Fragrance Reviews by andyman32

This is truly a malodorous juice. It embodies the full accord of sick old man smell, complete with dust, old sour musty smell, and just a hint of mothballs. It is dry as the Sahara, not a hint of sweetness. It is simply sour, dry, and nauseating. I showered again mid-day to get the smell off, and it clung to me, so I tried to overpower it with layers of Pi and a citrusy home-made blend. I would envision a similar smell coming from some old rotten wood unearthed in the back yard, covered in unusual varieties of mold and perhaps dog urine. If you want something that is completely synthetic, intensely unpleasant, and lasts all day, this "fragrance"(sic) is a sure thing.

Holy COW it's sweet! Liquid cotton candy. Starts sweet and dries down sweet. Whew! Not bad - synthetic but smooth. Use very sparingly.

My god the stuff is ambrosia. If you like vanilla or sweet florals, you haven't lived until you have this bottle. A collection without this stuff is hobbled and incomplete.

By the by... regarding the fragrance notes.... I don't mean to be curmudgeonly but...

wood is not magnetic.

OK, I've spoken my peace. Buy Pi by Givenchy, don't expect wood to move when you place a magnet beside it, and your universe will be correct!

(Can I give this two thumbs up? Three? Wow... I want to kiss the Frenchman who stirred this one up...)

OK, my admission, it's my dream fragrance. Mild florals, irascible white grapefruit that lasts for or 5 hours. Sillage is medium and longevity is medium but I ADORE the balance because I adore the earth, fruits and grapefruit that just stay around. Some folks expect a good fragrance to last 8-10 hours to be "truly good" but this one is simply a pleasure. It's some tantalizing essential oils and a half of a fresh white grapefruit sitting in a bottle on your shelf... it sparkles, it is enticing, only slightly sweet, and an absolute pleasure. So it goes, I love citrus. More than citrus, I love citrus that lasts a few hours with no mistake. If you like smoky, woody, earthy, mossy, completely dry, dark, brooding fragrances... this isn't it. If you like the spiked 'sport' or 'aqua' fragrances, florals and herbs, this isn't it. This is a Mediterranean gourmand, plain and simple! Take it or leave it! :)

Initial notes are sandalwood, fruit, salty ocean air, and rather dry. My initial impression is very, very similar to Dunhill Pure. Initially more dry, then as it dries it becomes much more sweet - sweeter even than Pure. It may take some getting used to; it's very sweet, I hate to say it, but dries down like pink bubblegum. I see it as duplicative of the aforementioned fragrance in my wardrobe. In fact, by contrast, the Dunhill fragrance (I have Del Mar Baldessarini on one wrist, and Dunhill Pure on the other right now) although not among my favorites, is a bit more herbal, cool, manageably sweet. Del Mar is a narrow neutral, hovering just above negative, because it may be a fun, irreverent fragrance for a day out with the kids. I wouldn't want to smell like this around other adults, certainly not at work.

I'll sound curmudgeonly now, and may be getting carried away with my analogies of scents in the rest of the world to characterize these fragrances I have added to my collection... but this one fails. I really liked the concept, the simplicity; Lemon, over Thyme, over Vetiver. Further along in my enthusiasm for fragrances I may have put these together in my mind and conceptualized the result without actually smelling it; but as it is, what I'm left with is the smell of a recently cleaned urinal at the airport. It is unmistakable. The thyme comes across as that acrid odor in the urinal that to the citrus cleaning solution just can't eliminate. Were I not so familiar with that, as a frequent business traveler, I might let it pass, but there's just no way to salvage this smell. Hopefully others have had better reactions with their skin... or, at least, have never smelled an airport bathroom to compare & contrast.

Ooh, it IS fascinating and involved. Very early it impresses as, yes, a known fragrance, an Old Spice. A fragrance one would expect to smell in the clubhouse or the elevator on the way up to the law firm with a company with only 60+ year old attorneys... but there IS a deeper level to it! I'll admit the lemon thread is a bit chemical, I've enjoyed FAR more soft, natural lemon zest in other fragrances. But the lemon is vertical, it starts early and stays around for the matinee. It's spicy but cool, comfortable and impeccably fresh without the tired "aqua" cliche. It's not Cool Water, it's much more mature, without being geriatric. The drydown is brilliant. Lemon is prominent and surprisingly persistent, with cedar and moss. It's vibrant and zesty without being too sprightly; the mildly spicy edge keeps it regal and proper. Silage is excellent. This will be perfect for business-formal occasions and going out to a nice restaurant with friends.

I just picked up this bottle. My review will come across as quite flippant, but first impressions: I pull off the cap and take a sniff... is that...? Sniff again. Sniff inside the cap. Good lord. It IS. It smells like something my dog leaves behind on the neighbor's lawn on a walk. (Don't worry, we pick it up.) I always sniff the vaporizer first, usually some cologne seeps in shipping or bringing it home in the bag. And here's the olfactory assault that greets me... so my overall impression of the bottle is a bit "colored" on this account. I wiped down the cap and the vaporizer and top of the bottle, to no avail. So perhaps there's some kind of light oil in the cologne that, to put it mildly, separates on the shelf and doesn't do too well on its own.

