Reviews of Coney Island by Bond No. 9

Margaritas and caramel corn fill the air on the boardwalk. Salty brine laps against the shoreline, spraying mist into the air that soaks into the weathered timbers of the pier. Nighttime descends, and the air is getting chilly as summer concedes to the onset of fall.

Set Sail St Barts comes to mind in the opening. Salty, blue(aquatic), lime. Later, it becomes more "blue", like a mix of D&G Light Blue, Cool Water and still some of the Set Sail St Barts. Later in the drydown, it becomes slightly lighter, less sharp and even more feminine with the musks.

Overall, it is clean and mostly aquatic. Feels casual and good for warmer weather.

Performance is solid on my skin with good projection and all-day longevity.

This is a really unique fragrance that smells like nothing else out there. It opens with the scent of a margerita on the rocks - full with the scent of lime, tequila, and ice. As it dries down, I smell oddly the notes of chocolate and guava. I think they were trying to capture the feel of Coney Island in New York with treats and fruit juice and margeritas everywhere. Performance is also stellar. Due to the gourmand nature of this fragrance but with its fresh opening, it may be a bit strange for some. However, I personally really like it. I feel it's like a niche version of Tommy Bahama Set Sail St. Barts (a fragrance which I sold once I smelled Coney Island).

4/5

This one ranks pretty low on my scale for a Bond.
At first, it smelled like candy in a trash can. It works well layered with Little Italy, but is not worth retail price.

heavy salt and there is something in there that's very off putting to me. just doesn't work for me.cant get pass that pungent bitter salty vibe....

Love this stuff. It took me a little bit to appreciate just how interesting it is...

Strangely enough, at first it seemed linear to me.

I don't know how I had that impression. The way this scent changes with time is a big part of what I like about it.

The actual accord is difficult to describe. But, for me, it definitely conjures boardwalk/twilight imagery.

This is one I'll always have in the collection.

I do think the projection/longevity could be better, but I just go a bit heavy with the sprays.

One of the most unique scents in the Bond line. Starts with a lime "margarita" then it develops into the reason I bought it, the caramel, chocolate, salty scent that has a smell that you can truly taste. The salty smell also gives off a feeling of being at the beach where the salt just lingers out of the ocean into the air. Real neat stuff. I don't like the first 30 minutes or so on me, but when it calms it's really nice.

If you're lucky enough to catch the guava notes then you will be truly blown away by this one.

I sampled Coney Island while looking for some new summer fragrances for my collection. I typically avoid the Bond line because of their prices (but if you look hard enough you can find them reasonable), and they seem to appeal to a younger, less conservative crowd. However, I have to say I really liked this one.

IMO Coney Island is a more complex version of a Tommy Bahama scent or one of the CK Summer editions. The whole composition is very pleasant and has a nice, yet sweet, ocean vacation appeal. I don't think the comparison to Creed's VIW is accurate, as I didn't get any of the suntan lotion scent that dominates VIW. Another thing that impressed was that CI lasted a long, long time on my skin, 8+ hours, with average to soft projection. Incredibly good for s summer fragrance.

Great fragrance, but it doesn't fit what I'm looking for right now.

Coney Island is a weird yet fun fragrance. First of all, I was surprised to see a fragrance with these type of notes being marketed for summer use. Cinnamon, chocolate, cedar? YIKES! Well...... Not so much. :) Coney Island is a unique composition that starts off with a blast of melon, cinnamon & aqua notes. The beginning is strong & comes at you full force, but don't let that steer you away from this beauty. As it mellows down after a couple of hours, the musk, chocolate, lime & melon all appear on my skin in harmony with no note outdoing the other.

Coney Island projects nicely and last about 8 hours on my skin, which is good for a summer marketed fragrance as many of them are fleeting. I would think the cinnamon, chocolate, cedar & sandalwood are responsible for the fragrance holding up thus far along with higher quality of materials used. The only thing problem I find with Coney Island is versatility! If your not going to a beach & or amusement park, picnic, maybe even a zoo, I don't see where this would fit in. I would not wear this to the office as it does not fit in with that type of setting at least for me.

I do applaud Bond No 9 for creating a fragrance such as this. They stepped out on a limb & ran like the dickens! Rather you like this or not, it deserves credit for what it is.

There is something in the composition of perfumes from many houses that makes them identifiable. It's not universal, but you can recognize a classic Guerlain when you come across it. Similarly, Caron, Estée Lauder, Montale, Amouage. It might be a similarity of style, it might be recognizeable notes. How many times have you heard people comment on the Guerlinade base, or that Andy Tauer's perfumes having a similar drydown?

