Versace Pour Homme, Calvin Klein Intense Euphoria Men & Rocawear 9 IX ~ fragrance reviews

Posted by Kevin on 30 October 2008 Leave a Comment

Versace Pour Homme

Versace Pour Homme cologne for men

Donatella Versace asked perfumer Alberto Morillas to make Versace’s new men’s fragrance simple and “precise” and she seemed pleased with the result and said: “When I smell the scent, it reminds me of my father because my father wore neroli.,” (Women’s Wear Daily, 1/18/08). That’s all well and good, but Ms. Versace took her fragrance brief a step further and asked that the scent “suit a self assured and, above all, attractive man.” (Cosmetics International, 3/21/08) I’m definitely cute enough to wear this, but other guys out there may want to consider having their hair cut, shaving, getting a facial and back wax, etc., before venturing to buy Versace Pour Homme…

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Trio: Gucci by Gucci Pour Homme, Hilfiger by Tommy Hilfiger & Emporio Armani Diamonds for Men

Posted by Kevin on 23 October 2008 38 Comments

Emporio Armani Diamonds for Men

New fragrances are released each day…and I’ll never be able to keep up with the perfumed deluge. I have an uncomplicated method of deciding what I’ll review: I review fragrances I love; I review fragrances I despise (these scents are much more fun to write about than “average” and “ho-hum” scents); I review “hot” fragrances that are expected to attract lots of attention and sell well; and finally, I sometimes review what Robin here at Now Smell This tells me to review — “sometimes” because Robin is in no way, shape or form a Simon(e) Legree-type person! The fragrances I’m reviewing today merge in the Robin-“hot” nexus. I’m not going to torture myself (and use three weeks of my NST space) to review these scents separately; today, and in the future, I’ll kill three birds with one stone in a “trio” review.

Gucci by Gucci Pour Homme

Gucci by Gucci Pour Homme is described by Gucci as “a modern chypre” and it contains bergamot, cypress, violet, tobacco, jasmine, patchouli, amber and elemi. Gucci by Gucci Pour Homme starts with that tired-and-true combo of bergamot and cypress, then there’s a sharp shot of violet (leaf?) and some resinous-citrus-y elemi. Gucci by Gucci Pour Homme ends with crystalline musk and amber and if you strain your nostrils you’ll detect some tobacco. This “modern” chypre is pretty dull to my nose…

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Guerlain Homme ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 17 October 2008 42 Comments

Guerlain Homme cologne for men

I always enjoy watching Sylvaine Delacourte, Guerlain’s head of fragrance development, in action; I have no idea if she would be fun to work with or for, but she always appears vivacious and flirtatious in Guerlain film clips. Watching Delacourte and Thierry Wasser, Guerlain’s exclusive house perfumer, discuss Guerlain Homme on the Guerlain Homme website is amusing. Delacourte, sitting next to Wasser and staring straight at the camera, claims the idea for Guerlain Homme came to her six years ago as she drank a thirst-quenching mojito in Cuba at the Hemingway Bar. Wasser, upon hearing this pronouncement, lowers his head, laughs and gives Delacourte a look that reads: “Oh, NO she didn’t!” Wasser then says HE’S been working on a mojito accord (rum, mint and lime) “on my own”. (It’s really too bad there’s not a Liz Smith of the perfume world; let’s just say Delacourte and Wasser collaborated on Guerlain Homme.)

Guerlain is marketing Guerlain Homme as a new type of fragrance — a new type of ‘freshness’ in perfumery; Wasser calls it “inimitable”. The Guerlain Homme film ad is set in a jungle, where a well-groomed, half-naked, modern-day ‘Tarzan’ drinks at a watering hole alongside wild animals. I like the goofy ad but there is nothing really new, wild or animalic about Guerlain Homme. As I wear Guerlain Homme, I don’t think “Tarzan” or “jungle” — I imagine a Lacoste-clad guy on a Caribbean veranda sipping a mojito alongside Delacourte. But just because Guerlain Homme is not wild, or wildly original, does not mean it’s bad; in fact, this is the first new mainstream Guerlain fragrance I’ve liked in a long time…

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Serge Lutens Serge Noire ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 9 October 2008 96 Comments

It’s almost Halloween! Now’s the time to start preparing my infamous Kevin’s All Hallows Eve SlopPot-pourri(TM)! Here’s the recipe:

Take a large wooden slop bucket from a barnyard, rinse it in a cow (or pig) watering hole and then rub the inside of the bucket with a goodly amount of cat urine (for the best results, use the urine of an un-neutered tomcat); allow the bucket to dry in the sunshine.

Inside the dry bucket, layer each ingredient listed below between one-inch layers of kosher salt to which a handful of cedar shavings and a vanilla pod have been added:

50 pieces of charred cassia bark (the bark should be blackened and retain only the most rancid traces of oil and odor);

Ten 1/8-inch slices of Swiss cheese…

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Zirh Ikon ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 29 September 2008 10 Comments

Zirh Ikon cologne for men

Men’s skincare company Zirh has just released Ikon, a fragrance developed by perfumer Frank Voelkl. After reading Ikon’s ingredients list (davana flower, lemon, ginger, cardamom, black cinnamon, clove, iris, frankincense, labdanum, cedar, amber, vetiver and patchouli), I felt I didn’t need my crystal ball to know which notes would dominate the composition: there would be some ‘lemon’ (generic citrus), cardamom, and lots of cedar and amber. I’ve given up on mainstream fragrances presenting a bold patchouli note, a vibrant, expensive-smelling frankincense aroma, or a gutsy dose of labdanum; davana blossom essence is pricey, so I didn’t expect to detect it (and didn’t) in a $50 Eau de Toilette.

But still, I’m happy to report Ikon is much better than I imagined it would be. Ikon starts with a light, fresh lemon-ginger note. There is a speedy transition from citrus freshness to notes of cardamom, cedar and decent-quality frankincense…

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