Experimentum Crucis

My favorite from the house!

Bisch Bottled Body Odor. Please, please, PLEASE stop ruining perfume with cumin!

on opening my first impression was a modern Amouage Gold, but it changes so quickly to something that I knew and recognised and loved but couldn't place.. and then after some time I clicked: it's that unique peppery accord from Chloe. Which is interesting because Bischehas worked on a bunch of stuff from Chloe but not the original. Idk call me crazy but I had an ex who wore Chloe and I know the smell well. Its just a bit dirtier and more masculine and with the classic Bisch clarity

You are not the most cheerful person wandering through this antique shop on the market square, but you feel at home here. The owner knows it too, so he lets you stroll quietly among the curiosities, which you see less as mere objects than as existential riddles. Experimentum Crucis is one of those mystical creations so characteristic of the house of État Libre d’Orange, in the same vein as Spice Must Flow, 500 Years, and Rien. There is no incense here. Instead, there is an attic-and-old-book facet that seems to arise from the alliance of cumin, honey, and akigalawood. The result is a woody accord reminiscent of agarwood, with a dark, spicy character. That is the backdrop. But this creation also possesses a delicately luminous facet (rose, apple/lychee, patchouli), and that is the fragrance’s main point of interest. Experimentum Crucis is not as sorrowful as Rien, nor as intimidating as Nostos or 500 Years, even though it is clearly just as opulent and distinguished as they are. It unmistakably smells like an expensive and rare perfume, yet without any coldness or snobbery. So while it is perfect for elevating moments of pure introspection and spirituality, it is equally suited to life's shared moments, surrounded by one's fellow Frères Humains. For this reason, Experimentum Crucis particularly brings to mind Albert Cohen’s books: gregarious and generous, even in the dark.

I get the cumin=body odor connection but it doesn't really dominate this perfume. The rose is there, but not the star of the perfume either. I get a juniper-y vibe (not listed in the notes above), and there's a playfulness to the scent, making it fee simultaneously a very airy summery perfume but with a density and projection for days. Not worth the price tag, and certainly certainly not a blind buy. But I am really enjoying this.

A major letdown on skin—don't judge by the paper strip. I have to warn you: Experimentum Crucis is the perfect example of why you should never trust a scent based on a test strip alone. On the paper, it was an easy 10/10—a fantastic, fresher, and greener take on a traditional rose profile that felt highly impressive. I had such high hopes for this one. However, after a full day of wearing it on my skin, my rating dropped all the way to a 6/10. It was a major disappointment. On my skin, the "rose" that I loved so much on paper is completely buried and overwhelmed by everything else. The development is actually quite challenging; it turns into a sharp, fresh-spicy blend of cumin and green apple, with the rose reduced to barely-there, faint background nuances. It completely lacks the floral dominance I was expecting and looking for. If you like spicy, green, cumin-forward scents, you might get on with this, but if you’re coming for the rose, I’d suggest looking elsewhere. Note: I don't actually own this fragrance; I am writing this review based on my experience with the official Etat Libre d'Orange discovery set.

kinda weird kinda gay kind of spicy… i like huffing it but i don’t want it on my body

Rose, cumin and patchouli, plus a fresh-fruity note, are what I could name in the first blast and the most prominent ones I think. A bold and strong scent. Even though I've gotten a bit tired of this axis (power-patchouli), this scent is one of the good examples, I can't be unfair to it. It has an attractive and slightly dirty side and it's a chypre; one of the modern ones. Without knowing who the perfumer was, I'd thought to myself "this is the kind Bisch would make" and that's exactly how it turned out, haha :) The sweetness is just right. A winter scent in my opinion, but still the kind that would do the job in spring too. The performance is very good. Liked it. Tag(s): bold, rose-patchouli, chypre, bisch-y, spicy, dirty, fresh

I just sprayed a tester for the first time and I'm crying. It smells like my beloved late Grandma! Her wrinkled, tanned skin from work in the garden (probably cumin), her clothes at the end of the day (jasmine?), the vintage soap she hid in the wardrobes to ward off moths (rose!), muted with the evening bath cosmetics. She was important to me and it's super nostalgic, and it's pretty on its own without all this emotional layer but I don't know if I'd like a whole bottle.

Smells like BO off the armpits of a polyester shirt.

رائحة وردية كثيفة جميلة

straight BO as the opening couldn't stand it, scrubbed right away no/10

Smells like a rich old man. In a good way.

One of my favorites. Very unique fragrance Every time i wear this fragrance i got surprised by the longevity and the sillage on my clothes , even when i take them off , and hang them in the closet i still smell it for days every time i walk in the room. Literally its a beast and definitely will re-buy

This perfume is objectively offensive lol. I suggest only one spray and only wearing it in cold weather. It's quite a cloying rose, and it has like carrots and patchouli.

Idk how many times must I say it, Quentin bisch and his crippling addiction to akigalawood note will be the death of his fans. Anyways, back to the rose akigalawood BOMB, that he & ELDO decided to scheme and drop had my entire room reeking of this damn monotonous note from my sample tester for 10 hours (i only used one spray btw). The comparison between this and JHAG lady vengeance (which i own) is understandable but quite the misunderstanding. They share the same note, but lady vengeance is just better, smoother, stronger, and slightly soapy rose, iso-e-super and ambroxan. Nonetheless this is not a bad take on lady vengeance.