There are many reasons for using a common base. For some houses, Guerlain, de Nikolai, Amouage it's the result of deliberate concept, or school of composition. In some other houses, it feels a bit more insular, the the range of perfumes in a line is smaller. Look at Montale, Juliet Has a Gun, Maison Francis Kurkdjian. I can't really determine, and therefore try not to judge, whether the similarities among the line are intentional or not. A line might want to leave a calling card as it were. Recognition is the first step and branding, and most up-and-coming houses seek brand identifiability.

Christ, did Bond no Nine choose the wrong smell to identify their line.

Coney comes two years after it's direct predecessor, Bleecker Street, and in the same year as it's soul sibling in the Creed line, Virgin Island Water. Bleecker Street was a spectacular failure, attempting to merge the aquatic and gourmand trends in the same perfume. Not looking for nuanced composition, it simply thought it could get 200% fragrance in one bottle. Fulfilling multiple axioms in one fell swoop, bond No 9 is doomed to repeat the worst of their history. And while I'm not sure who got fooled first with Bleecker St and then again with Coney Island, to paraphrase W, I won't get fooled again.

The common thread to Bleecker, Coney and Virgin Island is the concentration of artificial flavors and qualities. Synthetic aromachemicals have made contemporary perfumery possible. But if quality is ignored, the synthetic/'natural' dichotomy isn't even worth discussing. In more careful hands, the aquatic/gourmand proposition might work. All I mean to say is that for a successful joining of disparate elements, more is required that pouring them into the same bottle, which is fundamentally what was done in Coney Island.

As if attempting to create a hyper-flavored 100% calorie free superfood, Bond squeeze the rancid quality of fat replacements, such as pure 'butter flavor', and the musk-buoyed motion sickness of fake piña colada mix (is there any other kind of piña colada mix?) into one lingering sick feel. You know story of the drunk vomiting person saying it was the last martini that did it, implying that puking had nothing to do with the eight that preceded it? Coney Island is the legendary ninth Martini.

I don't understand these perfumes, and facetiousness aside, they present me with a question to consider. I've read reviews at Basenotes and Fragrantica, and apparently there are people who like Coney Island. Is there any scent that is universally revolting? I don't find Secretions Magnifiques completely unappealing, but most find it universally repulsive.

Coney Island does inadvertently bring up an important point in perfumery and criticism. I don't like the smell of Virgin Bleecker Island, but preferences and opinions aren't the whole point. I started this website in order to separate myself from public sites that tend to make the consideration of perfumes just a weighing in of opinion. In all subjective matters, opinions will be formed. Should opinion be the last stop in the discussion? My conclusion that Bleecker St, Coney Island and Virgin Island Water are similarly flawed compositionally and unsuccessful in their aims, isn't simply a loud way of saying that I don't like them. It's a critique of an aesthetic product.

from scenthurdle.com

Genre: Woods

Coney Island is kooky enough not to smell like a knock-off of another successful niche fragrance, and I give Bond No. 9 some credit for that. It starts out as a tart tropical fruit punch, but without the coconut of Virgin Island Water or the woody underpinning of Bahiana and Eau du Sud. Lacking these or their equivalent, Coney Island turns sour, thin, and more than a little abrasive as it develops. Perhaps this is meant to reflect the tacky/tawdry atmosphere of the scent's namesake park. If that's the case, too much has been sacrificed to metaphor.

Some time into the development a sweet melon note and what may well be the listed caramel rise to prominence and add a hard candy sweetness to the mix. Mercifully, the listed chocolate note doesn't make much impact, but the central accord steadily sweetens toward a very lightly spiced vanilla drydown.

Oceanic boozy note and opening that lasts more than an hour..overapplied in damp heat...great scents for the Tropics!

What a truly strange smell this is. Don't let the topnotes fool you - it's a bright explosion of sweet lime made sparkly and effervescent by a generous dollop of aldehydes. As the lime quickly fades, a subtle ginger comes in, meshing with the aldehydes to create a CDG Soda effect, but that is fleeting as well. The real stars of Coney Island are the weird chemicals.

This one sent me running to my little box of chemical ingredients to try to figure out what I was smelling. There are those aldehydes, which smell sparkly when mixed with citrus or ginger but more like frothed egg whites on their own (I can definitely see how other reviewers have said this smells like eggs - it's those aldehydes). There's an overdose of calone, which has an eggy undertone itself, but mostly smells like salt. And there's also a ton of Allyl Amyl Glycolate, which is sort of like a fake galbanum, but with a huge plasticky chemical brightness to it. All the ingredients listed in the pyramid (chocolate? cinnamon? whatever...) are overwhelmed by the chemical smells and only vaguely seem to ground the crazy synthetics.

Honestly, I've enjoyed wearing Coney Island, but only because I'm an ingredient nerd. I don't think it smells very good (more like a chemistry experiment gone haywire than anything remotely "beachy"), but it's kept me entertained. Points for weirdness, but with points deducted for smelling kind of gross, so I'm splitting the difference with a neutral rating...

