After my Yves Saint Laurent L’Homme review posted last week, many men wrote me at my Now Smell This email address “confessing” their love for L’Homme; these men were unwilling to “admit” their admiration for L’Homme in my review’s comments section because I called the fragrance “standard-issue men’s perfume.” I think women are more willing to proclaim: “Call this perfume crap if you like…but I LOVE it!” All you sensitive perfumistos out there: I have a confession to make — I, too, like my fair share of “standard-issue” men’s fragrances.

Perfume addicts are inclined to enjoy categories of scents: ambers, vanilla fragrances, rose perfumes, mossy aldehydes…. Me? I like citrus perfumes, leather scents, smoky/incense fragrances, and vetiver and tea colognes of all types. If I come across a fragrance full of lemon, orange, petitgrain, a hint of vetiver and wood — chances are good I’ll enjoy it, even if there are 100 other fragrances that smell pretty much the same. Today’s scent, Diesel Only the Brave, is not innovative or “strange”, not by a long shot (it reminds me of Zirh Ikon for one), but I’m partial to its components, and I like it.

Only the Brave contains lemon, leather, cedar and amber. The fragrance opens with an ozone-lemon accord which is followed by a talc-y (super-light) leather note…

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