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  • The Baron
    Junior Member
    • Jan 2007
    • 8

    #46
    Re: Men's Fragrances



    My current lineup:





    Penhaligon's Castile
    - I love this because it's very fresh and clean smelling, without
    smelling "sporty". So many so-called "fresh" or "sport" scents smell like sports
    deodorant or Irish Spring soap to me, but this is a more refined "suave
    gentleman fresh out of the bath" scent. However, I recently got a sample of Comme Des Garcons' Anbar (from Series 4) from Luckyscent, and it is vying with Castile as my favorite "fresh".



    It does surprise me how little popularity Penhaligon's enjoys. In a way, wearing something from one of these older houses is actually edgier nowadays than wearing something "edgy".





    Burberry Touch - My most mainstream scent. A good medium-weight
    all-purpose fragrance. Assertive, but not aggressive. It's a very good
    harmony and it smells great on me...surprisingly balanced for something
    that has musk, violet, and pepper notes. My ex-girlfriend was mad for it. I learned after owning it for a while that Bill Clinton used to wear it, which is a pretty apt signifier of its character: charismatic, but in an unobtrusive, diplomatic kind of way.







    Comme des Garcons Kyoto (Series 3: Incense)

    - A mixture of Japanese temple incense, the cedar and cypress smells of
    a tree-shaded hot spring, and a gently urbane airiness. The most
    wearable incense scent I've ever encountered, this is an everyday
    favorite for the fall/winter seasons. Light enough for casual wear, but elegant enough to add
    panache to formal attire. The ex's second favorite.


    Comme des Garcons 2 / Comme des Garcons 2 MAN
    [previously pictured in this thread] - I use them both. The original 2 is more floral on top...it's unisex,
    but unisex in a sort of European way many American men won't
    appreciate. The way it evolves is extraordinary, though. So complex.
    Meanwhile, the MAN variation is more smoky than floral, but with a
    similar complexity at the heart of it. Sometimes it reminds me faintly
    of the smell of burning fall leaves and smoldering moss. I lean more toward 2 in the spring/summer, 2 MAN in the fall & winter.

    Comme des Garcons Avignon (Series 3: Incense)
    [previously pictured in this thread]
    - Recreates with astonishing accuracy the scent of burning censers in a
    vast stone cathedral. It's "high church" in a bottle. Definitely not for everyday wear, but one of my favorite formal scents. This and my vintage 1930's tailcoat make an exquisite pair.


    Penhaligon's
    Hammam Bouquet
    - A Penhaligon's classic from 1872. Very rosy and Victorian. Brave and
    flamboyant, but in an elegant, almost royal way. Something to wear for
    a well-dressed night out on the town. People are more frequently surprised by this one than any other scent I own, even the weirder CdG scents. You have to love the veddy Victorian bottle, too.



    Also, a little bit of Hammam in the rinse cycle with the linens makes for a nice effect.



    Comme des Garcons Skai (Series 6: Synthetic)

    - Hints of grapefruit, leather, sandalwood, burnt paper, and vinyl, but
    the overall smell just makes me feel like the absolute personification
    of "sex" the instant I put it on. This is an unusual scent, but wearing
    it actually instills the confidence to pull it off. I'm a bit of a shy
    boy in public, but wearing this fragrance makes me do things I normally wouldn't
    do.

    Comme des Garcons Soda (Series 6: Synthetic) [looks pretty identical to the Skai bottle] - Great summer scent. Light and fizzy...lots of citrus and ginger, with
    a subtle masculine undercurrent of rum. It smells a bit like
    lemon-scented furniture polish when you first put it on, but don't be
    put off. Give it 20 minutes and it dries down into something much more
    balanced. I've tried a few of the classic lime scents, including
    Penhaligon's Extract of Limes, and this is a refreshing modern update.



    Comme des Garcons Odeur 71 - Love it. It smells like the felling of venturing into a completely new city. The welter of possibilities, the vague mixture of familiarity and unfamiliarity in the air. "There's a subway, but it's not my usual subway. There's a traffic crossing, but it's not my accustomed sort of traffic crossing." This is a fragrance for people who love cities and their endless variety. It's Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities in a bottle.





    Comme des Garcons Calamus (Series 1: Leaves) - It's the sap of green wood and the milk of broken dandelion stems. It's
    the smell of those green grass stains that were always dappled on your
    jeans as a kid. It will take you back to a time when the borders
    between indoors and outdoors were more permeable, when you played with
    utter abandon and watched the ground for crickets and ant lions. It's
    the spirit of youth and the spirit of creation...you feel like a 10-year-old with a very old soul.




