The One By Dolce & Gabbana For Men Review

The One By Dolce Gabbana For Men is simple and light, and just like YSL L’Homme, it suggests rather than speaking out loud. It’s not an in your-face masculine, it’s made for intimacy rather than for seduction, it’s subtle, in other words it’s darn good.

The opening is fruity and aromatic, with just a suggestion of spices. The citrus is officially grapefruit, but way less pungent than the real thing, and it goes together with a delicate sweetness that suits generic red fruits. The aromatic side is almost minty, and it remains on the same level of the rest of the notes.

This citrus fruity thing proves to be more than a opening bait for the prospective buyer and stays longer. However, in the space of one hour or so, a slow shift takes place: spices are less than an idea, and they partly neutralize the quiet fruity note. The fragrance is warmer, and a bit less lively. Just like the citrus of the start, the spice is not pungent but rugged.

The fact that spices become more prominent is inevitable I suppose, and makes the balance with the fruity side more difficult to keep. It manages to do it, but – I hate to admit it – I liked The One D&G for men less at this point.

The One is not a perfume masterpiece, but it’s a masterpiece in consistency of direction and personality. Projection is quite short and duration not so long, but again, this is a fragrance for close distances. And women love to wear it as well.

And here you have D&G The One vs…

The One Gentleman Review

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Gucci Guilty Pour Homme and Guilty Black Eau de Toilette

For the first time I’ll have to break the one-perfume-one-review rule, but it would have been impossible to describe Gucci Guilty Pour Homme (2011) and the PH Black version (2013) with a decent number of words, if I had done it separately.

They both put together a little bit of this and a little bit of that, creating a dark and hazy cloud of aromatic, spicy and clean notes, which never gets to get a shape. Perhaps, if you’re lucky enough, you can mistake the haziness for mystery, and prefer either perfume to Bleu de Chanel.

And yet, the worst crime of these two fragrances is not that they are commercial, nor that they are just two missed chances, but that they don’t have a clear direction. In perfumes, lack of clarity of intentions is good when it’s intentional (I’m thinking of the Un Jardin series created by Ellena for Hermes), but not good at all when it shows poor creativity and low quality. Which – I’m afraid – is the case here.

Finding a clear difference between Gucci Guilty Pour Homme and Pour Homme Black is a hard task. After a long and thoughtful sniffing, I think I can say that the original is more aromatic, whereas Black is spicier. But in the end, as the song goes, it doesn’t even matter.

More interesting than the perfumes are the commercials.

In the one for the original Pour Homme, our Gucci man rides a bike in a deserted, post-apocalyptic city under the pale-red sun of the sunset. He enters a bar and spots her. A look is enough, and the sex that takes place immediately afterwards is less than suggested.

And if Black is the sequel of Pour Homme, its ad follows (the feminine version of Guilty Black is also advertised here). Our womanizing hero is again riding his bike. Same city, just darker, this time under the rain. He’s chased and stopped by a car: it’s her again, with a more prominent black eye make-up, and more provocative dress. 

She lost the look of amazement she had before. Since their first encounter, she seems to have learnt a thing or two about the world, although experience came with a territory of decadence. He doesn’t seem to be affected by any of that, while he drops his helmet and follows her in the car. Her sedulous driver (who looks a bit like Freddy Kruger but I’m sure that was not intentional) drives around and brings them back when the encounter is over.

The connection between wearing the right perfume and getting laid in no time is still alive and kicking in fragrance marketing, it just got a more sophisticated photography.

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Jimmy Choo Flash Perfume for women

After the flamboyant and opaque peach of the debut of the same name, Jimmy Choo comes back with a completely different thing. If you read the tag hanging from the bottleneck, you’ll know Flash is a floriental, which is assigned to those floral fragrances with a warm and oriental edge, often in the form of vanilla.

But you’ll have to wait until the end to get all that, because Jimmy Choo Flash Eau de Parfum opens at the other side of the hemisphere with an aquatic mix of citrus and floral notes. After this prelude, it becomes more decisively floral. There is a dense tuberose there, and jasmine, but with a constant delicate touch.

This white – floral stage won’t stay there for long. Warm notes start pushing and wrapping the fragrance all around, changing its character and leading it towards the oriental side. The change is slow but steady, and the vanilla in the base is delicate and unsweetened, probably because – as a few reviewers pointed out – it’s mixed with woods.

In the Jimmy Choo Flash commercial, the model is placed in a dark and harsh setting of neon lights, plastic and glass, with an idea of warm temperature, but sophisticated detachment.

That has very little to do with the perfume: sure the sophistication is there, but Flash is a slow and steady journey from a bright spring day to an oriental tea-place. It’s not extremely original but it sure is smooth and delicate, with no roughness.

