Yay, it's Gender Wars Friday! Our community project for today: wear something marketed to your gender opposite. Wearing something marketed as unisex gets partial credit. What did you pick?
I'm wearing the original Gucci Pour Homme (2007 2003, and not to be confused with Gucci Pour Homme II or Gucci by Gucci Pour Homme!), which Kevin said reminded him of the Japanese traditional incense blends he uses: simple combinations of woods and subtle spices. It is sadly discontinued, and today I've sadly used up my last few drops.
As always, do chime in with your scent of the day even if you aren’t participating in the community project.
Reminder: next Friday, 10/31, for Halloween wear your quirkiest or weirdest or spookiest fragrance.
And for those of you who like to plan ahead, see Scent of the day ~ Friday community projects 2014, where I'll try to always have the next six or seven weeks mapped out in advance.
SOTD is White Patchouli (Tom Ford). I’m a guy who digs this, it leans feminine. Does that mean unisex? 😉
He could easily have marketed it as unisex! I guess he reserves the designation for the Private Blends. Anyway, you smell great.
Scent of the day is Cabochard de Grès. Easily the most masculin scent designed for women. It is certainly more masculin that most of the recent men’s fragrance releases
Totally agree…a lot of the old classic chypres could easily pass as masculines today.
Yes, for men it’s usually easier to go with vintage women fragrances than with the most fecent fruchouli stuff. Lol!
For women, recent for men’s releases are probably easier to wear than the older fougères, leather, etc.
Cabochard reads as very masculine to modern noses, I think. It’s gorgeous stuff.
I went with Bulgari Black—not sure if it was originally marketed just to men or to both. Although today what I’m getting from it is mostly sweet vanilla, and if I didn’t know what it was I’d guess it would be something marketed to women.
From WWD, 1998:
“…a unisex fragrance aimed at a younger customer. […] “The new scent, Black, is aimed at the downtown crowd. As the name implies, the sleek contemporary packaging is mostly black. […] The black packaging is meant to evoke an avante-garde feeling, Lively said, with a metropolitan accent, as in the nightlife of New York, Los Angeles, Berlin and Hong Kong.”
Adding, just because it shows how much everything has changed since 1998:
“The new fragrance, Ruscio estimated, will attract customers aged 25 to 45. The present audience, she added, goes up to age 50.”
Ha, now they would say “18 to 25” but they’d really mean “13 to 22”, and nobody cares about the “up to age 50” market.
Yikes, I’m barely within their range from 1998! This fits in nicely with Kevin’s review yesterday.
Thanks!
I remember finding mine in the men’s section of Sephora (circa 2009). The packaging seems aimed for that section.
For a long time I thought it was masculine perfume… until I started wearing it. Now I think of it as barely unisex, leaning towards feminine (not that it means that a man can’t wear it – just as a classification).
I chose Guerlain Vetiver. Almost wiped out my mini. Oh well.
Yum. Almost picked that except I wear it so much already.
SOTD = Amouage Jubilation XXV
I somehow feel it is cheating a little since this Man version seems to be preferred by men and women alike. Also, I really don’t pay much attention to ads – did / does Amouage heavily market to either gender other than almost always launching perfumes in gender pairs?
For those unfamiliar, Jubilation XXV is a nice blend of sweet, woody, smokey, fruity, spicy. I would not consider this a floral at all even though there is rose and immortelle.
Amouage doesn’t heavily market anyway, and they didn’t do videos back then, and Christopher Chong wasn’t well known enough yet to get so much press coverage as he does now. Nor did models/people appear in any of the digital ads for this set. So hard to say. They did leave the gender designations out of the names, but I do think you can smell them both and tell right away which was meant to be for women. Anyway, you smell fantastic.
That’s a lovely one. I can’t manage Jub25 (I haz Issues with fruity chypres in general – I keep trying them and they keep making me queasy), but XXV is so quietly attractive.
Now, see, I adore fruity chypres, but can’t do floral chypres, which is incomprehensible to me, because florals and chypres are my favorite classifications.
Even stranger, I do not generally care for fruity notes at all, other than peach ( which does seem to be a popular fruit in the fruity chypres)
This is one of Amouages I haven’t tried: I wasn’t actively seeking it since I didn’t like the feminine counterpart of it. But now, knowing that recently I liked the version marked for men better than the one for women, I’ll probably try to get it.
You can add it to the list – I have a decant
The obvious choice today would have been Habit Rouge but since I got that one for me to wear, I decided it would be more of a challenge to wear something that belongs to my SO. So, today I’m wearing a small amount of Burberry London for Men. On him, I smell lots of lavender. On me, I get lots more of the brown elements: port, tobacco, and wood (and maybe cinnamon). In a vacuum, it wouldn’t be my favorite scent, but it smells great on him, and the association makes it a very comforting scent.
I’m lucky to have someone who could convince me this morning that Obsession for Men wasn’t the right choice for the office.
🙂
That someone was right! Obsession for Men isn’t an office fragrance for either gender.
Amouage Dia Man for me. Lovely warm vetiver.
I love Dia Man!
This was surprisingly hard to do…I have a bunch of fragrances labelled/marketed as “unisex” but none (as far as I know) for men.
In the end, I chose Union Celtic Fire, as all the reviews called it masculine, even though the company calls it unisex. The Black Narcissus had a great review titled Roasted Mel Gibson. I love this scent. It reads masculine to me too, but not so much that I can’t/won’t/don’t wear it. It’s fantastic on a cold day.
