Reviews of Usher for Men (2007)
by Usher

Hmmm… It’s not as bad as I thought it would be judging from the reviews, in fact it opens kind of interestingly – not pleasantly, but interestingly. I’m not even sure if I should call it synthetic… I think “abstract fruity” would be a better description. I do get the opening and the rest of the scent as sort of a melony aquatic, and I can see it as another Millesime Imperial copy, but at least this one has a tiny bit of originality. I can’t determine much of the base: mainly musk and suede… no wood. The base is too weak and short lasting, but that's pretty much the story for this kind of modern scent. I agree with Mario in that this doesn’t deserve a thumb’s down. I am neutral about it.

Don't judge a book by its cover or so the advice goes. Similarly, don't judge a fragrance by its bottle. Nor the name it is marketed under for that matter. Well, for once I didn't listen to that advice. How could I? I could forgive Sean John's Unforgivable rip off act for its excellent reproduction of a great scent. But USHER is just 'bland' when it has no right to be and shares nothing remotely in common with its celebrity namesake. I get the uneasy feeling that a chunk of the investment behind this insipid mess went to the celebrity first, the bottle designer next and whatever was left to the perfumer. In fact if you were to ask Usher to sample this scent, don't be surprised if he goes, "What the **** ?"

Got this one free. Smells ok. Nothing to brag about, and I don't wear it much.
Only wore a few times, and didn't really think either way on it.

Do I think it smells good? 3/5
Compliments from the ladies? 1/5
Overall 2/5

not as bad as you would think. a clean, sexy masculine scentwith lavender that lasta a good while. i am impressed from the first timer.white pepper gives it a touch of spice while musk and woods dominate the drydown. pretty good stuff.

Not that bad, smells like whatever until it sets in then it really turns into something great you wont notice it on yourself at that point but others will and Ive received numerous compliments in the short time ive owned it. I bought it because I was following a guy wearing the stuff and I couldnt get over what it was so I actually went up and asked him lol surprised to find out it was Usher.

GREAT SMELL VERY NICE FOR ANYONE

I find this to be similar to SMW, but without the odd ink note. It’s not bad for what it is – a restrained fruity aquatic – but it’s been done before.

This is generic purgatory.
I only give this acquatic woods a neutral instead of a thumbs down because graded on a a Curve---Er...I mean a curve, there are others which are truly hell.

Smells like a rip-off of Unforgivable (which was, in turn, a rip-off of Creed).

Pathetic.

Dousing yourself with Pepto-Bismol would probably be wiser than wearing this brew, and you would be less offensive to those in your immediate surroundings. Nauseating.

Not impressed at all. I tried this after a suggestion from a female friend who thought it was wonderful (and I tried the sample.) After buying it and wearing it for a few days, I was not impressed. It seemed like a cheap pungent knock off of Versace. You definitely pay for a name and great packaging rather than the scent.

This is not a pleasent scent. At least to my nose its not.. I would have thought Usher would have developed a better frag then this but I guess I was wrong! It has really no distinct smell to me & it should def go in the bargain bin but it wont because it bares Usher's name on it. + the bottle is plain & ugly! Nothing sticks out that makes me say HEY! I WANT TO TRY THAT! LAME & BORING!

Where do people get the comparison to Versace Black Jeans? I smell no tar or leather in this, just a cheap lavender and vetiver in a simple black with silver lettering on it to encourage hipsters that it's good. This smells more like a really, really fake knock-off of Silver Mountain Water/Green Irish Tweed hybrid. I fear this only sells because of the name. I witnessed two teenage girls in the store go straight for this after they saw it, smelled it, giggled, said they loved it, smelled nothing else and walked off. Oh, this stuff is boring but I suppose it appeals to the pre-adolescent girls' noses.

A decent dry fruit opening followed by a blast of synthetic spices that had me reeling. The spices are accompanied by a note, perhaps a pungent herb note, I can't identify that really fouled everything up. The sillage must be good because the couple sprays on my neck had me chocking in my office a couple hours later. I actually had to go home on my lunch break and shower the stuff off.

Let me say before I go any further that I remain steadfastly neutral with regards to celebrity perfumes. I think equating a complex fragrance with many ingredients to one particular person is pretty much dumb. I own Sean John Unforgivable on the merits of it being an excellent fragrance, and honestly don’t give a damn if it was made for Sean Combs or Sean Connery.

Gratuitously lifting the notes from K over at Now Smell This, Usher He features pineapple, verbena, melon, white pepper, lavender, violet leaf, vetiver, amber wood, black suede, sandalwood, guaiac wood and musk. Upon applying, all I could smell was slightly overripe melon a la Paris Hilton for Men. The drydown was a chemical mess, but I got a little glimmer of where they were trying to take this, and that was to copy Creed Himalaya. Of course, I’m not against this; Unforgivable is virtually identical to Creed Millesime Imperial and I have no problem wearing it (and saving mad bank, to boot). The problem is that they didn’t put the effort into the copy that Sean John did. I get the pepper, and the vetiver/musk duo, but that’s really all that I can pick out, everything else is just a blob of scent.

Color me unimpressed.

Ditto smells a like a watered down version of Versace Black Jeans.

Smells like a very cheap version of Versace's Black Jeans.

Not a bad scent. Clean and fresh, kinda "incensey!" Nice bottle, cool looking cap. When I first tested this at Macys, I thought it was horrible, but I was offered a few samples and I took them anyway. About a week later after I had forgotten that I even had them I tested one of the samples on my skin and I couldn't tell if I liked it or not, but I couldn't stop smelling it and after a while I thought to myself this fragrance isn't too bad! Only problem is that I'm a Creed Himalaya fan all the way and I'm not saying they're exactly a like at all, but they share similarites that I haden't noticed until testing Usher a few times. They both share a cool, clean, fresh, incense like smell, but you can smell how much more sophisticated and better Himalaya is. Also, I don't think I can wear it just because it says 'Usher' on it! lol! I mean his music's good and all, but it doesn't hold a personal connection with the buyer of the product, you know what I mean?! He could have just helped create the fragrance and named it something cool or sexy or whatever and had a professional model advertise it, but he didn't and to me that ruined it somewhat...he's in the ad, his names on the bottle by itself, i mean what if someone doesn't like you or your music, but likes the scent? I've heard people say they won't by Unforgivable just because they hate P. Diddy! lol! The fragrance is very important, but so is the name and the bottle. Scent is the closest thing tied to memory, which is why fragrance is so important, every bit of that down to the name should show a personal connection to you, have some sort of sentimental value to become a so called "signature scent" just for you, no matter how popular. Even the cap on the Usher bottle is nice, but it's a replica a custom made ring that he (Usher) wears, it has nothing to do with anyone except him. This is the same place that P. Diddy messed up in, everyone knows he wears Creed MI and all he did was give you a less sophisticated version of his favorite fragrance in one of his bottles, only thing he did right though was give his fragrance a name other than Sean John. Sorry to ramble on, but honestly celebrities like musicians and actors are so great until they try to do something that doesn't make them who they are, it's a joke. Johnny Depp is a great actor, but if he created a scent called "Johnny Depp" would I wear it? No! If he helped a brand like Chanel create a scent by throwing some ideas of his own in there and they called it something other than "Johnny Depp" would I wear it, sure if it smells good enough. But it's not "his" scent and the thought that someone like him helped a brand like Chanel create a "Chanel" fragrance, well that's very cool! Catch my drift?!