Fragrance Reviews by vance108

This is the first BPAL oil I bought and I was delighted. I wanted a frankincense-based fragrance but not in a mass-market sense like Baldessarini. Although too heavy for summertime use, Cathedral really does convey the mustiness of an old church. And I mean musty in a good way. Maybe that idea is hard to convey, but if you've ever found visiting and old attic and found something pleasant and nostalgic about it, you may know what I mean.
A little bit of Cathedral goes a long way! It may not be obvious at first, but just apply a little-three or four dabs-and wait for the development. The sillage is great. Also,apply it one morning and it will still be there the next morning, practically unchanged! Frankincense isn't the only note here; had I done my homework, I would have gone to the BPAL site and gotten them. Never fear- if BPAL's line of oils is too extensive for Basenotes to list the notes for all of them, BPAL is very good about listing the notes (albeit often with a lot of adjectives thrown in) on their own site for almost all their oils.
Thumbs way up, even if I have to be in the mood to wear this one. Actually, I'm looking forward to late autumn/early winter to start wearing it again.

I also find this a bit more powdery than I would like, my being male and all. I like unisex scents and I like this enough that I don't want to give it to (or even share with) my wife, but I may just wear it on week-ends and not around the guys at work. I disagree that there's nothing metallic about it. I think the faintly metallic quality is a saving grace in this fragrance. There's a sharp top note that totally took me by surprise the first time I wore it but it fled quickly into a somewhat linear but inviting (and hardly boring) scent that I don't tire of. But then, I quite like the "unnatural" and very avant-garde quality of Commes des Garcons. I even liked Soda from the Synthetic series that other people said smelled like Lemon Pledge.

Oh, my. Are we thinking of the same scent? I found Quasar to be thoroughly obnoxious. I was surprised to read feedback of this frag being "light and fruity". I found it overbearing and woody. With most fragrances I make a point of trying to pick out specific smells and often like some aspects of a frag and not others. This one just seemed too assertive for me to do that. The top notes were pleasant enough, I suppose. I sprayed two or three spritzes on my chest while dressing and set about other tasks, completely unmindful that I was even wearing a frag. Then, every once in a while I would think to myself, "What is that awful smell?" Then I realized it was the Quasar. Rarly have I felt like showering to simply be free of a frag, but this was one of those times. I was glad to have only tried a sample and not invested in a whole 3.4 Oz. That experience makes me apprehensive about trying JdP's other two mens' frags. I imagine I would have to be very bored or in a gambling mood to bother.

I _want_ to love everything that Kenneth Cole does. I do. I love his charity work in raising money for and awareness of the AIDS crisis. I love his clothes. I love his luggage. Sadly, I do not love this fragrance. Sure, it has that "clean" quality a la Curve Crush and Aramis life, but those are not compliments. In fact, I hate Liz Claiborne and Aramis fragrances. Signature is a much better KC fragrance. It's one I would actually wear and not use for air freshener in the facilities like I made a point to do with KC New York.

This one's a bit of a guilty pleasure and I don't feel at all bad about saying that I like it even admid so many negative reviews of it. I'm surprised that I have not heard the obvious comment that it smells rather like burning leaves, which was the initial comment of the person who gave me my first bottle of SF for men. I agreed and so, it seems, does everyone I've shared it with. I rather like having a miniture of it that I requested for x-mas, but I could see even a fan not needing a big bottle of it. The "burning leaves" quality makes me nostalgic for New England in the autumn, particularly because that is precisely the time and place I first discovered it. I consider it an idiosyncratic personal classic and I appreciate uniqueness in fragrances.