“ROasted Mel Gibson”! I love Neil’s reviews, they’re hilarious and poignant and delightful.
I have many more “unisex” frags than I do actual men’s frags – maybe about 5. I’ve recently thought I need to do more exploring across the aisle.
I am wearing Penhaligon’s English Fern. I really like how it smells, and if I put on a small amount, it does not feel too masculine.
C&S Frankincense and Myrrh although I can only smell so much because of the beginnings of a cold (which I’m trying to fight with First Defence and extra helpings of vitamin D).
Might go all the way and upgrade to Montale’s Aoud Cuir d’Arabie for the evening.
Hope you manage to fight it off, good luck!
Have a nice hot cuppa… don’t know if it will fend off the cold, but some decaf Earl Grey or peppermint tea always makes me *feel* better, in that situation.
I am wearing a couple of drops ofChanel No. 22 extrait, and it is wonderful.
No.22 is one of those scents that I only like in extrait. I tried the extrait a while ago in a delightful shop that has all the Chanel exclusifs. They very kindly gave me a No.22 EDT sample which I didn’t like nearly as much.
Have you tried No.5 extrait as well?
SOTD is Prada Ambre pour Homme Intense. I love this, and am seriously considering buying a bottle. I’m wearing heels and a flirty skirt today – I love wearing masculine perfume with a girly outfit.
I love this Friday’s theme! My first perfume obsession was in high school – I liked Eternity for Men. Could have been the ads, who knows 😉 Anyhow, I would spray myself with it whenever I went to a department store. Does anyone else feel like when you say that you like perfumes marketed for the other gender as well, that the sales associates take you more seriously??
Also – at the perfume counter at Saks this weekend, a sales associate told me that they are no longer calling perfume “unisex,” but “shared.”
Shared has been the preferred term in the industry for the last few years, in fact more than one brand has asked me to remove the term unisex from a review. Somewhere along the line it got a bad rap, I guess.
That is interesting! “Unisex” has all sorts of different connotations for young people today. My 13 year-old will talk about people with different genders, but unisex is sort of verboten. A friend who is a high up administrator at a fancy private school in New York says that the student body and families demanded a bathroom that would serve both boys and girls, BUT it could not be called “unisex.” They’ve had to strike that word from the school’s rhetoric.
We’re not supposed to imagine everyone is basically the same. One person from a brand told me unisex “isn’t sexy”, which I thought was pretty funny.
I guess it is what you might call a gender bender offender!
Ha!
Yeah, I think that there is just a lot more awareness now about forcing people into categories. I get really annoyed with pointlessly gendered things (like pink tool sets and manly lotion for men!). I like to think of perfume as a free for all, and just ignore what category the manufacturer decided it would sell best in. After all, what works on me as a daytime fragrance might be an evening only scent for someone else. AND the whole “everything must be sexxxxy or it won’t sell!” gets old.
Many things are put into narrow categories for marketing’s sake. I heard or read (don’t remember where) that the Outlander books were not written as romance novels, but were marketed that way because the publisher thought they would sell better.
One of the best things about being in my 30s is that I could care less about what something is “meant for”. If I like it, I wear it or use it regardless of who it was meant for.
Heh, guess I’m feeling a little rant-y today 😉
We use “gender neutral” for our unisex bathrooms…
Have you complied with that removal request?
Nope. I will sometimes adjust things in a fragrance announcement to reflect how a brand wants something presented (depends on what it is) but in a fragrance review, no, generally won’t adjust anything unless I’m factually incorrect — it’s my take on something, after all. And “unisex” suits me fine.
Also true though that it’s really really rare that brands get in touch about reviews. More often it’s about the announcement.
My grandfather used to have an expression whenever he observes something ridiculous. He spoke the expression in Spanish (weird because this expression was the only Spanish I had ever heard him utter) and it translates to Jesus, Mary, Joseph and all the saints!
This is like making the use of Christmas an offensive action.
So, in honor of my grandfather, I say to the unisex vs shared preference in describing perfume gender – Jesus, Mary, Joseph and all the saints!!! Amen!!!
+1
I also was obsessed with Eternity for Men in high school. I remember getting a bottle for Christmas one year and I wore it a lot. My other high school love was Poison ….. what a huge leap between these two!
My other obsession was Shalimar. I just thought it was awfully sophisticated.
I’m wearing Guerlain Derby today. It’s really nice though more masculine than I normally wear and more soapy than I remembered.
I’m wearing Le Galion Snob today.
It’s pretty floral and does feel feminine, but not impossible for a guy to wear.
I have a sample of the old Snob, and it is very nice! Cheers for you for wearing it. I eventually want to test all the re-releases from Le Galion.
SOTD-Musc Ravageur. Don’t know exactly who this is marketed towards, but I love it!
All the stars must be on correct alignment because the weather is just perfect for this scent today-cool, breezy, sunny!
It a great day to ride around with the car windows wide open, breeze whipping my hair, music cranked obnoxiously loud, and getting whiffs of MR.
Life is good! =)
I like Musc Ravageur more on a man but I wear it from time to time myself.
This project is a lot of fun, as it has made me wear scents that I hadn’t worn in a long time. Today is L’Homme de Cœur day. A wonderful iris that deserves a little more attention. It’s lovely and very easy to wear.
I agree, it’s lovely. It seems a bit dandy-like to me, that’s probably why it would work on women as well.
It’s very refined, like most of the Divines.
Great scent!
This one is so beautiful – I hope they never change it.
