Re-View: Eros, My Soft Spot for Sweets, and My Gameplan

So, it's been pointed out to me that I don't get into the specifics of note profiles in my reviews. There are two reasons. One, I am kinda too lazy to meditate over a diagram of a dozen scents and how each might fit or not into a fragrance. Let's face it, only one or a handful of notes get to be the star, the half a dozen plus additions are backup singers at best. Two, I like to keep it real. The average guy has no. fucking. clue. what any of the minute names of features in perfumes and stuff are. If the average guy smells, let's say the subject of my review today, Versace Eros, he isn't going to say "Interesting combo of vanilla and mint top notes descending into cedar, and the dry-down has a nice mix of woods and vetiver." He is going to go. "??? Goood? No. Bad. Ehhh. Grunt"

It's far more fun for me to write from experience without using too much cataloging for reference to bridge the complete novice to the enthusiast. That doesn't mean I don't like it though! If you're interested in more thorough note profiles I strongly suggest searching fragrances on fragantica.com They have an awesome and well-designed interface to show what individual fragrances are made of, what people think they are like, etc. You might have to join to view entries (a big downside, I'm tired of sites making you join to research what is pretty banal knowledge), but if you're interested it's worth the time. And hey, I can't complain too much. It's free damnit.

On with the main show.

Sweet scents get a bad rap. If there ever was a fragrance trend which could be called the bad boys of the industry it's sweet smelling. Chocolate, coffees, vanillas, caramels, so on and so on. Sometimes along with other food-based scents called gourmands, and sometimes just desserts, there's a perception that anything smelling sweet in men's fragrances (sometimes women's too) is tantamount to being corny or dumb. It's hard to explain why, but considering the traditional palette of fragrance notes has been dominated by rather inedible notes for generations it's not hard to understand. It's also easy for sweet smells to "smell cheap", so they can be dangerous in concoctions.

I LOVE sweet scents, myself. I love wearing them. There, I said it. Deal.

Versace Eros
2012

This little beauty, the newest in the Versace pantheon of men's fragrance (I think, if i'm wrong comment and correct me please), came out in all markets fairly recently. It's one of those fragrances that instantly divided the masses. You either love it (guilty here) or hate it. It is SWEET. Mint and vanilla are both incredibly obvious in Versace Eros, and the rest of the scents (tonka bean) base it. Although it's not been described as having it, I get the sense of an incense middle note that adds some a smooth complement to the singing sweet vanilla. I have to admit, it is a damn decadent smell to wear and could go wrong. What elevates it from feeling too sticky for me is the mint. The cleanliness of it helps keep the rest from becoming a muddled mass of cavity inducing goo.

What's amazing, I think, is that this fragrance came from Versace in the first place. (Audience gasp). Now hold up. Hold UP.  I'm not saying anything bad about the house, the fragrance, or anything, it is just SURPRISING that such a clean-sweet scent would come out of Donatella's empire. Consider the following evidence:

1.  Versace and many other Italian design houses, if not most of Europe altogether, stay away from clean or sweet like the plauge. The cleanest I've smelled is Burberry, and even then they use enough herbs and woods to make you think you fell face first in Narnia if you smelled them all at once..Tradition meets modernity in the the European palettes of fragrances, and the inelegance of prominent edibles is usually absent. A*Men by Thierry Mugler, a universal classic, challenges this, but that's for another day.

2. The name is Eros, a Greek god (Donatella wisely went Greek instead of Italian "Cupid", preventing the silly connotations), and the Greek-godlike ad campaign, a heavenly display of man meat if I've ever seen, emphasizes masculinity to such a degree you'd THINK Eros would be spicy or deep, at the very least incense and aquatic.


3. Donatella herself playing up the masculinity. I found this gem of a Donatella Versace quote on Fragrantica: "This fragrance is for a man who is his own master. He is a hero, a man who defends his ideas and goals."  Of course every designer and perfumer promotes any men's fragrance has having masculine attributes, but using the words hero, ideas, and goals doesn't quite translate into sweet fragrances.

