CK Crave

I'll make this short and sweet. I tried Crave today using a random pick system of my sample I have. Crave is crap and I can see why it was discontinued after a few years on the market. Ugh.

A Few - Nothing of Major Note

Yesterday for work I wore Penhaligon's Douro. For the evening's dinner out and the yearly tradition of going to Home Depot and eating a steak dinner out (father died on Jan. 21st), Rive Gauche.

Today I used the rest of L'eau Par Kenzo, realized I didn't want to wear it again, promply washed it off and wore Platinum Egoiste by Chanel. Strong woodsy fragrance which makes me want to try some Terre D'Hermes. For the evening I randomly pulled out of my 2.5ml decant drawer some Tabarome Millesime by Creed.

Tabarome is one I'll comment on. I felt rather repulsed by it. It's very sharp and the tobacco (I think it's tobacco) really pushes you away. It's very heavy but does settle down after a while. though the lightness afterwards doesn't bring me back in. It pushes me away and doesn't bring me back not do I want to go back. It's a well rounded fragrance but I don't like it.

Here's an odd thing I've been doing. I have problems sleeping most nights. I have a scent that is mostly lavender and I read somewhere that lavender is a relaxing scent. I've been spritzing some around my bed, not on/in it but around. I've been sleeping a little better. I really like the scent. The kicker is that it's a drug store "cheapo", only $20 a bottle. The culprit is a new release (last year I think) called Mustang complete with the Ford Mustang logo and a nice tin. It's gotten mixed reviews but mostly positive. It's only sold in cologne so no EDT.

A niche, a standard and an aquatic

I wore my first, what they call, niche fragrance today. From what I can tell, niche means "overpriced, limited in quantity and hyped". While I recognize that some niche fragrances are actually better (in terms of longevity and overall "roundness") their less expensive counterparts are just fine. Unless you're trying to impress someone who's in the know, niche fragrances are not worth it. UNless you really like spending $90-$150+ on a bottle or you really, really like the smell, I don't see the worth. I'm a casual wearer so it's academic to wear niche fragrances.

Nonetheless, I have a few samples of some niche fragrances. I will group Penhaligon's in these, too. As much as I like their stuff, I will not spend $90 just yet. Same with Creed and others you can find on websites like Luckyscent or Aedes De Venustas.

Yesterday, without really knowing what it was, I tried Anvers 2 by Ulrich Lang New York. It's a very slow, flowering scent. It may seem ugly to those who are used to designer scents. I don't think the people in my area are accustomed to scents that are structured well. I myself do not know what makes a scent more structured so I may be prejudging this. I don't like this scent. Too perfumey but light. I still have yet to find a flowery fragrance I like. I have a sample of Hei by Alfred Sung and I'm looking forward to trying that.

Later that evening I went out with a group of friends to a Japanese steakhouse in Allentown. I had planned to impress because my friend were bringing their friends along. I was dressed nice yet casual. I premeditated what scent to wear that night because I would not be able to go home before I traveled up to Allentown from Reading and get their on time. For the night, I chose Gucci Envy. What a great choice! Woody and oriental, great for where I was eating. Just plain awesome. Not to mention this fragrance came out the same year I graduated high school (God I'm old!).

Today, for kicks and since I'm hanging around the house today, I'm wearing Desire Blue by Dunhill. Very nice aquatic though I have nothing to compare it to since I haven't tried any other aquatics. Maybe a poor choice for winter but I picked it at random. I have a lot of samples to go through. This has a tonka basenote and I can pick it out. Good.

Been finding fragrances I like. Time to save up some money for a solid wardrobe.

Higher by Dior

This is nothing special. No wonder I got most of these samples for cheap or free. Higher Energy looks promising.

In other news, my local department store, Boscov's, was doing their inventory on Sunday. Maybe they'll have an inventory deduction sale? Or sell off their excess stock to places like TJ Maxx, Ross or Marshall's (my town has all three in a small radius).

Everlast Original 1910

I was a bit leary on this one. Another sample vial. I was surprised and disappointed in some regards but overall it's a decent casual/work fragrance.

I'm not sure what kind of smell this is supposed to be. Some sites say it's a citrus/fruity. I claim it's more oriental with citrus. I know there's tonka bean in there! I like tonka bean for some reason.

Everlast Original 1910 partially doesn't live up to it's name. It doesn't last long on my skin. It comes on strong and dies within 3 hours. I can barely smell it but it's there. A spicy citrus note that's lingering.

