Disclaimer: I am not a professional perfumer or have a professional background in the field. This is not sponsored. All opinions are my own. Although genders are referred to in this review, I believe anybody can wear any scent they like and no one needs to wear stereotypical male/masculine or female/feminine scents.
I have been on the hunt for a signature scent recently, so I have been doing lots of research on fragrances and perfumes. In my research, one brand that caught my eye was Maison Margiela’s REPLICA brand. I love the packaging of the bottles, the names of all the fragrances are so unique, and they have some incredible reviews. I was intrigued by some of the descriptions, but I didn’t want to spend a whopping $135 on a bottle or even $30 on a travel size bottle to test it out without smelling the fragrances. In this scenario, I would normally test all of the fragrances at Sephora, but that’s not allowed right now due to Covid-19. I ended up finding a limited edition “Discovery Set” on Sephora’s website that contains 10 sample sizes of their most popular fragrances and was (still is being sold) only $35! You bet yourself that I bought it right away! The Discovery Set includes: Jazz Club, Springtime in a Park, Under the Lemon Trees, By the Fireplace, At the Barber’s, Bubble Bath, Sailing Day, Whispers in the Library, Beach Walk, and Lazy Sunday Morning.
For context, I gravitate more towards musky fragrances that have a slight sweetness to them. Personally, I’m not the biggest fan of floral or overbearing scents. Spoiler, there’s a wide variety of all different kinds of scents in this set. By no means am I a professional or even good at detecting and describing scents, but here’s my opinion and review of every REPLICA fragrance in the Discovery Set:
Jazz Club
Details:
- Fragrance Description: heady cocktails and cigars
- Fragrance Family: warm + spicy
- Key Notes: pink pepper, rum absolute, tobacco leaf absolute
- Style Description: male fragrance
- Sephora Page: Jazz Club
My thoughts:
The first note I smell is pepper. After that I smell traditional musk, then cigar smoke. Personally, I would not wear this scent. It really does smell like a room filled with people subtly smoking cigars, kind of like what I envision an old jazz club smelling and feeling like. Anyone can wear and rock this scent, but it does say it’s a male fragrance. If a guy I was interested in wore it, I think I would like it. I don’t know another way to describe it besides it being a very musky fragrance with a peppery and smokey twist.
Springtime in a Park
Details:
- Fragrance Description: blossoms and fruity notes
- Fragrance Family: floral
- Key Notes: pear accord, lily of the valley accord, musks
- Style Description: female and male fragrance
- Sephora Page: Springtime in a Park
My thoughts:
I tend to prefer muskier scents, but this one is really nice and refreshing. The first note I smell is a floral scent, but almost immediately after I smell a true pear scent, and then a little while after that I smell a slight musk. I like this scent. It’s not your typical overbearing floral and fruity scent, but you definitely can detect floral and fruity notes.
Under the Lemon Trees
Details:
- Fragrance Description: relaxing and bright lemon
- Fragrance Family: fresh
- Key Notes: kalmansi accord, coriander, musk
- Style Description: female and male fragrance
- Sephora Page: Under the Lemon Trees
MY THOUGHTS:
Wow interesting. I thought this was going to be a fruity and citrusy lemon scent, but it’s darker than that. The first note I smell is lemon and immediately after is musk. It also kind of smells like a lemon rind. I think it’s a very unique scent, as it’s slightly citrusy and slightly musky – I like it. It’s a fresh and dark scent all at the same time. If you like lemon scents, but don’t want the sweetness that often comes along with them, this one could be for you!
By the Fireplace
Details:
- Fragrance Description: burning wood and chestnut
- Fragrance Family: warm + spicy
- Key Notes: clove oil, chestnut accord, vanilla accord
- Style Description: female and male fragrance
- Sephora Page: By the Fireplace
My thoughts:
Right off the bat I’m just going to say that this is my favorite scent out of all of them and definitely one of my top favorite fragrances of all time. This scent is very interesting. The first time I used this fragrance, I actually didn’t like it, because when you first spray it on, it legitimately smells like a fire. I’ve used it a few times since then and have realized that after letting it settle for a few minutes, it smells amazing. On me, it smells like vanilla, musk, and a slight fire scent. It’s warm and musky at the same time and it’s just great. If you try this out (or any other fragrance for that matter), my biggest tip is to not judge it right away and let it settle before forming your opinion!