All in all, getting over the surprise, I love Eros. The mint is key in making this a wearable joy, because otherwise it might smell like stayle syrup. Eros will make you hungry, but it's worth it. Definitely not for use for being active, but it's a great anytime fragrance. If you're in mixed professional company with some people who might not like perfume and cologne, this is a good one to go for, as edible scents are pleasing to just about everybody. I give this full marks, 7 out of 7 sprays.


Donatella Versace, have you got anything else to say about Eros yourself?

Heh. Aight.

That's not really her, it's of course the superb Maya Rudolph as Donatella Versace. Speaking of which, Lifetime made a movie called House of Versace starring Gina Gershon as the big D. I cannot fucking wait for this awesome movie. I'm gonna be front and center when it comes out in a couple weeks.

Peace out.

Reading is Hard: Episode 1: The Emperor of Scent

Sup.

I've been reading lately, more than usual. And I think I have something that's worthy to discuss here.

As far as I can tell, there isn't too much out there when it comes to literature concerning fragrance. There are some great coffee table worthy titles that are pretty detailed reviews written in elaborate ye olde encyclopedia fashion, and maybe even a few fun craft and hobby style books about oils, but not too much about the industry through the eyes of the people invested in it. While the fluff books are nice and I am admittedly a sucker for reviews (if they're funny and snarky), a person can't learn much from a bible of reviews. Luckily there are some gems out there and I'm confident with the proliferation of 21st century fragrance there will be many more explorations to come, and not just in books but in all manner of newfangled media as well.

The Emperor of Scent
by Chandler Burr

A 2002 title caught me eye when it was prominently displayed in a small book store: The Emperor of Scent by Chandler Burr. This awesome tome colourfully illustrates the life of Luca Turin, somewhat of a mad fragrance genius who is both olfactory fashionista and biophysiologist.

What is so great about this book is that it takes the reader, likely somebody interested in fragrance/fashion etc., and forces them to reconcile scent aesthetics with science. The myriad of tidbits about the chemical properties, secrets, sequences, and the labs and technicians who toil endlessly perfecting molecules gives a fragrance enthusiast such as myself a cold and clinical view at the man behind the curtain.

Turin is portrayed as a man on a mission. We're informed that at a young age he was very interested in smells and being from the heart of Europe he grew to know the old, if not ancient, shops and perfumers that dotted the heart of southern France very well. His freakish skill for memorizing the hundreds of perfumers and design houses and ability to identify perfumes just by similar subtleties in differen fragrance stunned shopkeepers, perfumers, and everyone else. He also displays a skill to distinguish when fragrances were created based on knowing when the notes being smelled were likely at play in the market or in labs of the time.

Realizing that his goal was to relate his seemingly divine gift into a comprehensive study of perfume in order to codify knowledge of fragrance, he sets out into the scientific community and becomes thrust into a much larger arena; in the already brewing debate over exactly how our sense of smell functions (something that is still contested today.) Despite his initial inabilities to comprehend scientific method, Turin proves he is a fast learner and becomes embraced by many who believe in his cause. Turin also explains that in the rapidly growing availability of synthetic fragrance molecules, traditional perfumers and their supplies have become too expensive to produce and many of the "true" perfumes created before synthetics were becoming a dying art form. This creates an innate desire to help preserve classic fragrances, and adds to the urgency of his cause.

While the book itself introduces fragrance to readers in a fantastic way by marrying the scientific with the artistic, it is not written in a steady way and will be more challening to digest for people who do not have a basic to intermediate knowledge of the perfume business. Considering communiques and events referenced in the book took place roughly in 1999 and the book was first released in 2002, there was obviously not a very long period of time between book conception, to research, to drafting, to editing, and to the final product on shelves, and the writing shows this unfortunately. The jumping between the name-dropping while expounding on fragrance's tradition and luxurious status and the fleeting and confusing chemical process descriptons and diagrams was interesting aesthetically, but does tend to muddle the bounty of information provided.