I’m wearing SMN Nostalgia which was the most masculine thing I could handle today. I think it’s technically for men? I wear it fairly often and can’t imagine my gourmand loving husband sporting it under any circumstances.
I think it is awesome your husband likes gourmands…
Me too, but he is genuinely weird in so many ways that I’m not surprised 😉
I adore Nostalgia, but definitely think of it as a masculine. In fact when I wear it I always have this I-am-so-competent feel, as if I am the kind of person who knows how a car engine works, and how to do important things to it! At the same time the dry down is smooth and balsamic and ultra-comforting 😀
I’m in Acqua di Parma Colonia Leather Eau de Cologne Concentrée, which I won in the recent giveaway. This scent is fantastic; it’s a smokey leather with the kind of noticeable but not in any way ostentatios sillage that I only seem to find in these out-of-my-price-point scents. My husband and I have been surreptitiously moving the bottle to our respective vanities in the evenings, both trying to lay claim (and here I thought winning the bottle makes it mine. Marriage…).
It’s so cute! 🙂
CDG 2Man for me today. Considered swiping my elder son’s Midnight in Paris, but couldn’t find it! I really like 2Man, which doesn’t smell particularly “manly” to me – it smells like blown-out candles and incense to me, maybe a sprinkling of spices, very dry and intellectual. It is not my default setting, which demands at least a bit of floral softness, but I am enjoying the wearing.
When this gender issue comes up, I have to admit that there are accords I simply cannot manage to wear myself because they shriek “Chest hair and Y-fronts!” to me. If it smells like shaving cream or a classic fougere/aromatic fougere, I feel disconnected from my basic self. I can wear the woody orientals and citrus chypres that are often aimed at men (I’d wear Old Spice if it weren’t my dad’s signature), but I just can’t do the fougere.
Probably couldn’t do the “sport” colognes either, but those don’t smell good to me no matter who’s wearing them. I like florals on men, and I keep trying to get my husband to try wearing my Alahine (no dice, yet) because Gres Cabaret is so terrific on him.
Mmm I like 2 man- you smell nice Mals 🙂
I’m the same. No fougere. No ‘sport’. No aquatic. Nothing that screams traditional ‘aftershave’. But there are surprisingly many many men’s scents that aren’t this and can happily smell great on us too 🙂
I also have that problem about some super amped up fougeres–it is not that they smell like men to me, but that they are like a cartoon of men. I have the same issue with the super sweet fruity scents that are marketed to young women–like cartoon women.
Cartoon men! Yes. I can wear, say, Eau Sauvage without feeling like a freak, but something like Azzaro Pour Homme just… I actually bought a bottle of it (at TJ Maxx, thinking my older son would enjoy), popped the cap to sniff, and promptly had to check myself for underarm hair and beard stubble.
(And then I got a stonking headache from the enormous lavender in it, so passed it on to someone else. I wasn’t about to let the Headache Machine live in my house when Elder Son already has several fragrances to wear.)
I’ve only tried the wee-est bit of CDG2Man, but with the aldehydes and woods it actually reminded me of Clinique Wrappings!
Wrappings! I bet it’s out by now and I waited too long the last two years. Thanks for the reminder! 🙂 I haven’t had a bottle in ages so I hope it’s still as good as I remember.
http://www.clinique.com/product/13561/32979/Holiday-2014/Clinique-Gift-Wrappings-Gift-Set
I so wish it was easily available in Europe!
STILL haven’t tried Wrappings! I don’t know… possibly someone has sent me a sample vial of it but at this point I could never FIND IT UNDER ALL THIS PILE OF JUN– er, I mean delightful samples I have yet to try.
😉
SOTD Encre Noir – not sure if it will give me full points, but I don’t care. It was a toss-up between that and A*Man Sunessence Orage d’Ete, but I was cold this morning so Encre Noir felt better.
I think there may be an FB of EN soon since my sample is almost gone…
Ooh – good choice! I was thinking about wearing Sycomore today. Maybe I should have worn either of these. I’m so loving vetiver this year.
me, too, AnnS
How similar are Sycomore and Encre Noir? I love Sycomore, but I can get Encre Noir at a much better price online.
As you will read elsewhere, they are very similar. EN is a bit more fluid a composition (not thin or watery, but differently structured). Sycomore is really monumental (and has a slightly better opening), very tighly composed as you know. Imagine your Sycomore was diluted by a crisp mountain stream. EN is a liquid fountain while Sycomore is the statue that stands therein. Does that help? 😉 I find that EN has a more plushy, warm woods drydown than Sycomore, which stays totally vegetal IMHO. I would be thrilled if a bottle of Sycomore came my way b/c I have a dwindling decant and it is just so gorgeous, but I am currently happy with my full bottle of Encre Noire (Thanks Deva!). EN basically gets me to the same smokey vetiver place that Sycomore does.
Thanks for the description! My most successful blind buys have been based on comments in this space. I’ll probably go for Encre Noir, sounds perfect for fall.
I find that EN lasts longer on me than Sycomore. And EN does have a lovely india ink opening -if you’ve ever used india ink you’ll know what I mean.
I forgot I have a sample of Encre Noir. Reading through these Community Scent posts often reminds me of something I have in my slightly unmanageable collection of samples.
Dear blog readers,
]I am wearing Byrado Baudelaire. Normally this is a little too macho and too strong for me, but some how it feels beautiful during October. Maybe it should have been named after one of Baudelaire’s favorite writers Poe, the unofficial poet of October/Halloween guy.
