Thank goodness it turned out to be just the opening dance of notes, and after five minutes it settled down to a good ole reliable leather.

Kouros by YSL comes easily to mind as a comparison here, but I prefer Antaeus by Chanel big time.

It takes away the most obnoxious aspects of Kouros and adds a bitter but delicate background note to leather.  This bitter side seems to turn into tobacco for a short while, and I would swear I felt even coffee at some point.

All in all however, Antaeus perfume won’t change much, and the dry down will offer the same main leather note, backed up by something that is part floral, part incense, part honey, part herbal green.

The result is warm and reliable, and in spite of its power and complexity, it runs incredibly smooth on the skin.  Also, special mention to the spray on the bottle, which felt quite sturdy.

It would suit men of at least 40 years of age. And that’s one more reason why I loved it: for a guy who is too much into his thirties, it’s always nice to come across a frag and think “nice, but I’m still too young for this.”

If this was a color it would be:
Antaeus Pour Homme By Chanel

Antaeus Chanel Review

Spicebomb Viktor&Rolf opens with citrus and minty notes, although the balsamic effect is probably a product of the bergamot with the spices.

It won’t be long before the spicy bouquet comes out, with different facets spinning around: it’s dirty-peppery, powdery-old, there’s a smell of burnt (not smoked, burnt), body odour, tobacco, leather, and a quite interesting mix of sweet and bitter.  

You may get any of these or none in particular, in my case it was mainly pepper and cinnamon (like the one in Black XS, but without the blood orange).  

One thing you won’t get however, will be clean laundry notes along with the spices, like in Ferrari Black or Versace pour Homme. You will get floral notes, but they will be mostly buried underneath.

And that’s how Viktor Rolf Spicebomb plays with fire: it’s a spicy frag that takes a daring step further, going closer to where intense borders with obnoxious. A pretty bold thing to do for a mainstream fragrance.

In the dry down, and after lurking in the background the whole time, vanilla sweet notes finally come out, coupled with a nice cleanness. Again, chances are you may find this too cloying.

If a guy won’t like it, I understand. Girls, if you’re thinking of this as a present for a male friend, don’t be offended if you find the bottle on sale on eBay the following week. It’s nothing to do with you, it’s just that it can be too much for the average male nose.

PS: The credit for the tagline goes to a reviewer at the Fragrantica page for this perfume.

If this was a color it would be

Spicebomb Viktor And Rolf

Viktor Rolf Spicebomb Review

Although unmistakeably fresh-aromatic, the opening is clean, as in clean-bed -sheet clean, with citrus notes that make it a bit more interesting than the average. And after that, there is the spicy phase, with peppery and also some green notes at some point, which even turned into clove for a very short while.

All in all however, the spices feel quite generic, the impression is that the people at Coty wanted to play so safe, that the perfumers Beatrice Piquet (Echo for men by Davidoff, Lady Million) and Alain Astori were forced to tone down anything that could stand out, to even the slightest extent. Involuntary comic effects of marketing: a fragrance called Instinct is the triumph of focus group reason.

I have a bias towards aromatic perfumes, but I have to say that Instinct Beckham is sure quite pleasant, but quite forgettable as well. Yes it’s clean and young, and the opening is not that bad, but the heart notes were under-developed, and the longevity is questionable as well. They didn’t go the extra mile here. Indeed they stopped short. There’s better stuff out there, in the same category, like Versace Pour Homme, or Ferrari Black, or Dior Homme Sport.

If this was a color ir would be

Instinct By David Beckham

David Beckham Instinct Cologne

It opens fresh, but warm. Woods are there right out of the box, and they’re backed up by fragrant citrus. They’re sort of kept in the background, just enough to give the woods a bit of sourness.

With the heart notes, lemon is briskly pushed aside (but it’s still there somewhere), and L’Eau d’Issey Homme Sport will be at the mercy of woods and nutmeg, but worry not, as it will get just a bit rougher, tingling the nose a little, but still managing to feel clean somehow.

The metallic notes turn up after a while, at an advanced stage of the woods and spice. It kind of went on and off, and wasn’t that obtrusive. With time there will also be a small concession to clean laundry notes.

L’Eau d’Issey Homme Sport may not be the most original of formulas, but I sure liked the way the woods and spice push It’s a clear and straightforward fragrance, with no hazy-powdery layers.

For this reason, this one ends up in my wish list. I already have Armani City Glam and Black XS at the moment as representatives of the spicy side, but I think this would complement them nicely.

If this was a color it would be

Issey Miyake Homme Sport

How to describe Kouros YSL? I might try and say that it’s very intense, very strong and very oriental. Incense, spices, and leather, maybe some florals, yet so strong to be transfigured: this is what it’s about. Or maybe I should put aside the usual jargon for once, and let my heart speak: this stuff really stinks.

Perfume Kouros will give you no BS, no compromises with fresh notes like red blood orange. And this thing brought back a childhood memory: the arsenic cake song in Asterix’ movie, where Artifis decides to put only one orange wedge instead of three, probably because it would have been too healthy.

Kouros Yves Saint Laurent is less malicious on the blotter, where it feels as if some of the most smoked layers had been cut off. But again, what does paper know? On the skin you can almost even physically smell it as something solid.

It contains civet, a type of musk originally extracted from the gland in the rear side of the animal with the same name (nowadays it’s all synthetic) and that’s probably why at times it smelled like (excuse my French) shit with a stick of incense in it.