All in all, regardless of reservations over writing style, this is a fantastic and possibly revolutionary book with its unheard of point of view looking into fragrance and perfume. Burr has done us all a huge favor, and for you guys who consider yourselves to be more technical and analytical and all Top Gear and stuff, the science behind perfume (and the sense of smell as a whole) will blow your mind and give you a new-found appreciation for how our aesthetics and seemingly arbitrary sense of art forms. I'm mos def not the technical type, and even I was getting into the elementals.

The Emperor of Scent is worth a buy, paper copy or e-book or otherwise. And I have yet to have said that about ANY book about fragrance or perfume.

Just get it.

Re-View: Marc Jacobs for Men and Tomorrow

Staying up too late isn't healthy. Oh I don't mind the physiological effects, it's the mental that annoy me. Considering how infinitely melancholic the last review was I am determined to issue a more upbeat, if not just even-toned, follow-up review.

Keeping within the scope of fashion, I define my experience as fashion before, during, and after McQueen. That's simply out of my own personal taste, and it's not a scale for everybody (clearly). Post-McQueen has been odd for me. Fashion, much like any art or skill or trade or tradition, however you define it, is now blown open to hundreds of new faces and new markets because of our world's rapidly expanding consciousness. More people know about fashion, more people have access to it, and more people are getting involved in it. Because of this there is a glut of designers and trends and styles that is so overwhelming what once used to be a joy, shopping, can now easily become an intimidating if not fearful venture. It's the grand irony that our expanding global identity has been the result of civilization, and yet how post-consumerism brings our or animlastic hunting urges is clearly a sign of our humble caveman roots.

During this vacuum buffet of fashion and design, I've been very interested in American design houses and their fragrances. For generations American culture has been intangible considering how different one person is to the next, but I've been noticing how there are glimmers of the beginning of what could be called a uniform American style, even if just loosely at best. Our national obsession with cleanliness is mostly to blame. Everything has to be fresh. Wear white in winter (I do!). Nothing too heavy. Pass on musk. etc. etc. This type of under-design was somewhat laughable in its early days as being seen as anti-fashion, and can you blame people in the 80s who loved layering on everything (hair, makeup, clothes, attitudes, so on and so on)? The way American powerhouses have evolved around their subtleties has given way to a Trojan horse of world-changing fashion contributions that everybody enjoys and is enriched by. Donna Karan. Ralph Lauren. Vera Wang. Calvin Klein. all designers and brands that have celebrated clean and/or sporty simplicity. They celebrate the lines more often than the shapes. And their fragrances are no exception.

One designer I have thoroughly been enjoying lately is Marc Jacobs, the irreverant personality of American fashion that effortlessly blends high fashion, street fashion, and casual fashion into one, heart-achingly elegant style. And I only got into his style by being introduced to his fragrances.

Marc Jacobs for Men

2002

Marc Jacobs for Men is now easily in my pantheon of ultimate fragrance favourites. When I heae the word "cologne" mentioned by somebody, this is what I think of. This fragrance could easily qualify as gender neutral, even though it is within the pinnacle of men's fragrances in my own tastes. There is an overall sense of "perfume" that brings a slightly feminine character, but the soft woods are constant and keep the overture from having too many flourishes to detract from the masculinity. Perfumy and woody, yes, but as I have illustrated earlier, Marc Jacobs for Men sails strongly as a clean-loving American fragrance. Suitable for day wear and incredibly elegant at the same time, I cannot get enough of this one.

I don't know much about dating women, but I'm willing to bet this is a great first date scent. But hey, don't take my word for it. Get out there, roll up your sleeves, and get into it yourself.

