Which house makes the best men's EDP fragrances..

Tom Ford - the new Private Blends are all EdP's and I bet at least one of them (there are 12) will WOW you.

Malle's Carnal Flower for wow factor and longevity. Have not sampled any of his male frags, but I could see a man (you) wearing this one.

A few:

Guerlain - Habit Rouge, L'Instant de Guerlain pour Homme
Hermes - Terre d'Hermes
Ormonde Jayne - Ormonde Man
Parfum MDCI - Invasion Barbare
Divine - L'Homme de Coeur
Serge Lutens - Chene, Cuir Mauesque, Muscs Koublai Khan
Creed - Bois du Portugal, Aventus, Vintage Tabarome

Boucheron

I wholeheartedly agree for once. Although Profumum has some lighter scents in their line (Aqcua di Sale, Thundra...), a few stand out as powerfully long lasting (Santalum, Antico Caruso, Patchouly). PG is just awesome, although more unisex. One house I'm surprised nobody's mentioned is Montale. I put their Aoud Lime on this morning from a sample, and I took a shower ten minutes ago... CAN STILL SMELL THIS HEAVENLY STUFF. Really cool. Check out their Black Oud. Best rose I ever smelled. AND tenacious to an annoying (In a good way) degree. Sorry it's all niche.
- Rich

Who gives two shits?

Anthony,
I'm hooked on Guerlain's edps too, and I've got those same ones you have. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful products that indeed put shame to some other houses, just as you note.

S.T. Dupont put out edps of their first two scents for men, PH and Signature, and if I had a chance to buy them now I'd do it, especially Signature. I think Robert Piquet's Bandit in edp kicks butt, but I realize that might not be what you're asking for since it isn't technically a PH. I've never been very impressed by any of the Laliques (haven't tried the new Encre Noir, no idea if it's available in edp), so I can't say praises of their edps. If I were to purchase any of them, I'd do it in edp before edt though, for sure. I've also not been impressed enough to buy Boucheron or Jaipur, despite the greatness that the house is kind enough to offer PH edps. The smells just haven't been to my nose's taste.

As a leader in men's edps, I'd have to say you're already aboard the flagship, Guerlain. You've got the best already!
--Chris

I don't have a whole lot of experience with EDPs, but Jaipur by Boucheron is really something else.

My experience is that the majority of houses does not make men's fragrances in different strenghts, as Guerlain does. But some of them keep issuing the same outstanding juices they do not label 'edp' or anything similar that indicates longevity: Kouros, Rabanne pH, Quorum, Knize, several from Jacomo or Dunhill, and practically all Carons for men (this is from scratch, and anything but complete!)

Guerlain, the house with excellent, traditional colognes in the men's department, and practically no flops, have been playing particularly annoying, unfair games with their loyal customers for more than a decade: Who has not been trapped by their Habit Rouge EDC ? I don't know a vintage version of this, but Habit's present EDC isn't really great, more like the anemic version of what it once had been. Only the EDP has real class which means I wasted decent money on my way back to quality. I am quite happy with the EDP version, but I am less happy about having wasted money on Guerlain products that were not up to their own prestige.

Vetiver - same story: first they diluted the original (one of those practices that are never announced or admitted to). In 2006 they decided to issue Vetiver Extreme. I haven't had the pleasure yet, but that sounds like a restitution of the original, and if that's so, should I feel grateful? The vintage bottle I've finally bought wasn't cheap for just repairing the deficient quality of the present issue (sold during more than a decade) and certainly resulting in great profits for Guerlain. Mitsouko takes the crown, of course! But nobody here be afraid. The scandal has already been discussed on another board. Wonderful products all - in their original form - and safest as perfumes nowadays ( for men as EDP).

But who is not happy about a few younger and successful companies which extended the prime quality sector of the market! They offer exciting vetivers, chypres, woods and orientals at very good prices compared to quality versions of a Guerlain, and some Private Collection frags! Arabian leather, Turkish dagger, French Lover - you came just in time. Long live the innovators in the organized/controlled perfume market of the world!

Both the men´s fragrances (L´homme de coeur and L´homme sage) from DIVINE are EdP strenght and both are favorites of the board and also favorites of mine.

I'll echo Guerlain and Divine.

Hanae Mori and Agatha Brown also have good EdPs for men (even though the Agatha Brown's are mislabeled as EdT)

In an ideal market most scents would have an EDP version, even if purely for economic reasons, ie. "concentrated" strength of the original. I would have absolutely no objection to that and I'm sure a lot of shoppers would have a pragmatic approach to their shopping decisions.

I can also understand where a fragrance house would make some degree of alteration to the formula for the EdP, and there would probably be a multitude of reasons, such as at certain concentrations one scent dominates another more prominently than at lower concentrations etc etc.

But what really annoys the living hell out of me is when an EdP is made and labelled as the EdP of this and that and it smells nothing at all like the original (and very wonderful) EdT and worse still it's such a horrendous mix of garish smells that you'd think you've opened a bottle of some cheap and nasty fabric softener.

If a company is going to make an EdP so markedly different from and EdT then it's very manipulative and exploitative marketing to try to cash in on a recognised brand-name to boost its sales.

People aren't stupid, they can recognise different smells, it's not like they'll be fooled into thinking they're one and the same thing. The average shopper is most likely to say, "Oh, I really like the EdT (or vice versa) but the EdP is horrible, I'd never buy it. Don't know what they were thinking when they made it."

There is one such example that really comes to mind for me, but I'm trying to hold off mentioning which one it is.... primarily because it's my "signature" cologne, and I go on a bit too much about this fragrance in my spare time, and don't want to bore peope with it, lol!

That's my 2 cents' worth.. and it was really only worth 1c! <chuckle>

Here's my ref for Agatha Brown's being EdP:
http://community.basenotes.net/showt...atha+brown+EdP
Post #7 is from Marlen, reprinting email from Agatha Brown.

You're correct, I have no longevity problems with Conquest. (does anyone else see similarity between it and KC Reaction?)

Guerlain for men: Habit Rouge EDP, Héritage EDP and Jicky EDP are all great classics IMO.

You can check out Amouage perfumes .. This is the most expensive perfume in the world from Oman.

check it out here:
www.amouage.com

I am from Oman and I visit Amouage House every now and then. ALL products are EDPs!

I am not quite sure whether they have EDPs on shelves in Europe or the US .. but in Dubai (Middle East generally), you will DEFINITELY get EDPs for all productions.

cheers

Vetiver extreme is actually a different formula. Many dislike it, but I find it quite good. The latest regular "Vetiver" from Guerlain is more of a return to the vetiver I remember from the 70s. The formula seems to have returned to its "roots." I also have a bottle of HR EDC, I really like it a lot. I must have lucked out on that one.

Amouage and Micallef, probably.
That's mostly because they do make masculine edps.

Agree with Micallef as among the best.

Amouage

I have Jubilation XXV from Amouage and have been very impressed on all levels, not the least of which is its potency. I am looking to acquire some other offerings from this house in the near future (e.g., Epic Man).

I concur with both of these.

IMHO. It is not the House that matters but the EDP itself.

One solution might be to look at the concentration of the scent. Typically EDP is 14% +

The higher the concentration the higher the oil content goes on your skin, which tends too translate into a better staying power!

- Basenoters might and should correct me on this!