Reviews of Set Sail St. Barts for Men (2007)
by Tommy Bahama

Many a times it happens that rowdy young men make ridiculous claims of one uppance ...its only later during a group shower session that the truth hangs out and the claims of superiority are exposed. The Set Sail St. Barts for Men (SSSB) vs. Virgin Island Water (VIW) was one such, albeit short lived, bout on Basenotes. Lets just say VIW leaves SSSB hanging upside down in the school playground and steels its lunch money in the process.

SSSB opens with a very good juicy lime and tequila accord...the tequila accord is suitably boozy with just the right level of alcohol. Thats about the only height this juice reaches, as the heart notes introduce a demure salty note of sorts with the tequila accord rapidly fainting before a mind numbingly pedestrian backend of a cheap vanilla and musk note materializes and spends 80% of the 5 hr lifespan of this fragrance radiating off your skin. There's also a coconut note of sorts in here...its the type which immediately elicits cheap suntan lotion vibe and provides a clear demarcation between the coconut note that lives within SSSB and the subtle, milky smooth variant found in VIW, Carnal Flower and Datura Noir.

SSSB isn't bad, its just deceptively mediocre. Its very top loaded with a fleeting heart and a drydown that was delivered on a 10 rupee budget. Compared to the slick melding of lime, subtle coconut, ginger and florals in ViW, SSSB just smells terribly exposed and underfunded.

Rating: 5.75/10.0

So I got this for Saturnalia and although I've sprayed it a bunch just for kicks, I've felt it was almost always too damn cold out to really give it a go. Well, there was a heat wave last week and the temperature hit about 50, so I bathed in St. Barts (due to my being aware of its "weakness") and proceeded to go about my New York day. 2 unsolicited compliments in one day equals a damn fine cologne.

In conclusion, we have a weak yet pleasant lime, coconut, and tequila fragrance for a reasonable price. Even if you use ten sprays per wearing you're still ahead of the game. Others will like it, and that's good. It smells better than Virgin Island Water, but maybe that's because my smell buds aren't fancy enough for Creed.

Very fresh and lovely! My husband is the type to really get after it when he puts on fragrance so I have to be careful what I buy him. It's just perfect for the man with a heavy hand! ;) It's very limey(in a good way!)! HA! Love it!

Longevity's a bit of an issue, yes, but I for one really enjoy this powdery, musky lime concoction. It's not my normal cup of tea, no, but I'm awfully impressed with it considering its low price tag and wide availability. There is certainly a strong "cocktail" vibe here, with the coconut and lime notes (and, to a lesser extent, the "tequila" notes) clearly distinguishable

A good, casual choice for the under 25 crowd.

The opening splash of lime is sensational. The tequila is there from the start and doesn't dry it out exactly, but gives the lime an acrid sweet twist that is very pleasant, and for me stays with this salty-sweet cocktail to the last drop. A freshet of fragrant leaves comes and goes. There is nothing urbane about this scent, it's a Florida Key, not Sutton Place. But it's terribly fun, audacious really, for a weekend at the beach, or an occasional pick-me-up if you happen to live there.

I have to definitely agree with some of these guy, coconut, margarita, alot of agave and lime, great for summer, or just as a signiture scent. I perfer this in my collection along with set sail south seas, nautica voyage, and my favorite, Issey Miyake.

This stuff is so weak that I had to spray it five times in the same place to get anything at all. Coconut, lime and rum. Just what you expect from a French owned Caribbean Island... wonder what this fragrance would've smelled like if the Swedish colony had stayed.

After buying a bottle of Tommy Bahamas's Very Cool and loving it, I decided to give the brand some more business. Again, I went to TJ Maxx and bought a 3.4 oz. bottle of Set Sail St. Barts for $20. I believe the same bottle is around $65 at Macy's. I was pretty dissapointed with this cologne for the reason that it lasts only about 10 - 15 minutes on me before I can no longer smell it. I will say that this cologne has a very unique smell and a complex dry down. I've never smelled anything quite like it. I can surely get the tequilla and salt smell out of it, but as it dries a vanilla and coconut sort of scent remains. Honestly, I'd be happy if it always smelled like it did right out of the bottle ... which makes me think of drinking a Tequilla and Grapefruit juice by night at a beach bar near a pool at a resort in the tropics. The dry down smell almost reminds me of cotton candy or coconut and linen. However, it doesn't really matter because after a few minutes, only a very faint scent remains. I have a feeling if this cologne had more staying power, it would probably be one of the most unique and complex and mysterious colognes I own. I can surely see this scent as being the type of thing that women would use as an excuse to snuggle up next to if it lasted longer than 20 minutes. I was looking forward to trying the next version of Set Sail in the black bottle, but after the dissapointment with this version, I may pass ... even for $20.

Picked this up very inexpensively at a local discount store - I was curious what tequila in a fragrance smelled like.

The initial spray in fact smells like a margarita - pungent and robust. This is a fleeting smell that gives way to a vanilla - almost coconut - musk that is more reminiscent of a pina coloda than a margarita. I wish the initial notes lasted longer.