Re-View: Kenzo & Autumn Perspec

Of course i'd like to think I'm not a stark raving fashionphile because some part of me is convinced I'm this super-mega-rennaissance type and my main source of insecurity is being labelled by anything I do, but I am obsessed with many aspects of fashion (fragrance is the biggest one, obviously)

What most people day to day don't understand about fashion, specifically about the design house and couture worlds, is that these clothes should be thought of as wearable canvases. There's always a color piece written up in some newspaper or newscast about how audacious and crazy some of the designs are, but really they are just paintings meant to expand our conceptual horizons and are not meant to demand consumers wear them en masse. I could explore that idea more, but I'll spare the time. The thing enjoy about fashion almost as much as fragrance (a close second) is the art of the fashion show. The scenery, the sound, the whole context which comes from the designer's universe to put this moving art gallery inside, all lasting for a mere 10 to 20 minutes, and each one never being able to be witnessed in person again. The supermodel era brought on the plain, white runway, which is what everybody thinks of when they think about fashion shows, but in the past decade designers of every calibre have certainly been as highly inventive with set design as major tech firms have been with our ever-evolving persoanl devices. To get a taste of what I am trying to convey I strongly suggest to anybody who is unfamiliar with fashion to watch videos of Alexander McQueen's shows from the 90's up until 2010 when he unfortunately left this earth.

Speaking of Alexander McQueen, I took news of his death in February of 2010 very hard. Not that I knew very much about him, but I knew his work, and his set design, and his universe was a deep inspiration for me and continues to be to this day. The more I learn about him after his life only multiples the deep respect and affinity I have for him ans his work. What does this have to do with fragrance, you might ask. Well, the scent of one fragrance in particular gives me vivid McQueen imagery, so much so it's how I describe it.

Kenzo Pour Homme 

by Kenzo. 1991

To describe this fragrance I use two words:

Plato's Atlantis

That is the name of Alexander McQueen's final fashion show, which was his Spring/Summer 2010 line shown at Paris Fashion Week in 2009. It's the only way I can comprehend Kenzo Pour Homme logically in my own mind. To me, it is a marine fragance. Although rich in wood notes, the ozone and overall outer layer scream seaside scents to me. But it's not marine in your average summer-season aquatic fragrance, it is deep, dark, and dare I say gothic. There is a salty sourness that bites when I use this fragrance, and the deep woods underneath add a brown layer that only further masks the dark marine mystique. The moody sea scents strongly echo the melancholy and understated elegance of Plato's Atlantis, and the touch of modernity makes me recall the moving camera arms and their cold but stunning ballet as they tracked the models and audience alike. I have yet to smell anything similar to Kenzo Pour Homme and that is something I am both disturbed and delighted by.

I do have to say that Kenzo Pour Homme is not something I routinely use and most days I feel it is a highly inappropriate, but the elaborate art the fragrance creates for me is something that I will treasure forever.

The fragrance is not for every man, but it's position bridging the thick, pitch black ("night") scents with the noble marine and wood notes is easily suited to anybody identifying themselves as being harbingers of the little known masculine mystique.

Use it wisely, guys.

My Take: A Hankering for a Flankering

It's so fucking hot. Honestly. Yes, up here in the north the mid-60's counts as hot (That's roughly 18 to 20 for you Celsius lovers). Even I know it's not THAT hot per se, I've been in a 100 degree bake-your-goddamned-brains-out situation a few times, but the fact it's hit that in the first part of June just weeks after the final dying dusts of snow is killing me, and the mysterious lack of June wind is making me cook even more. I'm horrified thinking about what will happen in July and August. Like it or not, summer is here, and summer is intense. Bring on the seasonal flankers!

Seasonal flankers interest me because for some reason, some perfumier decided "We should have a variance of this fragrance for summer, because, well, things smell differently in the heat and spring blooms bring a different general aroma to the atmosphere". Sound logic on paper, but is it really that necessary? Think about it, our experience of smell is tied to... exactly that, experience. 

Before I go on, for those without the vocab, a flanker is a follow-up perfume or cologne that is inspired by one before it, usually with a tag on its name. I.e. an original would be Euphoria, and a flanker would be Euphoria Intense. Seasonal flankers are most commonly summer flankers, editions that are allegedly more appropriate for the warmer months.

