Very Cool For Men by Tommy Bahama, 2006

Its clear, crisp color nearly tells the whole tale: a no-nonsense water aroma, a relaxed, fresh yet sensuous water...Along with a few other aromas it dries down to the closest thing to clean, clear water that I've ever smelled in a fragrance (at least when I have sprayed it on my fore-arm). Yes, cleanliness might be another good term...Some say it is "run of the mill" but either I'm too inexperienced or this fragrance is too simple for, or simply too subtle for them (of course it depends on your skin much less your nose and, for that matter I also believe, it depends on where you're from)...And yes, I can hear some, if not many, of you facetiously asking,"Hey, if you think Very Cool comes close to the smell of pure water, why don't you simply turn on the faucet and splash your face to your heart's content, or take a shower, or jump into that pool?" All I can possibly say (somewhat facetiously) is, "read no further, and cut me a break, pleeezzz".

It opens with a somewhat herby note (not herbal - if you get my subtle drift) with a minty coolness (and, to me, not particularly "very cool", in any sense; ultimately more classy than cool) followed immediately by a citrus tanginess with whispers of tropical (possibly some Mediterranean) fruits and flowers (and heyyy, apparently even some desert-y ones...what's an oasis without a desert!)...'fraid I must read the ingredients to tell precisely which ones; that's its "je ne sais quoi" aspect

In the warm down its minty herbiness becomes more sublimely and subtly spicy...and evermore more powdery clean with a bit of vanilla...more reflectively luminous than sensually deep...smelling more like a gentle rain on a rather sunny beach (hmmm, now what beach?) rather than the sea itself...

But, in my opinion, it is the dry down that really counts, however subtle and simple, even however "run of the mill" it may be to others...

In the end it dries down to drying linen, powdery with a soupçon of vanilla and an ever-more subtle splash of mojito (lime and rum - a clear rum, or is that a refreshing gin and tonic with less lime than one smelt at the start?)....Ultimately it evokes a youthful swimmer stepping fresh out of a fresh pool (ready for a shower - with TB's soap - and that refreshing mojito...or a somewhat similar summertime cocktail,,,without the mint?)...I also agree that there is something metallic here too, a masculine, stainless steeliness (whatever that smells like?)...

For a rather non-mysterious fragrance there is also something quite mysterious here in the mélange of aromas, a je ne sais quoi to be more (un-)precise...Yet in the end, as I've stated, it is simply a no-nonsense clean and cool (but not too cool) water fragrance...Hardly an urbane sophisticate yet nonetheless unpretentiously classy and sensuously refreshing, even, one might say, not necessarily transcendent yet often sublime...Maybe what an urban sophisticate might wear in the Hamptons or La Jolla or on the Mediterranean or the Islands, or even more far-reached, exotic climes. For some of us we might simply wish to aromatically evoke those places no matter where we are or what the weather might be...

Also love the clear, unpretentious bottle allegedly evocative (as are most all TB bottles) of a type of rum bottle (Legend, Pyrat, Captain Kidd?) with, in this particular case, a cork-like cap! (The other caps are clearly meant to signify winches.) Actually, to me for some reason, the bottle's shape evokes image of sailboat chocks and cleats, or even a wind-filled square rigger sail...Curious,TB uses a very different design for its own rum bottle. I also read that the ratio of cost to quality makes TB's rum not worth the investment; of course I find that true for most everything they sell - except their fragrances...But this isn't supposed to be about rum. and other TB stuff, is it?

I started out simply intending to write a line or two stating that TB Very Cool was (upon dry down) the closest fragrance, in my experience, to the simple, no-nonsense aroma of clear and clean, pure and fresh WATER. Before I got carried away that is essentially all I wanted to say. I'm not claiming it to be the best of fragrances, nor the best of "aqua" fragrances, but TB Very Cool just might be the best "water" fragrance...I only wish it had a bit more strength, longevity and sillage!!!...

Last edited by wggmn3; Today at 07:47 PM.