I'd wear this on vacation in a warm place, or perhaps to the beach or pool. I wouldn't recommend paying anywhere near full price for this, but if you find it cheap it makes an interesting addition to a collection.

I personally love this scent. Refreshing, new, definitely stronger and much more attractive than all the aqua's I've tried. Right after the spray, it begins to smell delicious and completely transports me to a beach in Florida on a beautiful, warm, breezy day. I can definitely smell the lime, but it also smells fairly sweet, which I absolutely adore.

The longevity on this scent is surprisingly long (6-8 hours for me), way more than I expected from a summer scent. Way to go Tommy Bahama! =)

When I first smelled it the top notes were really bad. It didn't even smell like a fragrance, just some kind of random smell. It kind of smells synthetic.

The other Tommy Bahama scents have an ice pick effect on my nose: very sharp, although paradoxically good. It must be what meth feels like, sharp but good.

But St. Barts is in another class altogether. It's fresh, like its brethren, but understated. This instantly puts me in a holiday mood, and what with all the "greens" in this one, it's no wonder. Now I got this impression from a sample so I won't make a call on its longevity, but who cares? Put this one on, step out in your Hawaii shirt and flip flops. Or better yet, stroll the deck of your yacht and don't forget to have fun, fun, fun!

When I first smelled this, I thought "OH, this goes straight to the Swap list.", but after awhile, I kept wanting to sniff my hand where I spritzed a little. I reapplied a larger spray this time. The lime was overwhelming, but in a good way. The boozy-tequila notes, to me, was faint...behind the lime. The dry down was where this won it for me. It was a softer Tommy Bahama. Imagine taking TB for Men and mixing with Body Kouros or sun tan lotion....thats the base. Quite nice.

The lime note starts out wonderfully fresh and natural but within ten minutes it has developed a synthetic ambiance complete with that plastic taste in the back of the mouth – an ambiance that makes the scent begin to smell too much like those many poorly done mass market scents, which, apparently, it is. The boozy note that other reviewers write about doesn’t come through very strongly for me, but I get some sweet green notes (guava? and agaves?) and the accord smells salty to me. Then the vanilla starts building. I’m not a vanilla lover, but this vanilla makes the middle accord much nicer than it might have been IMO. The drydown is mediocre at best: It loses almost everything and becomes merely a synthetic musk / vanilla skin scent. It’s too bad that Tammy Bahama’s Set Sail St. Barts for Men doesn’t fulfill the beautiful promise it made in its opening — it is a shame that that wonderful lime note with a boozy background wasn’t carried through into the middle and base. This scent is not recommended.

Nice. 'ubuandibeme' AND 'Dead Mans Hand' are very much on point about this fragrance. If you've sampled VIW you immediately notice the connection within 30 minutes of trying Set Sail.
This is a fun summer time cologne, which pays tribute to islands and beaches and everything else that is fun in the sun. It has a flleting lime margarita note that transitions well into the tequila whcih moves to the background as a coconuty/sun tan lotion (Hawaiian Tropics?) that is quite well done. Genius, if you ask me. There is no way you will not be reminded of a beachy environment.
For me, the other cool part is how the dry down is also reminiscent of the original Tommy Bahama, though ever so faint. Sample it for sure, I think you will like it.
PS: If you do like Creed's Virgin island Water, but like me can't bring yourself to pay the asking price, this is a must. Not the exact same scent but close enough to forget about VIW.

A strong synthetic lime note over a boozey base, both of which disappear within an hour. Pleasant enough, I suppose, but great citrus scents like Eau du Sud, Acqua di Parma, Iskander, and Bahiana render Set Sail St. Barts utterly irrelevant. I might have given it a neutral if it were of another genre, but the world has no need of yet another mediocre citrus scent.

I love this scent! What a great fun summer cologne! I am sick of happy aquatic colognes every summer which are variations on the same theme, SS is unique and different but still a very well done scent.

I tried SS along side of Creed VIW and I actually preferred SS. VIW smelled very synthetic, especially the heavy lime note, SS does not smell synthetic and the notes are much better balanced together than VIW.

The tequila and lime notes in SS are dominate but with a bit of sweetness. I was concerned with the longevity but after 5 hours now I can still smell it on me, for a light cologne that was beyond my expectations. This scent takes me to a warm beach with cool drinks plain and simple.

I liked it so much I bought a full bottle.

For some crazy reason, I actually like this scent. Not on a regular basis mind you, but as a fun alternative to serious fragrance. First spritz of this elixir smells exactly like a margarita, which is my favorite summertime cocktail. What really catches me off guard is the saltiness! Yeah, you can actually smell the salt! So creative & playful ~ has a more 'classy' drydown than the Demeter line of fragrance. The base is musky. I've also sampled the women's counterpart(not yet listed in the Basenote's directory) and it mirrors this male version in a simple, softer manner. Both bottles are attractive as well. I probably won't be investing in the full size, I'm having enough fun with my samples.

A very realistic lime note preceeds a little-too-strong tequila note (it really did smell like I spilled tequila all over myself) that faded into a musky/marine/typical man's scent base.

Sillage was average. Longevity was below average.

Whatever the 'house' scent that Tommy Bahama scent is I have accepted that I don't like it.

Yawn.