Back to the show:

We know what something smells like in our minds because we've smelled it at some time before and have created a chronological reference for that time. How conscious are we of categorizing the smell of particular items based on the time of year we smelled them? Other than natural phenomena (the trees and flowers of places you've been in spring and summer) and cultural phenomena (gingerbread at Christmas time), I see no logic behind it. I've smelled macaroni and cheese, Kraft Dinner for my Canadian peeps, and know what it smells like well, but I can't say as I'm able to logically categorize it into a time of year. Given this puzzlement and oodles of similar smells that I'm unable to categorize seasonally because they aren't a seasonal occurence in my life, I find the rapidly growing need for seasonal flankers to be downright fascinating. 

Marketing ploy to increase variety and sales? Probably a bit of that. An artistic variation of composition, creating a whole new medium of perfume grouping and pairing within the medium of perfumery as a whole, creating fragrances worthy to stand on their own? Maybe. All in all, unless something is a total standout, a seasonal flanker is silly to me and I tend to view it with a negative impression initially. That being said, I don't not enjoy a seasonal flanker (DOUBLE NEGATIVE POLICE ALERTED!). Consider this: If a summer version of a fragrance is good and able to stand on its own, why not give it it's own name in the first place? I'll tell you why not. Branding. Ka-Ching. That about sums it up. And fragrance houses can get away with it. We are lucky to live in a time, those of us in the first world anyways, where almost everything is at our fingertips in any time of year. For example, before post-industiral civilizations people could ONLY ever eat what was in season. Nowadays most people need to refer to recipe pins on Pinterest to determine what kind of melon is in season because they see melons at their market or bodega any day. This is our collective mentality and the re-seasoning (can't think of a better word) of fragrance is 99% branding novelty and probably only 1% legit perfumery, in my own not-so-humble opinion anyways.

That thesis being stated, I can handle it for now, fragrance houses, but please do not multiply flankers. I don't EVER want to see a chain of fragrances like.... "DAFFODIL SPRINGS" "DAFFODIL SPRINGS SUMMER" "DAFFODIL SPRINGS NIGHT" "DAFFODIL SPRINGS SUMMER NIGHT" "DAFFODIL SPRINGS SPORT" "DAFFODIL SPRINGS SPORT SUMMER" "DAFFODIL SPRINGS SUMMER SPORT NIGHT" "DAFFODIL SPRINGS SUMMER SPORT NIGHT SPECIAL RESERVE" and any possible combination I haven't had the time to mention. That would kinda piss me off.

Earlier I mentioned Euphoria Intense, a beautiful Calvin Klein men's fragrance that I enjoy. It's thick and fruity and considering the heat I think it pairs well with me now. I definitely need to review it this summer.

Stay hydrated, get tan, wear some SPF if you're tan enough, smell good, and peace out!

The Main: Consumer's Choice - MEN

Yes, the time is here to cover the main event as far as I'm concerned, the Consumer's Choice award nominees for men's fragrances. And yes, as you can tell by my style of posts, I am a fan of fame and fortune, and I obsess over awards. While many choose to say that awards aren't a good marker of quality I have to content that without them we would not have the opportunity to use a critical mind in our experiences. If everything deserves an equal position in the grand scheme of things, then why bother innovate or create new things? Awards allow us to view an entirety within a small window or viewpoint. It's like a big, collective TED talk. Of course nobody has to agree with awards, how they're awarded, who or what should have won, etc., but the point is we should value the chance to use a greater POV of looking at the inside from out that awards bring.

Speech over! Down to business.

This year, the Fragrance Foundation offered up four nominees for Consumer's Choice in men's fragrances. Yes, they decided to nominate 6 in the women's category but only 4 in the men's (proving the Consumer's Choice awards are heavily a marketing ploy, but oh well), and yes this lineup is quite a bit different than the finalists in contention for the main prizes that foundation voters select. Are the Consumer's Choice nominations consolation for not being in contention for the big prizes, or sponsored social media advertising pandering? Or as I call it, "Adverpandering". We'll never really know, but I digress. Regardless of the legitimacy of the bandwagon I am still getting on it, as my love of fragrance outweighs my sense of economic morality.

