Perceive for Men (2001)
by Avon

My first encounter with Perceive in 2000 (it's launch year, despite Basenotes saying 2001) was met with puzzlement. Back then it was "Perceive for Him" as it was part of a his/hers suite (the parfum is discontinued) and was the among the first of many different Avon colognes I dipped into as the kick-off for what would become a hobby for me, but it was the one I could never quite figure out if I liked or not. I used to just wear it periodically because I hadn't in a while and wanted to give it a fair turn amongst the rest. Years later in 2017, when I reacquired it, I didn't have much memory of it besides it's strangeness and tart opening, but after analyzing it, I came to realize that it was a "me-too" fragrance, just oddly not of a very popular trope.

It's an aromatic chypre of the type that Avon was fond of releasing in the early 2000's, and released alongside another such chypre the same year (Avon Uomo). Perhaps Perceive's success was the catalyst for Avon to keep tinkering with the idea until it ran it's course with Paradigm and HisStory a few years later. However, unlike the others that came later, it was a pretty close riff of Iceberg's "Iceberg Twice Homme" fragrance released in 1995. Maybe it's success inspired Avon to create more daring and original compositions in this style, just as the "me-too" Wild Country and Black Suede both skirted close to popular fragrances of the day from a few years past, but gave birth to far more original (but less commercially successful) selections in subsequent years.

What is known about the fragrance, is that it arguably is more popular and successful than the scent it tried to duplicate (at least in the US), both in style of presentation and substance. More folks know the Avon Perceive than of the Iceberg scent. Without reviewing Iceberg's fragrance here in the process, I'll just say that Perceive takes that same contradicting twist of fresh and aromatic notes but dumps out much of the cloying sweetness that Iceberg uses, probably because off less expensive ingredients and a simpler note pyramid, but it works better. The effect of this economical rethinking is a dryer, crystal clear aromatic chypre that delivers the same message as Iceberg without the hard-to-chase syrupy funk (a trait Iceberg unfortunately shares with the almighty Joop). Perceive doubles down on this dry clarity as it dries on the skin itself, leaving behind wisps of that tart opening and the warm woodsy basenotes.

The fragrance is certainly an oddity among Avon colognes for men, and sort of set the pace for the rest of early 2000's Avon up until the now-defunct Derek Jeter dynasty they established in 2006, when Avon actually won awards by playing Aquatic fougere hardball with the big boys (pun intended). Perceive is that rare modern fragrance with one foot in the past and one in the present, which is why a wide age range seems to buy and review it on Avon's own website. I am not a huge fan of Iceberg Twice Homme, and had a bottle of it suggested to me -after- buying this scent, but learning Iceberg came first, making this a "me-too" of a very niche scent of mediocre appeal that actually rises above it's inspirations, almost by accident.

If you like the strange melange of notes going on here (citrus fizz, mint, some kitchen spice rack herbs, and semblance of sandalwood at the base), this could become an inoffensive daily work fragrance. Even the bottle on this is really eye-catching and one of Avon's all-time great designs. People always ask me about it when they see me pull it out of my backpack or off my shelf when I go to apply it. the whole thing is just well-done tip to tail. It's not the best of post-2000 Avon, but it's certainly very noteworthy.