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What Fragrance Did You Use Today?

Les Bains Gerbois - Le Phenix

A retailer in Sweden had the whole LBG line on discount, and since they have a couple I really love, I took a few chances. This is a Micheal Almairac composition, with a lot of depth, I actually like it more than most of his own new fragrances from Parle Moi de Parfum. Woody, sheer, yet dark and of course a healthy dose of patchouli, in that masculine style reminiscent of Frederic Malle's Monsieur.

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1000001410.jpgToday's Spray was Original Bijan for Men by Bijan. It's quite a complex scent for its time in the 80s. I got it after seeing a review or two, being a big fan of Honey in my fragrances, and the funny donut wearing a Tsar hat bottle. It came in a bundle with other fragrances from a reseller I've become quite friendly with.

I've been using it often this time of year. In fact, it was full only a month ago when I bought it and I've killed about 60% of the bottle and plan to finish it up soon. Perfect for cold weather, and I love to over spray it a bit out of love and a lack of real care, heh.

How does it smell? Well it's a scent that breaks down into stages, as i said it's quite complex and very masculine. It's a sharp woody spice opening, somewhat "pissy" as some might say (not sure if that word is allowed but it is a common phrase in fragrance communities) yet as it rapidly dries down it goes into a woody floral honey scent. I would say imagine a sort of interpretation of santal, drenched in honey, and wrapped in patchouli that boils into a soapy musk.

It's not too strong on the recent formulations, but I hear vintage is a real room bomber but the musk is very present, very much funky with the honey mixed in. If you like nicher fragrances, give it a try. It's near dirt cheap online, but avoid the b shaped bottles, stick to the donut.
 
Tathra11 said:
TOM FORD - Beau de Jour

I recently bought a couple fragrances from a local bloke and he included a few freebie samples. He told me, "this BdJ sample came from my really old bottle." And wow I sure believe him, it's wonderful stuff.

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I've heard of that. I've also heard it smells like a refined Zino Davidoff, which I own and recommend if you really, really like lavender. How's the Lavender with this one?

Gotta hook me up with this local guy, if he's just handing out sample decants of Tom Ford!
 
JanJosh said:
I've heard of that. I've also heard it smells like a refined Zino Davidoff, which I own and recommend if you really, really like lavender. How's the Lavender with this one?

Gotta hook me up with this local guy, if he's just handing out sample decants of Tom Ford!
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The lavender is there right off the top and stays through to dry down. Not too sweet, synthetic or in your face but nicely blended. A real gentlemen's fragrance. It's very nice indeed. I've not tried Zino.
 
Tathra11 said:
The lavender is there right off the top and stays through to dry down. Not too sweet, synthetic or in your face but nicely blended. A real gentlemen's fragrance. It's very nice indeed. I've not tried Zino.
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If you can find it cheap, get a small sample of zino. It's very 80s, very loud and in your face. The Lavender screams a synthetic cry. I don't like it because I'm not the biggest fan of lavender, but I've received compliments and audible sniffs followed by noticeable glances in my direction. Fun fact: before being Diors Posterboy for Sauvage, this was Johnny Depps signature scent when he was young in the 90s.
 
1000001416.jpgToday's Spray!

One Man Show: Gold Edition

This one is an odd choice. I hardly use it as I find myself using my other fragrances first, or until the bottle is empty. However, today is a strange day. In Florida, it's Autumn heading into Winter, yet the day is bright and sunny with clear blue skies, yet it's not objectively cold, nor hot. The wind is quiet and eerily still, yet you can feel a slight twinge of coolness around you, you can smell it too. It's my day off, and I have nowhere to be. All bills paid, no worries, a full night of sleep. Even had a full breakfast! A strange day indeed.

So to celebrate the strangeness, I picked this one. I have all 6 of the One Man Show line, and i believe this was the third to come out, and is quite odd. It's got musk, but isn't dark. It's got apple, but it isn't sweet. It's got oud but it isn't bitter. All the others have a theme or idea but this one was confusing. If worn it's definitely got all those things, strong fresh apple musk. The apple is Moreso like a green apple, but only the skin of it, instead of all the flesh and seeds. It's the smell of apple you get when eating a juicy apple but don't wash your hands. The musk is bizarre too, it's there but it's not white or animalic... it just is. And it all heads into a soapiness as well.