Let's jump in. In my handy dandy sample packet that was sent out to first so many people who registered to vote, I found something amiss. Despite there being samples for all 6 women's nominated fragrances there were only 3 of the men's. One of the fragrances was mising outright. I thought perhaps an attached sample had gotten loose, but on its page there wasn't even a trace of any type of publication adhesive whether it be tape, glue, or some other industrial emulsion. Considering each other sample looked fairly unique and sourced from distributors to the foundation, I could only assume the distributor just did not submit samples. After much personal deliberation I decided that rather than approximate my judgement of the missing fragrance I am awarding it a big fat 0. A goose egg because they did not provide a sample. This was tough to do because the nominated fragrance in question is A*MEN Pure Leather, a flanker to the famous A*MEN by Thierry Mugler, which is one of my top 5 fragrances of all time (If I had to make such a list). But after I overcame that internal anxiety laden moment, I was at least thankful that my work had been cut down for me.

The three remaining nominated fragrances are:

• Legend by Montblanc
• Vince Camuto for Men
• Acqua di Gio Essenza by Armani

Because there are only three, I'll spare the lengthy countdown. This is also because, honestly, my decision on which one to choose was painfully easy. Now don't get me wrong, the one that I picked is definitely a deserving scent, but there is a part of me that enjoys the subjective deliberation, the pros and cons list, the mental struggle, and so on of picking a winner. (Or picking which one I'm going to vote for, at least).

So, without too much fanfair, my selection is:

Legend by Montblanc

The first thing that hits you with Legend is "Wow. Another sweet fragrance", but like so many good fragrances for the ages Legend might have an assaulting first split second, but the full body after shows it is a true star. It falls in a category I've created in my own mind called "Dark Cream", the type of deeper, woody scent that comes off as dessert inspired but doesn't quite trek into sugar territory. Lately this style has seemed to be en vogue and I don't believe it will pass any time in the near future. Give it to 2020, but hey, who's predicting?

Anyways, that is my pick and vote for the category this year. Vince Camuto for men and Acqua di Gio Essenza definitely have their time and place, but neither gave me a sense of inspiration nor a distinct character of innovation.

The awards will be revealed soon, and I will provide an ample wrap up of the men's selections!

Comin' Up Soon: My next review, and it's a new purchase!

Featurette's Syndrome: Ladies Night! Women's Consumer Choice

Featurette: Consumer Choice Nominee Smelling Session Part 1, For the lovely, lovely ladies.

Summer officially hit the far north. Finally. It has been a long winter, which is how the winters used to be before all of this warming nonsense. But anyways. It was damn nice to see a hot day, but it did look bizarre considering how there are still some spots of snow here and there. Regardless, I don't trust the outdoors when nature lapses into multiple personality disorder, so I'm holed up with my collection and contemplating how this big busy barnyard of bottles is going to work in in the scheme to give me total world domination. One day at a time I guess.

My collection grew by 8 to 10 bottles and a handful of samples in the past couple of months. I'm still digesting them mentally, using the ones I like frequently, and getting to know them and how they fit into the collection in the long run. (I'm reminded of Linda Belcher singing to her Little Babies collection on Bob's Burgers. Best show ever by the way, check it out.) Because I'm currently in a post-mass-purchase euphoria, I can't comprehend much in the way of a review or thesis. However, not to fear, I received my sampler of the nominees for the FiFi... err.... Fragrance Foundation Awards Consumer Choice categories yesterday.

I've said before I'd swear off women's fragrances from my content because they are the infinite, dominant force in the fragrance world and frankly don't need to be bandied about anymore, but seeing as I've been granted the full sample selection and a vote I feel it would be a missed opportunity without adding my two cents. And, although anybody could have registered, I still feel special and glamourous voting, like somebody voting for the Oscars. Anyways, let's push on.

The nominees and samples for the women's category consisted of:

• Fame by Lady GaGa
• Dot by Marc Jacobs
• Girlfriend by Justin Bieber
• Premiere by Gucci
• La Vie Est Belle by Lancome
• and Coco Noir by Chanel

I sampled each one blind (with assistance), then I smelled each one again knowing which was which, because to me bottling is a pertinent X factor. (I did make one switch in the ranks because of it, but it didn't matter as there is only one possible vote.)

