Fragrance Reviews by Stereotomy

Very close to L'Occitane The Vert au Jasmin, which is cheaper. It's a lovely tea scent if you must purchase something from L'Artisan, though.

Smokey sweet cinnamon tea with a slight dash of ginger. Smells like an Intense or Heavy version of Gucci PH II.

Sillage and longevity are mediocre, though.

I was ready to scrub it off right after I tested it, because of my not so pleasant encounter with the original Polo, but this is actually quite wearable.

It's a very green fragrance. It starts off with spicy basil, and when the topnotes have settled down, you can smell the pine, which links it to the original Polo. The drydown is remarkable in the sense that it is totally the end stages of Bulgari Pour Homme! The translucent pepper/white musk combo is definitely there.

I couldn't wear the original polo. The pine is so harsh. But Polo Modern Reserve does what it promises to to: it makes the original Polo wearable in the next century.

Gourmand-oriental, with anise, licorice and a nutty aftertone. Below average longevity and sillage. Very artistic and quite formal, just like most L'Artisans.

Vanilla scented candle. There is not much tobacco in this scent, as it is dominated by sweet, syrupy honey and vanille, with tobacco in a supporting role in the background.

Party people!!

Same as original Kouros, but with a much less loud civet-note. Otherwise very 80s, very Butch, very kinky.

Best for Dark Room parties.

A sedated Ambre Sultan. You'd say Annick Goutal stole this formula from Serge Lutens. It's bitter, it's herbal, it's medicinal with a leather undertone.

If you like thick, lush orientals in a typical Serge Lutens way, you'll like Annick Goutal's Sables.

Oh lord. When Chinese kids are ill, they sometimes are given 'Fu Cha' to drink, 'Bitter Tea'. This medicinal tea is very herbal, very bitter, and is said to make you feel better.

It never did make _me_ feel better, and just as I thought I would never have to smell that smell again, there's Ambre Sultan.

This scent is identical to this 'Fu Cha'. It's dark, bitter, herbal and medicinal. Very pompous, loud and bombastic, a real Lutens Oriental

I can't wear it. Perhaps you can.

sweet oriental

Mainstream sweet-almondy-sandalwood oriental. Certainly not the wost in its class, but lacks character. Likable by many, I suppose.

Pocket o'Seaweed

To be honest, I cannot believe people are comparing this to all the other aquatics on the market. Acqua di Gio is totally different. Cool Water is totally different. L'Eau d'Issey is... well you get the point.

Bulgari Aqua, I tried to love you, but wearing you is like walking around with a lot of fresh seaweeds stuffed in my pocket. You get a 10 for originality and efforts, but you make me slightly nauseous.

Sweet Vanilla

It's sweet, it's vanilla.... I can only see one use of Givenchy Pi, and that's on a date with a girl who loves candy.

Wear this, share a cotton candy, and you're in, buddy.

Not Creed!

Don't listen to them. This *is* the cheaper, more synthetic smelling, simpler version of Creed's Green Irish Tweed.

Having said that, this fragrance has been topping the charts for the reason in all those years. It's distincive, fresh, and it will remind any girl of an ex long gone by.

Ginger Sandalwood

Seduction in a bottle. Very refined, quite good, for formal occasions or on a date.

Also try Floris Santal if you love this scent.

Waxy lemon!

Have you ever seen those fake fruits in a bowl for decoration? Take one of those lemons and imagine how it would smell if it were real. That's L'Eau d'Issey PH. It's a real fake lemon floral. Sillage and longevity above average.

If you're looking for a civilized L'Eau d'Issey PH, try Floris Cefiro.

Powerhouse eighties.

Definitely some urinal cake vibe, and a very strong musk in the background. You cannot wear this and not think of Reagan and Gorbachev. It's a time machine. It's butch. It's Kouros.

Dusty lemon grassy smell. I don't like Guerlain Vetiver, because it's not fresh to me, it's dusty-fresh.

