The sophisticated choice for gentlemen?

What do you mean by "sophisticated"? Do you mean that you want to spend a lot of money on something that most people and most women wont really like that much? If so, go with something expensive and niche.

If you want to smell good, forget about "sophisticated".

Good Morning AGR - I've very limited experience with Floris fragrances but I know quite a few hold them in high regard - I'm sure you'll get some useful feedback from some Basenoters very soon. Judging by the companies you've ordered samples from I'm surmising that you are aiming towards something traditional and 'classic' - to this end one fragrance which you should try (if you haven't already) is Mouchoir de Monsieur by Guerlain - it is a truly wonderful fragrance which, in my humble opinion, can be a very good fragrance for both daytime and evening wear if applied lightly. It is long-lasting and stays quite close to the skin so will not overpower you (or those around you!) Being from 1904 it is somewhat old fashioned in style, indeed it has been described as 'dandified' in many reviews, however, by some quirk of fate, it is different enough from other fragrances of its time to feel quite contemporary and relevant. You certainly won't smell anyone else wearing it as it is quite difficult to obtain (but not impossible!) Don't let the reviews mentioning the dreaded 'civet' ingredient put you off - this is prominant for a matter of 20-30 minutes before it dries down and you are left with a lovely, moreish fragrance which will hang around gently all day. Hope this gives you a different avenue to explore - good luck.

http://www.basenotes.net/ID26121014.html

This!

You're welcome ADG - I would love to visit the 'Place Vendome' shop - you are very lucky! I'm sure if you sampled Mouchoir de Monsieur in less fragrant surroundings you would find it very pleasant and the name - 'Gentleman's Handkerchief' - would surely be perfect for your image! Another couple of suggestions which have sprung to mind are Czech & Speake's No.88 - based on the famous Jermyn Street in London, their fragrances are unique and very well made. The No.88 is warm, rich and long-lasting with a base of vetiver and sandalwood. On the subject of Vetiver - have you tested the new Tom Ford Grey Vetiver? This would be a good alternative to the more popular Guerlain and Creed offerings and on testing it last month I found it to be very fresh, smooth and subtle with good longevity.

Parfums de Nicolai New York
Hermès Equipage
Creed Tabarome Millesime.

I also wear sophisticated gentleman colognes. Here are my recommendations:

Boucheron PH EDP
Lorenzo Villoresi Uomo
Carthusia Uomo

Hi, welcome AGR,
what´s about Van Cleef & Arpels Pour Homme?
Not very common these days.

But my good man, the Concentrée is perfectly sophisticated!

My votes:

Guerlain Mouchoir de Monsieur: lavender/fougere with a very soft vanilla. Don't let the civet scare you in the topnotes--wait for the drydown. (The choice of King Juan Carlos, I understand)

Hermes Equipage: a floral/light spice. Also try Hermes Bel Ami.

Habit Rouge: citrus/leather with a touch of vanilla. Try the EDP version if EDTs don't last on you. The EDP has the added surprise of agarwood.

Caron's Le Troisieme Homme: A floral lavender.

Guerlain's Derby: A chypre that has to be tried to be enjoyed.

LOL! Try cravats and waistcoats--worn with Chesterfields and frockcoats--and have some fun.

I even affect a quizzing glass and a fob seal (worn as a necklace) once in a while! (Easy to find at antique dealers.) I am glad you are having fun. BTW, lest you think dandies are soft and ever-so genteel, recall that the Comte d'Orsay (a strapping 6'3" and crack pistol shot and fencer/duellist and bare-knuckles boxer and cricket player, horseman extraordinaire) once threw an orange (in a public restaurant) through a glass window when he saw his name in "improper conjunction" with a woman that was graffiti scratched by someone's diamond ring. (He took care no one was near the window but the offending glass was knocked into the Thames...) The dandy is not so easy to define. Some dandies like to get their hands dirty in oil painting and working on the greasy axles and springs of their carriages.

(I think you are thinking of the fastidious George Brummell variety of dandy...spotless shirt and cravat.)

For the record, the scent preferred by the Comte were orange flower waters, eau de Colognes and eau de jasmin--the scents of his day.

For the record, my mouchoirs are scented with whatever I feel like spraying for the day.