Anyways, let's start with the bottom of the ranks and work up. Last and least was Girlfriend. I mean, it smells hideous as is. I can definitely see a watered down version being worn by juniors and high school girls (perhaps a Bonne-Belle like experience), but it has the strong potency of an adult fragrance that doesn't match. It's a bit like the stale fruit juice left open from a kegger the night before which didn't quite make it to being mixed with the hard liquor. Seeing what name and bottle went with it just made it even worse.

Second to last was Coco Noir. Chanel's bold attempt at a classic French era women's evening fragrance seemed a bit too strong and ashen for my tastes, but I could definitely see where they were going with it. The deeper notes are definitely en vogue for 2013. Although it is a great fragrance it did not quite have the gravitas to be fragrance of the year.

4th place overall was Dot by Marc Jacobs. I LOVE Marc Jacobs the designer and the brand, especially the men's fragrances, and I even love this fragrance, Dot. However, much like my opinion about Coco Noir, the notes are too ordinarily classic. While Dot is more fresh and has an up to date floral/botanical style to give it a bit more of a fun kick it doesn't scream fragrance of the year.

3rd was La Vie Est Belle. Sweet, charming, and sophisticated, but not too sophisticated to detract from the soft perfume allure. It definitely has the gourmand feel but has just enough fluff and duff to make it float away from being a heavy dessert disaster. Again, great on its own merits, but it did not have an X factor.

That left just two, and I couldn't decide which was better for the longest time. On one hand, Fame had a warm, sweet, and even leathery modern aura, but on the other hand Premiere NAILED a 21st century take on a cosmopolitan musk-like experience. I sampled both a few rounds, rolled the feeling around in my head, made notes, recited poetry, and in the end, I had to give it to...

Fame 
by Lady GaGa

Lady GaGa. Wow. Picking a huge celebutante's fragrance surprised the hell out of me. I'm not a huge fan of hers, but this scent stuck with me in a good way. Although both Fame and Premiere I absolutely adored, the feeling behind Fame felt to be the more modern and evolutionary of the two; definitely fragrance of the year worthy. And the innovative opaque black liquid in a clear bottle didn't hurt either. I recommend trying any of my top 4, and, straight fellas, they would make a great gifts for chicks.

Next up I'll have a more serious look at the men's category of Consumer Choice and its four nominees. Well, three, considering my package didn't contain one of the samples! And I gave it an automatic 0! Stick around and find out which one didn't show up for the party, and what my vote went to.

Peace Out

Re-View Re-MIIIIIIIX KICKIN' IT OLD SCHOOL M***********!!!!!!!: Gravity by Coty

Ahh... 1992
Clinton got elected.
Boyz II Men, Whitney Houston, and Vanessa Williams topped the charts.
And grand perfumier and fragrance house Coty launched Gravity for men.

Gravity by Coty

1992

The Goods

Gravity still has an active fanbase 21 years in the future, but like many specific fragrances breaking free from the ordinary it has its detractors. As far as I'm concerned, Gravity deserves a place in honorable fragrance history along with the greats. Why? It's hard to explain. You had to be there. Much in the way the few insiders from back in the day knew the real Kurt Cobain in his Seattle halcyon days before Nirvana's success, you had to be there.

With a basic dying-days-of-the-yuppie note combination of leather and white pepper creating the scent foundation, Gravity doesn't feel like anything special upon first sampling. The finish and middle notes however, create a deceptively complex foreshadowing of the fragrance future. Now, before you get annoyed and shake your head, I do ramble on about the 1990s in fragrance to an excessive degree. But you had to be there. Let's go back.

