| | Bleu de Chanel by ChanelOh well, at least i know what the locker room of my gym will smell like for the next few years. 16th August, 2010. |
| | Tobacco Vanille by Tom Fordas others have said, very linear tobacco and vanilla! but VERY well done. the tobacco note is absolutely divine, and the vanilla is a perfect bedfellow, blending almost seamlessly with it. a dried fruit note is also in the mix, somewhere between cherries and figs and prunes, it has been said that this smells like cherry pipe tobacco and that's very true - but there is no smokiness - this is warm, moist, unsmoked cherry tobacco. 16th May, 2009. |
| | Tuscan Leather by Tom Fordmy first impression was of how accurate the leather note is - i've owned countless leather jackets, and this is the smell of a really good new one left on a car rear window in the sun. warm, soft, and... well, very leathery. there's also a cumin note, not at all funky/stinky/sweat cumin but a rounded, deep, mellow cumin/saffron accord (the saffron is quite quietly done) which complements the leather wonderfully - beautiful, warm supple leatheriness. 16th May, 2009. |
| | Original Santal by Creedthe opening i found surprisingly herbal (the corriander i assume), the light cinamon lending a not unpleasant twist to a fairly mature-feeling top accord. this settled, via some more herbal aromatic-ness (the lavender and rosemary i'm guessing, though neither seemed prominent to me) through a soft fruity middle, i suspected it was apricot but i believe this might be the impression given by the mandarin/orange wood/benzoin accord, the citrus softened and blurred by the baked vanilla note which i am assuming is the benzoin at work. the sandalwood is there to me (although it seems not to others), and it's warm and smooth and very well-blended feeling, with the vanilla character coming through more with time. 16th May, 2009. |
| | Gucci pour Homme by Guccimany times this has been compared to Commes des Garcons 2MAN, and i think that's fair. 16th May, 2009. |
| | Envy for Men by Gucciby no means a bad fragrance, there's a lot of notes here that i love. unfortunately the execution very quickly becomes jarring - whilst the notes dont clash, they certainly arent in harmony and this is a little tiring on the nose for me to enjoy it. 16th May, 2009. |
| | Mugler Cologne by Thierry Muglerfairly non-descript really, i can see what this is meant to be 'the cologne for people who don't like fragrance'. very clean and soapy (i suspect the 's' ingredient is ACTUAL soap...), there's a very mild vetiver character to it and a bland non-descript citrus aura. a couple of hours in a surprisingly floral heart was in full flight, although still in the vein of clean/fresh/soapiness. 16th May, 2009. |
| | White Patchouli by Tom Fordthe bottle is indeed gorgeous. 20th March, 2009. |
| | Encens Flamboyant by Annick Goutalthis one is confusing to me. the incense was there from the get-go, and is a wonderfully true incense, mellow and soft and evocative, and there was a slightly peppery note which didnt last long. after that however it became 'elderly' on my skin, with an unimpressive flowery-piney-soapy character - i wouldnt mind owning soap smelling of this, and indeed maybe incense or a candle, but the incense/old soapy character was peculiar. i don't know who this would suit - it certainly is flamboyant, but in a way that aging drama teachers can be - like old velvet jackets and lavender soap. the sillage is very good for the first couple of hours, but it did fade to not-muchness after about three. 23rd January, 2009. |
| | Duel by Annick Goutaltried this the other day and.... meh. i was informed of it's 'all natural' pedigree by the SA, which did nothing but prepare me for the shocking longevity - i big spray to the back of my hand was gone in no more than two hours, and severely diminished after one. at first it smelt like lemony wood, like lemon furniture polish on old, varnished wood. i was actually reminded of the shiny, cracked-varnish wood of the benches in the school gymnasium when i was very young. it's very inoffensive really, light, old-style freshness, but i couldnt possibly recommend it, on any grounds. as for tea - there is a mellowness to the scent which is similar to that of of tea, but to me it was just old timber and polish. blah. 23rd January, 2009. |
| | Hugo Energise by Hugo Bossthe opening is sweet, tangy mandarin, quite synthetic – think the flavour of canned mandarin segments. There's also a light, vaguely soapy herbal note – fresh corriander (cilantro) to me, and a hint of what could be pepper – but it's not a rounded pepper with any true depth, more of a soft, unnatural, light pepper. The pyramid lists pink pepper, which I believe isnt actually a pepper in the same sense as black/white pepper, but a similar hardy berry. 16th January, 2009. |