Cartier’s Baiser volé, the most feminine scent in my modest collection (I usually tend towards the halfway mark on the gender spectrum). The salesperson gave it to my husband as a free sample when he bought my birthday present earlier this year. I like it, but not enough to buy it.
I love these community projects! They make you think about your fragrances in new ways.
You smell great.
I’m in Chypre Palatin today, one of the few masculines that I own and love. This would be so perfect on a guy and I’m planning to try it out on my new fella soon enough. Until then, I’ll just keep the bottle safe.
We are scent twins, CM! Chypre Palatin is the only marketed to men fragrance that I love and wear. At least the only one I could think of this morning. 🙂
When my largish decant is gone, CP will definitely go on my buy list.
Wow. I love this scent. I had no idea it was considered masculine.
I am a woman and my SOTD is Caron’s Yatagan.
It smells of bitter herbs scorched by the sun with something animalic mixed in. An outdoorsy type of scent, and for me it is a unisex fragrance.
Yatagan is great! It was one of my finalists for today 🙂
Yatagan scared me a bit when I first tried it, but I need to pull it out and face my fears! 😉
Yatagan is OUTSTANDING. So brutish. Sometime you just have to wear something that is not kidding.
Yatagan is one of my Top 20s; I wear it so often, I forget it’s supposed to be for the gents!
I get none of the skank and brutishness; on me, it’s all pine needles warmed in the sun. I love it around the Holidays….
I haven’t chosen a scent for today yet (I am still recovering from yesterday’s perfume disaster – though it did make for good material for my very first perfume review/documentation!), but I am wearing my hubby’s Old Spice Arctic Force deodorant since mine ran out… Does that count?? 🙂
Those deodorants are so strongly scented that they last all day on me, so yeah, they definitely count.
Yes! My husband’s undershirts smell like Arctic whatever even after several washes. That stuff is strong.
SOTD Bvlgari Omnia – original brown bottle. For some reason when I was spraying this morning I was thinking it was for men. Now that it’s light out and I’ve had some breakfast I realize of course that it’s not. Still…loving the spice! Perhaps it can be considered unisex for partial points?…
On another note…I came across a review of Si Lolita Lempicka and am intrigued. I don’t often hear about Si Lolita and am wondering if anyone has any opinions. Although I appreciate the original Lolita Lempicka (and oh…that bottle!), it’s too gourmand/sweet for me. Si is described as being less sweet and more spicy. I have about a 50/50 success rate on blind buys and am trying to decide if I should push the button. Any enablers out there?
It’s been a long time since I’ve smelled it, but what I remember is that Si Lolita came off as very pink-peppery to me, plus some sweetish florals that I thought were pretty “young”-smelling. The mood matches the bottle pretty closely, and while the bottle itself is adorable, I ended up returning it. It all depends on what you like, but I’d suggest smelling it first.
Thanks for your thoughts. I should repeat “I will not blind buy, I will not blind buy…” 🙂
I blind-bought a 5ml mini off ebay for something like $12 (shipped) and wound up using all of it, but it didn’t make its way onto the full bottle list. It is quite peppery – both black and pink pepper – and there’s a bunch of lighter florals such as sweet pea and, I think, freesia in it along with a very very lightweight amber/blond woods/musk base. Pretty, fairly inoffensive, not very distinctive. Considerably less sweet than the original Lolita (which I liked when I sampled it once), but not actually UNsweet in the way that vetiver or chypre scents are. It was a nice floral for autumn, though.
Thanks Mals, faltering again. I could use a fall floral.
I’m actually wearing some tonight! The edp is better than the edt, it has more of a spiciness, but the whole thing is a very sheer fragrance. It’s not too sweet at all, and as it’s by Christine Nagel, I do actually find it has many similarities and the same kind of airy feel as Theorema.
Yay perthgirl! I wish I could take a sniff of you!
Yes! Airy is a good word for it, and it definitely feels like a Nagel.
Si Lolita smells like peanuts to me and to someone on Fragrantica. The peanut note did not work for me, but the person on Fragrantica liked it.
Hmmm…I would rather not smell like a peanut!
Depends if you love peppery scents. This ones a peppery somewhat creamy floral . I love it and will probably multi bottle back up the one I have . Reading on further .. What Mals said. Um…to get a dept store example that everyone can probably access , the pepper is like the Estée Lauder Pleasures original not flanker minus the green notes. Plus floral.
Thanks bookwyrm! Do you prefer the edp or etd?
Annick Goutal Eau du Fier. At least I’m 99% sure that’s what it is, as it’s an unlabeled decant in the “A” section, and it definitely smells like the “leathery tea” and “interior of a new car” described in The Guide. (It also smells like descriptions of SNM Nostalgia, with a petrol note, but I know I only have a sample vial of that one.)
Eau du Fier would smell absolutely fantastic on a guy, but I feel entirely comfortable in it. Of course, both men and women have ALWAYS looked great in leather. 😉
Eau du Fier is awesome! I have a full bottle that I use sparingly. It’s such a great combination of that smoky opening and the apricot in the drydown.
That was a most astute purchase, austenfan!
