Hydrogen [1H]
One of Those (2012)

sparkling/fizzy/bitter orange-lime opening...somewhere between 1861/Fiero and JM Basil, Lime, Mandarin...smells like citrus rind vs. pulp/juice...pleasing blend of sweet/bitter...has that retro/modern chemosynthetic feel relating it to the likes of CDG and ELDO....synthetic, but not ashamed of it...and not being negative in that respect-have favorites from both lines...a sheet of green hanging over everything...lacks projection and longevity...not too bad...like this, but others do this blueprint/concept better...bottom line is that it's an Aromatic Citrusy summer cologne leaning toward the Italian school...aquatic in the sense of the feel of wet rocks rather than the water itself...

The beginning is exhilarating: sparkling citruses and fruit- grapefruit and pear mostly- bubbling and fizzing like a primordial hydrogen cloud bursting to give birth to heavier elements. Only, this particular one takes a short cut, yielding immediately some cold, sourish metal, accompanied by a hefty amount of ozone. This fragrance certainly has all the lightness of the smallest element in the periodic table, but after a promising opening, and past an awkward calone phase, it quickly settles on a rather conventional fruity musky vanillic base found in so many niche fragrances- ELDO is the first example coming to my mind.
Too bad, a line of fragrances entirely based on chemical elements has always been one of my brightest fantasies, but it's clear that the- super nice, it must be said- creative team behind nu-be don't share my personal sensitivity on elements.

Ozonic, fruity citruses and aldehydes that open with a brief and impressive effervescence, but quickly lose their sparkle as they fade to a deflated and flat orange and green residue over faint musk. I tried to like this for a long time after blindly buying a bottle, but there was no getting around it--Hydrogen just doesn't cut it and is another mediocre offering from a house that's yet to impress me much beyond its nifty gimmicks. This doesn't smell bad, but it feels weak and unfinished. Hydrogen is unisex, with briefly powerful projection followed by faint projection, and average longevity. Unless you can get this at a serious discount, it's probably not worth it.

Hydrogen opens with a bomb of bitter green citrus notes, linear and metallic, with a prominent calone and aldehydes accord, an aftertaste of "artificial clean" (lavender/linalool?), cloves and a light evernyl mossy-like note on woods. The "heart" emerging soon is a weird, fruity-tropical-warm note, quite cloying in fact, which is – I guess – pineapple (it strongly reminds me of Azzaro Chrome, also for the calone-aldehydes). Apart from Chrome, I also recall Eau Radieuse by Humiecki & Graef, for the concept of a "contemporary citrus-metallic scent with a totally disturbing tropical-fruity note" – didn't work there, does not work here. Weirdly, just before that note comes in, the very first minutes with citrus and woods and a slight oakmoss-like note reminded me instead of Arrogance Uomo, a decent $10 supermarket cologne. After a while, perhaps once the scent "harmonizes" with the body heat, it emerges an odd, but really intriguing azure-crystalline breeze, with quite a lab-industrial feel, which is basically an accord of cloves and citrus, but so tight, rich, powerful and pungent, like a bunch of cloves super-tightly packet into a bag, it basically "implodes" in this weird note, which is beyond medicinal, it precisely gives you the idea of a sort of a sudden blow of a pungent, toxic, grey and harsh gas, with also a "urine" nuance not far from some O'Driù notes. I know it's not clear, but it's a fascinating note. It then eventually softens on a more discreet drydown, which does not evolve much, rather becoming only a bit more light and silky. I wouldn't wear this as I hardly consider this a "perfume" (or if I should, I consider it then a bad perfume), but as a "smell", it has some interesting facets, and an interesting evolution.

6,5/10

Hydrogen opens with an ozonic aldehyde-laced boozy orange resembling Cointreau liqueur. As the composition enters its early heart the boozy facets disappear with the orange developing into a moderately sweet mandarin and melon starring tandem with an underlying fine powdery sheen. During the late dry-down the mandarin and melon combo dissipates, revealing a prominent vague woody base, supported by just a touch of powdery oakmoss. Projection is below average and longevity is very good at 8-10 hours on skin.

Hydrogen opens nicely with its very fine approximation of Cointreau liqueur, but that is really the highlight of its development. The mandarin and melon tandem that dominates most of the mid-section is slightly cloying, resembling a syrupy orange cough medicine. While the vague woody base notes actually smell pretty good, there is absolutely nothing distinguishing them from many other far less expensive compositions, and the powdery oakmoss is used so sparingly that it is barely noticeable. The bottom line is the $150 per 100ml bottle Hydrogen by Antoine Lie is a competent composition, but nothing distinguishes it from many others for a lot less money earning it an "average" rating of 2.5 stars out of 5 outright, and an "avoid" when you take its relatively poor value into account.

Dominant mandarine.The aroma starts with a huge amount of realistic citrus (bitter orange, mandarine and a touch of lime) a la Mister Marvellous Byredo and i detect further more aromatic herbs as mint and may be basil. Something remotely ozonic keeps in a while to swirl under my nose, well combined with the hesperidic fruitiness and with the aromatic elements. For a long trait i frankly do not detect any element in particular apart bitter citrus peels, aromatic herbs and citrus juice and despite a sort of marine spark somewhere this is the part i prefer. The mandarine smell is supreme throughout anyway. Along the time i just notice that the aroma becomes less realistic and smoother with a more common (and probably boring) musky/vanillic (orangy a la Modoc Xerjoff) dry down. Effectively i detect soon on my skin a weird, "neutral" and dissonant undertone, something spicy (may be weirdly aldehydic) and in particular peppery (i suppose but can't be sure about). I hardly detect the other elements, may be some secret floral whiff after a couple of hours and something else fruity whereof i don't feel in particular the melon but anyway something fresh, "summery" and properly fruity, i mean fruity with pulp. Frankly nothing groundbreaking but a pleasant aromatic fragrance for sure. More properly masculine in my humble opinion.Pros: Aromatic/ citrusy and finally vanillic/musky with hints of spices.
Cons: Weird spicy/aldehydic undertone."