| | Chic for Men by Carolina HerreraThe topnotes present bergamot, but light, fresh and soft, spiced by cardamom – piquant, dry and aromatic, this accord is almost salty. 16th January, 2009. |
| | Very Irrésistible for Men by Givenchythe initial waft of mint seems to ride the subtle waxiness of the grapefruit peel note straight into the hazlenutty mocha. whilst this manages to not smell entirely cacophonous and clashing, it is really rather synthetic in feel, and can be just a little 'vomitty' to me. i also don't really enjoy gourmands, and whilst this isnt viciously sweet, the chocolate note is too much like a chocolate bar left in the warm sun. yuck. 14th January, 2009. |
| | Terre d'Hermès by Hermèsi first tried this a while back on a card, and was underwhelmed. thought i'd try it on my skin today to see how it warms up with my chemistry. 9th July, 2008. |
| | Armani Attitude by Giorgio Armaniwell this one is a bit confusing really. i fully anticipated disliking it entirely, as code leaves me cold and AdG is.... well, it is what it is. However the bottle of attitude i kept passing (i often take a shortcut through a local department store from one street to another) was wearing down my resistance with it's trendy cubist zippo charms. so finally i took the plunge, and..... well, the neutral rating here i think is perhaps the most appropriate i've given. this fragrance is certainly well-blended, in that there are almost no distinctive notes, rather a well-rounded aura of scent. i do get the lavender, but it's not an old fashioned lavender, rather a candied, softened, out-of-focus lavender. I don't actually smell the coffee note that people are mentioning at all, except that i do seem to experience a strange scent-memory trigger of the bar of a restaurant i know, of being near the coffee machine (i find this VERY weird). there is a powdered quality to attitude also, a warm semi-vanilla softness that makes the fragrance one that could easily be worn by a woman - it's hardly an overtly 'masculine' scent. i ALMOST get, as other people have noticed, the faintest of cardomom notes, but very vaguely. nothing in attitude is very definite, it's all so blended and vague and sweet-cloudy-hazy. there's a slight freshness to this also, a synthetic accord which is technically quite at odds with the rest of the fragrance (without it, and with a bit more oomph, attitude could potentially head towards the sweet-gourmandy end of the scale) but which seems to keep the scent grounded in the middle of fresh and sickly. perhaps it is only to be expected of this end of armani's product range, but attitude is one of the most obviously focus-group created fragrances i have smelled, as though a hundred people were surveyed as to what they want in a fragrance and then this was created to satisfy as many as possible. 15th June, 2008. |
| | Ultraviolet Man by Paco Rabannei've always dismissed this as something i might not like, but today i decided to get aquainted with ultra violet man. 12nd June, 2008. |
| | Le Dandy by D'Orsayfinally tried this this afternoon when i was in fortnum's, and Oh My God. i'm in absolute love, i'll be ordering a 200ml bottle as soon as i can find my wallet! 10th June, 2008. |
| | L'Anarchiste by Caroni think foetidus has it spot on here with his description of the orange blossom and mandarin notes in l'anarchiste - it's not harsh citrus accord by any means, but more of a tamed yet twisted, candied orange, yet not particularly sweet. that's not to say there isn't a degree of sweetness overall, but this combined with the vetiver as it starts to dry down impressed on me a somewhat traditional masculine soapy quality - as has been noted, hardly anarchic. the initial waft is perhaps almost orange liquer-esque, a sort of cointreau note progressing into wonderful sandalwood which softens the cedar assault into something i find almost beautiful, this boozey-orange tinged-woodsy symphony which almost should be a mess but really works. but as i've said, when the vetiver rears it's head it all goes soapy, spoiling l'anarchiste for me before i get to the gorgeous lingering skin-scent musk, which still retains a hint of the sandalwood and the merest, faintest whiff of what finally seems might be the orange blossom. 10th June, 2008. |
| | A*Men / Angel Men by Thierry Mugleri normally despise 'foody' smells, and i absolutely detest the women's 'Angel', so i was fully prepared to hate this - and yet i really don't. i definately have to agree that the initial assault that this provides is peculiar to say the least, maybe 'pinesol' as nthny said, i think it's almost absinthe-y in its vodka-alcohol driven herbal mint/lavender slap. 10th June, 2008. |
foetidus
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