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YSL L’homme Eau De Toilette For Men Review

L’Homme Cologne by Yves Saint Laurent is one of those delicate masculine compositions, where spices don’t scratch that much, the typical clean notes are stripped off, and it gets fruity and floral ones instead.

All the above of course in a masculine way. As fruity and floral notes are typically feminine, when they are applied to masculine perfumes, they can be defined by subtraction; I mean, they are masculine by virtue of what they are not, rather than of what they are. And in this case, fruits are not too bubbly gummy, rather leaning on the ripe side, and the florals are not too delicate.

The opening is fresh with citrus and slightly fruity, with something that reminded me of a somewhat ripe melon. Soon a hint of spices joins, as a signal that yes, this is a masculine frag not only by name. However, it keeps a very soft touch, gladly mixing withe rest of the notes. This idea of a fresh fruity edge remains on the foreground for the most part and yet, as it evolves, YSL l’Homme men seemed to become more complex, also adding an idea of  woods to come and a certain damp greenness.

Considering the low level of the spices, the fruity and the floral notes, YSL l’Homme could be worn as a women’s perfume as well. However, it won’t give up its masculine identity. Indeed, whereas classic or in-your-face spicy frags speak for themselves, delicate and sophisticated perfumes for men like this one might require a supplement of personality to be pulled off successfully. And this goes well with the message of the ad.

“Sheer magnetism” she says  in the end, with the attraction being symbolized by the circular movement of the camera, getting closer and closer. With this respect, the review left by a female Fragrantica user, sounds like the perfect copy:

 

I met a french man once. His chiseled physique made it seem like he had just walked out of a magazine. He drank expensive champagne, he spoke 5 languages, wore tailored suits and wore L’Homme.

He had traveled and known many places and I am sure he had women swooning at every place he went to say the least. I met him and met the highest of first impressions. I was perhaps of interest to him, then loathed each other, then we were acquainted and then he disappeared into the sunset. I will forever think of his remarkable masculinity when I sense YSL L’Homme.

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Mahogany by Etro Review

This is an ultra-niche perfume and it’s maybe discontinued, as there’s no mentioned in the Italian fashion house. But hey, it’s part of a conspicuous set of sample that I ordered  a while ago to practice different olfactive families and perfume (just like food) should  not be wasted.

Mahogany in particular has vetiver as main note, which is a grass but, when used in perfumery, it becomes part of the woods family thanks to its.. well.. woodsy smell. So, if you really want to know, here is how it goes.

Mahogany opens with a vague smell of incense and camphor. It then adds a suggestion of florals, which almost ruined the whole thing, as it gave out a sour side, which suits the rest of the notes like lemon would suit warm milk. 

When the florals finally lower their intensity, the perfume stretches, becomes warmer and improve a lot. That’s also when vetiver comes out, with a sprinkle of soil It’s an almost rugged wood, all in all very quiet, with hints of aromatic notes and also slightly powdery with florals, which push the fragrance towards the unisex side.

Mahogany is a quite suffused fragrance. With a name like that, I would have expected nothing less than a complex, monolithic, bulky piece of furniture, but it I got a small wooden box instead.

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Daisy For Women By Marc Jacobs Eau De Toilette

Marc Jacobs Daisy is a masterpiece of elusiveness. Is it there? Is it not there? There are delicate florals mixed with semi-sweet reed fruits, but it’s all sparse, as if they used water instead of alcohol to dilute the juice.

It’s a young and bright perfume for the day, and something you would wear for yourself mainly, because you like it, not because you want the others to smell it on you.

The presence of musky notes at times made me think that its weakness was only apparent, but all in all it remained with a steadily dim tone, until thevanilla and musk dry down.

And it’s just its constant low profile – it won’t go up, but won’t go lower either -  that shows that all this was exactly how it was supposed to be.

If I have to find a congruence between Marc Jacobs Daisy perfume and its ad (where it appears with Eau So Fresh), it’s in the dreamy and faint character of the scenario and music. The only thing that doesn’t add up there is that the day is windy, whereas I think this fragrance needs a still sunny day to be felt.

And here is a comparison of Daisy EdT vs…

Eau So Fresh Review

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Eau De Toilette Chance De Chanel Review

Let’s say you’re looking for a low-tone fragrance to wear during your daily activities. You don’t dislike florals, but you don’t like them too powerful. At the same time, you want something simple but not completely linear, and maybe with some hidden complexity.

Well, look no more  because that’s what the EdT version of Chanel Chance is about. It’s one of the three flankers of the original Eau de Parfum, with Tendre, and Fraiche) and it’s least mentioned (heck, it ‘s not even included in the Fragrantica database!), but it would really deserve more attention.

