Search Engine

[zankoku_zen]

"What the hell is that?" asked Shadow, but Wednesday touched his finger to his lips, shook his head sharply. Silence.

It looked like a mechanical spider, blue metal, glittering LED lights, and it was the size of a tractor. It squatted at the bottom of the hill. Beyond it were an assortment of bones, each with a flame beside it little bigger than a candle-flame, flickering.

Dark metal and sour grapefruit creeping over a field of bones.

Greasy metal, tinge of bruised grapefuit, and something that smells like it should be a bone shard. This one is dark, electrical, and yet kinda oozy. It's a gender neutral, with heavy chemical undertones. Not my type of blend at all.

 

 

[joopjoop]

This is one strange blend and I haven't quite worked out what I think of it.

 

Initially it is indeed a 'dark metal' - it is definitely metallic but doesn't have that same brightness that some metallic notes have. I don't know if I would describe it as greasy, but it does have a depth to it. The other dominant note is bitter bitter grapefruit. It's a weird experience at first, but for the most part, I am HERE for it. If you do not like grapefruit, or find it to be an iffy note, avoid this one at all costs, but if you are like me and you LOVE grapefruit - the more bitter the better - you will not be disappointed!

 

As it dries another note emerges - it is like a cold porcelain with just a touch of sweetness - that must be the bones. Eventually it settles into a very close to the skin scent of powdery, slightly sweet, grapefruit. I like this as well. It reminds me of those pastille candies you can get in little decorative tins.

 

So overall, this one is a winner for me. Unfortunately it is short-lived - the whole experience from beginning to end is about 3-4 hours. I'm going to age the decant for a while and see if the longevity improves before committing to a bottle.

[roseus]

Okay I do not have much experience with metal notes, which is probably the reason my nose is utterly confused by this scent. At first I get a nice bitter grapefruit that I quite enjoy but there is something else. My nose wants to say it's like cinnamon sugar? It reminds me vaguely of baking. It's not powdery, it's not musky, it's just something dark and weird I can't describe. It doesn't smell like iron or copper, but I suppose it does have that metallic tang but it's very dulled. Overall dry: vague metallic tang and a little bit of bitter grapefruit peel. The grapefruit is wonderful but I'm not sure this dark metal is my thing!

[Little Bird]

The grapefruit comes off sour and smelling a little like sweaty BO to me, with an undertone of metallic, white musky men's cologne.

[Lucchesa]

Search Engine isn't getting a lot of love here, is it? It's a really interesting scent, and if you are a grapefruit lover, it's definitely worth a try. Wet on me, it is invigorating grapefruit with something vaguely foody going on -- I feel vindicated when I see that roseus had a similar experience. I was definitely not expecting baked goods from the notes. That phase didn't last long on me, and instead I got a kind of gunmetal note and maybe a dry sandalwood for the bones? The overall feel in drydown is much less aggressive then wet. My skin always eats up citrus pretty quickly, so I get about 3 hours of wear length, which is pretty average for me.

 

If you like to use grapefruit shower products to wake you up in the morning, Search Engine might be a good scent to add to your arsenal. I can see using it in TAL fashion when I want to be productive. And it smells nice on me, too.

[doomsday_disco]

Whoa, this one is sharp. Sharp grapefruit, made even sharper by that metal note that smells cologne-like and somehow crawls up your nostrils and pierces you right behind your eyes, on a bed of sandalwood bones. That's what I get from Search Engine.

 

The blend does soften with wear as the sandalwood comes out more.

 

I'm glad I got to try this one, as I love grapefruit, but sadly, the metal note is not for me.