You can have the same vibe from Mugler Cologne, that is maybe a tad more synthetic smelling, but at least it's contemporary, which is not something I can say for Guerlain Vetiver.

Sophisticated Tea

Fantastic scent. An aromatic fougere, based on black tea and a tad of citrus. Longevity is average, sillage could be a bit more pronounced. It's very wearable in all kinds of situations, casual and formal, and even in intimate situations, because I feel it invites other people to come closer.

If you have money to splurge, you should buy Annick Goutal's Duel, which is identical to this scent.

Nice bergamot/sandalwood scent. Not groundbreaking, and therefore VERY safe fresh oriental. Also very versatile, casual, formal, date... all is possible.

It starts out honied sweet, as many Lutens do. This floriental is slightly medicinal in its midnotes, fighting for space with a touch of white flower power (must be the tuberose). These are the stars of the scent.

Somewhere in the background, there is certainly some woody feel in the background, which must be the cèdre.

It's grand, it's a Lutens, but a tad feminine (only slightly) and not that interesting for me.

One of the best aquatics in town.

It's an uplifting, fizzy, citrus-sweet, melon-like summer outdoor scent. Synthetics at its best: while there probably are natural ingredients in Millesime Imperial (the ambergris, maybe?) it's one of the best themes around calone, or the watermelon-note.

People on a budget can get their Millesime Imperial fix by buying Sean John Unforgivable, but otherwise, this is one of the best youthful summer scents you can buy. Superb, one of the better new Creeds.

En Passant is a soft, powedery floral. It's a tad too feminine for me to comfortably wear, except for in the scorching heat. The lilac is really soft and well done, and the basenotes have a airy dough, light cucuber, powedery floral feel.

This will look gorgeous on any confident, young sexy woman.

Leather and Iris, that's what I got when I sprayed this on my arm. The scent dries down to a less vanillic Bulgari Black, a bit more subdued and refined.

Classy offering, definitely wearable for a man, but nothing groundbreaking.

Opening reminiscent of Aromatics Elixer from Clinique. Drydown is a wood/musk mixture similar to Muscs Koublai Khan from Lutens.

You know, what aquatics are for men, fruity-florals are for women. Which means aquatics can be appreciated from a woman's perspective, without all the snobs falling on top of each other!

I like this scent on a friend of mine. We did some wicked stuff together last summer (not what you think though. No, really ;) ) and I haven't smelled this scent on anyone else except on her. I love it on her.

The scent was designed by Trudi Loren, VP at Estee Lauder. Sanchez/Turin bestow 4 stars on this aquatic. I have to agree from my subjective point of view. It's delicious on the right person.

I smelled it. I cried. It smells like the packaging suggests. It smells like a garden from melted playmobile with aspartame on top.

Ok mr. Storer, your joke succeded. Can we move on now?

Rich, lush spicy-woody scent with a cedar base including a slight pencil shavings touch. Same type of fragrance can be had for a much lower price.

Not bad actually, this L'Eau de Beef Jerky. It's a cousin of Le Labo Patchouli 24. Very strong sillage, very high longevity. Smells like Birch Tar and Incense, with a meaty note lingering through the middle.

Smells like play-doh clay to me. Very sweet, with a pungent synthetic play-doh note piercing through the middle. Tikes.

Not much better than the original Déclaration. Everything is a little smoother, rounder, but the dreaded cardemom note is still there.

No-no for me. Great bottle though.

Declaration is a scream of passion. The fragrance has 'romance' written all over it, but the cardemom-note ruins it all. It's just too pungent, and makes the wearer smell like he had some oriental food a couple of minutes ago.

When you can stand the cardemom, this fragrance is not that bad.

Two words that Turin/Sanchez should have used: VANILLA DOMINATRIX.

Rubber, vanilla, leather, gasoline. This. Is. Bulgari. Black!

Gosh, this smells like rooibos tea, but a but more sweet, pungent and artificial. My least favourite of the tea-series.