Interesting[LEFT][/LEFT]It took me a while to get used to this scent. It smells like the beach in a way that is very different than how most perfumes handle it. It doesn't have any of that "fresh air accord," nor any trace of island flowers.Personally, to me, it smells more like Montauk (the beach, not the perfume) or Cape Cod. It sure doesn't remind me of Coney Island.Coney Island (the beach) has a very distinctive smell. I can't really put my finger on what it is, but I think it's a combination of the sand there and the wood used for the boardwalk when it's wet. (The sand is brought in from Florida.) You could blindfold me and bring me there and from the smell alone, I would know I was there.Bond No. 9's Coney Island is a very unique scent. It captures the smell of salt air. I almost expect my skin to feel tacky when I use it. Light, yet long-lasting. Nice for the summer.Pros: Smells like salt air, long-lastingCons:

I'm sorry but I don't smell any type of margarita or citrus in this scent. Being from Ca. I've had my fair share of Margarita's & this doesn't smell like any of the ones I've had. In fact when I first bought it & put it on I hated it! It smelled like wet dog! I admit my olfactory system tends to get a bit loopy after migraines but I wasn't liking it.

Then of course after about 1/2 hour it changed & I started to like it. I can't pick out singular notes like a lot other basenote reviewers but it does smell very clean & refreshing after it dry's and has decent staying power.

It's not a favorite of mine but it has it's moments & uses. I'll definitely be wearing this in the late Spring & Summer.

I like this scent, I really do..but not as a fragrance. If I had a can of this sitting in the bathroom for those times when you need a strong smell to cover up ...you get the picture. The margarita and caramel chocolate blends well, I truly smell the margarita!! I just wouldn't want it on me, or someone I was near. Like most Bonds, it is linear and dries down similar to when first applied.

Nice summer scent that starts very citrusy and refreshing,

The heart is caramelised sugar that gets wrapped up in vanilla and woody notes after a while.

The longevity is good for about 6 hours max.

Lovely bottle and packaging, however on the down side, the price tag is just excessive for what the juice quality is all about.

Get it at a reduced price if you can.

Thumbs up!

Melon, guava, burst of citrus, margarita, sea breeze and gourmand notes. How could this go wrong?

The opening is shrill and harsh, far too much citrus. The scent, in all fairness, does improve after an hour, but never to the point where I would consider recommending it or buying it.

Bond tried to go for an island vibe, but it has to be done in a convincing manner, rather than a hodge-podge mix of ingredients.

This is overpriced for what you get. For $200, this, at least in my opinion, isn't worth it. It is designer quality at a niche price. If this were sold at retail for under $100 (a price that is good enough for Dior/Chanel/Hermes/Mugler), it could become a classic (or at least a cult classic).

I smelled my first Bond No.9 - OH MY GOODNESS!! First i thought it smelled of rotten eggs..and moved away from the counter fast - the sales assistant kind of over-sprayed this stuff on me, but after 30 mins - this is just freaking unbelievable!!!! very good life on this one last at least 8 hours - superb dry down, pretty melony and sweet gourmandish but not the kind that gives you an headache, the dry down smells expensive not cheap, the citrus and melon smells real, not synthetic - yes it was just a tad weird when i first sprayed it, but hell yeah i am gonna rock this, this scent makes me happy, confident, unique...the longer its on my skin, its morphing into something so beautiful that is unusual and unique, i also get some incense in the middle which is just fascinating! Rock it baby hell yeah!

I've just this week tried this and on paper it smells good. So I got a sample and it wasn't a spray but a splash. I put some on and I didn't get much of the margarita smell on me compare to what I got on the paper. However the scent was pretty good. My daughter said I smelled a little like egg. I though it smelt good but I guess this isn't a compliment getter like I thought it would be...i didnt here a thing from a woman unless I asked them for their opinion which as mostly of "you smell nice". Personally I like it a lot.

I've just this week tried this and on paper it smells good. So I got a sample and it wasn't a spray but a splash. I put some on and I didn't get much of the margarita smell on me compare to what I got on the paper. However the scent was pretty good. My daughter said I smelled a little like egg. I though it smelt good but I guess this isn't a compliment getter like I thought it would be...i didnt here a thing from a woman unless I asked them for their opinion which as mostly of "you smell nice". Personally I like it a lot.

I've just this week tried this and on paper it smells good. So I got a sample and it wasn't a spray but a splash. I put some on and I didn't get much of the margarita smell on me compare to what I got on the paper. However the scent was pretty good. My daughter said I smelled a little like egg. I though it smelt good but I guess this isn't a compliment getter like I thought it would be...i didnt here a thing from a woman unless I asked them for their opinion which as mostly of "you smell nice". Personally I like it a lot.