Montblanc — Legend Special Edition 2014
Essence
Legend Special Edition 2014 is the summer flanker of Montblanc’s flagship men’s pillar, Legend (2011) - the third such annual special edition after the 2012 and 2013 versions. Like the original, it was composed by Givaudan’s Olivier Pescheux, and the brief was explicitly seasonal. Now Smell This summarized the intent at launch (February 3, 2014): “Special Edition is a new fresh, invigorating interpretation of Montblanc Legend for the confident man looking for a new icy adventure. The Fragrance echoes the refined notes of the signature Legend Pour Homme, with Bergamot, Lavender, White Cedar and Oak Moss. However, adding a fresh twist, the Special Edition opens with sharper notes Lime and Spearmint”.
Scent Profile
Where the original Legend is a sweet, fruity-rosy fougere built on Pescheux’s signature Pomarose (an apple-and-rose dried-fruit material), the 2014 Special Edition strips that down into something brighter, greener and cooler. Per wearers launch copy, “the composition begins with lime from Peru and fresh mint from Morocco that lead to the heart of violet leaf, sour apple and sweet cardamom. The base contains raw wood accords.” In wear that lime is the standout - bracing, sometimes too sharp - alongside the mint and, by many accounts, a clear lavender the official pyramid omits. As the citrus calms, the violet-leaf, green-apple and sweet-cardamom heart emerges (a fuller tester-sticker reading adds bergamot, lavender and spearmint up top and Evernyl, white cedar, sandalwood and dry amber in the base). The drydown is a light, raw-woody affair. The net effect is “a fresher version of the original,” more aromatic-citrus than fruity-fougere.
Performance
Performance is the fragrance’s defining weakness, and the complaints are blunt. The most-quoted wearers verdict: “How can they get away with watering down the original… might as well call this EDW or Eau de Water,” calling its strength extremely weak.“ wearers reviewers report 3-4 hours at best, with one noting compliments around the 5-hour mark from two sprays on the neck and one on each wrist. Another quipped it “smells great for about ten minutes then totally disappears.” A minority defend it as a deliberately light summer scent that performs adequately in hot climates (one wearer based south of the equator found it a favorite for warm locations). Bear in mind many bottles in circulation are decade-old stock, which compounds the weak projection. Manage expectations: this is a soft, short summer splash, not a performer.
Wearing Context
By design and by consensus this is a hot-weather, daytime, casual fragrance - gym-bag, post-workout, weekend-morning, spring-and-summer territory. Its lightness, which frustrates those wanting projection, is exactly what makes it pleasant and inoffensive in heat. It’s a masculine fresh scent but easy and crowd-pleasing rather than distinctive. Reviewers who like it describe it as “a light, playful, small smell” for low-stakes everyday wear; one even reported a surprisingly good compliment rate from women at work despite the modest sillage.
Comparisons & DNA
Its primary reference is the original Montblanc Legend (2011) - itself perennially compared to Abercrombie & Fitch Fierce, the late-2000s mall-scent benchmark whose DNA Legend repackaged. The Special Edition 2014, however, is widely seen as the “black sheep” of the line that shares relatively little of the core Legend fruity-fougere DNA, pushing instead toward a green citrus-aromatic profile. Within the flanker family it’s most kin to the 2013 Special Edition (ginger/mint/lime fresh take) and is preferred by some fans over the pillar and the Spirit/Intense/Night flankers precisely because the special editions “amped up the right notes.” Its cool lime-mint-woody structure sits in the same general neighborhood as classic fresh fougeres like Calvin Klein Eternity for Men.
Reception
Reception is mixed-to-lukewarm and almost entirely wearer-driven. A vocal contingent is harsher, citing the watered-down strength and a “strange bitter strong” lime that’s “unpleasantly sharp,” with several concluding “original is the better option” and “discontinued for good reason.” Now Smell This covered it only as a launch announcement (February 3, 2014), not a full review, and no -2 critic reviewed it in depth - appropriate for an ephemeral seasonal flanker.
Versions & Reformulation
This is itself a flanker - a limited “Special Edition” of the 2011 Legend, distinct from the 2012, 2013, Intense, Spirit, Night, Red and Blue versions in the sprawling Legend family. It was released as a 100ml EDT and is discontinued. The chief practical wrinkle is age, not reformulation: surviving bottles are old stock (batch codes returning 2014 production), and at least one long-term wearer flagged that years of aging plausibly affected projection and performance. The official wearers pyramid is widely considered incomplete (the missing lavender being the recurring example), which is why tester-sticker note lists circulate as a fuller reference.
Acquisition Notes
Legend Special Edition 2014 was a limited EDT in the annual summer-flanker run and is discontinued. Confirm the blue-gradient 2014 presentation, since nearby 2012 and 2013 editions are easy to confuse. Because its main weakness is performance, freshness of stock matters.
Notable Facts & Lore
- The bottle is the collectible hook: the standard Legend flask (itself modeled on the Meisterstuck pen) rendered in a dark-blue-to-transparent gradient for the summer edition.
- Pescheux’s Pomarose - the apple/rose dried-fruit material that defined the original Legend - is dialed down here, which is exactly why fans say the 2014 SE doesn’t smell much like “Legend.”
- The line’s enduring shadow is A&F Fierce: the original Legend is so often called a softer Fierce that the comparison frames every flanker, even ones like this that diverge from the core DNA.
- “Evernyl” appears in the base - a synthetic oakmoss substitute - reflecting the post-IFRA reformulation realities of 2010s mainstream fougeres.