I’d like to think I’d own a bottle, too, if it had not taken me until this year to find a sample. Perfume Shrine explained in 2012 why it’s so hard to find:
“Embarking on Eau du Fier (2000), probably the most profoundly esoteric fragrance in the Annick Goutal perfume line, is like plunging yourself body & soul in the most smoky osmanthus-laced tea pot. It never really caught on, reverted quickly to the exclusive Parisian boutique salespoint and has been entirely discontinued now registering as very rare. A victim of its tough swagger and unconventionality. My own precious bottle was among the relatively older batches featured on the Parisian shelves from around 2005, but these shelves have dried up by now. The reason? Perfumer Isabelle Doyen had used a high level of natural birch tar, now banned by perfume industry self-regulatory body IFRA apart from its purified forms, and then in very small concentration.”
Do NOT RIP, Eau du Fier – haunt the dreams of IFRA and EU bureaucrats until they repent their Scrooge-like ways!
I got my bottle in 2009 in Paris, having read on Basenotes that it was still sold there. It’s one of my satisfying purchases.
When I visited Paris again in 2012 I visited another Goutal shop to inquire after Eau du Fier. They told me that it was no longer to be had both for commercial reasons; it didn’t sell and because of the birch tar, which was no longer allowed in that concentration. All of the SA’s present really seemed to regret it was no longer there, as did I. I would have got a back-up bottle.
That sounds wonderful – is it really out of print?
I was struggling with whether I should wear AG Eau de Monsieur, which is so wonderful. Or Eau de Sud….. I’ve never smelled Fier.
Those are wonderful too, but Fier is the oddest of the bunch.
May I ask you how did you end up having a unlabeled decant? Did you hope you would remember? Did it just fell off? Something else?
The seller did not label it, and it came in such an unusual metal-framed spray bottle that I thought I would remember it. Famous perfumista last words, LOL!
Also, the design of the spray makes it a bit challenging to tape on a label, which was probably why it came unlabeled to begin with, and why I haven’t done it myself yet.
Drakkar Noir. Go ahead and laugh, but I wear it a lot and I love it! 😛
No – I love Drakkar Noir! I was actually thinking of driving over to the drug store this morning and buying a small bottle of it. But I didn’t. I’m not laughing – you smell awesome! My younger sister used to wear it when we were in High School (all the “cool” guys wore it, right?).
One of my college housemates had a boyfriend that wore it, and I have to admit… when Andrew walked in to pick Christine up for a date, he always smelled good enough to follow out the door even though I wasn’t much interested in him otherwise.
I bought a small bottle of it for my sister to give to her husband (she asked me to find some), but we girls both felt that it doesn’t smell as delicious as it used to, ca. 1989. Sigh.
My bottles are originals from the 80s. Bought the first one for my boyfriend ( now husband) because it drove me absolutely insane, which was highly unusual for me, as I generally don’t care for my men to be scented. God bless him, he doesn’t care to wear cologne but he wore it anyway!
I finally took pity on him and just started wearing it myself.
It has definitely been butchered and I’m so grateful I have original backups!
I also slap on some Grey Flannel now and then, but that one has also been neutered. I thought someone downthread was looking for a woody violet and Grey Flannel would be perfect, if they could find the original stuff.
I’ve loved Drakkar Noir since it first came out. I don’t care what anyone says. It stops me in my tracks when I smell it on someone!
Drakkar Noir was the bomb back in high school – that stuff smelled good.
I’m a woman and I’m in Le Labo Vetiver 46. I think technically all the Le Labo scents are meant to be unisex, am I right? But from their own description of Vetiver 46: “without a doubt, is the most masculine of all Le Labo creations! Among the 46 essences that make it up, all have the distinctive “male” scent,” so I’m going to go ahead and claim full credit for wearing something meant for the opposite sex. 🙂
I can’t remember how they present them, but the original set was pretty clearly demarcated between girly & not girly, I do remember that!
Lanvin Vetiver, my only masculine. I thought about Borneo 1894, which I like better, but it’s marketed as unisex.
I have a lot of unisex scents and an Amouage men’s sampler set, but today I am wearing Joop! Nightflight, a masculine I bought in a duty-free shop in the early 90s. Pineapple, lavender, citrus, a few flowers, on a woody-resiny base. Radiates like nuclear waste so the bottle will probably last me forever and then some.
Back home after a month away, looked into my untried sample bag for the most masculine name I could find: Pour un Homme by Caron.
It’s a little rollerball of the alcohol-free “body perfume,” as it turns out, and is almost like an oil. Slightly medicinal, lavender-spicy, which is perfect for the damp weather and my allergies that have returned with it.
Anyone have an intact sense of smell and experience with this one?
It’s a beautiful lavender-vanilla, just read this review for a more nuanced take on this gorgeous fragrance.
http://boisdejasmin.com/2006/09/caron-pour-un-homme-fragrance-review.html
It is really nice, and one I want all men in my city to try it, just once. That, or L’Instant Pour Homme. As far as I can tell they are not wearing anything at all. If they do, I promise not to complain about the ubiquity of board shorts. That seems fair to me…
board shorts! Unacceptable!
You smell gorgeous. It’s on my buy list, up near the top.
SOTD: Allure Homme Sport Chanel for men
I stole a spritz of my sweetheart’s delicious Spicebomb.
I think I’m wearing vintage Brut but I could be mistaken. I bought a vintage lot a few years ago off eBay and this is a metal canister that is from Fabergé that says it is spray lotion concentree. Nothing fitting the description on eBay now but I remember seeing it as Brut when I looked it up after getting it. If it could be something else let me know
The label is of course missing and it’s a musky almondy sort of scent on me
Damn I’m feeling the need to pounce on someone. This has gotten slightly fresher but still has those vintage musks that scream “Sex. NOW!”.