Zoologist paid the dowry for their daughter Moth’s betrothal to Francis Kurkdjian’s Absolue Pour Le Soir. Turns out, for a forced marriage, they actually hit it off quite well - very well actually. Skanky and nasty bedroom activity has lead to the birth of a child they will call Experimentum Crucis, and the midwife is none other than… Quentin Bisch…? The King of the land of Suffocating Akigalawood has donned a nurse’s frock and brought into this world a bizarre looking love child. This child would find inspiration with Isaac Newton, thinking “what would the world be like now if a rose fell onto Isaac instead of an apple?” It’s always an impossible question, “what would happen, if, instead, this?” This is starting to shape-out to be a tale fit for a Wes Anderson film. I’m late to the party. I missed when this baby was squelched into a plastic pool in Francis’s and Zoologist’s living room, and I missed a few birthdays, but I finally get to meet this kid and there is a hint of genius hiding in that weird little head of theirs. Sometimes genius is the product of something absurdly simple that many/most of us simply miss - for example, there is a reason an apple falls and doesn’t float. Why? No one really seemed to ask, or at least passionately care to truly devote themselves to finding the why and publicizing it until Newton did. Nurse Bisch’s moment of absurdly simple genius comes in the form of an absurdly simple damascone and ambroxan+akigalawood formula (the latter he would end up repeatedly molesting in future compositions). There is not much new here; fruity and woody rose damascones over synthetic dark woods and animalic musky ambroxan. It’s the cumin and honey that turn the simple moment of an apple plonking someone on the head into the spark of genius. The cumin is properly funky/skanky woody, and the smell of salty and sweaty body odor, but without the thickness or the sharpness that often makes it painful or lumpen in many other perfumes. The honey is likewise. Floral, tastefully sweet, waxy and sticky, but its texture does not feel like it is dragging itself across your nostrils on its way to your palate. I find this texture to be the best and most commendable characteristic of this Bisch composition, since it is so rare for his compositions to have it. Experimentum Crucis feels like it is levitating, not launching; intermingling with the air and the other molecules around it, not blasting them away with aggressive and toxic force; calmly pondering a deep question, not roaring away in your ear. Cons? Does this bizarre love child have any behavioral issues? Eh, I wish its attention span were longer, but it is part of the Gen Z/Gen Alpha transition trained so well to keep scrolling away on their preferred social media platform(s), so I guess I shouldn’t expect much; its notes and layer transitions happening quite quickly and with maybe not much attention to timing. Unlike Absolue or Moth, this doesn’t want to stick around long. This could also be a new formulation difference, but I didn’t smell this upon its initial release so I cannot tell you one way or another. It should, and it could, last longer. We know that Bisch is perfectly capable of making a perfume last forever (though I wish in most instances he didn’t). But that’s a minor issue to what is otherwise a very interesting, bizarre, yet simple perfume that also simply smells great. Let’s see if this kid cures cancer, or finds the solution to the expansion of the universe - or maybe they just become Hitler 2.0. Bisch knows how to deliver that baby as well. But with Experimentum Crucis, I am optimistic.

One of my favourite fragrances and tends to get me a lot of compliments. People have stopped and asked me what fragrance I’m wearing. Perfect mixture of Apple lychee jasmine and Akigalawood. Soo good I had to buy a backup bottle.

Completely unisex perfume. Nice lychee burst, followed by rose for 10 minutes, and then really nice wet woods for the rest of the drydown. 6-8 hours total? Turns floral on female skin. Turns woody on my skin and the rose dies quickly. Really nice date night perfume.

this is delina's sexier lesbian older sister. the lychee rose combo is beautifully juicy and then you get a touch of spice and bo from the cumin, but in a super sexy way. love

at first the spray was a very grandma-coded punch to the face, old rose fragrance, then on the dry down, the cumin came out super strong and I get why people say they get BO/sweat from it, it's not super obvious but it's kinda there, mixed with the rose. it's a scrubber, there's legit nothing in this that I remotely like, yikes

I hate this perfume. It opens really strong and sophisticated, the rose really gives it that powdery cosmetic touch. Like some old 90 make up. But once the perfume settles, it turns in to a heavy almost oudy perfume which feels so suffocating. Shame

I like it, but it's not very exciting. its a little heavier on the rose than a lot of other ELDOs I've tried, but not too bad

some fragrances have that power where you can wear them all year round, day n night. but this fragrance here should not be worn at all. a real disappointment. maybe women could like it but i dont find it good for them either. anyways. it does well with sillage and stays for long hours on the skin.

Smells like someone doused themselves in cologne to cover their nasty BO

Smells like grass and dries down also smelling like cheese. Must be the note of cumin 😅

Oh no! The cumin gives BO vibes

something sharp and rubbery on the head, dries pleasantly spicy. reminds me of a home goods store in little india - a little sublimity to it.

I went for a walk and got separated from my group, and the group figured out where I was based on this perfume, like bloodhounds. The potency of this is insane. I went to bed and woke up, went to the gym, and it’s STILL on my skin over 12 hours later.

Magic in a bottle Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)