The scent is nice, though a bit "heavy", brooding. The topnote is actually extremely alcoholic. Regrettably akin to Absolut Citron. I don't read anything much more than citrus and alcohol in the top notes. I can't start to perceive anything like fragrance until that cooks off. Rum, nutmeg, cardamom, toasted oak. In the basenote, the cardamom starts to morph into cinnamon, and combines with a bit of pungent foresty smell, wet pine and earth, with an underlying warmth that is probably the vanilla, although it certainly doesn't stand out. It's interesting, enough so to avoid a negative (despite my bottle cap that apparently took a walk in the neighbors' yard and didn't wipe its shoes), but I also don't think this is something I'm going to get in to. Like Dunhill Desire, I'll wear it a couple of times to give it a fair shot but its first visit hasn't been a very rewarding one. I can't quite place what kind of time or place this scent would be appropriate for.

I'm going to sound somewhat curmudgeonly, but I have to admit, I despise this cologne. I have tried to like it and worn it half a dozen times but it simply offends. I would describe the basenotes as an overt and abrasive blend of cinnamon, black pepper, effervescence and amorphous, unidentifiable sweetness. It is piqued, overpowering and unpleasant. Extremely synthetic. Also, incidentally, I hate cinnamon in cologne, which may be odd, because I love cardamom. Cinnamon isn't listed in this one's pyramid but it's all I can think of when I spray it on, cinnamon hard candy dissolved in a black pepper effusion. Overall this was a one-dimensional cologne that I have tried and failed to enjoy, and there are few I don't find the proper mindset or occasion to truly enjoy. It is amongst the part of my collection that I will seek to sell or trade; I wouldn't waste another day or evening on this bottle.

My bottle of Polo Double Black was purchased blind in a recognition of new career stages that demanded I have more than 2 or 3 fragrances in my wardrobe for various purposes. I purchased on the Polo name without having really researched this particular bottle. I was expecting something fresh, spicy, oceanic. It is certainly none of that; a cologne like nothing I ever smelled before, and is singly the fragrance that made me interested in what fragrances can really be like, what they can do, and got me started in collecting a bit more. If a bottled fragrance can be THIS interesting, I wanted to see what else they can do, what else I could enjoy. Although I now have quite a variety of bottles, Double Black continues to be one of my top 5, if not my single favorite in the collection.

It is truly an ambrosia. The top notes are a little fruitier and lighter, and start off sweet. There is a bit of mango, even orange peel, milk chocolate. Coffee, which does dry with a bit of a sweet smell, becomes evident in the mids and to my nose, remains present in the basenotes. The mid-notes, however, are predominantly cardamom, with a little hint of pine in the background. On drydown, the fragrance becomes a dense, creamy, semi-sweet aroma of cardamom, coffee, still some ripe mango and again, only a hint of a dry wood. Most of the fruitiness and all of the citrus is gone. Cardamom is the most significant element in mid and base notes but is joined with other elements to complement the spice, balance the bouquet and make it intriguing.

The fragrance is dense and both silage and longevity are excellent. Apply sparingly; for, as bewitching as the fragrance is, it can become cloying when overapplied, and distracting through the day. Its best role is a subtle one, just the right motion and you're reminded of it - a pleasant caress of warmth and sweetness, not a steady olfactory force. Lighter applications also seem to dry a little less sweet.

Enjoy!

This made me a Dunhill fan - to my own detriment, as I love Pursuit, but have not enjoyed Fresh, Pure or Desire. I could describe this as nothing other than business casual. It is a geranium musk, hits of rose and sandalwood, only a hint of sweetness on drydown. The fragrance is so fresh and invigorating that it is a bit of a disappointment that it has rather limited silage and does not last all day. However, it is not in every circumstance that a lovely fragrance needs to last for 10 hours. I would wear this for an evening to the movies - or an evening in, cooking a romantic meal for my wife. It truly stands out as one of my top recommendations.

I am a Jaguar fanatic. I own two XJs at the moment and sold a third last year. I assure you that this influenced my decision to purchase this bottle blindly, but not my appreciation of the fragrance. It is an absolutely distinctive, luxuriant fragrance, one that still stands out in my collection, which has become quite extensive. I would characterize the dry down as vanilla, moss, toasted wood, fresh cut grass, orange peel. It is only vaguely powdery, medium-high sweetness, and pleasant. It's a scent that just belongs together with a Sunday afternoon driving around an restored XKE with the top down, or a saturday at the racing green in Saratoga or Churchill Downs. It's a fragrance that WILL get compliments, perfect for a casual (but not totally informal) day out on the town. I suspect

The silage on this fragrance is phenomenal and endurance is long, so use sparingly. Since basenotes.net claims that this is discontinued and I can't find it many places, I will buy a backup bottle from the website where I purchased my first, although it may take several years to use up the first. Strongly recommended for the Jaguar enthusiast or those fond of strolls in the arboretum, afternoons in the museum, those occasions where you want something impressive and pleasant without being too formal or too playful.

A nice, intensely elegant musk with very formal and somewhat powdery dry-down hinting at vanilla, citrus rind, black tea. It is of medium sweetness. Limited silage and medium endurance.