Secret Obsession by Calvin Klein

Calvin Klein used to produce excellent perfumes a million years ago. They would launch one, advertise it until it settled in the memory, and then launch another. In the mid-2000s they decided it was outdated, switching to black-and-white ads with an anemic voice so your mind reacted as with an old friend. Now it didn’t work; they had to launch ten or five hundred a year because people are millennial and buy new t-shirts every Saturday. Products, flankers, summer editions… Secret Obsession is halfway between the fabulous first CK perfumes and the critical backlash that followed. It’s not iconic, but it’s not a bad fragrance. It was launched in 2008, but could have been born in 2003. It’s a savoury, super-sexy woody oriental, similar to so many from those years. It has an androgynous tone, almost unisex, beaten wood, carnal erotic sweetness. Whenever I try perfumes with sandalwood, nutmeg and floral hints, I imagine a banana. They don’t smell of banana, but they have that savoury, pulpy, dense consistency, with edible and natural sweetness. Nu by YSL, especially the EDT, and David Beckham Intimately have that edible, gluttonous texture between woody and sweet that makes you want to bite a stranger’s neck. This Secret Obsession seems like a bastard child of those two with a bit of Organza Indecence. It starts similar to Intimately, with creamy sandalwood radiating like a gooseberry, and in a second the nutmeg enters (an ultra-sexual, spicy and sweet note) and it turns into a woody, narcotic smoothie, like walking through an incense market. The plum is there, but more its weight. There’s plenty of Iso E Super, which I appreciate, blending perfectly with the sensual wood, an Iso E Super drunk on oriental notes that fills your mouth with saliva. This phase lasts a good while, it’s unisex, and only at the end does the tuberose roll in, not the jasmine, and the fragrance becomes slightly more feminine. It’s a cold, clean jasmine, zero indolic, but many men will reject that note. Secret Obsession isn’t a marvel or a blackbird, but with my tastes I find it more interesting than two hundred million subsequent perfumes. It’s like that fragrance that smells like a thousand things already known but you enjoy because it gives you exactly what you’re looking for: libidinous, oriental and westernised wood. Smelling it makes you irremediably think of 2002 and its hedonistic fashions; it smells of carnal pleasure. Whoever wants to know what it’s like without trying it should mix in their mind Beckham Intimately and Nu EDT. Regular trail, longevity too.

Far from current trends, it’s sweet yet dark, reminiscent of classics like Feminité du Bois. They share vanilla, plum, creamy white flowers, sandalwood and cedar. That’s their DNA, which is why it connects with Lutens. Although it’s discontinued, it’s a good substitute at a fair price: Katy Perry’s Indi Visible. Both have juicy plum, white flowers, sandalwood and vanilla. In Secret Obsession, the ylang-ylang acts as coconut, giving a tropical and creamy touch. It doesn’t smell of the beach: it’s warm, sunny, almost milky. I can see myself wearing it at night. It has body, presence and darkness, but for quiet plans, without wanting to stand out. It clings to the skin, intimate and sensual.

Elegantly constructed fragrance, I sense a beautiful floral accord where jasmine-tuberose stands out, adorned with nutmeg spices over a background of iris and white amber. Very sensual and romantic, typical of CK. Edit: over time I notice a great similarity to Nu by YSL and Dolce Vita by Dior. Of course, with differences: Dolce Vita is fresher. In Obsession Secret and Nu, the animalised note could dampen the initial freshness, but they are formidable fragrances.

I love it, especially the jasmine on my skin. It’s a very sexy and carnal scent. The problem is that it doesn’t last at all: at best, two hours. If it lasted longer, I’d repurchase it without hesitation. I don’t feel it’s unisex; it’s a lovely feminine oriental that needs to be carried in the handbag and reapplied every hour and a half. Although its price is economical, you could practically bathe in it.

I bought it blind and it didn’t work out for me. I was looking for an alternative to Feminite du Bois, which is hard to get, but Secret Obsession isn’t similar. It has a good aroma, but the longevity and trail are poor: it lasts two hours on skin and is barely noticeable. It’s a pity because if it had more projection, it would be a great fragrance. It reminded me of Poison by Dior.

I bought it blind, as my favourite is Obsession and I adore plum, so what could go wrong? The fragrance is exactly what I imagined. I perceive the described notes: plum, amber, rose and wood. It’s excellent for daily wear. Some say it lacks longevity. On my skin it lasted about four hours. In summary: although I keep Obsession, this wasn’t a bad acquisition. Greetings from Chile.

I had it in the year of its launch. A lover of green florals, aquatic and musky scents, I quite liked it… I thought it would be heavy and started with a single spray, then I loved it. It had excellent trail and projection. I’d like to have it again. The bottle is charming and looks good wherever you keep it.

I bought it years ago in New York for its low price. It doesn’t quite attract me. It smells very strong when sprayed, although after hours it becomes warm and woody. It lasts a long time on the skin; I’d only recommend it for rainy and cold days.

It didn’t convince me. It feels too mature and overly heavy, lacking that freshness I was looking for.