*backs out of the comment thread*
Lol
I think you’re safe now that it’s worn down a bit…..
Back in the late 80’s, when Yves Rocher launched here in Sweden, I wore one of the aftershaves frequently but always felt a bit guilty about. It is interesting how well I was taught that there was a borderline between male and female scents that you couldn’t cross…
I can also still recall my amazement when I first tried Chanel Egoiste after finding and reading Kevin’s review here on NST. So yummy! So wearable!
These days I happily wear whatever I like and have favourite scents from almost every genre. Today I have been out working at a trade fair so went with a very safe choice: Dior Homme.
PS. Love the difference between the gentlemen of Wednesday’s picture and the boys of today’s :).
Yes!!!
I think it was also Kevin who turned me on to Egoïste! It was one of the first perfumes that came to mind when I was thinking of masculines that I love. I like it best in winter, though.
Yes, definitely a winter scent for me as well :).
Egoiste always sounds good to me, but have never sniffed it. Time to visit Chanel…
I love the original Gucci Pour Homme! However, it is from 2003, not 2007. I was a fan of most Gucci fragrances both men’s and women’s back then, when Tom Ford was creative director. He really came up with some good stuff. And since we’re talking Tom Ford- “supervised” fragrances, I think I’m going to go with YSL M7 !
You are so right — Kevin reviewed it in 2007 and I was not looking carefully — thank you! 2003 makes sense anyway, if it was 2007 it would still be easily found at the discounters.
It was a toss up this morning for me – not too much to toss up. I was really trying to avoid the the unisex frags I have, and go right to the few masculines I own. It was a hard choice. I went with Les Parfums de Rosine Rose d’Homme, b/c I haven’t put it on in ages. The rose is so rich and plummy and massive. The patchouli just scratchy enough. It’s very well blended. Only once in awhile do I get a brief whiff of “masculine” standard smells. Otherwise, I get something that reads as a very dense cinnamon or sandalwood, but I don’t see either listed in the notes, so I have no idea what that is unless the combo of lavender and vetiver are playing tricks on my nose. I only have a little bit left in my decant, and I am being sucked into the urge to want a FB….
Oooh, I may have to try that one at some point!
The only FB masculine I own is Eau d’Orange Vert (though now that I think about it, maybe they market that as unisex now?). I wore it almost non-stop this summer, but it didn’t feel right today. What I really wanted was a woody-violet scent – unusual for me, as I don’t tend to like violet. I could have gone with my sample of CDG/PW Girl (which reminds me of the DSquared He-wood that I tried ages ago), but wanted to rise to the masculine challenge. So, it’s Dior Homme today, and the sweetness makes me feel a bit sticky. I’ll switch it up this afternoon….
Mona di Orio’s Violette Fumée is a very lovely woody violet with a wisp of smoke.
If you can tolerate the initial blast of oakmoss (which I love), Grey Flannel gets a nice woody violet vibe going on after awhile.
Strongly recommend you find some of the original, and use it down around your ankles at first, because it is a BEAST.
Also, you might like The Different Company Bois D Iris. Lovely woody iris, but it smells a tad violety to me as well. And since you don’t like violet much anyway, this might be a great substitute.
Another violet with a unisex edge is Balenciaga l’essence which completely reminds me of A softer Grey Flannel.
Wow, I may have to try this one myself!
I really like Paris L’Essence, though I don’t own it. I heard that it turns up at discounters now, so I’ve been keeping my eye out at Winners (the Canadian TK Maxx), but no luck yet. The rest of these suggestions sound very enticing, especially the Bois d’Iris. I might need to break my self-imposed ban from internet perfume shopping….
I am wearing Terre d’Hermes Eau Tres Fraîche, from a FB, orange, grapefruit, orangeblossom, lovely cardamon note, geranium and cedar (I think). I can wear this always, office or outing, rain or shine, singing with health or being under the weather.
Need to seek that one out. The original Terre is one of the select few that turn to masculine on me. It is lovely on someone else though.
Yes I think that would be worthwhile, I can’t imagine TdH Eau Tres Fraiche turning too masculine on anyone, I think it could have been easily a unisex fragrance. It is a big and hefty bottle though, that might be too masculine, I sometimes have trouble handling it, obviously made for bigger hands than mine!
I wore Histoires de Parfums 1899 Hemingway, from one of those cute little 14ml bottles. It smells like the love child of Eau de Beaux and D&G Masculine, leaning more toward D&G. I really like both but the latter (and hence I) smelled like boyfriend c2002.
Then tonight I bought a cheap $25 bottle of Si Lolita edp and couldn’t help but spritz some on 🙂
1899 Hemingway smells a lot like Spicebomb to me. I need to try the D& G that you mentioned.
Of course! Spicebomb. You’re right too.
The D&G I’m thinking of is the pour homme- round bottle blue cap (I wore the red cap feminine and we were a matching D&G set :-/ )
I just checked and I think it’s been reformulated. Same bottle, the older one has a white label now it’s just printed on the bottle.
I have to work, so can’t wear anything until later tonight. But I am going to wear Shalimar . . . the first perfume I bought my wife earlier this year for our 4th anniversary (fruits and flowers 🙂 ). It began our new hobby.
Congratulations to you and your lucky wife, chefgraham!
and what a fine new hobby it is! 😉
How fun that you can enjoy exploring perfume together!
She is a lucky one, for sure…
BTW, Robin – perfect photo for this gender-bending poll!
