Eyes Closed

The Verdict

Eyes Closed is a 2022 release from Byredo that stands out even within the house's deliberately unusual catalog. The name is evocative in the specific way Byredo names tend to be, and the composition attempts to match that evocativeness with actual olfactory weirdness. It largely succeeds. This is one of the stranger things Byredo has released — and for a certain subset of the fragrance community, that's precisely the recommendation.

With nearly 1,500 votes and a polarized community reception, Eyes Closed is not a fragrance that will please broadly. It is a fragrance that will delight specifically.

What It Smells Like

The opening is warm and accessible enough: cardamom and cinnamon together — the kind of spice combination that reads as autumnal pastry rather than kitchen cabinet. Cinnamon here is not the sharp, synthetic spice of gourmand flankers; it's warmer and rounder, building alongside the cardamom into something genuinely cozy. Inviting opening.

Then the carrot arrives. Carrot seed is the heart's defining move, and it is divisive in the specific way that interesting fragrance choices tend to be. It reads as earthy, musky, slightly "cloudy" — not like raw carrot, but like the aroma around fresh root vegetables, a damp, organic quality. Orris butter — a refined iris material that smells like dove-grey suede — runs alongside it in the heart, creating a comparison the community has made to Dior Homme's iris accord. Ginger provides a fresh edge that keeps the whole from becoming too earthbound.

The drydown is patchouli (lightweight and non-domineering), papyrus (dry, papery, adding a textural quality like old paper or dry reeds), and the autumnal earthiness that has been building since the carrot appeared. The closing impression is of standing in a garden after November rain — spiced, damp, slightly herbal, settled.

When to Wear It

Fall and winter are the obvious choice; Eyes Closed smells like those seasons more than most fragrances explicitly marketed as autumnal. Cold air amplifies the earthy spice quality; warmth makes the carrot-earth component heavy and potentially unpleasant.

Daytime casual and office settings suit it well — the projection is restrained enough for professional environments, and the spice-earth quality is interesting without being aggressive. Not an evening or formal fragrance.

Longevity & Projection

6 to 8 hours with medium projection. Performance is reliable and above average for Byredo's eau de parfum strength. The papyrus and patchouli base notes anchor the composition well. Two or three sprays is sufficient for normal wear.

The Community Says

The community's most vivid description is also its most accurate: "smells like standing in your kitchen on a cold rainy day, opening the oven to cinnamon and cardamom pastries." That captures the first phase perfectly. Those who love it are specific and enthusiastic, calling it "the most intriguingly unusual scent from Byredo" — a real statement given the house's catalog.

The negative case is equally specific: "very spicy, became annoying after a while — test before buying." This is the standard warning for fragrances that have an unusual heart note that either reads as fascinating or as off-putting depending on body chemistry and personal tolerance. The carrot seed is the decision point. Community members who find the note earthy and interesting love the fragrance; those who find it vegetable-adjacent cannot get past it.

The overall community score — around 3.79 out of 5 — reflects this polarization. A smaller ceiling than Byredo's better-loved releases, but a committed fan base.

Who Should Buy This

Eyes Closed is for fragrance collectors who actively seek unusual compositions — those who have worked through the mainstream niche catalog and want something genuinely odd that rewards repeated wear. The spice-carrot-iris-papyrus combination doesn't exist in many other places; this is a genuine fragrance for people who like genuine fragrance weirdness.

Skip it if: root vegetables in a fragrance context sound unappetizing to you; you want something that will generate compliments broadly; or if you're buying blind — the carrot note is too central to skip a sample wearing first.

The Bottom Line

Eyes Closed is Byredo doing what Byredo at its best does: taking a concept seriously enough to make it strange and then finding a way to make that strangeness wearable. The carrot seed is the risk. The cinnamon-cardamom opening is the reward most people encounter first. Whether you follow the composition all the way through to its earthy, papery close determines whether this becomes a favorite or a miss. Test it in November, in cold air, before you decide — that's when it makes the most sense.