N.B.: I went back and smelled Gucci II again,and you can believe that I have done a 180º turn on this one. See my newer post below.
Original post:
I made a pilgrimage to Bloomie's men's fragrance counter today to smell the new stuff they have there. I got a whiff of three: Gucci II, Fleur du Mâle, and Kiton Black. Here are my impressions:
Gucci II smells really good on paper. There was a note I couldn't place, but that really appealed to me. Anyhow, I decided to try some on my skin. It was very nice for a few minutes, but quickly went south; something cloyingly sweet manifested itself and lingered for a long time, at least an hour and a half. After that, it resumed a pleasant character. One observation: I found no sillage; on me, it stays very close to the skin.
Fleur du Mâle started out way over the top. The florals are very prominent right off the bat. Given a little time (in this case, about 30 minutes on me), it calms down and becomes a pleasant, neroli-dominated scent. I can say the same thing about sillage as I did about Gucci II: there isn't much.
Kiton Black is reminiscent of Kiton Man. There is a bit of pepper in it, to my nose, but it is still basically a kind of woody chypre. It is a little less assertive than Man, but still very nice. Of the three, on first impression, I liked the Kiton Black best. This was contrary to expectation; from the scents I smelled on paper, I thought Gucci II would be my favorite.
So.... (drumroll)... What did I end up getting? None of them for now. They're all OK (after some drydown time in the case of the first two), but I'm not sure they're bottleworthy. That drydown time is a bit daunting, and the Kiton Black isn't different enough from Man to justify an immediate purchase.Coming from me, who buys fragrances at the drop of the proverbial hat, that's kind of faint praise. Knowing myself as I do, though, I've got to say that down the line, I might pick up one of them.
For now, however, I think I will probably visit the discount perfumery store in the same mall and pick up a bottle of Chanel No. 19 EdP. That would be worth having!
Original post:
I made a pilgrimage to Bloomie's men's fragrance counter today to smell the new stuff they have there. I got a whiff of three: Gucci II, Fleur du Mâle, and Kiton Black. Here are my impressions:
Gucci II smells really good on paper. There was a note I couldn't place, but that really appealed to me. Anyhow, I decided to try some on my skin. It was very nice for a few minutes, but quickly went south; something cloyingly sweet manifested itself and lingered for a long time, at least an hour and a half. After that, it resumed a pleasant character. One observation: I found no sillage; on me, it stays very close to the skin.
Fleur du Mâle started out way over the top. The florals are very prominent right off the bat. Given a little time (in this case, about 30 minutes on me), it calms down and becomes a pleasant, neroli-dominated scent. I can say the same thing about sillage as I did about Gucci II: there isn't much.
Kiton Black is reminiscent of Kiton Man. There is a bit of pepper in it, to my nose, but it is still basically a kind of woody chypre. It is a little less assertive than Man, but still very nice. Of the three, on first impression, I liked the Kiton Black best. This was contrary to expectation; from the scents I smelled on paper, I thought Gucci II would be my favorite.
So.... (drumroll)... What did I end up getting? None of them for now. They're all OK (after some drydown time in the case of the first two), but I'm not sure they're bottleworthy. That drydown time is a bit daunting, and the Kiton Black isn't different enough from Man to justify an immediate purchase.Coming from me, who buys fragrances at the drop of the proverbial hat, that's kind of faint praise. Knowing myself as I do, though, I've got to say that down the line, I might pick up one of them.
For now, however, I think I will probably visit the discount perfumery store in the same mall and pick up a bottle of Chanel No. 19 EdP. That would be worth having!
