SoCal Cologne (2007)
by Hollister

My very first thought when I first tried SoCal was: "Christmas!", immediately - because of three things:
1. It smelled like pine needles.
2. It reminded me of Davidoff Cool Water Game which I received as a Christmas gift last year;
3. It was December already.
It's not a simple cologne by no means. It's fresh, but its freshness comes from cedar and pine. Then it's sweet but just in the right measure with pineapple, pear or I don't know what, this is the part that reminded me of Coll Water Game.
Then after a while an amber/vanilla accord comes on stage to surprise me completely. It's a complex scent with many faces, you could call it woody, fruity, almost oriental in the dry down.
(Dry down is actually the part that really surprised me with its almost gourmand presence, still accompanied by woods)
It evokes a beautiful picture of a beach with some clouds, driftwood on the shore, then a warm house with a view to the ocean. Not sporty, not cheap-smelling, it succeeds to be light and cozy at the same time. It's the type of perfume you would choose if you had to choose just one bottle for all places.

24th December, 2010.

Hollister SoCal is definitely a fragrance for a younger man. Between the ages of 14 - 21. I would definitely recommend it to someone as their first ever cologne. I don't know what others thought when they first smelt this, but I got a strong scent of milk! Very sweet, almost sugary milk?! The projection doesn't last as long as I thought it would considering the Hollister Store wreaks of this stuff, they must have to re-spray the shop every 4 hours because that's how long it lasts! It's longevity isn't the best, I get around 4 - 6 hours maximum, as it almost disappears on your skin after a couple of hours. Probably suitable for a day at the beach or a summer party, might even be acceptable for a night on the town, but I wouldn't expect great compliments unless the girls you're talking to know about Hollister!
Just about gets a 3/5.

21st December, 2010. (Last Edited: 27th December, 2010.)

A sweet musky scent with a slight woodsy twist. Like I said about Jake from Hollister, its way too popular to get noticed by a girl, or at least spark her interest as she has most certainly smelled it before. SoCal surprised me the first time I wore it as it was linear yet not linear. It actually has a quite nice dry down and a good medium range. Its a well balanced frag for a store brand. Great for middle-school/early high-school, after that you need to start branching out and stop buying frags from the stores you buy cloths.

All in all its a good "starter" cologne for the young crowed but nothing special.

1st December, 2010.

It's a good scent for the younger crowd I think. And by that I mean 12-16 year olds. This is too sweet for me, and comes off woody at the start for a while. I've had major lasting problems, you have to shower in the stuff to get compliments.

18th July, 2010.

My friends and I decided it smelled like sweet marijuana. Not a bad thing, but interesting. Good starting smell, I loved it.

18th October, 2009.

I bought SoCal when it first came out at HCO. It is a nice scent, but the tropical notes kinda put me off--just not my style. it has a sort of coconut/pineapple accord to it, which lowers down to a soft all around good scent.
As of the time of this writing, this is the scent HCO uses to spray their stores down-- if your walking past an HCO and like the scent, go inside and check it out. I prefer HCO Jake much more, it has that same soft vibe to it, but without the tropical notes.

28th July, 2009.