    Good scents that don't work on me:



    Comme des Garcons Odeur 53 - It just disappears on me, within 5 minutes maximum, but often instantly. Not just to my own perception, but to others as well. I can only conclude that I naturally smell like Odeur 53. Bizarre.



    Tom Ford Black Orchid - I've smelled this on others and been impressed. On me, it seems to lose a lot of its pizzazz.





    Never spray THAT on me again!



    The remainder of the CdG Synthetic Series (Garage, Tar, Dry Clean) - I lovethe other two synthetics because they have hidden depths well beyond their obvious namesakes. Soda sparkles with fizzy suggestiveness, and Skai implies multiple tiny layers of black-tissue-papered secrets. On the other hand, Garage smells like an oil-stained automotive garage, Tar smells like tar, and Dry Clean smells just ike the dry cleaning did before I switched to an "eco" cleaner. They're just too literal and unappealing for my taste. I'm a big CdG fragrance fan, and I gave these a fair shake, but they didn't satisfy my olfactory palate.





    p.s. Nice to find some old friends from theFashionSpot over here. *friendly wave*

    Comment

    • Casius
      Senior Member
      • Dec 2006
      • 4772

      #47
      Re: Men's Fragrances

      Baron, excellent write up! I'm actually quite fond of CDG's synthetic 'garage', I got a sample of it just to find out what it really smells like (I didn't possibly think it would smell like a garage!), but I was pleasantly surprised with the scent. I'm interested to try out the Series 1:leaves, sounds nice.
      "because the young are whores. dealers come to carol to get the rock"

      Comment

      • Faust
        kitsch killer
        • Sep 2006
        • 37852

        #48
        Re: Men's Fragrances

        *waves back* Nice lineup, indeed. I'm curious about the two non-CDG scents - I've never herad of them.
        Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

        StyleZeitgeist Magazine

        Comment

        • macuser3of5
          Senior Member
          • Sep 2006
          • 276

          #49
          Re: Men's Fragrances

          I'm not gonna lie... I love Gucci Pour Homme in the evening, and Hermes l'eau du orange verte (I think that's the name) in the day. [6] I rarely wear cologne, though.

          Comment

          • The Baron
            Junior Member
            • Jan 2007
            • 8

            #50
            Re: Men's Fragrances



            [quote user="Faust"] I'm curious about the two non-CDG scents - I've never herad of them.
            [/quote]



            Penhaligon's have been around since 1870 and are longtime suppliers to the crown and aristocracy of Britain.



            A few years back when I tried out the Penhaligon's line, they had a $20 Scent Library collection especially for men, made up entirely of 10 generous samples of their gents' and unisex scents. Sadly, the Scent Library is now only available in a 50/50 men's/women's set. It doesn't even include Castile anymore, but it does have Hammam. Your other option is the $40 set of 4 5ml mini-bottles of gents' scents, but that has neither Castile nor Hammam, and moreover is out of stock. Bugger that for a lark, as they say over there.



            If you want to sample their wares, looks like the Scent Library is your best bet, despite lacking its former glory. I've sampled Quercus, Blenheim Bouquet, and English Fern from that set, and they're all excellent, despite not making it into my own personal collection. Blenheim was one of the first true "masculine" scents...citrus with a splash of forest pine, very pioneering for the era in which it debuted.

            Comment

            • malek
              Junior Member
              • Sep 2006
              • 27

              #51
              Re: Men's Fragrances



              I'm not into changing perfumes a lot, i buy the same product over and over for years... For me, people should be recognizable by their smell, i mean it in a good way lol!




              Anyways, i bought a few days agoin Frankfurt's airport the Gaultier2, and now it's my favorite. I'm pretty sure i'll keep wearing it for at least a year.







              The perfume i had frequently used till now was Higher from Dior:







              And finally the perfume that i hate and that i never use is Jaipur from Boucheron (i should really throw it away, orput itin the toilets lol)




              Comment

              • rach2jlc
                Senior Member
                • Sep 2006
                • 265

                #52
                Re: Men's Fragrances



                I just thought I'd add to the thread again. Lately, I've REALLY been enjoying Le Labo Patchouli 24. It's a really interesting, dark, smokey scent. Unfortunately, it costs an arm and a leg, but if you can get a hold of some, it's definitely worth the effort (I bought a large bottle, so if anybody wants to try some, just PM me andI'd be happy todecant some for you at cost). Aside from that, I broke out my bottle of Helmut Lang EDC after a long hiatus... it was like reconnecting with an old friend.