At the Barber’s
Details:
- Fragrance Description: shaving and leathery notes
- Fragrance Family: earthy + woody
- Key Notes: basil accord, lavendar, tonka bean
- Style Description: male fragrance
- Sephora Page: At the Barber’s
My thoughts:
What an interesting fragrance! Immediately it smells like typical shaving cream, then has notes of musk and wood. It smells quite fresh, while also being musky. It honestly smells like a guy after he gets out of the shower.. is that weird? Personally, I wouldn’t wear it, but if a guy I was interested in wore it, I would like it and think that he was freshly showered and clean.
Bubble Bath
Details:
- Fragrance Description: comforting clean accords
- Fragrance Family: fresh
- Key Notes: soap bubble accord, rose superessence, white musk, coconut milk accord
- Style Description: female and male fragrance
- Sephora Page: Bubble Bath
My thoughts:
This one isn’t necessarily bad, but it’s probably one of my least favorites out of the bunch. It immediately smells soapy and floral, then slightly has notes of rose and musk. I’m not super keen on very floral scents and this kind of just smells like floral soap. It’s one of those fragrances that’s a little too overbearing in my opinion.
Sailing Day
Details:
- Fragrance Description: aquatic deep sea
- Fragrance Family: fresh
- Key Notes: aquatic accord, coriander, red seaweed essence
- Style Description: female and male fragrance
- Sephora Page: Sailing Day
My thoughts:
I’m not kidding, I just smelled this and said “woah.” I’m not the biggest fan of this scent. To me, it smells like the ocean, salt, and slightly like seaweed. At first it smells like a typical fresh aquatic scent, but then it kind of hits you with salt and seaweed, which I don’t love. I mean, it does smell kind of like how I imagine the deep sea would smell, so it has that going for it! To be fair, I don’t like seaweed, so I’m not the best person to judge it.
Whispers in the Library
Details:
- Fragrance Description: paper and waxed wood
- Fragrance Family: warm + spicy
- Key Notes: pepper essence, tonka bean asolute, cedarwood
- Style Description: female and male fragrance
- Sephora Page: Whispers in the Library
My thoughts:
Ooo I like this scent. It honestly kind of smells like an old library or old book. It’s peppery, but also has a lovely small amount of sweetness (I think it’s caramel or vanilla) to it that I really like. This is definitely one of my favorites out of all of these fragrances. If you’re looking for a perfect balance of musk and sweet, but not overbearing at all, I think you would really like this. It’s very unique and just lovely.
Beach Walk
Details:
- Fragrance Description: sun kissed salty skin
- Fragrance Family: fresh
- Key Notes: bergamot, heliotrope, coconut milk
- Style Description: female fragrance
- Sephora Page: Beach Walk
My thoughts:
I typically don’t like floral scents, but this one is really nice. Right off the bat it smells like salty air and sunscreen, then it hits with floral notes, but it’s not overbearing. It’s a perfect blend of floral and fresh scents. It honestly reminds me of being at the beach. It kind of smells like how my car smells on the drive home from the beach with my friends. I know that a lot of people who like floral and fresh scents tend to wear very overbearing fragrances. If you want a floral and fresh fragrance that is not overbearing, this would be a great option for you!
Lazy Sunday Morning
Details:
- Fragrance Description: soft skin and bed linen
- Fragrance Family: floral
- Key Notes: lily of the valley, iris, white musk
- Style Description: female fragrance
- Sephora Page: Lazy Sunday Morning
My thoughts:
I actually really like this one. It’s a very subtle scent. I immediately smell a subtle floral scent and a subtle musk scent and they both blend beautifully. I really really like it. It has the least overbearing scent out of all of these fragrances. I think this would be a great everyday feminine, but not too feminine, fragrance.
Overall, I think that REPLICA has some amazing fragrances. They have a wide range of warm and spicy, earthy and woody, floral, fruity, and fresh scents. If it’s still in stock, I highly recommend getting the Discovery Set, as it will help you decide what fragrances you like and don’t like. In my experience, the fragrances last for a long time on the skin and the scents continue to get better over time. I may or may not do more searching, but I honestly think that By the Fireplace will be my signature scent. It just sends me to the moon.
I hope that this very unprofessional and opinionated review helped you hehe! If you have any questions or thoughts, leave them in the comments down below! If you’d like to browse through more beauty related posts, check this page out!