It’s like they made that just for me 🙂
Yeah, perfect!
I was looking forward to wearing Racine today after yesterday’s blog discussion–but I totally forgot about it this morning. Am wearing Naomi Goodsir’s Bois d’Ascese–my other NYC trip FB purchase–a “shared” scent 🙂 It put me in the mood for Papier d’Arménie…another thing for which I am grateful to NST for teaching me about!
What do you think of Racine? I’ve had this on my “must sniff” list for ages.
With so much talk of all these vetiverts today, I am thinking either Fat Electrician or Guerlain Vetiver. Both sound like they’d hit the spot today, too!
I’m wearing Eau des Baux by L’Occitane, which I think is the only fragrance I own that is specifically marketed to men (although I have several that are unisex). It’s so nice and warm in cool weather.
You smell delicious! If I could get my husband to wear scent, I’d make him wear Eau de Baux.
That’s a nice one.
I have a scent strip in my car that I spritzed with Eau des Baux and every time I’m in there, I think we could really use a bottle in my house. That’s definitely a lovely one!
Vintage Opium (parfum) by Yves St. Laurent
A classic. ‘Nuff said.
Come sit by me, please!
Since half my collection is women’s scents, I decided to up the ante by wearing something with ‘woman’ or ‘elle’ in the name, and settled on Ormonde Woman, which is fantastically good (and honestly unisex), a dark, moody jasmine-and-wood concoction that’s just exactly sweet enough.
I was considering Ormonde Man for today but then decided to go with a perfume that belongs to me (well, almost all perfumes that my SO wears are shared but OM is one of a few that are just his, I never wear it myself).
I kind of ran out of the house today wearing no 19 in EDP form. It was fun taking the dogs to the vet and was craving something with a big iris note in it.
This morning I tried Frank #2; a sample that Luckysent decided to send instead of the ones I had asked for. It really screamed Masculine but I do like it. My husband pointed out that the dry down smells like Chanel Allure for men and I had to agree.
Had a very early start this morning and so sans fragrance until I stopped in at TJ Maxx and got $12 bottle of Truth or Dare. Unfortunately this one is very feminine, although I’m sure there’s a male perfumista that would dare (ha, ha) to wear this one anyway.
Quite nice for a day of running errands.
Apparently I have six random samples marketed specifically toward men but I opted for Red Vetyver by Montale. Fragrantica says it is very similar to Terre d’Hermes, which I have never smelled, but now I think I’m going to order a sample because I am loving RV and Hermes is way cheaper 😉 It’s very big on vetiver with a little grapefruit and some woody notes. I own a FB of Timbuktu and definitely find vetiver to be a ‘shared’ note (though I would love to smell any of these on a man).
I’ve been doing a bit of sniffing this week and have concluded that, for me, the notes that push me off shared into men’s tend to be herbs or probably pine. Eau Sauvage, for example, which I love to sniff but just can’t pull off. Or, anyway, pull off for now, who knows about the future 🙂
Funny to note but I would call a number of my unisex fragrances more masculine than the ones that actually are listed as such!
Ah, I could have worn Pino Silvestre today! I have a mini bought in the ’80s because I lived the pinecone shape of the bottle…
Wearing VCA Midnight in Paris, for a day of watery sunshine. What a beautiful bottle, and should be quite nice on a man, but the dumbest naming decision for a perfume in a very long time.
I almost nabbed that one from my teenage son (he has a mini bottle) today but couldn’t find it.
Name doesn’t sound very masculine, no – but I think the scent doesn’t lean one way or the other, IMO.
Telaal by Nabeel (unisex) which I adore. Notes are rose, violet, precious woods, agarwood (oud), resins, white musk, saffron, lemon, amber, teak wood and vetiver.
SOTD is YR’s Nature Millenaire Pour Homme, the masculine version of my favorite daytime fall scent. Notes are similar but slightly different, both are very earthy/woodsy/cedarry in an autumnal way, the Pour Homme definitely smokier and deeper and less resinous than the women’s, which is also a tad sweeter (but not really sweet). Wearing them one on each hand today, I can really smell the rooty iris in the women’s which is absent in the men’s; it’s interesting what a side-by-side comparison can do to enrich one’s understanding of scent components!
We are in the midst of the most spectacular autumnal display in years in the Midwest (according to our local weatherman) so we are going camping this weekend for the last time this season. As tent campers (with a few amenities) we’ve never gone so late in the year, so fingers crossed the Weather Gods forecast that the weekend will be warm and sunny and the nicest weather we’ve had in all of October is acccurate for a change. I’ll be taking my trusty Nature Millenaire mini with me, and also my samples of SSS Champagne de Bois and SSS Winter Woods, just because . . .
Wishing everyone a lovely weekend ahead!
I’m wearing Krigler Lieber Gustav today. I’m in love with this perfume and contemplating a FB purchase soon. And I’ve already got a compliment on it today – from a random person I do not know who either works in or visits another company on the same floor in our office building.
I’m wearing the only masculine scent I own – a small decant of Patricia de Nicolai’s Carre d’As. I’ve always loved fougeres on men, but they are usually rather forceful. This one is not. It’s dry and quite sophisticated and, to me, smells like late summer in the country, riding horses through a field of lavender and herbs.
Replying to you because you’re the first PdN I’ve encountered today. Glad you like Carre d’As. There is a decant in my house. My 12 yr old boy tried it the other day.
