Question:
I've had a sample of C&S No. 88 for a couple of months and I've worn it about six times since I got it. It's a very popular scent here with noses who seem to have good taste. And I like the frag too.
If you read the reviews here at B'notes, you'd think No. 88 included Charlie Manson's bathwater. It's described as deep, dark, and impossible to fathom. I'm not getting that at all. To me, No. 88 is a nicely blended clean -- almost soapy -- frag. It's the scent of an English gentleman. I'm just not getting any of the "evil" that everyone else seems to suggest is lurking in No. 88.
What gives?

Answer:
Hmm, well, I have the opinion that describes No 88 as dark. Not mysterious dark, like Scent Intense with that lingering purple haze. No 88 has coldness associated with it, like I'm alone in a dark alley in the winter at midnight cold. I think of Siberia when I smell it, though I've never been there personally.
TNMA

Answer:
Perhaps people (including me) associate it's evilness less to the fragrance itself and more to it's complexities (it's changes from top to mid to drydown notes, tend to SNEAK UP ON YOU - is that evil?) or it's history (Ozzy Osbourne has said he's worn No. 88 for years...The Oz is a pretty evil celebrity, no?)
Regardless, yes I do get that gentlemanly (I call it the Sweet-Tarts note) about the middle of the drydown and it makes me feel I'm wearing an ascot and talking with a British accent (like Blenheim Bouquet and Rive Gauche Homme do).
One of my Top 10 fragrances - No. 88 is the real deal (evil or no evil)

Answer:
Quote: Originally Posted by mikeperez23 (Ozzy Osbourne has said he's worn No. 88 for years...The Oz is a pretty evil celebrity, no?) There are much more hardcore celebs than Ozzy. Much more. I mean, Ozzy had his own reality show, he can't be that evil. Now if Christian "Flake" Finnegan would have worn it, I might see that argument...
Besides, people choose to wear whatever they want. It may come out that Rammstein, Slayer, Mudvayne, and Maralyn Manson all wear Aqua di Gio. That hardly means that it has an evil undertone.
I found C&S #88 to be a very classic rose, with a cool tone to it, but I cannot see why people think that it is a "dark" fragrance. Cool, yes. Full of debauchery, no. It is pleasant, but not the scent for me.
- Rich

Answer:
You're right ! Soapy and a smokey rose. That's it . But i love it.

Answer:
Yeah, I totally do not get the "sleeping with corpses"/Goth-associations attached to this fragrance at all.... In fact, my initial impression during the hot summer months was that of a somewhat abstract incense, warm and even erotic scent...hmm.
Moderate application seems to be the key with this one in order to have a pleasant experience and during colder months it was a wonderful citrus-rose-wood scent with a lot of character and longevity that I wore to the office alot. IMO a masterpiece and all-time top 5 for me.

Answer:
You know, I thought the exact same thing when I first smelled this. People talk about being intimidated by it. Not being able to pull it off.
You don't need to be the spawn of Satan to wear No 88. Not even a cryptkeeper. You just don't. It smells like a finely made rose scented soap to me. The rose can be a bit overpowering if you aren't used to it. But seriously, little old ladies grow roses, not members of Kiss. I certainly don't feel evil when I wear it. I feel clean and rosy and rather Britishy.

Answer:
I get an exquisite accord composed of otto rose + vetiver + patchouli out of no. 88 .. notes which certainly don't fall under the "bright and sunny" classification.

By "dark" people probably mean that No. 88 isn't a typical chirpy insipid fruity floral or a meandering impotent generic aquatic that so excite the mainstream consumer. The rose used in no. 88 isn't the typical rose floral note used in 100's of fragrances for women so there are no effeminate connotations either.

For my money, No. 88 is certainly a helluva lot "gothic" than Black XS.

Answer:
Quote: Originally Posted by zztopp For my money, No. 88 is certainly a helluva lot "gothic" than Black XS. So true.

Answer:
I suppose I'd qualify the use of the word "Gothic" by the rose which is cut with the incense-y tones in the scent. Like a church with high "smells and bells" kind of services. This Black XS is unknown to me; sounds like something I'll have to look out for!
There is a soapiness overall to No. 88, but not in a clean way. If anything, it is saturated, dank (used in the way potheads talk about their "stuff" being dank if it is rich and heavy-smelling. Not that I have any experience with that firsthand), the kind of soap which comes in small ornamental shapes.
What I don't know is how people say they couldn't see themselves wearing No.88. To my mind it is highly wearable, and several friends, male and female, raid my medicine cabinet whenever they come by to visit, leaving my house smelling of "the dusk rose."