Ah, sport fragrances — (almost) universally hated by PerfumeFanatics© and apparently adored by, and selling like hotcakes to, the rest of society. For perfumers, being asked to formulate a sport fragrance for the mainstream market must be like Martha Argerich being asked to play the C major scale (right hand only) — easy work! And with sport perfumes, the ease smells; these fragrances are, for the most part, interchangeable and have no interesting facets (only the bottles and designer names are unique). This spring, Burberry and Gucci are but two companies involved in major sport fragrance launches.

Burberry Sport for Men

Christopher Bailey, Burberry’s chief creative officer, said: “I wanted it (Burberry Sport for Men) to feel like there was movement in the scent. I kept saying I wanted it zingy; I wanted to feel alive; I wanted to feel like it’s jumping.” ¹ Burberry Sport for Men was developed by perfumers Sonia Constant, Nathalie Gracia-Cetto and Antoine Maisondieu and contains notes of “frosted ginger,” grapefruit, wheatgrass, marine notes, juniper berry, red ginger, white musks, cedar, woods and “dry amber.”

Burberry Sport for Men starts off soapy, sweet and gingery, with a clean grapefruit note. The gingers in Burberry Sport are more spicy-candied (think preserved ginger or strong ginger ale) than fresh and rooty. There is also a light and indistinct floral character in the soapy opening. As the scent goes into its mid-phase of development it becomes a bit “astringent” (bracing and “cool” but not strident); the dry-down returns to the sweetness of the opening notes with hints of pale wood, light musk and soft ambergris. Though Burberry Sport follows the sport scent trajectory, it’s mellower than most sport fragrances on the market…

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