He Wood
Dsquared2 (2007)

Oh how I loved this one, and am sad it's discontinued and that the reviews of its replacement are mostly negative. We're almost out of it (though this is at least my second bottle of it). In addition to the beautiful bottle, I think this DOES smell of wood, a Scandinavian sauna, walk through a forest sort of feel. Vale.

The opening is green and woody with some sweet aqua notes. Doesn't smell refined. Almost like a Nautica flanker. The drydown is generic fresh/clean.

Projection is average but it does hang around all workday.

Holiday scents #10 - DSquared2 HeWood

The card accompanying the sample claims that HW is "an essence capturing a harmonious accord of air, water, wood". It aims to move through three elements / materials in that order, and lists fir, amber, and musk (top); violet leaves and blossom, and a "transparent accord - watery" [sic] (heart); and vetiver and cedar (base) respectively as the notes in what is described as a "woody vetiver".

Sadly, as far as I am concerned, the violet accords dominate throughout and are never really reined in. Any intended development is therefore dominated by this overly sweet, powdery, and too-feminine accord. The result is too redolent to sweet jars from my childhood to be anywhere to close appealing to my current tastes. Personal preference, in addition to the notion that HW fails on its own terms, means that it qualified for a thumbs down.

Going against some of the reviews here, but I really love this. For me it ticks all the boxes : violet, wood, vetiver, more violet - what's not to like. If the violet is "synthetic", it's still a gorgeous note (like Grey Flannel this is what hooked me and stopped me in my tracks). And the combination of violet and wood is just great, perfect. A bit linear, but who cares, not every scent has to take you on a "journey". For me this is a light, fresh scent, perfect for citrus-phobes like me: a great daytime, office scent. Cool, charming, light, attractive, like a spring morning walk in a wood. I've actually been complimented more on this scent than any other.
April 2016

Smells like sherbet refreshers, that's not a bad thing - but it is a bit sickly.

If you don't like sickly sweet fragrances, best avoid!

Slightly overpriced (although the market is flooded with testers and discount bottles of this), but decent enough and honestly, a bit superior to many other “cheap” mainstreams among the same price range and olfactive family. Musky violet and crisp, slightly salty Ikea woods, with a hint of rubber-petrol leather and a sprinkle of something smelling like oregano, which must be due to the same aromachemical(s) I get also in Lanvin Oxygene and Rochas Aquaman. A sort of juvenile, lighter, more herbal and more aseptic Dior's Fahrenheit: way more inoffensive than that, but still compelling enough for me. It radiates a clean, graceful sillage as much dull as comforting and undeniably nice. And ridicolously persistent. At some points it also reminds me quite a bit of Jil Sander Man from 2007, just replacing Sander's soft smoky leather with bright-herbal woods. Boring but efficient.

6,5/10