The structure is indeed simple: it’s citrus and floral in the first part and then mainly floral, but it has the gift of delicate vagueness and also a subtle complexity, which comes out as a wrap of light sweetness, and in the form of a soft occasional aromatic note, like of anise, basil or licorice.

This aromatic facet is probably a twist of the florals, as they seem to follow the wave of their intensity and mix well with the woods of the dry down.

Here you find a Chanel Chance EdT vs EdP comparison

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Chanel Eau Tendre Chance Review

The name is right, Chance Tendre is a tender fruity thing with a layer of florals and one of cream. And it has a tenacious quality that pushes from the start, it’s not flimsy at all.

And I would swear there is a note of pepper somewhere…

The fruit is not overly sweet, at least not distinctly gourmand, but it feels quite real. It’s actually quince, which has a scent between apple and pear, and returns whiffs of fragrant citrus freshness. Florals are just a secondary character there, but it all gets confused and muffled by the creamy side, which is warm and sensual, gives depth and really is the cipher of Chanel Tendre, until the woodsy dry down.

The Chanel Tendre ad is very similar to the one for Eau Fraiche. Pink instead of green, but same model, same song, and same playing with the bottle of perfume. In the end, instead of making it spin on the index finger (like in Eau Fraiche) she hugs it, and that represents quite well the main difference between the two flankers.

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Pink Bouquet Moschino Review

Sparkling fruity bubble gum and flowers from the start: you might have had enough of these fruity floral launches, but if this is not uplifting I don’t know what that is. And although you’ll probably get bored soon with it, Pink Bouquet by Moschino is here for a good time, not for a long time.

The fruits are red and bright, the florals are girly, and they will push out the pink for the first hour. After that, the young girl starts getting bit more serious. The fruity-floral accord loses the fizzy notes and becomes warmer and denser with woods. Fruits step back, whereas florals step forward and mix with woods, making this stage almost unisex (the first part however is definitely feminine).

At this point, Pink Bouquet for women sheds the teenage character of the beginning and steps into a more mature one, going from light pink to a darker shade. However, it still retains some of the young, cheerful, and springy character of the beginning, so don’t expect anything too old, in spite of the musky base.

The imagery of the ad campaign is consistent with the young and carefree charactrer of Moschino Pink Bouquet. There you have a young girl, waking up thinking of the night before, when a handsome Italian guy takes her home to her villa on his Lambretta. The kiss is chaste, as it’s on the cheek, but sensuous at the same time. And when she’s fully awaken she holds a gigantic bottle of the perfume and kisses it.

The interesting part comes with the Moschino Pink Bouquet advert song, which says:

Voglio amarti cosi, che mi porti profumo di passione
Voglio un bacio da te che mi faccia vivere sull’onda

which can be translated with:

I want to love you like that, you bring me perfume of passion
I want a kiss from you, which makes me live on the wave

The original song is Ladruncoli (Petty Thieves) by Manupuma, and the way its meaning was turned upside-down for the ad is quite interesting. The main theme of Ladruncoli is not romantic but social, as it calls for a non-violent revolution of the young people against the “old fogeys.” Also, whereas the second line sung in the ad is part of the song, the first one is not. It indeed talks about perfume, but of a different kind:

Voglio Robespierre, che mi porti profumo di rivolta

I want Robespierre to bring me perfume of insurrection.

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Chance Eau Fraiche By Chanel For Women Review

Chanel Eau Fraiche (a 2007 flanker of Chanel Chance) surprised me with peppery warm notes when I was expecting a bath of green and floral ones. As the ad campaign suggests, and every SA would tell you, this is an uplifting and cheerful fragrance, made for the summer.

And it is all that, but the easiness with which Charlotte di Calypso juggles with the bottle in the video commercial, calls for a grain of salt. Sure, there are floral and citrus notes soaked in green water in Chanel Chance Eau Fraiche top notes, but also a generous presence of pepper, which makes everything warmer.

This peppery facet is really a nice bonus here, it transforms what could be a flat line of green and florals into a triangle with depth. And it combines with the green notes with a just a hint of fresh sourness.

And after about one hour, a light sweetness starts to come out. It’s probably always been there but it manages to stand out more after the warm side recedes a little. It’s sugary, but never too strong, and it’s a sort of interlude to the finale, when the pepper is all gone and the warmth comes from woods.

Chanel Chance Eau Fraiche for women is warmer and deeper than they would like you to believe, but it still goes well in the summer. Highly recommended.

And if you ever wondered about Chanel Chance Fraiche vs…

And for the review of Chanel Chanche Tendre click here.

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