The graphic that was on the sample vial card turned me off. A man without his shirt, wit his hairless back showing. Underwear riding a little low to display the Everlast logo on his boxers with a woman's hands down the back of his boxers. Butt squeezing right there. Made me feel uncomfortable. Luckily the scent doesn't reflect this graphic. Everlast is a boxing gear company. The graphic is to reflect that women like men who are strong and beat other men up for sport I guess?

Penhaligon's Customer Service

I requested samples from Penhaligon's on Friday at 5PM EST (they are in NJ) when everyone usually is trying to go home or wrap up things for the weekend. My experience has told me that it's generally a bad idea to call places around that time because the boss is already gone, people are anxious to leave or some other single-minded reason because they just don't want to be there. I suppose I should shed my old stereotype of crank Friday afternoon workers.

As I said before, when I called the lady one the other end was more than happy to send me some samples. I got these today. I got 8 different kinds, all men's, a few unisex and more than one of my favorites. Once I can spring the cash (and a good reason to sue a British fragrance), I'll gladly purchase a bottle of Endymion. I'll still have to sample the others but it looks like I'll get small bottles of English Fern, Douro or Hammam Bouquet.

Quick comments:

English Fern is clean. Unisex.
Douro is a lovely neroli scent.
Quercus smells just like ck One and is the most modern of the fragrances from Penhaligon's. This one is also unisex.
Hammam Bouquet is a powdery floral uniquely British.
Castile is a rose scent.
Blenheim Bouquet is spicy. (I don't like this one)
Racquets is good for golfing and tennis: the 'uppity' sports.
Endymion, my favorite, is an excellent powdery fragrance with lavender and vetiver.

L'eau par Kenzo

This has a decent citrus opening. Doesn't last long either. Not a favorite. Pales in comparison with Lacoste original with it's "nothing but sandalwood drydown." L'eau par Kenzo is a nice clean fragrance. I think it made today's cold weather even colder.

Speaking of Lacoste original: I figure out if it's been discontinued or just sold in limited quantities. I can only find it in a few online stores and maybe a stray box or two in the stores.

Burberry London is awesome

It wasn't even 2 hours into work and I received more comments on Burberry London than I have on any other cologne I've worn in the past weeks! I heard it was good stuff but not this good.

What an excellent winter fragrance. A perfect blend of lavender and pepper with a tobacco/mossy drydown. This pepper isn't as overbearing as Bvlgari pour Homme was. There's leather in this, too. I don't particularly enjoy leather but this fragrance has it in its heart notes, I don't really smell it.

I got this as a 10ml decant from SomethingAwful. Three spritzes is all I need. Very strong and it carries very well. Once the decant is gone I'm sure to pick up a bottle some time.

UPDATE: 1-15-2007 I decided I absolutely need a bottle and picked one up on the way home. Didn't feel like waiting for a good deal online.

Armani Code and Paco Rabanne XS

Double review time.

I wore Armani Code last night. I'd consider it a double date. Went out to a local pub with my girlfriend, my friend and his girlfriend. It was quite a delightful time. we sampled four different beers from local breweries and had a wonderful dinner. They had the most amazing tasting hot wings. Usually hot wings don't have any taste in my opinion. They just hot but these were a little sour. I swear they used Worcestershire sauce. I need to go back again, it's been a while since the last time.

It's only been maybe a week since I've started to wear cologne again. I haven't really received comments directly. I don't like to but I sometimes force comments from my girlfriend by deliberately holding my wrist in front of her nose when she leasts expects it. She really likes Armani Code. It was recommended as a "romantic" fragrance but I decided to wear it out to a pub.

On the notes there are olive leaves. My girlfriend, her name is Sabrina (so I can now stop calling her 'my girlfriend'), really likes black olives. I'm wondering if her preference for olives was reflected in her fondness for Arnami Code.

To me it smells synthetic. I do like the tonka bean as a base note. It dries nicely down on my skin making it comfortable to wear. I suppose you could call it.... "safe". Despite the fact that women like it, I do not. I would, however, wear it on request but I have other things, better things, to wear. Good thing I only got a small sample.

Next review is on Paco Rabanne XS. There is a men's and women's version so naturally, being a male, I'm reviewing the men's version. I wore this all day today around the house while cleaning and fixing up things. No one was around to comment but I kept getting wafts of it.

There's a mint opening in this. I absolutely despise mint, even in toothpaste and gum. I really dislike its stinging sensation.I still brush my teeth mind you but it's a feeling I do not like (although, the prying open of my wallet when I'm at the dentist isn't that great either). It's drydown is amazing, though and it's definitely a cologne I'd wear again. I've noticed that most of the fragrances I like contain tonka bean, sandalwood and bergamot. This one contains the latter two. Great notes in a fragrance.

