Le Sel D'Issey

Issey Miyake organizes Le Sel d’Issey into two poles rather than tiers. The marine pole brings together a salt accord, laminaria seaweed extract, oakmoss and natural ginger; the woody, earthy pole pairs vetiver and cedar.

A salt with no smell

Salt has no smell: Quentin Bisch suggests it through an accord that evokes the sea and what it leaves behind as it recedes. Jerome Henry, on Dapper and Groomed, finds the pairing of ginger and sea salt surprising, mysterious and bold, yet controlled.

Seaweed and oakmoss

Laminaria extract, from a large brown seaweed, joins oakmoss, a lichen that grows on tree bark. Jerome Henry smells vetiver and seaweed soften the aquatic freshness and make the fragrance earthier.

Sand-grown vetiver and recycled cedar

The vetiver, of natural origin, is grown in sand for the first time, hence its mineral facets according to the house. The cedar comes from wood shavings recovered from furniture making; with oakmoss, it gives the base its woody warmth.

What the label declares

The label opens with alcohol, water and fragrance, ahead of two synthetic woody compounds, tetramethyl acetyloctahydronaphthalenes and acetyl cedrene. A UV filter, butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane, comes before limonene and linalyl acetate.

Lemon and bergamot peel oils, spearmint leaf oil and Atlas cedar oil appear in the list, along with ethylhexyl salicylate, a second UV filter. Three colorants, red 33, blue 1 and yellow 5, tint the juice.