Elite (1980)
by Floris

I can understand why some don't like this, but why the angry reviews? This isn't exactly a radical, groundbreaking scent.

I agree 100% with odysseusm - this is a great herbal green fragrance. It's got the big oakmossy style of 80s powerhouse fragrances, but without the crazy sillage. To me, Elite smells like a toned down Sung Homme.

The dominant notes are oakmoss and laurel. The laurel acts like this big warm, pale green blanket on which the fragrance lies, and when it mixes with the patchouli, amber and oakmoss, it casts a kind of rich but dry leathery pall across the entire fragrance, and that's what gives it an 80s-type smell. I do have to admit that it does have that old-cigarettes-in-an-ashtray smell that others described, and I love it.

On the other hand, being a Floris scent, Elite has a certain stodgy, serious feel to it that counteracts the macho elements. All the herbal notes are prominent but restrained at the same time, and the whole fragrance is very well balanced. It's not powdery as most "dandified" fragrances usually are, but I could easily see Elite being in a dandy's wardrobe.

This is one of the better green fragrances I've worn, and is a class act for sure.

MY RATING: 8.5/10

4th January, 2012.

I was ready for another rant, since I hated this stuff beyond words on the last few wearings, but it just isn't bothering me as much this time. Floris Elite spawns out of the mud as a sharp, anisy, 80s-style tobacco powerhouse, though admittedly without that one screaming lemon topnote that they used to use sometimes. It's got some green, but it's a minty green...more like spearmint than peppermint, which helps, but I still don't think it's necessary. It has the dusty, rustic hay-like notes of VCA Tsar or Aramis Devin, or more specifically Nicolai's oddball Vie de Chateau, but with more wood and smoke than green. As the smoke gets stronger, I remember it now: envisioning a stale ashtray in an old woman's apartment that had accumulated years of old-style perfume residue and talcum powder. For a while in the mid notes, I do find some reasonably convincing incense, but as the smoke gets more sour and less sweet, the ashtray is inescapable. By the base notes, nothing else is left. Hermessence Vetiver Tonka did this to me alongside its nutty notes, as did VdC and Tsar to a lesser extent, but I can't think of any other scent that just screams "I'm not wearing cologne but I'm a bigtime chain-smoker" as much as Floris Elite. It's not as bad as I remembered, but still not really useable for me. I'm sure it would be great in a gentlemen's club a hundred years ago, with rich, well-dressed men smoking countless cigars and swilling brandy, sweating in their pompous army uniforms.

15th December, 2011.

I don't know what type of elite they were referring to at Floris, but this is anything but elitist. A so and so concoction of citruses and aromatic herbs laying on a mossy/woody base enriched by vetiver and hints of tuberose. I also get a barberhop vibe that in this context gives an unpleasant feel of aging. A fragrance of very very little interest.

22nd October, 2011.

Quite nice reminds me of Drakkar Noir

3rd October, 2011.

To me Elite is a great woody scent with a bit of masculine floral thrown in. It is perfect for wearing in the fall in particular. The only thing that mars it a bit with respect to general acceptance is I get a medicinal undertone throughout whenever I wear it. As such, it has a more "mature" vibe, so it probably will appeal more to the 30+ year old crowd (a group I am admittedly in). Still, while not anywhere near a perfect scent, it definitely is a good one that is worth a try and is recommended.

3rd September, 2011.

A bright woody-floral fougere with pronounced notes of vetiver and cedar, a green-fruity-citrusy opening and a floral note exuding from the blend. The link of juniper berries and bay adds aromatic freshness since the beginning. The floral note is barely detectable and the fruits tend fastly to fade with citrus in order to let the scene to the grass, the traditional lavender, the astringent cedar and the rooty vetiver. The combination of lavender, amber and coniferous resins on the side of musks and strict patchouli turns it very masculine and woodsy. This is a nice daily scent with a traditional sort of british beat made of dynamism, class and sense of humor.

30th May, 2011.