As a side note, I called the USA division of Penhaligon's for some samples. The lady was more than happy to send me some. Awesome. I had tried a decant of their Endymion and found it amazing: lavender, "powdery" but not "bathroom talcum powder powdery, and it smells British to me. Refined. I commented on it with the representative and she said she'd see if they'll put in more samples of that in with my request. Now that's customer service. I certainly would love to purchase a bottle of a Penhaligon's sometime for permanent use.

V/S by Versace

Well this one is different. I picked out this sample from my drawer at random, reached in, eyes closed, pulled it out and said, "this one today." And that happened to be V/S by Versace.

The sample vial itself is clever. The V/S logo has a slash through it. The "V" and "S" are imprinted in white on the vial itself and the cap has a stick attached to it, both are black and forms the "/" (slash).

At first this smells very alcoholic and sugary but dries down to a warm, cozy scent. Other than that, it's nothing special. Most people say it's very synthetic. I do like this one, even a little. It's fruity and oriental, but that's just me. Maybe that's why it's called Versus (V/S)?

It's recommended use is all over the place: casual daytime, evening, mature, college. I guess V/S should stand for versatile.

I have nothing to compare it to since I haven't had that many scents sampled yet. It's sillage is over the top, wat too strong for my likes. Apply it conservatively, a little goes a long way.

This fragrance was discontinued. Odd that places still sell samples.

How To Sample Perfumes

I found this great tidbit of info while looking for samples. When you receive samples in vials or any cologne or perfumes from online sellers, put some of the liquid on a card. I have a large supply of unprinted index cards that I've never used and now I have a reason not to throw them out!

I kinda figured putting some of the scent on a paper card is one good way to sample a fragrance. Sales clerks do this very thing when you go to the department stores.

I read about it here. Good prices, too. Some places sell samples at $2.99 or even more depending on the rarity .

Animale Animale

I'm usually a bit leary about things with clever names. Puns and such. I tried Animale Animale by Parlux today.

I don't like gourmands, I've smelled Rochas Man and A*Men and didn't like those. They were sweet smelling. Sometimes I don't want to smell like the coffee shop next door. Animale Animale isn't an overpowering gourmand but it still is but it's spicier, which I like. There are only a few notes so it's isn't too complex but straightforward.

Today, slightly cold, worked all day inside. I received a vial sample of Animale Animale from ScentMonkey.com a week ago. I feel neutral about this one though if there is ever a time or place I absolutely need to wear a gourmand, I'd wear this.

Bvlgari pour Homme

Through the various means in which I have obtained samples, I somehow deemed it necessary to get two samples of Bvlgari pour Homme. I received a 1ml sampler spray vial from Fragrancenet.com and a 2.5ml decant from a seller on SomethingAwful.com (DrBubba, great guy).

This is the first Bvlgari fragrance I've tried. I can recognize the fact that it's well composed. I don't like this because it gave me a massive headache. After reading reviews on Basenotes.net, I learned I'm not the only one. Though I cannot figure out which note in the fragrance could induce such unpleasantness. It also made me very hot. I definitely must have had an allergic reaction.

For the record, I will assume that the predominant pepper note is the culprit. It made everyone around me sneeze. I applied it conservatively; one spritz one the chest, neck and wrists. Maybe that was too much. I tested it on a card before trying it out and I didn't notice any pepper.

It was unusually warm for January today, almost 60 degrees. I could see this fragrance being better in colder weather, but I'm reserving some Burberry London for that. It's winter so I should have plenty of cold weather opportunities.

From the Begining

I've dove head first into the world of men' fragrances. Ten years ago I only had a very small sampling of scents and those were given to me as gifts. I was never really interested in them. The only precursor to fragrances was my parents: father used Old Spice shaving stuff, mother exclusively used Beautiful by Estee Lauder. Even my friends never wore colognes nor did my girlfriends. The only distinctive scent with emotional attachment (other than food) from my youth is Tide detergent.

From what I remember, my first "designer" after shave was Brut. I also had Stetson but I barely remember the scents nor have I tried them since. What I do remember is ck One and smelling it takes me back to junior high school. Drakkar Noir takes me back to high school prom (both of them), all the jocks wore that cologne.

In the course of a month, I've created a large wardrobe of sample vials and decants to try. I've had a few I really like but none really say, "I am your scent. I am for you!"

I wish to share my experiences of men's fragrances in a newbie perspective for both veterans and other newbies alike.