Molecule 01 + Mandarin
Escentric Molecules (2021)

Molecule 01 + Mandarin, or more specifically, Iso-E-Super + Mandarin is a perfect combination of notes. While I never cared for Molecule 1 on it's own as it played games with my perception, this combination is heaven and garners a lot of compliments when I wear it. I don't normally wear fragrance for compliments and thus don't frequently receive them, but this fragrance is a huge exception.

Opens with a sweet, sparkly mandarin and dries quickly to a mandarin plus cedar accord. There's a light creaminess, which is the IES musky tone blending in, but all in all it's very simplistic. Easy to wear and perfect for spring and summer. The more your skin heats up the better it projects, but otherwise it has an average level of sillage. Due to the fickle nature of IES to each wearer, I would recommend sampling first to see how it works on your skin, but for me it's a strong recommendation.

It's not the most natural mandarin but it's still nice and doesn't fade until much later in the day. Molecule 01 is there in the scent but in a supporting role for the citrus. Perfectly unisex and 100% ready for warm-to-hot conditions. For some reason, I could see women really going for this over guys. It smells good either way but seems like something they'd really enjoy wearing.

I get decent projection and all workday longevity.

This combination of Mandarin and Iso e Super is a true blending of very different ingredient types for a stellar new view of mandarin. Unlike the Molecule 01+Patchouli scent which focuses upon and frames the patchouli scent, Molecule 01+Mandarin is a dematerialization of mandarin into a new scent made up of its parts that have been opened up for viewing. Mandarin is perhaps the most interesting orange variety and by itself is a wonderful scent but needs other notes to make it perform in more than a one note story. The role that Iso e Super plays in its dance with mandarin here is to expand and explode the note of mandarin so that you experience the juicy sunny opening, the soaring fruity orangeness, along with a decaying dry musk like background aroma: all are exposed parts of the construction of mandarin oil. These aspects are normally hidden inside and bundled up with mandarin as the unseen umami or essence of the whole mandarin aroma. Iso e super expands the interior of mandarin so that the insights of and secrets hidden inside are now exposed. The subject becomes objectified and understood in a new way. Iso e Super is a very potent floralizer of other ingredients and thankfully mandarin holds up well to this spacial dematerialization of mandarin into an all new experience of the ingredient. Simple, sunny and pleasant to wear.