Very sensual, and in a sense indeed unisex.

Whenever I smell this scent, I see it being sprayed in a woman's decolleté. It's soft, and it engulfes the wearer in a soft, silky, smooth cloud of white tea and soft musk.

It's my airplane scent, won't annoy anyone with this frag.

Plastic not-so-fantastic gingery, powdery, soapy fresh scent PLUS a layer of chocolate somewhere in the background. Not very good, but better than BLV, because this is more complex.

Plastic not-so-fantastic gingery, powdery, soapy fresh scent. Not very good.

Meh. It's the more luxurious version of Davidoff Cool Water. The prominent violet leaves that lend both fragrances their character is, however, to the sensitive nose a bit too harsh.

Green Irish Tweed has very good longevity on my skin, but I find it a bit monotonous. It's violet leaves with a lot of ambergris and musk in the background, and it stays that way.

Definitely not a magic scent that will transform you in a MAN, but well, it's the Britney Spears of Basenotes.

Neutral rating.

Wore it to Salsa class today, and it fitted the bill! Too bad my partner caught a cold and couldn't smell what I was wearing. ;)

It smells like Malibu, the drink. A creamy coconut flavoured Rum. Very nice in the appropriate setting and in the summer. Not very versatile.

I might be mistaken, but haven't I smelled this theme in Marc Jacobs for Men before, albeit with the similar-to-coconut-fig?

Best modern mainstream aquatic fragrance, hands down. It's fresh, sensual and masculine. Very nice. It smells like fresh ice tea to me.

I'm unable to wear it, because I smell it all the time around me. Somehow it's offputing to smell something that is supposed to be individual everywhere.

Fizzy 7-up in a spray bottle! Very citrussy, sweet, playful. Refreshing.

It's not as close to Millesime Imperial as Cool Water is to Green Irish Tweed, but I can see why people keep comparing this to the Creed. It feels much cheaper though, and guess what, it *is* cheaper.

Nice effort though. I'm not sure whether the whole copycat thing is real or invented. Anyway, props for the perfumer to perform a good effort for much less money.

This stuff is powerful. My fingers smell like it when I touch the atomizer on which I spilled some Royal Delight when I was decanting it. In short, it's:

VERY leather
VERY vanilla
VERY jasmine

It's just VERY LOUD.

I don't like it. It's too medicinal smelling, like a cough syrup. I prefer the original Egoiste. This one makes me think of medicine that I had when I was a kid.

Loud soapy laundry detergent. If you want to smell like this, why not dab some softner on your neck?

I get a lot of citrus tea and not a lot else. It's great if you love tea. However, I think you might get the same vibe from Gucci PH II a lot cheaper.

Very dry spicy oriental. As if you're sticking your nose in a bag of maroccan spices, cedar shavings, a stick of incense and fresh sand of the Mahgreb desert.

The funny thing is, I think the closest designer scent is Gucci PH (the one with the pencil shavings). L'Air has less pencil shavings, more spices, and better longevity. But the dryness and the theme of both scents are remarkebly similar.

I don't get the connection with Terre d'Hermes, which is waaay more citrussy than L'Air.

Unrefined, macho version of YSL Rive Gauche PH. The dominant barbasol note of Rive Gauche turns up as a cooked cabbage note in Black Jeans.

Did not like it.

Sandalwood oriental, to me reminiscent of the discontinued Cacharel Nemo, or Diptique's Tam Dao. It's very nice, but the theme can be had for much less than what you're paying for Ormonde Jayne Man.

A gentleman's L'Eau d'Issey Pour Homme.

Floris' fragrances are not groundbreaking, nor do they contain high quality ingredients. Heck, they are even reasonably priced. They are however often very sober, refined, conservative products, that matches the English gentleman.

Cefiro is a good example of this. It's got the same waxy lemon feel as L'Eau d'Issey, but less harsh and less loud. It's good. :)

Mainstream powdery floral with support of iris. Quite generic, more suitable for women than men.

