Carven Homme (original) (1999)
by Carven

The long forgotten Carven Homme, only known to fragrance enthusiasts. In a word, CH is wonderful. Embodies adjectives like seductive, fresh, complex, and smooth. You can practically wax lyrical all day over it.

The opening is awash in carnation, lavender and ginger. Floral but masculine. Smells a lot like the brilliant Gucci Envy for Men which is a wondrous thing as Envy is also discontinued but goes for hundreds of dollars on Ebay. CH moves into a heart of vetiver, cedar and rosewood. I’m reminded of the exquisite Davidoff Zino and its wonderful rosewood note. There’s also some sweetness from the tonka & vanilla but it’s all so subtle. CH is so well constructed sometimes you just have to sit back and enjoy the good vapors coming off your skin.

CH should’ve been a huge hit and still in production but it was not be. As such, it remains a private joy to the select few.

8.5/10

Had a bottle of this sitting around in my collection for over a decade, and recently I decided to blow the dust off and give it another whirl.

WOW WOW WOW I feel like I rediscovered a good friend from the past! Carven Homme (original) is a well-crafted aromatic fougere, evoking great feelings of calm and confidence in me at all points.

CH(o)starts out with a fresh burst of bright spice. That wears off relatively fast and gives way to a warm, pleasant, and classy experience: A hint of sandalwood, lavender, cedarwood, and sweet spiciness that resembles an upper class version of the original Old Spice aftershave. Hints at the classic fougeres of the 1980's without being loud nor unpredictable. The scent remains tastefully masculine and bracing, with a sillage that is noticed and complimented on repeatedly.

CH(o) hearkens back to the past without pretention nor gimmick. Simply put, it is a great fragrance that is worth owning, esp. if you are a fan of the better constructed fougeres of decades past. HUGE thumbs up! ;^>

To me, this is 60% Gucci Envy, 30% CK Obsession, 10% Davidoff Zino. As much as I dislike Zino, it manages to take the good out of Zino and combine it well with spices and aromatic notes.

I do own a bottle, and although I rarely reach for it, it's undoubtedly a high score for me. Quality, well blended, timeless fragrance. Price is still good, worth a blind buy, even if you don't plan on wearing it often. Sillage and longevity are mediocre for me, around the 5 hours mark.. this doesn't matter though.

Even if you own 200+ bottles like myself.. there is only one Carven Homme.. even if you wear it once a year, buy a bottle, before they are gone entirely, and going for 200+ on Ebay, because I guarantee it to be the case here in a few years with this modern classic.

I made the mistake of trying the similarly named Carven Pour Homme, which turned out to be one of the worst scents I've ever encountered. Only after nine months did I find out that Carven Homme is a totally different fragrance that has been discontinued. I wonder about the sanity of a company that would discontinue a scent this great. Somehow this seems like what Shalimar should be but isn't-- a wonderful oriental, spicy, woody, incense scent that on the first spray makes you say "Wow!", and on further uses go "Mmmmmmm!". I would say this is definitely a unisex scent. After finding one bottle at only $13 I immediately purchased two more. Easily in my top five right now.

Stardate 20160817:

A great rosewood fragrance. I, along with many other, find it very similar to Egoiste. I would go further to say that Carven is better than Egoiste as it does not have that weird ("BO") note that Egoiste does.
Should be in everyone's wardrobe and despite the name this is true Unisex fragrance.