I went with PdN Odalisque today. Have tried it before and quite like it, especially now that it has had a few hours to settle down. (My son performed an unasked-for sillage check: “Agh! You’re wearing perfume again!” ) It has some force, but, to me, the floral aspects are not high-pitched, so I’m comfortable in it. Can’t say I feel one bit odalisque-like, however.
Caron Pour Homme, a great lavendar, and it’s so inexpensive!
I didn’t think I was going to take part today, as I don’t think I have any masculines and very few shared scents. But it’s another warm day and I remembered I have some 4711, so I splashed some on. Not sure if colognes like that were originally marketed for men or both, but think I at least get partial credit!
I’m sure, if you were to run whatever you have in your collection by Fragrantica, I’d see that at least half of your perfumes are marked there as “for men and women.” ; -)
It is now evening and I have no idea what happened to my morning comment as it seems to have disappeared but am now wearing A-Men Pure Wood – lovely incensey with spices and a touch of dark chocolate … yum!
I almost put on some A*Men Pure Havane this morning, but didn’t want something quite that intense with the cold I’m fighting. Pure Wood sounds intriguing, too. I’ll have to track down a sample!
The head notes are heavy on the toffee, and the ugly plastic flacon looks like it comes with a Happy Meal. Half an hour later though, the fragrance settles nicely. I tried the entire A*Men collection before selecting Pure Wood. Hope you get well soon so you can so it justice!
Thank you. And agreed, those bottles are some of my least favorite both in function and appearance. But it does sound great! I’ve tried most of the A*Men line and was most disappointed with Pure Coffee, which was more like Pure Lavender on my skin.
I own a couple of masculines, today I went with Terre d’Hermes. I felt too tired for the more uplifting Gaultier Fleur du Male.
I went for the extrait version of Obsession by Calvin Klein. I like the ‘for men’ fine, but this is far superior.
Today I’m wearing Marc Jacob’s Bang. I got a mini, shower gel and an after shave for a really good price–not much more than a sample I was going to buy. It’s really nice, especially the drydown, and oddly enough works quite well all year round. Too bad it was discontinued as I bet it’s quite sexy on a guy.
Bang’s great. I didn’t realize it was discontinued but true, I haven’t seen it around for a while.
I wear this a bit in summer, the sheerness of the pepper and woods are quite refreshing.
Perthgirl, agreed. It is a really lovely fragrance and not like many other scents for men that are so popular. Perhaps that’s why it isn’t around any longer. I like to layer it with the Black Pepper products from Molton Brown, too. It works really well. Bang is probably all over the discount sites. I should go see how much a 50ml bottle costs. It reminds me a bit of Dzing, another peppery, spicy favorite.
I have just a couple of “man” perfumes but I was so discombobulated this morning I had to go with something to settle my jangly nerves. My SOTD is Bois des Iles….partial points since it is clearly gender neutral?
Was looking for a perfume this morning and couldn’t pass up Etat Libre’s Je Suis un Homme… the name alone made it perfect for today’s theme! It’s a lovely rich citrus-wood fragrance that has good tenacity and radiates nicely.
I own and wear a number of perfumes that are marketed as masculines; my quirky skin chemistry sweetens them up enough to avoid any suggestion of chest hair and chin stubble. There are a few fougeres that I can’t pull off, but then again there are quite a few white florals and fruity florals that I can’t pull off because they’re too sweet and girly.
Wearing Oscar de la Renta Volupte – a powdery lush floral bouquet.
Very ‘feminine’ (whatever that means in olfactory terms) and quite beautiful. The bottle is futuristic and fun.
I wear ‘perfume drag’ all the time and have NEVER had someone ask me if I am wearing a woman’s perfume. I have been told I am a bit intimidating, but really I’m just a big ole Teddy Bear. LOL ;D
I think unless someone saw you with the bottle, or was familiar with the scent, most people would never even guess that what you were wearing was ‘feminine’.
Especially when guys wear things like Joop (it’s pink guys. PINK. and very sweet). I think if it weren’t for marketing most fragrances would be perceived totally different.
This community theme has challenged me to be more daring and face the fact that I may have many unisexes but none marketed to men! Like mals, perthgirl, Oakland Fresca and others have noted, I have this negative fougere, sporty association with Mens’ that I have not been able to shake! I should step out and try some Eau Savage or Dior Homme, two that I remember being likeable. I was completely off topic today and layered my last drop of Musc Ravageur with Parfum de Therese! No points for me. Love community days – prompts us to be more thoughtful and try some of the forgotten ones. Thanks, Robin!
I’m so glad!
I don’t have any masculine fragrances and the SO doesn’t wear scent so I decided on Le Labo Benjoin 19; a lot of people say it leans masculine.
I originally planned to wear Dior Homme, but forgot… so I get partial credit for Miel de Bois, a sample I haven’t worn in years and so forgot how it smelled. No urine smell thank goodness, and I rather liked it!
I’m wearing Opium pour Homme Edp ,double syncing with BN (orientals). Does this count for double points?
Of course!
TF Tobacco Vanille layered with Tobacco Oud. Got 3 compliments at work!
Well, in my time zone, it’s still Friday, so can I squeak in and play? 🙂
I wore my new sample of Frank Los Angeles No. 1 today, too, and got a compliment on it this morning! I remember trying the original one years ago and quite liking it, but it went into the purgatory pile, never to be heard from again. I quite liked it today, too; it feels basically like a pretty standard cologne-type thing to me, but of very good quality, and a dry-down that’s warm and delicious. I liked it so much I may wear it again tomorrow.