Aramis 900 (1973)
by Aramis

I wanted to like this but found too much of a floral mess. I usually like florals that concentrate on a theme or single flower rather than every flower known to man. Very medicinal indeed. I would go with something like Caron Le 3 Homme or Floris no 89.

Somewhere between a funeral home, a rose garden and The Sahara.

This juice is Solemn with a capital S. I do not know if the 'masculine' feel comes from the dryness, or the medicinal, almost barbershop scent.

It's odd that we smell roses at all, since it has none. More rose than Egoiste, which does.

Why not a thumbs up? Objectively it deserves it but I've come to the conclusion that, with notable exceptions, I don't really care for herbal scents. And medicinal-herbal still less

Aramis 900

Aramis is one of those Houses that it took me a while to explore. One of the main reasons was that the original Aramis was associated with guys who wore too much cologne as I spent many nights choking on some would-be player’s cologne trail and it would invariably be Aramis. Flash-forward to a couple of years ago and I cautiously try Aramis Tuscany and say not bad. I follow this up with a sniff of JHL. Then the SA goes you should try this one it’s by the same person who designed Aramis. Immediately I’m like no chance, but it was too late, because like a trained sniper she’d sprayed the back of my hand. When I pulled it cautiously to my nose I was met with this overwhelmingly strong opening that made me think “Bleahh” but I gave it a moment and this became the scent that really turned my opinion of Aramis the House around. The scent on the back of my hand was the 1973 creation of Bernard Chant, Aramis 900. The opening of 900 is very strong and pushes right to the edge of what indoles can create. When indoles are used in too high a concentration they can come off smelling fecal but as they mellow they open up a wonderful deep green quality to a scent. From the first spray of 900 it comes off just to the wrong side of fecal but it thankfully lasts mere minutes and the deep green character comes through along with a bergamot that gives it a little sparkle. The depth of this green never really lets go and it is joined by a rosewood note which adds a little of both parts of that compound word as I get a little rose and a little wood to balance the green. The base is all chypre as oakmoss, vetiver and patchouli close 900 in standard style. Aramis 900 says on the bottle that it is an “herbal eau de cologne” and for a pyramid which contains no herbs it does come off as exactly what it’s labeled as. Unlike Aramis, 900 does not leave a trail of choking “admirers” in its wake. It is fairly close-wearing for a cologne with the heft it displays. Thankfully, 900 was the scent which has allowed me to put aside the bad memories of my youth and make new friends with an old House.

I wore this scent on my wedding day back in 1974. Compliments beyond belief! Back then it was called Aramis Herbal (the word herbal was big back then). It has excellent longevity and the dry down is very good. This stuff is real pleasing and fresh smelling. too. Yes, it does smell a lot like Elixir of Aromatics by Clinique. At the same time, Aramius 900 smells very European, too.

Someday the Aramis brand will get it’s due. Between 1965 and 1995 the house introduced a series of distinctive and affordable fragrances for men, made with outstanding materials and composed by some of the world’s most talented noses. Granted, the brand management has been, shall we say, inconsistent (OK, idiotic), with greats like Havana and Tuscany Forte discontinued and many of the others hidden in the most obscure corners of the men’s fragrance shelves. But still: Aramis, Devin, Aramis 900, Tuscany, Tuscany Forte, JHL, Havana…who else has that kind of track record for masculine scents? Even when it comes to women’s fragrances, few firms besides Chanel, Guerlain, and Dior have turned out scents of such consistent quality.

Aramis 900 is one of the easier of the Aramis scents to find, and along with Tuscany, one of the easiest to wear. In structure it hovers somewhere between an ambery patchouli and a green floral chypre in the manner of Givenchy III or Azzaro Couture. The contrast between Aramis 900’s sweet amber and its bitter green floral accord enlivens the entire composition, engendering a tension that drives the scent in a grand arc from aromatic bergamot opening to mossy balsamic drydown. Given its vintage and its general style I’d have expected Aramis 900 to be loud, or even overbearing, but it’s surprisingly suave and understated. While hardly weak, it does wear comfortably close to the skin, just bold enough to make its presence known, but never so boisterous as to offend. In sum, Aramis 900 is a rounded, satisfying, and sophisticated scent for grownups, one that’s at once wearable, versatile, and rather sadly underrated.

900 has a mature feel to it. I find this to be a very nose-friendly "green" scent. The very mild citrus and herbs are blended to perfection for a slightly less bitter dry-down. But the best part is the very intense sweet floral notes that dominate the scent Very wearable and versatile. There is a woodsy tint to it at the ending linger.