Bond No. 9 Brooklyn stands among their more popular fragrances, despite their website not showing it as a selection. As a public service while we ask Bond No.9 to correct this, we’ve provided the link in the opening of this review. Decked out in Bond’s normal bottle, it’s styled in a graffiti-tag motif as if the design was painted by a graffiti artist on a 70′s New York City subway car, and pays homage to the uniqueness and vibrancy of the borough’s artists, musicians, and the creativity and diversity of its neighborhoods.
More important than the bottle design, we were interested in why the following and what the scent itself had to offer, so without ado here’s our take on Bond’s version of Brooklyn.
Bond No. 9 Brooklyn (2008)
Bond No. 9 Brooklyn (2008): Laurice Rahmé’s version of Brooklyn seems somewhat inspired by Betty Smith’s famous novel, as the aroma tends toward a somewhat woody heart and base, augmented by citrus and spice at the top, florals and gin in the middle, and leather at the base. The top notes here consist of grapefruit and cardamom, signaling a very fresh yet oriental and spicy opening that later dries into a heart consisting of cypress, geranium, juniper berry and a splash of gin for good measure. The base of cedar, guiacwood and leather is finally achieved at dry down, with the leather taking a slightly more background role to the fresh woods.
Easily enough, the fragrance is defined more by the cardamom, cypress and juniper notes as the dominant forces before the other woods take part. The result is a bright and ephemeral take on a fragrance that skews more masculine than feminine, and tends to feel more like a walk through Prospect Park or crossing the planks on the Brooklyn Bridge pedestrian way. While commonly classified as a spicy oriental, this is far more of a woody spice, the smell of fresh lumber, the scent of urban renewal.
Projection here is a bit less than I’d like for an eau de parfum, more liberal application will bring out the fragrance further, skin heat even more so. Sillage is very light. Longevity, however, is excellent so you’ll note the dry-down through the course of the day — I personally got a good twelve hours before this became undetectable.
So clearly there is a good reason why it tends to be a favorite of “Bondies”: Brooklyn (the fragrance) is a nice, down-to-earth, honest fragrance that is relatable, very wearable, and rings all the bells for a mass-appeal. And frankly, the bottle is eye-catching and tends to draw the viewer into the story and scent. It’s a very easy fragrance to enjoy, despite it not being quite up there with other Bonds that I would consider favorites. It’s very worthy of trying to experience how it wears. The scent is perfectly wearable by much wider market than most niche fragrances, and is likely a great entry point for someone gravitating into niche perfumes from mass-market offerings (more affluent twenty-somethings who are seeking something very different).
Rating: 3.75/5. Recommended.
Bottom-line: This is a Bond I would recommend first to someone interested in the entire Bond No. 9 collection, since it’s the most accessible and easily enjoyed. It’s far less gourmand than other scents in the line, it has broad appeal, and it maintains a very clean, masculine profile that isn’t heavy or thick in its nature.
This generation likes the word “fresh” in a sense of keeping something new, updated, in style. And that is a perfect analogy for both the borough that is continually reinventing itself, and the fragrance named for it.
I'm Andrew Buck, the man behind the words. I'm a published author, project management practitioner for over 20 years, work on Wall Street, and am a fragrance aficionado. I've had a passion for fragrance for 30+ years, and enjoy trying scents and adding to an expanding and rotating collection for some time now. 