AGR, have you tried any of the Trumper's? I think you would definitely like them...I would say as a whole they are very traditionally styled, yet with an underlying vigor to them, and they all (that I have tried so far) have excellent staying power. My favorite of the bunch is Eucris, although that one may be a bit dark and aggressive for you...I would think Trumper's GFT or Sandalwood would be perfect for the image you have conveyed in your posts...both frags say to me "I'm an impecably groomed, traditional, conservative gentleman who will hold the door open for a lady, yet who is not stuffy and has some amount of imagination and personal style"...perfect for a younger guy who still wants to keep it old-school.

Royal Highness, with the utmost respect: I do not say it is not so, merely that the other is in some ways preferable to my humble tastes!

Royal english leather by Creed to me is very sophisticated and a great signature scent

Hmm, I guess I can accept that explanation ... to each his own!

Try the Eucris. It may be a tad mature, but it is first rate.

Either of the Chanel Pour Monsieur's quite sophisticated.

Though you had a bad experience with Guerlain, I think their scents take more patience to grasp. You seem like a perfect candidate for Habit Rouge. I prefer the EdP version sold in US as "Beau Cavalier. L'Instant de Guerlain Pour Homme is also fairly youthful but sophisticated imo.

^^^
Agree wholeheartedly on the Habit Rougue EDP (Beau Cavalier)!

to me nothing says young gentleman in a suit like lavender does.
I'd say... burberry london, plus extra lavender.
seriously.

No.89 was produced some forty years after No.127, but it is clearly based on the older fragrance, sharing most of the same notes. No.89 is slightly softer and has a more engaging development than it's older counterpart, but I see no reason why either cannot be worn day or night. Along with the excellent Hammam Bouquet by Penhaligon's, this type of fragrance does seem to blossom in cooler weather. When I have worn them during the warmer months, they seem duller and some of the floral notes less bright.

If you do love No.89, you may wish to try and obtain a vintage bottle.The current formulation is significantly diminished in quality.

Some formal favourites of mine are;

Habit Rouge EDC
Richard James
Black Tie by Washington Tremlett
Dunhill 1934

Oh man, lots of good suggestions here:

+1 for:

Equipage
Habit Rouge
Chanel Pour Monsieur
Creed Royal English Leather
C&S no. 88


Adding:
Eau Sauvage
Acqua di Parma Colonia Assoluta
Polo Modern Reserve

Unfortunately, you're just like me with skin that just can't hold scents, so I have been targeting EDP fragrances. Some of the ones I think are sophisticated and long lasting are:

1. Jaipur pour Homme EDP
2. Chanel No. 19 EDP
3. L'Instant de Guerlain pour Homme Extreme EDP

I will be trying Habit Rouge EDP and Opium pour Homme EDP myself.

Please read the sticky on this. There is no perfume love potion. Period. Women will not turn into your love slaves just because you wear the cologne such-and-such. They will be attracted to YOU as a man: character, intelligence, chivalrous behaviour, a sense of wit and humour, etc.

http://www.basenotes.net/threads/212...le-compliments

Well said, Primrose. Ah, the young always seem to be in such a rush! Few young men take the trouble to cultivate the ethics and habits of a gentleman. A few sprays of fragrance does not a gentleman make, dear AGR. Unfortunately probably just as few are there young women who are able to appreciate such a gentlemanly conduct...

Sadly, Diamondflame, you are right on this. Young women put up with loutish behaviour from young men and then in turn give up ladylike behaviour. One can still be a tomboy and still be a lady, BTW. It's a certain attitude toward etiquette and being in the world, if that makes any sense.

The key is self-confidence in a healthy way. Your fragrance is secondary.

There are as many women out there who like different scents as there are women. Again, you ask the wrong question.

For a nice, fresh UNIQUE scent (not worn by every young man or 20-something), try Habit Rouge EDT. This is easy to find. It's a citrus/leather with a touch of vanilla. If you can find it, try the EDP, called Beau Cavalier in the U.S. They will like this and you will like wearing it.

Monsieur Givenchy

To me, a nice fragrance is the cherry on top of the cake. I love searching for ever nicer cherries, but I try not to loose sight of the cake.

Chanel Pour Monsieur

Equipage
Habit Rouge
Dunhill 1934
Eau Sauvage
Anucci
Rochas Lui
Georgio
Le Troisieme Homme
Caron Pour un Homme

How wonderful! Congratulations, AGR! It is nice to be noticed and for a young woman to recognise good grooming in a young man!

One thing, perhaps, will come with time is the desire to wear scent to please oneself--and not to get comments from others.

When I wear scent, I do it for myself. Don't all men of fashion do this? One's clothing, as one's scent--is an expression of the self. Compliments are indeed nice and make you feel good, but I would not wear scent alone to elicit comments or attract attention to myself.

