What is the scent of a man? For most of us—especially those born in the ’70s and ’80s—our first thought is likely to be a clean yet spicy eau, the whiff we got a noseful of when we hugged our fathers or kissed junior high school boys: Brut, Polo, Drakkar Noir…fragrances evocative of muscles, clean sheets, stiff drinks. In those days, to paraphrase an Aerosmith song, dudes may have sometimes looked like ladies, but they certainly weren’t okay with smelling like them.
— April Long writes about fragrance and gender in Men's Fragrance Trend: Unisex Appeal at Elle.
This was really quite good for a mainstream article about perfume. Kudos to Karin Khoury of Estee Lauder for her forward-thinking remarks.
And props to Tommy Lee for wearing Kai, who knew?
It is a nice article for a broad readership.
I personally have never fallen for gender-stereotypical fragrance patterns. For me the scent is about me, whatever that scent may be. I do not care whether anyone else likes it, I choose a scent that does it for me and for no other reasons. Experimenting and trying new things brings great satisfaction and as there are far more “feminine” fragrances available than “masculine” ones it seems reasonable that one should have a mixture of both.
Being a guy here are some of the regular non “masculine” scents that I wear,
Obsession (Feminine)
SJP Covet – it’s deep greenness is unmatched by anything else (I often layer it with O de Lancome (feminine) or Feragamo’s Tuscan Soul)
Roger et Gallet’s Eau The Vert
Lagerfeld’s Sun, Moon, Stars – for me an amazing discovery – on those infrequent hot humid sultry summer evenings we experience in the UK, a small spray of this blooms into the richest earthiest tropical white flower on my skin, amazing.
Guerlain Mitsuoko
I have a small sample of Bandit which strikes as very interesting.
Unisex scents that I wear regularly Habanita, Knize Ten, Bulgari Black
Masculine/Feminine combinations that do it for me
Lalique’s Encre Noir with Tuscan Soul
Beene’s Grey Flannel with LouLou
Antaeus with Tresor
SJP Covet with Ferragamo’s Bergamotto Marino
Obsession (feminine) with Habanita – a room clearer, but I love it.
Dior Homme Intense with Tresor.
Ungaro’s Apparition Intense Homme with Mitsuoko
then of course non-typical masculines
Dior Homme Intense
Kenzo Power – I know it is synthetic but the dry down is all me…
Thanks for sharing your list!