After a couple of hours on the skin, and 24 hours on the blotter, Kouros parfum decides to give the world a break: it will let floral and green honey notes emerge from the placid lake of leather it has now become. Yet, smelling it from a close distance still made me want to sneeze.

Kouros is a love-hate fragrance. I don’t hate it, but I wouldn’t make eye contact with it. Wear it if you are old enough to have been divorced at least twice, during winter trip to the North Pole.

And maybe the best review for Kouros Eau de Toilette might indeed be the Arsenic song:

If this was a color it would be:

Yves Saint Laurent Kouros Eau De Toilette

Yves Saint Laurent Kouros Perfume Review

It feels quite classy, with a style that reminds of Ferrari Black (where the spice is a bit more aggressive), which is from 1999, whereas this one is from 2008.

And that says a lot. I mean, talking about “commercial” intentions for perfumes is always a slippery topic, but when they hired a hot shot like Antonio Morillas to create Versace Pour Homme For Men, it’s pretty clear what the assignment was: do not take any flippin’ risk.

Good craftsmen however, leave a trace of their skills even when they make something dull, and in the case of Versace Pour Homme Cologne, the ever-present clean notes are given a smart counterpart in the form of light florals, sharp lemon notes, a vague greenness,  an also vague powdery layer, and I would swear also a couple of sweet notes hidden somewhere.

And in the dry down, it cannot but give up to amber, the great leveller of fresh-aromatic perfumes for men.

If you want to smell good without any fuss, if you leave risk-taking to other areas of your life, if you need it for the office, if you haven’t found anything better yet, but you’re in a rush, then go for it.

If this was a color it would be:
Versace Pour Homme By Versace

Versace Pour Homme Perfume Review

I’ve been wearing this since Christmas (I know, it’s a fresh fragrance for the summer, but who cares), so I’d better hurry, as the bottle is almost finished and I won’t get myself another one for the moment. But the only reason is that I want to try other stuff.

In the opening of Dior Pour Homme Sport you will get thick, intense and fragrant lemon with green harsh herbs and a very distant sweetness.

As it evolves, the spice comes out more in the form of ginger. It’s probably what was giving the harshness in the first place – ginger is not the gentlest of spices – but the fresh side will remain sustained.

In the dry down, a non-aggressive sweetness adds up to the fresh side with the ginger being less rough.

Homme Sport by Christian Dior is great for the office and great for the summer, but as I said I’ve been wearing it for the coldest part of the winter.

It’s maybe not extremely sexy, although ginger and the sweet notes may have something to say on that topic. It’s smack dub in the middle of fresh aromatic fragrances for men, but there will be no presence of clean laundry notes. Which, these days, it’s a plus to be grateful for.

If this was a color it would be
Dior Homme Sport Christian Dior

Christian Dior Dior Homme Sport Review

It starts with citrusy, woody and spicy notes, with the main accent on citrus and clean laundry. The rest of the notes give the perfume its elegant side, and the fact that the spices are on the verge of body odor creates an interesting contrast with the laundry clean.

As time passes, a not-too-slow shift occurs in Ferrari Perfume For Men: the citrus subsides, and the clean laundry is joined by a smell of “old,” of which I give my own definition in the review for Givenchy Gentleman. This aroma has still the clean notes of the beginning, plus a sweet halo, but it’s kept on a leash.

At some point, after getting closer and closer to the line, the perfume leaves the clean notes behind, and jumps into a woody, spicy and (especially towards the end) smoked pool.

Ferrari Black perfume offers an interesting evolution to the perfume reviewer in the making, thanks to a change from fresh/aromatic/spicy to woody and powdery.

The result is something for mature guys who want to smell cool and classy, with a touch of anachronistic, in not too informal occasions. A bit dated if you ask me, but in a couple of years from now, when I’m well in my forties, I may actually give it a thought.

If this was a color it would be:
Black Ferrari Perfume Men

Ferrari Black Perfume For Men Review

Here’s the peculiarity that this Crave By Calvin Klein has to offer: other than the usual high dose of laundry detergent, there is a nice boost of herbs (you say basil, I say rosemary) and spices, all coated in a thin layer of addictive sugar-sweet notes.

All in all, a fairly complex mixture for a low-end fragrance I would say, at least for the first hour or so. After that, the usual obsession about covering natural body odor takes over and Crave CK becomes super-ultra clean with no shame to show it. The first part should have lasted much longer.

If this was a color it would be
Calvin Klein Crave For Men

Calvin Klein Crave Cologne

The reason behind the first rule is that, if I described a perfume with constant comparisons with another, and you don’t know second one, what you read is completely useless to you.

And the reason behind the second one is that every perfume is different from the other, even when it’s very similar to others, so it deserves a different review.

I think those are worth keeping, and that’s why today, for this 212 Vip Men Carolina Herrera For Men I will raise the white flag: it is the perfect copycat of One Million Paco Rabanne.

I have both of them on my wrists and, except for a boozy and fresher start of 212 VIP men (a vodka note), and the fact that it’s slightly less dirty (two comparisons are allowed), the only reason why I can tell one from the other is that I remember which one I sprayed on the left and which one on the right.

Principle number two failed, and the only Carolina Herrera 212 Vip Men Review possible is this one.

And to think that I even said that One Million was nothing new under the sun….

212 Vip Men Carolina Herrera For Men