Bottom line: wear what YOU like, whatever the label, whatever the marketing gender.

There is a big difference between sampling 4 sprays from a small, 1.2 ml sample atomizer and getting 4 sprays from a full 50ml or 100 ml bottle. You definitely get much more juice out of the full bottle for the same number of sprays. Samples are fine to find out if you like a perfume but not appropriate to assess the longevity and sillage unless you spray much more than from a bottle.

Forget about judging longevity and sillage with just 1 spray on your wrist from a sample.

I would like to suggest either Mitsouko or l'Heure Bleue (the eau de parfums) by Guerlain. The most refined, classy, discreet and comforting fragrances i have smelled so far.

Sometimes you can tell right away if a scent is something you will like. But to me, it takes wearing it a couple of times to get the full experience. A couple of my current favorites took two or three wearings for me to get to know them.

That test sniff in the store, even on skin, is not indicative to me of what it will be like to wear the scent.

AGR- it's nice to be complimented no doubt. But find the scent(s) that you like. and go from there.
If you want scents that young women like buy AdG, Code, Issey and Le Male and you're all done.

Couldn't agree more. It's also long lasting. This is definitely the one I grab to smell mature & sophisticated. The original is EDC strength, which would probably mean abysmal longevity. At least that's what I've gotten from any EDC I've ever owned.

Floris 89 is a very traditional British scent. Haven't tried 127.

89 is quite floral, but in a traditional, elegant manly way that many British scents are good at. There is argument back and forth as to whether 89 was James Bond's scent in the novels. It evidently was a favorite of Bond author Ian Fleming. Being a bit proper, it is better as daytime scent, yes.

You know yourself better than anyone...I would find 89 a bit tricky for a young man to wear. Though if you're fairly mature and serious it could work. I would not think 89 would be a big hit with women your age, but you never can tell. If you can make it work, they'd like it fine on you I suppose.

I agree, Stylin. The first sniff is not the only one you should judge with. At first, I despised Mouchoir for all the civet accord. I prefer florals and citrus for my top notes. I gave Mouchoir a few more sniffs, allowing the full drydown and now it's one of my favs.

I don't think, though, that Mouchoir will be enjoyed by teen girls or college girls.

I agree with the Trumpers recommendation. I'm wearing GFT right now. Definitely worth a try.

Apparently not. Like StylinLA I've only tried the 89.
May I suggest you check the 'reviews' section on these scents?
If you want more information you could do far worse than to send a PM to foetidus, our most prolific reviewer, and also to bokaba, king of old world gentleman's fragrances.

( Both their reviews appear on 127, btw.)

Wishing you the very best of luck,

Mario

Anything by Geo F Trumper or Caron.

I have three suggestions for you; Habit Rouge Beau Cavalier by Guerlain, Jaipur EDP by Boucheron and, Shaal Nur by ETRO.

New York by Parfums de Nicolai

Well of course the real answer to the question of what a young gentleman wears is a conversation and not a statement. Gentlemen ought to wear whatever they love, as long as they wear it either discreetly or indiscreetly. Never without measure, unless the measure is unmeasure. To me the question of what a gentleman is is a really interesting one. One quality that gentlemen cultivate is a sort of ease with oneself and others that comes with considering deeply many of the ways one might be in the world and then knowledgeably and without sentimentality accenting them in oneself and in others. This is an excellent attitude for someone seeking a deep relationship with art, including perfumery. Often this leads to an interesting conversation between restraint and effusiveness.
I think of three genres that are usually associated with gentlemen. One important one is lavender fougeres, like the wonderfully simple (and inexpensive) Caron Pour Un Homme. Parfums de Nicolai's Nicolai Pour Homme is also wonderful.
Citrus eau de colognes of which there are many wonderful ones. I love Eau Sauvage, Chanel Pour Monsieur, Monsieur Givenchy, Acqua di Parma Colonia and several others. These are simple and relatively fleeting on the skin, and that's part of the point.
And I agree with others that it is well to have a floral perfume in your collection for times when you need to demonstrate that banging your fists on the table can be done as much with style as with anger. And I agree that you that you shouldn't reject perfumes merely because they've been marketed to women. Simply wear less scent so that your own odor doesn't disappear entirely (all things in moderation, young sir, including washing and moderation!) and you can wear L'Heure Bleue or Cuir de Russie and smell very masculine.
I just noticed how old this thread is. How goes the search?

Don`t forget Amouage Dia, Jubilation xxv, and Divine L`homme Sage.