Let me be the first one to give this one a thumbs down.

It smells fresher than the original alright, but I would hardly call this a fresh oriental. It's more of a light oriental. The aoud is pushed into the background, and a very medicinal accord dominates the fragrance. It reminds me of south east asian medicine.

Now, if you're not of asian descent, I can imagine you smell exotic wearing this frag. However, if you are, then you just smell like you did when you had the flu when you were younger, and your mom just put on some medicine on you.

Yikes.

Vetiver Dance smells very dark and damp in the beginning, like mossy vetiver. I'm not sure I want to smell like I have a bunch of grass in my pockets. The drydown is not good on my skin: it ends up being sour and sweaty.

Not Tauer's best, I'd say. Also, a proof that perfumes with a high percentage of 'natural ingredients' are not necessarily better per se. As always, perfumery is a dance between natural and synthetic components, each influencing each other in the olfactory spectrum.

To me, it's the Tauer-housenote (dry incense) together with a play-doh like sweet property. I find this scent difficult to wear: it's quite linear, and I'm not sure what to make of the playful sweetness in the background that clashes with the dryness of the incense on the foreground. It does feel unisex to me, with the incense contributing to the masculine side, and the sweetness to the feminine side.

Longevity is alright, sillage too.

5.5/10

You love it or you don't. A very thick, luscious, sweet scent. Sweet burned sugar, caramel, vanilla, patchouli all mixed together.

7/10 but only in winter and on appropriate occasions.

Iris seems to be the next hot thing in perfume business nowadays. Prada Infusion d'Iris is a very nice take on this theme. It's cool iris on a bed of cool fuzzy white musk, quite powdery. Very versatile, can be worn to the office or to a dinner. It's too subtle for clubbing or bear hunting, though.

Very wearable for a man - I have come across more feminine scents than Infusion d'Iris. Due to its coolness, it's very androgynous as well.

8.0/10

Indeed, not a groundbreaking scent. When I sampled this scent, I liked it. When searching for a bottle, I stumbled on L'Instant de Guerlain PH, which actually smelled the way Tom Ford for Men smelled in my mind!

By comparison, Tom Ford for Men looked like an airy, pale, watered down version of L'Instant PH. So I chose to buy L'Instant and leave Tom Ford for Men as it is. Tom Ford for Men has a certain 'airy' vibe to it, that makes it less luxurious and more mainstream. It's a property that usually is only found in simple aquatics.

However, on hot, humid, summer days, I think Tom Ford for Men is the lightest, best masculine oriental that you can wear. It's overpriced and it faces the burden of being a Tom Ford: I think people expect more. And rightfully so, perhaps.

A well-done, soulless, faceless calone (melon) aquatic, more suitable for guys aging 20-30. It's a tad sweet, the cinnamon has only a supporting role and the base is a soft vetiver/light wood/musk.

Very inoffensive, I'd say casual scent. Unremarkable.

Ah, an unisex floral that makes his/her presence known. I don't get much from the topnotes, because the middle- and basenotes are so overwhelming. I get a lot of jasmin that is spiced up, and I certainly can smell the woods and amber in de basenotes.

One spray gives you enormous sillage and longevity. It leans to the feminine side, as is the case with all florals, but all guys in formal settings should be able to pull this one off. What you need, however, is a sexy woman in a black dress.

Very vetivery! The undusted version of Guerlain Vetiver. Steam Clean, as Luca Turin puts it. And it's true. I think I like the shower gel even more than the scent itself. It's very, very simple, and that can be good too!

For example, ask any Italian how to eat pasta. He'll say that the star of the pasta is.... (not the sauce, not the extra vegetables, not the meet, but...) the pasta itself! Keep it simple, keep it clean. That's exactly what Mugler Cologne is. A warmish soapy citrus.

