Essence Of United Colors Of Benetton Man by Benetton, 2008

I was at Marshall's today and found a 1.7 ouncer of this on the clearance shelf. Unopened and only $5.00, it was a blind buy I couldn't pass up. Especially since I've started getting into Benetton scents recently. My theory is that Benetton has something of a mill in which they wait to see how other house's scents go over in the market. If it's a success, they put out a new juice that's strikingly similar. It's this kind of volume, I think, that accounts for their prolific out put. But here's the upside...the Benetton version is often far better than the original, especially when you factor in price, strength, etc. This Essence of Man is indeed similar to CKOne and Azzaro Chrome, two blockbusters for other firms. But I think "Essence" is much better than the aforementioned examples. The CK and Chrome are almost too much of what they are. They're both kind of runaway trains of the fresh-ozonic style. The Benetton fuses the better elements of both and comes up with a superior blend. Of course, this is all theoretical. The end result is a fine fragrance that I could see wearing a lot. The drydown phase reminds me of the scent of a men's hairspray that was very popular in the 80's. It was called Consort. I'm not sure if they still make it, but this Benetton frag is totally bringing me back to the Big Hair decade in a good way. I'm remembering my best friend and I getting ready to go clubbing and him with his can of Consort, applying the finishing touches to his hair. All the boys wore hairspray then. This was before they invented "product"...Good times!

A lot of people, from what I understand, compare this fragrance to CK one. Now, I will say flat out that I do not recall what CK one smelled like, only that I didn't care for it. I feel like a better comparison to this fragrance would be Azzaro's Chrome. Essence opens with a light citrus note, most likely lemon, as well as some green notes. Benetton says ice tea is a note in there as well which I completely agree with, almost like a pleasant half and half Ice tea and lemonade. As it dries down, the citrus note stays, but I bet a bit of pineapple, stronger green notes, as well as various woodsy notes. As it dries down and goes into the base, the woodsy/mossy notes become more pronounced leaving a masculine, yet fresh scent. This one is definitely for the younger guys out there. I would put it between 18-26 in terms of age. My one qualm with his fragrances is its longevity. While it is a bit on the subtle side, and projects only decently with multiple sprays, the scent fades within a couple of hours. In order to get this scent to last, multiple applications and/or layering is necessary. All in all, its a young, fresh pleasant fragrance. I cant imagine anyone would be offended by this fragrance, and its pretty inexpensive.