Nouveau Bowery
Bond No. 9 (2003)

This is a beautiful green lime fragrance with incredible projection and longevity. It opens with a very tart and zesty lime note as well as hints of basil in the background, and smells somewhat similar to Jo Malone's famous Lime, Basil, and Mandarin. As it dries down though, it gets even better and the lime somehow becomes more pronounced and more zesty. The lime in this smells realistically like a freshly cut tart lime (no sweetness), which I really like about it. It smells if you can imagine it, like a glass of water with ice, basil leaves, and freshly cut/squeezed limes. On the drydown I detect a slight cucumber note as well, and so it sort of reminds me of a caipirinha. I don't really detect any lily note as indicated in the notes breakdown - it's just lime, basil, and hints of cucumber from time to time. I don't like the Jo Malone that much (which I find too basil-focused and slightly too sour/bitter) but I love this due to its lime focus. Although marketed for women, I find this is pretty masculine (though a woman could wear it if she wants). Projection is strong and leaves a scent bubble around you (something I never thought I'd say about a lime-focused cologne, since the aroma molecule is generally so fleeting), while longevity is strong as well with 4 hours of solid projection, and then many more hours as a skin scent after that. Lime is my favourite note in fragrance, and I've tried a lot of lime-centred colognes. This one definitely takes the cake as the best of them to my nose however due to the mind-blowing longevity of the lime note in this, as well as its natural tartness. Wearing this after a lime aftershave splash is pretty refreshing.

5/5

Not too shabby, but not worth retail price. Nouveau Bowery is one of the more likeable fragrances from this house imo, it's made to please the masses. Lime.. who doesn't love a nice clean lime note? That's what I get in the opening here.. not as candy like, or as sweet like many lime notes, more tart here, almost like a Jean Claude Ellena take on a citrus note. I get some blonde woods in the background, right off the opening, and I can tell there's gonna be some light woods happening later on.

To my surprise, the lime note is still going strong by the 4 hour mark. Pretty impressed by that, but does it condone a 200+ dollar price tag? Not so sure yet. Mid way through and a floral like note comes out, a very soft light floral note. I am not familiar with "wild lily", but I presume that is what I am smelling here. Half way in and I am getting a clean, very fresh, almost fabric softener like smell, accompanied by a dominant lime note, still very present, but faded more. Less zesty, and fruity, and more synthetic smelling at this point. More along the lines of a cleaning solution.

By the time I smell some vetiver and oakmoss, I am 4 hours + in. The vetiver is light and lemony, the oakmoss is subtle. Not getting any patchouli though, but I only got a couple wearings from a small sample of this.

To me, there are just better, lime fragrances out there that have a long lasting lime note to feed your lime fancy. This one sits pretty close to the skin after the 1 hour mark, and then the lime becomes more of a synthetic smelling chemical lime, like I said, the equivalent of a cleaning product. For 200+ a bottle, you could do wayyyyy better.

wood, citrusy and lightly green..very much on the same wavelenght of Central Park..great..

Candy-sweet sugared limes mixed with neroli. As the lime fades, the neroli takes over, but the lime lasts forever (which is actually quite a feat!) and the fade is so perfectly orchestrated that it gives the illusion of a lime cologne that lasts all day.

By the evening, there's a subtle hint of wood that I think is petitgrain, and there's a subtle saltiness in there that feels very Bond No 9, but the star is always that super-sweet mix of lime and neroli. For the record, the neroli on my skin never let up enough for me to be able to detect the listed chypre base, which probably would have enhanced my enjoyment of Nouveau Bowery.

I'm voting neutral because I prefer my limes more puckery and less candied. And, frankly, Nouveau Bowery gets a little boring, like spending hours watching a movie screen morph from bright green to slightly different bright green. If you're a huge fan of sweet green fruity florals for men and you love yourself some lime, this is your grail. But I don't think it's mine...

A VERY fruity lime. I don't get as much lime out of Noveau Bowery as I do mangoes and other various fruits. A bit too fruity-tutty for me. It lasts a really long time, though.

Beautiful lime, lemon, citrus, zesty scent that lingers forever; reminds me of my childhood when my auntie Marta would wear Eau Folle by Guy Laroche which has now been discontinued...perfect scent for summer/autumn and anytime you want to give yourself a booster of energy...big thumbs up !!!