Whether I've admitted it or not, I think all my frag purchases up until now were strongly influenced by the desire to be sexier or more appealing to girls. This lead to a very long list of frags that were discarded in disatisfaction. I've finally gotten to a point overall where I just can't care about that anymore or let it dictate who I am. I hadn't worn an EDT in months when a few days ago, when I was finally sickened by my deodorant sprays, it came to me that girls aside, it was important to me that I smell good.
So when shopping for a few other things I stopped in the frag section at Nordstroms. Of the things I hadn't sampled in the past I checked out Prada - too sweet, Terre de Hermes - better than the Jardins IMO but not for me, and Equipage which on first sniff was like a jolt of recognition - this is it! A rather a princely bouquet of florals and spices. I didn't let myself get carried away on the initial impression, but sprayed some on skin for the real test. I then went into Sephora to look around and checked out Eau Sauvage which was nice and struck me as having a similar quality with Equipage, and I retried Guerlain Vetiver which seemed better and more refreshing than I'd remembered. There were a couple other too-sweet things that I sniffed at but I can't remember them now. As Equipage continued to open up, spreading out its melange of spices I resisted the temptation to head back to Nordstroms for a bottle. I left the mall but the drydown just kept getting better, I kept picking up this golden sillage, and it continued to evolve and it became duskier and smoky. I ended up going back for a bottle that night after dinner.
After living with it for a few days I'd at that it a great frag when you are relaxed and in a good mood. It is extemely smooth, but the unabashed richness of its notes give one an unmistakable sense of being perfumed - in the old world aristocratic sense of the word. It requires nice clothes and nice shoes - no shorts or flip flops. It would be like wearing the crown jewels with jeans. It is too rich and heady to be worn without a certain gravitas.
As an aside, it was this that made me understand a large part of the rise of aquatics: they are the fragrance equivalent of logo T-shirts and blue jeans in our casual wear culture.
I ended tossing everything else in the bin, from AXE and RGX to Guerlains and Diors. No crying: it was mostly just samples and decants that hadn't met my foolish attempts to be sexier. I now have the novelty of just a single bottle of EDT, but I won't pretend that it will be my only frag or that it defines me in any way. We'll call it a new beginning.
So when shopping for a few other things I stopped in the frag section at Nordstroms. Of the things I hadn't sampled in the past I checked out Prada - too sweet, Terre de Hermes - better than the Jardins IMO but not for me, and Equipage which on first sniff was like a jolt of recognition - this is it! A rather a princely bouquet of florals and spices. I didn't let myself get carried away on the initial impression, but sprayed some on skin for the real test. I then went into Sephora to look around and checked out Eau Sauvage which was nice and struck me as having a similar quality with Equipage, and I retried Guerlain Vetiver which seemed better and more refreshing than I'd remembered. There were a couple other too-sweet things that I sniffed at but I can't remember them now. As Equipage continued to open up, spreading out its melange of spices I resisted the temptation to head back to Nordstroms for a bottle. I left the mall but the drydown just kept getting better, I kept picking up this golden sillage, and it continued to evolve and it became duskier and smoky. I ended up going back for a bottle that night after dinner.
After living with it for a few days I'd at that it a great frag when you are relaxed and in a good mood. It is extemely smooth, but the unabashed richness of its notes give one an unmistakable sense of being perfumed - in the old world aristocratic sense of the word. It requires nice clothes and nice shoes - no shorts or flip flops. It would be like wearing the crown jewels with jeans. It is too rich and heady to be worn without a certain gravitas.
As an aside, it was this that made me understand a large part of the rise of aquatics: they are the fragrance equivalent of logo T-shirts and blue jeans in our casual wear culture.
I ended tossing everything else in the bin, from AXE and RGX to Guerlains and Diors. No crying: it was mostly just samples and decants that hadn't met my foolish attempts to be sexier. I now have the novelty of just a single bottle of EDT, but I won't pretend that it will be my only frag or that it defines me in any way. We'll call it a new beginning.
