Sander for Man (1998)
by Jil Sander

For about fifteen minutes, Sander for Man flirts with greatness. The cool minted citrus and aromatic opening is a little shy on me, but the scent soon opens up to expose a brisk combination of green herbaceous notes, conifer wood, and spices. Pepper and cypress keep things crisp and clean, while a hint of smoky incense throws an intriguing shadow over the olfactory landscape. At this stage Sander for Man resembles several of the early Comme des Garçons scents, not only in content, but in its overall style: an unabashedly synthetic composition that strives for novelty without trying to smell even remotely like anything in nature.

Then, rather suddenly, the whole structure is swamped by a wave of standard issue fruity-green fougère accord. From that point on, it’s just another banal Cool Water wannabe, made more disappointing perhaps by the occasional hints of cypress, pepper, or incense that remind me what Sander for Man could have been. Never mind “For god, for country, and for Yale,” Sander for Man should be in the dictionary under “anticlimax.”

Sander opens with a relatively sharp, fresh opening that is immediately green and somewhat aquatic. I would not categorize this fragrance as aquatic, but it does smell watery – unlike most aquatics which simply attempt to imitate watery, fruity freshness. The ivy and mint combination in the top notes create the green, fresh opening. The ivy dominates as the scent transitions into the heart of spicy coriander, cardamom, and pepper. My untrained noise perceives the pepper note with only a vague discernment of the cardamom. Finally, I get cashmere, myrrh, and some woods in the base. The base is definitely familiar; the references to Gucci PH II and Hugo Boss Dark Blue are spot on (especially for GPH II).

The overall experience is pleasant enough: an urban, trendy, fresh yet sexy eau de toilette. Unfortunately, I don’t feel like this cologne offers enough punch to spark my interest. It smells good, but it doesn’t deliver enough smell for the nose to enjoy. No wander this one came and went without anyone noticing. For me, it’s a neutral due to its anemic nature.

Intensely sharp, minty, woody and very modern scent that is both different from anything else out there -- yet not so strikingly different that it really sticks in your memory. In spite of having just a touch of sweetness to it, Sander for Man is anything but creamy and cloying -- it is aggressively dry and has a sharpness to it that can stun your olfactory senses for a good fifteen minutes if you overspray and aren't careful. Sillage is outrageous - you can almost see the molecules radiating out and infiltrating your victims' lungs. I find it hard to place this one. Thanks to the mint it's a bit too cold for a snuggly scent (no warm, gourmand-y, or animalic vibes here) - yet a touch too spicy and powerful for office wear, although when I've used it it's mostly been for the latter purpose. Incredible value for money given the size of the bottle and the power of the juice -- but probably still a "try before you buy" scent. And don't get too trigger-happy with the spray button -- your friends will be in pain.

Aromatic and fresh FiFi winner. Not a bad scent.

I keep getting this cold, and metallic citrus smell out of it. It doesn’t make it actually bad, but it makes the structure very sharp, thin and eventually even quite cheap smelling.

Spiciness is close to being nostril burningly harsh. Woods are very watery; makes me think of long soaked driftwood now drifted to the shore.

The thing I like most in this is the strange and oddly unreachable exotic general tone. That’s why it’s kind of hard to keep my nose out of my wrist. It smells mysterious in the end, very familiar and yet so misty at the same time.

Good stuff, but I don’t personally need a bottle mainly because of that tendency to make my nose sting.

I really love fresh and ligtht fragances but I don't know what this one is and why!
Luckly it was a discreet one but not only that it doesn't last I'm afraid it acctually doesn't exist it's so weak.
Wearing this one you just smell like nothing so you could as well use a simple (cheaper ) department store deodorant.

the spicy middle note and the base notes of incense and myrrh are magical. very unique scent. i would not say (green) but a very romantic and uncasual scent. wear this one out with your lady friend to get her in the mood.