Weekend for Men (1997)
by Burberry

Spicy and citrusy and quite sharp at first but not a zesty sharp citrus. More bitter/sour and airy. I like it but not that interesting. Doesn't last that long on my skin. I can smell the musk throughout the whole think which smells quite nice.

It's funny to me to see all the reviews by men who think this smells most like a women's perfume, because that was my thought as well! I sniffed the Burberry Weekend for Men on a card, and liked it very much! On the other hand, I sniffed Burberry Weekend for Women on a card, and my nose recoiled in horror! 'Nothing alike!

I sprayed a little of this on myself, and it was all lemony-lime and bergamot! I liked it! Then, many hours later, it was still like a lime Lifesaver on my skin. Other women told me it smelled nice, and when I told them it was a male scent, they were surprised, too!

It's a nice summery kind of scent. Long lasting on me too (>6 hours). 'Wouldn't come off with soap and water, or alcohol.

Weekend seems to be the least mentioned and the least highly regarded Burberry fragrance among Basenoters. Well, I protest. I don't really see what the complaint here with it being too feminine is all about, but then again I wear Carnal Flower in public. The citrus opening is fresh, and effervescent really is the right adjective here. The drydown smells like good soap. It does have somewhat a weak middle stage, as others have mentioned, where things are a bit confused. But otherwise a decent light, playful scent. Not the most elegant thing out there, sure, but you could pay a lot more and do worse than this.

Agreeing with a few previous reviews, this is certainly a fragrance that is skin-specific (IMO the best are).

On me, it does open with a sharp lemoniness, albeit a very pleasant one. (I can't imagine how this would open as smooth and warm on anyone...the drydown perhaps--the opening, no way). It has a near girliness that actually comes off well on many masculine guys (think balance...offsetting the manliness). It reminds me very very much of the early 70s lemoniness of Love's Fresh Lemon that groovy girls at the time would wear, including my older sister. Very straightforward fresh squeezed citrus. Its other sharpness is not dissimilar to a bugspray kind of sharpness, but, again, I enjoy this edgy freshness. In this sense, it has a unisex quality that's fun and sexy for a macho guy to wear casually.

Then the honeyed notes come through, balancing and warming, and remain to pin down the rest of the drydown. The ivy notes maintain a nice green edge through the drydown. The citrus impressively maintains its presence. The drydown is summer southern nocturnal floral--warm, sparkling and lemony.

It is one of the scents where the notes listed are clearly articulated and detected. In that sense, it is not highly integrated or refined. But it is exactly this casual quality that makes it a "weekend" fragrance, no?

Somewhat unisex, it is sexy on dark-featured guy who can use the freshening balance. It is an underrated casual citrus, and one of my favorites.

It’s strange how a single scent can elicit such different results on different skins, and, looking at the reviews, this one is more variable than most. I am amazed that anyone could call this sharp (I like “sharp”). On my skin it is smooth and warm and restrained from the opening through the drydown. As for sweetness, yes, I find it sweet (I don’t like “sweet”), but certainly not excessively so. I side with those who say this is a smooth, warm, somewhat subtle fragrance.

I think the oakmoss and sandalwood in the heart has a lot to do with how Weekend reacts on me—on my skin these are stars—THE top performers. And they serve to mute other notes when they are around: Being in the midnotes, they very quickly move into action and then hang around for a long time, so I find this fragrance dominated by oakmoss and sandalwood.

Another good thing is the watermelon—it does a wonderful job of toning down the extravagant use of citrus in the opening. It provides the right dab of sweetness and truly rounds out the notes of the top and mid.

My problem was in the mid notes: I get a sort of floral and / or “perfumy” vibe from them. The pyramid doesn’t mention florals, but I have a sense that there is a little Eternity-like aura in the mid notes.

The dry down is very nice—ambery warm, honey sweet, and musky close to the skin. Perhaps a little similar to D’Issey but I like Weekend’s better.

Having recently sampled Weekend, I find it to be very similar to Truefitt & Hill’s classic Freshman. However, I think Freshman is a much better and more complex scent. Freshman (1815) is a brisk and comfortable classic. Weekend is simply a modern version of that. I’m surprised no one has made this comparison. At points Essenza di Zegna has the same vibe.