My favourite outdoor scent! I once wore this scent when hiking through the hills with two friends, and I still am remembering that wonderful day. I would find the floral components a tad too feminine when wearing this to the office, but all in all, a very inoffensive scent.

The extra kick that the Extreme version has, is well worth it, in my opinion. I do get decent longevity out of this one, but expect the musky basenotes to stay very close to the skin.

And oh, it doubles as a room perfume when I wipe the floor and spritz some on the cleaner.

My favorite Creed. Now, if you're reading this, there's a high chance that you think Creed is some magical brand with divine properties. Well, no. But their marketing is alright. Creed is one of the most accessible niche brands of today.

Silver Mountain Water has a beautiful blackcurrant opening. I like cassis. It mingles with the musky-ambergris base. Like most millesime scents, it's very simple and it relies on the higher quality (probably more expensive) ingredients in the basenotes to project class.

It has a good longevity, although I soon get olfactory fatigue from this scent and it stays close to the skin. I like to wear this in summer. I do find it more masculine than feminine, although I'm very sure women can pull this one off easily as well.

Very high pitched, screeching top notes thanks to the neroli and citrus. What follows is a cold iris note, and after 15 minutes you're left with a soapy note. Very clean, and even synthetic smelling, like an offering from Zegna. Now mind you, I don't use synthetic as a degoratory term, you just have to like it.

A very clean, meet-the-parents-in-law scent. No warmth at all. I guess it's okay for the occasion.

Utter class. I find it a formal, romantic scent. Certainly not something you wear with the boys out, going for hot dogs and beer at the game.

It's powdery, sweet, chocolaty. If I close my eyes and envision a shape for this scent, it would be a very round shape, without edges. Citrus aldehydes are high-pitched scent notes, but Dior Homme is as round and soft as a scent can be.

Very distinguished. I like it better than the Intense version, that is too chocolaty. I do like Dior Homme Cologne, which has less sweetness, and more citrus in the top and middle notes.

A very classy offering from Gucci. I like it. In this era of watered down, fresh scents, Gucci pour Homme stands tall proudly.

Cedar, incense and amber... and yes, pencil shavings is what you might interpret it as, but it's as classy as wood can be!

To my nose, it smells very similar to Andy Tauer's L'Air du désert Marocain, although this niche scent has a better longevity, more incense, and is a tad more dry than Gucci pour Homme.

Rose and I don't go together, so I didn't like the opening of Noir Epices at first. However, the drydown softens and is very nice, and even though I prefer less harsh scents, I really like Noir Epices. Relatively speaking.

It's dusty-woody-medicinal spicy. When I put on Tam Dao, I envision walking up to a dusty attic with 10.000's of books stored there. While walking between the shelves, I see a beam of sunlight shining through the roof window, highlighting tiny specks of dust floating in the air.

That is Tam Dao.

Thanks to a very generous Basenoter, I obtained Floris Santal a couple of months ago.

Floris Santal is my Sandalwood of choice. I don't care if they used natural sandalwood or synthetic ones: I think natural ingrediënts are overrated and more of a marketing gimmick than anything else. I care about perception and interpretation, and I like both on Floris Santal.

I first wanted to buy Gucci Envy, but Floris Santal - while very similar in nature - is more smooth, more creamy. Less aggresive, more refined. It does smell like an old man, but it's an old man with class.

Nice one.

I'm not particulary impressed by the house of Creed. I regard them as yet another brand who do often produce stronger fragrances and/or with more expensive ambergris in the drydown, in case of the fresher scents. But not as a supernatural house with only success stories. They have their hits and misses.

Himalaya is one of these hits. What it lacks is a personality. It's fresh fougère and very wearable, and the signature Creed-ambergris in the drydown is very pleasant. But it simply doesn't convey any emotion.

Oh, and the people who are smelling snow and mountain tops must have read the packaging and have a slight cognitive dissonance with the cologne's name. No one would have even mentioned these things if the name of this fragrance was 'Creed XS'.