Not a safe scent, but every once in a while you gotta mix it up. It's the type you expect a more secure if not macho man to just overspray because he likes it, even if you don't. If you want to hear further thoughts and suggestions regarding the Jacques Bogart line, ask, I'll give a suggestion.
 
JanJosh said:
I've heard of that. I've also heard it smells like a refined Zino Davidoff, which I own and recommend if you really, really like lavender. How's the Lavender with this one?

Gotta hook me up with this local guy, if he's just handing out sample decants of Tom Ford!
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Tathra11 said:
The lavender is there right off the top and stays through to dry down. Not too sweet, synthetic or in your face but nicely blended. A real gentlemen's fragrance. It's very nice indeed. I've not tried Zino.
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If you guys ever run across Bracken Man, give it a try, if you like Zino and BdJ you'll love it. It's a real shame Amouage decided to discontinue it. I wish I'd been able to try the Private Reserve version of BdJ.
 
Pierre Guillaume - Monsieur
This smells as black as the bottle on first spray, thick patchouli and vetiver, with some underlying green notes, which could be from the popular buds listed. But PG plays is pretty fast and loose with note listings so who knows. Black, and aromatic, almost tar like in the best way. It softens quite a bit over time and the green notes come out more, giving a very classic masculine skin scent.

This is the one that got me into Pierre Guillaume, yet oddly I only ever wore it at night because I find that heavy woodiness relaxing in the winter. Yesterday after wearing Le Phenix I was thinking of other options in that wheelhouse, and sprayed this first thing for the first time. And it realized how great this is as a full wear. I loved it so much that I wearing it again today.

This is also why I just don't like to sell bottles I haven't used much in a while. I just never know when something will hit back and become a staple in the rotation. Anyway this and Animal Mondain were the gateway into the world of PG. I've got a boatload of them now. He comes out with so many every year, I've decided not to keep up, no more room, and I think in this case, the early ones are often the best ones.

It's a hard house to sample, and with such a huge catalog, they won't all be everyone's cup of tea. But there are some real hidden gems in the collection. Both in modern and classic styles.

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1000001427.jpgToday's Spray: Grey Flannel by Geoffrey Beene

A scent I rarely wear. It's not a good one, there's no real brightness to it. I like it in a way that's somewhat self-depricating. It's a dark, gloomy, and somewhat foreboding November day. The sky is overcast, the clouds blanketing the sky in a gray haze, with the sun not being seen, but felt. I feel somewhat the same. It's not cold, but it is windy, uncomfortably so. I wake up for work, but I'm not particularly excited or energized.

The scent is a moody floral musk, but that's not doing it any favors. It's dark. Darker than whatever idea of a dark or noir scent you have in mind, especially with a lack of any leather. It starts immediately musky powedery with an ever so slight citrus underneath, like the suns rays being choked behind dark clouds. There's a slight woodiness that appears whilst it devolves and keeps spiraling into a dark, musky, earthy violet mixed with petrichor. Did it just rain? Or perhaps it's going to soon...

It's one of the rare fragrances I can say is Gothic in a sense, especially as it lacks lilac. It's depressing, self contained, withdrawn, and somewhat reflective or introspective. This is something you wear throughout a dark period or darker days, perhaps something akin to a funeral. The aftershave is fine, it is slightly lighter like things seem to be getting better, but it just goes back to where it started in darkness. The vintage smells somewhat better, still dark but just more refined and the notes are more detectable and distinct.

It's a hollow fragrance. If worn after a shave, it fits a moody and dark appearance or occasion, almost noir in a sense. Expect no compliments, but instead worried glares and whispers.
 
1000001431.jpgSpray for the Day: Sung Homme

Keeping it short, Sweet, and simple. Recently acquired and wanted to wear it out. Going out with my mom today, and i know she usually dislikes whatever I like to wear, but this one is pretty fresh and clean and reminds me of her favorite men's fragrance Cool Water, but this one is more to my taste.

Soapy, uplifting, some powders and a good balancing dose of fresher musk. However that's how it smells on me, and to me. Perhaps I'll try and find a vintage bottle that's more purple than my blue and more than likely reformulated batch. This probably wouldn't be a great aftershave, it doesn't have that certain spice or citrus kick, it's a bit too soapy fresh and a touch sweet, but to each their own.
 
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