Fragrance Review: Maison Margiela Replica
Before we get into the review, I recommend taking a quick look at the “About My Fragrance Reviews” post!
I know I said that I want to explore niche brands and/or fragrance houses instead of designers’ fragrances, but the first fragrance review post is all about fragrances from Maison Margiela (which is a fashion brand.)
But their Replica collection has gain its reputation and popularity that even if one doesn’t know much about Maison Margiela as a fashion brand, one might have heard about Replica (just like me.)
Before we begin
The first reason that got me interested in Replica was its unique themes.
A lot of times, fragrances are created to express “what types of a person one wants to be” (like urban woman, elegant lady, etc), or they focus on fragrance notes and ingredients (like rose scent, vanilla scent).
Replica is created to resonate with people’s memories and imaginations. To replicate the unforgettable moments of life.
I really like that their fragrances are for everybody; they don’t label their scents by gender.
I purchased a discovery set to start with.
I appreciate when brands offer these sets at an affordable price as I’d like to try the scents on my skin before purchasing a bottle.
The set comes in a thick paper box, with pictures of the inspiration images of each scent.
Even though these are tiny bottles, they’re still spray bottle which I’m happy about.
This posted is not sponsored; the products mentioned are what I personally purchased. None of the links in this post are affiliated either.
Lazy Sunday Morning
Very fresh scent that would go perfectly with clean white clothes.
I can understand why this one is a popular one.
It’s very much like the clean laundry smell—freshly washed linen with a hint of floral and fruitiness.
This would be perfect when you want to wrap yourself in something clean and fresh.
It smells really nice but not really a unique smell which means it probably won’t be offensive to others.
There is a bit of floral, but I think this is pretty androgynous.
I feel that a lot of “traditional” men’s fragrances are heavy or sharp, or just too much; at least that’s what I always thought.
And when the brands try to make “unisex” ones, so many of them turned out to be similar; a citrusy scent.
I mean that’s not always bad, but it’s nice to see a gender neutral option like this that smells light, clean, with a little elegance.
After the middle note, the scent becomes slightly warm, probably due to the musk.
It's clean and fresh, but not cold nor sharp, very likeable scent.
By the Fireplace
This is probably one of the most popular scents of the Replica collection.
It’s not something I normally would like to wear myself, but I can see why so many love this one!
It starts with sweetness—maybe vanilla or caramel, but it’s not gourmand which I like.
At the same time, I can definitely smell the log burning!
Maybe it’s S’mores by the campfire, maybe it’s the hot chocolate or caramel drink by the fireplace during the holiday season.
And then it turns into something more woody at the middle, then finishes off with smooth vanilla.
I don’t usually go for woody or vanilla, but this one smelled pretty comfortable to my nose.
I probably won’t wear this myself, but surprisingly I liked the scent; so I recommended it to my husband.
This scent is more for a cold weather I think.
It’s unique but somehow I kept wanting to smell it again.
I think the scent of logs burning in the fireplace is just a very comfy feeling to a lot of people—perhaps it’s because it reminds us of a safe, warm, and cozy home.
Beach Walk
Tropical fragrances usually have coconut or vanilla as a dominant scent, but this one is well blended with fruitiness, floral, and coconut.
The coconut makes it smooth, but it’s not overpowering.
I usually don’t go for coconut heavy fragrances, but I actually enjoyed Beach Walk a lot! This one felt more refreshing, rather than super creamy kind of coconut.
It’s a sweet scent but It’s not an overly rich scent that I find it easy to wear.
Beach Walk felt pretty linear from start to finish.
I’m pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this one!
Bubble Bath
This smells exactly how it’s named: bubble bath!
It’s not a simple solid body wash soap smell, but rather, a fancy hotel amenity type of bubble bath, if you know what I mean.
The scent is in the same category as the Lazy Sunday Morning; I’m not saying they are interchangeable, but they fall into a similar scent family (I think.)
Lazy Sunday Morning is more fruity floral. It reminds me of a freshly dried clean laundry or linen. The top note of the Lazy Sunday Morning is bright, therefore, seems to have more projection.
Bubble Bath is floral. It makes me feel like I’m wrapped in the steam of bath, warm and soft. To me this one felt more “closer to skin” type of scent.
All Replica scents are meant for everyone and are gender neutral. I usually don’t like categorizing fragrances by gender either. With that being said, when I try to describe scents with just words, sometimes it helps to say “something smells either feminine or masculine”.
So here goes: I think Lazy Sunday Morning is considered more androgynous and the Bubble Bath is lean towards feminine—in the traditional sense.
But men can definitely wear Bubble Bath, of course. (Personally, a grown up man who’s clean and polished wearing floral scent well sounds very elegant and cool.)
Coffee Break
This is another popular scent, and is good for a cold weather.
On my skin, I smelled more vanilla than coffee.
It’s sweetened with vanilla but it doesn’t make you smell like walking sugary sweets; perhaps due to the subtle coffee note and spices.
Just like coconut, vanilla is another sweet scent that I don’t wear much. However, I can understand that there are so many folks out there who would really love this!
This is perfect for someone who loves a sweet scent that is a little more grown up. It’s not a super “girly” vanilla that can be worn nicely by grown ups of any gender.
When I first tried this on, it was spring or early summer so it felt quite sweet. But I recently tried it again and felt much more comfortable. Another example that the weather and humidity affects greatly how the scent feels.