As far as I am concerned, Himalaya is the all-round scent by Creed, and not Green Irish Tweed.

Ouch, I'm not sure I like this one. It smells very, very generic. It smells like Cool Water no. 109240 Summer Flash Freeze You edition. Jacques Cavallier probably did this scent in his lunch break. I feel no relation whatsoever with the original Bulgari Aqua, which you may like or not, but at least it was very original with its salty, seaweed feeling.

There's supposed to be some poseidonia in Aqua Marine as well, but I can't find it. It's also not briney, like the original Aqua. All I smell is a lot of calone. It's sweet, floral and a little woody in the drydown. A very generic aquatic.

Sillage and longetivity are incredible though. I sprayed some on my gym clothing and 3 workouts later I still smell it. Time for washing, I suppose.

I wish I could give this one a thumbs up, because I do find it very original, given the fact that it also had to be related to the standard Bulgari pour Homme that preceded the Soir-version more than a decade ago. However, if I'm very honest, I can't give it more than a neutral rating.

When you spray this on, you really smell the papyrus note, lingering on a base of musk and some tea, far away. Papyrus is a light wood, and it smells luxurious. The sillage and longetivity however, are worlds apart. Longetivity is excellent. I can still smell this frag on my clothes the next day. Sillage however is another story, and this is a scent that stays very close to the skin after 5 minutes. I can imagine wearing this scent to the theatre or even on a romantic dinner out, wearing a suit or smart casual style.

Whether you like this scent or not will depend on if you like the dominant papyrus note. If you end up being neutral about it, like me, you will be neutral about this scent.

I like edible smells and gourmands in general, and L'Instant de Guerlain is one of my faves.

Once I sampled Tom Ford for Men and liked it. In a search for a cheaper alternative, I stumbled upon L'Instant. Funny enough, when I later purchased Tom Ford for Men as well, I found out that it was actually L'Instant that had the smell of Tom Ford for Men in my memories! And instead, Tom Ford smelled too fresh and calon-ey.

I don't like L'Instant's topnotes. I think the anise and bitter cacao beans are a bit weird and don't particulary smell nice. But it's very original, compared to all the citrus openings of other scents. The middle and basenotes are what I love about L'Instant. A very refined, warm, distinguished scent, suitable for a dinner, a date, a party, the theatre and well, even the office, actually.

Nice one.

I didn't 'get' this fragrance when I tested it in the store. I thought it was a simple, harsh and linear citrus scent.

However, I bought a small tester and I changed my mind completely. This fragrance is stunning. It opens with a crashing burnt sugar, caramelized smell not very unlike A*Men.

However, quickly after that, it settles into a very classy, self-confident orange/citrus-note, embedded in an aura of cedarwood. And this smell pretty much stays throughout the heart of the scent.

The basenotes remind me of a civilized Eau Sauvage from Dior. Very classy.

I like this scent.

I love this scent to bits. Not because it's earth-shattering different or bold, but because it makes me feel like I'm worth a million bucks when I'm wearing it.

It's a fresh citrus scent with layers of tea and musk. That's it. Very simple, but very effective and well executed. I agree sillage can be improved, and that didn't happen in the Extrême version that turned sour (grapefruit) on me.

I do however think that this scent is more for work than play.

After many glowing reviews of B*Men, claiming it to be a better, less extreme, less sweet version of A*Men, I had high hopes for this fragrance.

Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed when I actually sampled B*Men. There's a lot of spice and herbs going on here, plus a note that makes me a bit nauseous, which is of course a no-no for a fragrance. Apart from some sweetness and being categorizable in the 'gourmand' corner, I also don't know how B*Men would be related to A*Men.

I like A*Men, I'll pass on B*Men.

I just tried a tester of 212 Men, and the first thing I thought of was: grass! Axe Apollo! So I surfed here and see in the left frame that both 212 Men as well as Axe Apollo are created by Ann Gottlieb.

So yeah, Axe Apollo is the poor man's 212 Men. :)