I must admit that summer can be oppressive. So many of the perfumes I love start feeling like a cage during hot weather. Citrus colognes are not really an option for me: my brain cells just don’t register them, I forget them a few minutes later. Comme des Garçons 3 is one of the few perfumes I have that are truly meant to be worn in the summer. Released in 2002 and created by Mark Buxton, it is constructed to fulfill the brief of an imaginary flower, a futuristic flower that exists somewhere out there in the vast Universe, but not here on earth. To my nose however this is nothing like a flower. I would say that it is a strange, newly discovered fruit. A fruit that is still green and unripe. When I try to cut it open with my knife this is what I am up against with: the dark green skin erupts giving out a a shiny, tart smell similar to the smell of mango skin. Bitter and volatile, it reminds me of wood varnish. Under this fruit’s skin there is an almost translucent flesh, like the flesh of pitaya, only colored green. The taste is refreshing but alarmingly not sweet. I get hints of cilantro, which is still refreshing, coupled with shiny, cool basil, but after this I get the strangest aftertaste: wasabi… It’s not as hot as wasabi itself but it certainly tingles the tongue in the most unusual way. And it has this earthy, rooty vibe, as if this fruit were plucked prematurely, with the juices of its mother plant still filling it with their forces.
Comme des Garçons 3 is above all a fun perfume. I always smile when I spray it. It is like taking a walk through a tropical forest. so dense that the rays of sun can never pierce through. And then you end up on a deserted beach, no one in sight, only a big pile of exotic fruits there to welcome you. Fruits you’ve never seen before, so wildly colored and oddly shaped that you are not even sure if it safe to eat them. But you’re so thirsty and you feel so happy that you succumb to the temptation and you taste them all… Each one tastes stranger than the next and more addictive. And as you are completely absorbed in this tasting experience, a small creature with green eyes, fuchsia fur, electric blue wings with yellow stripes and a crest of lime feathers jumps out of the sea and chirping and starts playing with you, tossing you shells before it jumps on your lap and starts ruffling your hair with its paws. It’s silly, I know, but I love it! Unlike most recent Comme des Garçons releases which seem to explore monochromatic notes in a minimalist way, or heavier, classical perfumes like Daphne, Comme des Garçons 2 and Patchouli Luxe, Comme des Garçons 3 has a quite unique style of its own. It is complex but it doesn’t set out to complicate things.
Notes from Parfumo: Ambergris, Basil, Birch essence, Angelica, Gingko leaf, Gaiac wood, Jasmine sambac, Java vetiver, Cardamom, Lebanese cedarwood, Magnolia leaf, Mandarin, Mace, Guinea pepper, Patchouli, Rose oxide, Red pepper, Sandalwood, Black rose leaf, Black currant
Notes from my nose: mango skin, cilantro, basil, wasabi
Memory Of Scent 
Sounds….interesting! I will have to try soon before summer ends!
This is one perfume I could never relate to nor understand. I picked up a bottle cheaply at a flea market, read about the supposed flowers, but all I could smell was a kind of futuristic pine smell; coniferous, dry and unpleasant. I gave it to a friend, eventually, and the tangy fruit wood smell of the perfume smelled quite good on her in a limited capacity. I wish I had had similar feelings to you about it instead, but rather than refreshing and captivating I found it somewhat deadening.
This is definitely a strange one, mostly because it uses all these savory notes that one would normally find on a sushi plate or a thai restaurant. Nothing to do with flowers of course. But on my skin it stays fresh, bright and cool and I love it for this.