                It also got me thinking (and hoping) that perhaps the only good thing that could come out of the new deal with Link Theory was that they would rerelease the Lang scents. The EDP, EDC, and Cuiron are wonderful, probably among the best designer fragrances in a long time (along with CDG).

                Comment

                • nqth
                  Senior Member
                  • Sep 2006
                  • 350

                  #53
                  Re: Men's Fragrances



                  I wear CdG2, Whiteand Burnt Sugar mostly now.









                  I'd like to have the Over the moon (EdP). It's very raw, spicy, but becomes honey, a litle bit sweet, superb.


                  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoUCDcObTxA&eurl=


                  Comment

                  • Jshockmtl
                    Member
                    • Oct 2006
                    • 53

                    #54
                    Re: Men's Fragrances

                    I just received Costume National Scent and Scent Intense and i am very happy with both. Previously i had just sampled these fragrances. Happy i bought them.

                    Comment

                    • irrlicht
                      Senior Member
                      • Jan 2007
                      • 211

                      #55
                      Re: Men's Fragrances





                      just received this. it's amazing.

                      Comment

                      • casem
                        Senior Member
                        • Sep 2006
                        • 2590

                        #56
                        Re: Men's Fragrances



                        I hadn't thought of that, it would be nice if they brought them back. I got 2 bottles of Cuiron when I heard Helmut was going away. It's not an everyday scent, but it's really addictive and I feel special when I wear it.





                        [quote user="rach2jlc"]




                        I just thought I'd add to the thread again. Lately, I've REALLY been enjoying Le Labo Patchouli 24. It's a really interesting, dark, smokey scent. Unfortunately, it costs an arm and a leg, but if you can get a hold of some, it's definitely worth the effort (I bought a large bottle, so if anybody wants to try some, just PM me andI'd be happy todecant some for you at cost). Aside from that, I broke out my bottle of Helmut Lang EDC after a long hiatus... it was like reconnecting with an old friend.







                        It also got me thinking (and hoping) that perhaps the only good thing that could come out of the new deal with Link Theory was that they would rerelease the Lang scents. The EDP, EDC, and Cuiron are wonderful, probably among the best designer fragrances in a long time (along with CDG).

                        [/quote]
                        music

                        Comment

                        • nqth
                          Senior Member
                          • Sep 2006
                          • 350

                          #57
                          Re: Men's Fragrances






                          It'sa new CdG PLAY perfume :-) (out in April)




                          (pic from Warsaw CdG Guerrilla)

                          Comment

                          • casem
                            Senior Member
                            • Sep 2006
                            • 2590

                            #58
                            Re: Men's Fragrances



                            I'm really itching to buy one of the Dior fragrances but now I can't decide. I've been wanting to buy Eau Noir since last summer when I first tried it at the boutique. Then over the past few months I ordered a couple things from Dior Las Vegas and they came smelling like what I *thought* was Eau Noir. The scent really stuck with me and I couldn't stop smelling the clothes, so yesterday I decided I need to just go buy it and get it over with. So I go to the Dior boutique, spray Eau Noir on one wrist and Bois D'argent on the other and realize the smell from the clothes was Bois D'argent. So now I can't decide which I want! Eau Noir is very rich and unique but I feel like I'm addicted to Bois D'argent (i'm smelling it on my jacket now) and that it's better for everyday.




                            So, anyone that has either or both what do you recommend? I kinda want both, but they're so expensive. And I don't know if I should buy the small or medium bottle, the medium of course is a better deal but will probably last me until I'm sick of it.




                            Sorry for the elaborate story, I just love how you get addicted to scents and they bring back vivid memories (eau noir makes me think of last summer and going to the boutique, bois d'argent makes me think of getting a fantastic suit 40% off and not being able to stop smelling it).

                            music

                            Comment

                            • darkanimal
                              Senior Member
                              • Sep 2006
                              • 212

                              #59
                              Re: Men's Fragrances

                              Get the Noir, at least that's what I'm getting. I like it better than the others, it's more unique with that vanilla scent.

                              Comment

                              • Jshockmtl
                                Member
                                • Oct 2006
                                • 53

                                #60
                                Re: Men's Fragrances



                                I have both Eau Noir and Bois d'Argent. I love Bois d'Argent for everyday and the smell is spectacular.





                                Like dark said, Eau Noir is quite unique and i love wearing it at night, during the winter months. I wouldnt be able to wear on hot days/nights as i think it is too heavy a scent.





                                And i got the small bottles and they last very well. DOnt need to spray a lot when you put it on

                                Comment

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