Sailing Day
Do you sometimes feel marine/aquatic notes smell too sharp or too artificial? To my nose, they often smell that way, thus they are not my favourite notes.
But surprisingly Sailing Day felt ok!
Maybe because the opening has a hint of watermelon scent. But it’s not sweet like fruity fragrances.
It’s very fresh, very clean, something that would feel great under the hot summer sun.
Since it’s not a sweet scent, it’s probably lean towards masculine scent. However, I think this will also be nice for women who are looking for something clean.
Autumn Vibes
It’s an earthy, woody scent that has no sweetness to it.
Compare to “By the Fireplace”, while By the Fireplace has sweetness of vanilla and a hint of smoky-ness, Autumn Vibes feels like walking through the woods on a cold day.
It feels a little chilly, maybe the ground is bit wet from the frost, the air is fresh and crisp.
Obviously this will be great in fall, but I think it would go nicely during summer as well.
There’s no sweetness, there’s not much of warmness either; I think this is something either you really like or don’t.
But it’s not a super heavy/strong scent, so as long as you don’t over spray, you probably won’t offend others.
Springtime in a Park
It opens up as fruity floral. There’s a little bit of powdery at he beginning, but is still a light, airy, and pretty scent.
I think this is a non-snobby floral, if that makes sense.
After the top note is gone, it turns into something more powdery.
There are a few kinds of powdery scents out there, but this one felt like traditional makeup products kind of powdery.
If you like powdery floral, I’d recommend giving it a try.
I, on the other hand, am not into super powdery smell, so when I first tried it in early summer, it felt too much.
But I like the top notes, so as the weather sifts and it gets colder and drier, I might give it another try.
Under the Lemon Trees
As soon as you spray this on, you feel the lemon zest, with a hint of green from the lemon trees and leaves.
It’s a fresh scent that captures the whole lemon trees, not just the fruit.
There’s not much sweetness to it, some might feel it’s a little too sharp.
After wearing it for a while, I smelled a little more tea-like scent.
On my skin, the sharpness kept developing more than anything as the time went, and was a bit too much for me.
Jazz Club
For folks who loves woody, smoky, spicy scents, this one is very popular I hear.
Once upon a time when smoking in indoor facilities was a thing (personally, so glad that it’s not anymore)… Imagine listening to live jazz while drinking whisky with occasional smoking (I don’t smoke and I can’t drink either, but in my head it looks like something from the TV show Mad Men.)
Anyways, that’s the inspiration for this fragrance, and it’s pretty smoky.
By the Fireplace had woody note with smoky-ness as well, but it was more of a log burning like scent. But the Jazz Club is smoky like cigar (or cigarette? I’m not sure) with bitterness.
I much prefer By the Fireplace, but if you like something heavier and bitterer, this one might be for you.
I haven’t smelled something like this before, so I can’t compare it to other products from a similar scent family, but I think it smells pretty unique.
Doesn’t “Jazz Club” sound so grown up?
Our local jazz venue is smoke-free (in case it’s different where you live, smoking in all public indoor spaces are banned in Canada).
You can also enjoy the music without ordering any alcohol, everyone looks tidy but not that dressy, just a place you can enjoy the live music casually.
I wonder if famous jazz venues like Blue Note might have more upscale fancy vibes than our local ones? I’m curious.
Whisper in the Library
This one wasn’t included in the discovery set I bought. We just used a tester on my husband at the store.
We got excited when we smelled it on a paper, as this scent really smelled like an old book! But on his skin, it was more plain vanilla which neither of us wanted.
If this scent still smells like an old paper on you skin, then you’re lucky!
This one was a good reminder that I always need to check the scent on the skin, not just on paper.
Final Thoughts
Over all, Replica fragrances seemed to have a pretty good projection. I like my fragrances to be not overpowering, so some of them felt a little too much even with one spay.
If you are like me who’s looking for something more subtle, you might want to consider wearing it on your lower body like ankles, thighs, or tummy; away from your nose. It would also help to spray it on the part of your body that is going to be covered with clothes, if you want less sillage.
I think my favourite from this set was the Lazy Sunday Morning.
My second favourite was surprisingly the By the Fireplace.
However, at this point there wasn’t any that I’d like to purchase as a full bottle.
With that being said, there is always a chance that I might in the future; the way you feel about certain scent is always changing, depends on weather/season, your mood, experiences.
I genuinely enjoyed this discovery set though—it was well curated with different types of scents, I got to try things that I wouldn’t have otherwise.
After testing I noticed:
I still like gentle, soft, fresh, everyday type of scents just like I used to in my youth.
At the same time, I think I’m beginning to like vanilla, musk, and coconut scents more!
I don’t think I like super gourmand (sugary) smell, but well-balanced sweetness is kind of nice. I’m looking forward to trying out more in the future.
It’s really nice that Replica collection comes in 10 ml, 30 ml, and 100 ml. It’s truly the strength of the designers’ fragrances that many of them come in different sizes, while niche brands tend to offer big sizes only, like 100 ml.
One more thing…
Husband and I decided that we both like the scent of By the Fireplace, but we also agreed that we want it in a candle more than perfume!
I think this is a perfect holiday season candle. It’s not too strong and the room doesn’t feel stuffy which I love.
Nov 1, 2022
