Ungaro III (1993)
by Ungaro

This one will always be in my wardrobe. Even right now I have a spare bottle. Just in case. I don’t even wear it that often, but when I do, feels really special.
Jacques Polge have mastered the rose/for men/ better than anyone else. Egoiste is spectacular in that aspect. Ungaro III is not by any stretch of the imagination close to Egoiste. Rose here is more prominent. Much more vibrant. The rest of it is a bliss.
Some reading this may be put off by the rose comparison. Don’t. You’ll find, you never had an idea what a rose in male fragrance should smell like.
All of us usually categorize fragrances by season. Ungaro III is equally attractive in a ski lodge or at a beach cabana. Something about the feel of being alive and well puts this one a leap ahead of the competition.
Longevity is good, but not as good as the silage. The later is outstanding.
10/10

Dark and mysterious, but not oriental.

Floral, but not fresh and boring.

Elegant, but not that much formal.

Brilliant, but no doubt.



p.s. even more hard to define than Antidote.

This is so delicate and classy! Works great wether the weather is cold or warm. It is a bit mysterious, dark, subtle. Lasts long, sillage is not great, I already said this scent is subtle and I think it was meant to be as such. Darker clothes come to my mind, blends well with the suit. Wouldn't go casual with this one, scent has this certain dose of elegance in it.

I would say that my blind purchases are 70% successful. From the other 30%, there are 5% which I regret so much that even if I have given only a Euro for them, I will still feel like I've been robbed. That's the case with Ungaro III. That fragrance along with Cerruti 1881 compete for the first prize of "worst blind purchase". And it's interesting (or maybe logical) that I find striking similarity between both of them - complex fragrances with many notes (or maybe harsh ones) which all blend in a heavy mess. It smells like my father's colognes from the communist era - cheap and mass. It certainly suits old men and grannies. I am amazed only three people have given it a thumbs down...

Just for information - I am 30 and my favorite fragrances are Encre Noir, Terre d'Hermes, Green Irish Tweed, Declaration. To be honest, Ungaro III really makes me think I should finally eradicate that evel blind purchase practice of myself.

I got the new version blind for $12, and figured it couldn't be that bad. The top and middle were nice enough, but the base just smelled like wilted roses in a horror movie sanatorium...sickly, persistent and floral. I couldn't quite place what real-world object it smelled like. The sillage reached an alarming distance from the piece of cloth that I had tested it on. People probably would smell it but wouldn't even realize the smell was coming from a person, especially a man. I probably could have stuck with it, but it just wasn't worth the mental effort.

Ungaro III

Sometimes I just want a scent that does the simple things well. Sometimes I don't want to have to work to figure out what is in each phase because the notes that are being used are obvious. Sometimes I like to see when a perfumer has embellished earlier themes. Ungaro III is one of those scents for me it was co-created, in 1993, by Francois Demachy and Jacques Polge. It is a fairly common progression of citrus, patchouli/vetiver, wood. It feels like a thematic brother to Polge's 1989 creation Tiffany for Men. From the top it is a classic mix of orange and lemon, it is bright and fresh and everything a colognoisseur has come to expect from a citrus-forward opening. The heart is patchouli, at first, soon joined by the edginiess of vetiver. Once again no new ground broken here but balanced nicely and adding some depth to the citrus beginning. In the base sndalwood adds smoothness and creaminess to the proceedings, making for a traditional closing argument. Ungaro III is a classic masculine scent, made in a classic masculine style. Sometimes that is all one needs to head out into the world.