The Trained Nose

Imperial Ocean against Le Sel d’Issey

One number per era rather than one number overall — two fragrances can be near-identical at the opening and different things by the evening, and an average hides exactly that.
French Avenue

Imperial Ocean

Woody Aquatic · lasts about 6.2 h
Issey Miyake

Le Sel d’Issey

· lasts about 9.2 h

How close, and when

Across a whole wearing, French Avenue Imperial Ocean and Issey Miyake Le Sel d’Issey are close. They are nearest during the opening and furthest apart in the drydown, which is the part a single figure would average away.

86% opening · 0–1 h
75% heart · 1–3 h
64% drydown · 3–8 h
Measured across all twenty-four facets, from the notes below — not from the families on the boxes. They share 5 of 9 materials, which is worth holding beside the figures: a pair can share almost nothing and still converge, because different materials can smell of the same things.

What AKIN predicts

AKIN predicts these two are alike, and the evidence behind that is substantial.

Two signals sit on this page and are never averaged: what the note pyramids measure these two to share, and what AKIN’s resemblance graph predicts. Where they part, that is the finding rather than a fault.

The pyramids, side by side

Compared by material rather than by spelling, so a note recorded two ways is not counted as a difference.
top
both — Ginger, Sea Salt
Imperial Ocean only — Bergamot
heart
both — Seaweed, Vetiver
Imperial Ocean only — Lily of the Valley
base
both — Cedarwood
Imperial Ocean only — Ambergris
Le Sel d’Issey only — Oakmoss

Other comparisons worth reading

Pairs involving one of these two where the notes are fully recorded on both sides and AKIN has enough evidence for the pair to be worth reading.