For Her and For Him are available at Bond No. 9 boutiques and Saks Fifth Avenue stores. The 3.3 oz. bottles retail for $185 and For Her is available in a 1.7 oz. bottle for $125. The Swarovski crystal bottle is $55o.