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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*
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*
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