Gravity was the very first fragrance I owned (I still have it on my collection shelf), which was given as a gift to me at all of age 6 or 7 to mark some occasion in which I was supposed to appear formally. (A lot of pressure for a kid in the relatively middle of nowhere). Mind you, as a FANCY boy, I was no stranger to the concept of scents. In fact, as a toddler I sniffed and smelled everything to the point of looking like an adorable, precious crack baby getting his fix. This desire to smell things that smelled good was so strong I used various soap items as toys, especially the smaller bars halfway between a normal bath bar and a hotel sized soap, along with real toys because I preferred everything smell just so. In light of this Gravity didn't seem like anything unexpected. What made it a momentous occasion for me, however, was that this this was supposed to be something that I owned outright, as opposed to the barfening array of early to mid 20th century concoctions like Old Spice, English Leather, and any number of colorful potions and flankers put out by our lovely local Avon lady that various relatives on my mom's side had worn over the years. I didn't like any of them, really. If anything I was apathetic. But when I first smelled Gravity everything in my little head exploded. The nuances screamed time that moved forward, rather than time that stood still.

Argent's Fragrance Theatre

This new review feature will be the monologue or dialogue of a character I imagine who would use the particular fragrance in review, and it would be his favorite. Let the joyful thespanism and comedy commence! *Ahem*

"Hey! Stop looking at me. I don't know what the big idea is but you're making me feel really uncomfortable. No. I don't have it. I'll try to get it. Yeah yeah. The copier sucks. I don't know. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. I said maybe OK? Maybe. Uh-huh. Yeah. They're calling it Windows 95. Isn't that stupid? Okay. Yeah. No. Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, man, super funny. NOT! I'm out."

Conclusion

While Gravity can be on the light lasting side and have the elements of a basic all-purpose fragrance, its subtleties defined, for me anyways, the before and the after of fragrance. The harmony of the classic masculine aromas and the sweet, sharp ornamental notes really put it at the forefront of the style of its time.

Rank It Up!

5 of 7 Sprays

Saturday Mini-Post April 27th. Fuck Yeah Life

It's the early afternoon and I'm about to head out for a minimal impact Saturday. Usually you can find me primping or reading the news or making a killer breakfast (or lunch if it's late enough) on Saturday mornings. I sleep in until about 10 and don't finish my chill until around 1 or 2 pm. The place where I reside is a bizarre contradiction of time and place in every sense; it's not quite the middle of nowhere and it's not quite somewhere big, it's not the backwoods, suburbs, or an urban center by any means, but it has elements of all three. That's the product of what you get for living in a place that changed the center of town 3 times in 150 years and is plunked right in the middle of Alaska's version of the American car-transportation-loving rat race.  It's obvious that the sense of place is important in every aspect of your life and living in a place with multiple personality disorder leaves you with an uneasy, uncomfortable worldly sense.

I just finished throwing some threads in the laundry and I'm going to head out for coffee. Wearing a dorky tattoo t-shirt I'm not up to do much impressing looks-wise, I'm only out to a local joint down the road. I've got some Spicebomb by Viktor and Rolf sprayed on and that's what is summing up my manner. It's new and fresh but it's relaxed and kinda hunky, if you will. Like I said, not trying to impress, but sometimes I get wrapped up and try to impress myself.

After coffee, not sure, I might engage in a couple of ink drawings. Working on new tattoo ideas and I'm also trying to create some grungey, post-modern calligraphy posters.

What am I going to get to drink?

A Very Post-Moden Post-Hiatus

Ever get the feeling that something is missing from your life? For me, it's my beloved Whiff blog. Albeit with a minimal audience and semi-diarist in its format, the Whiff brings me much joy. Thanks to the seasonality of projects in my current classic American day job, the winter is challenging for me to devote time to exploring other ventures. Thankfully spring is coming to my piece of the planet and I'm able to take in the warmer temperatures while getting back to some good old fashioned post-writing, and with some clever jockeying and calendar scrutinizing I can finally establish a year-round schedule.

My explorations into fragrance have barely begun and I'm anticipating what the future holds. I last left off at the end of summer 2012, and now is as good a time as any to rev the engines for another trip. A good burst of excitement to reinvent my wheel is that the Fragrance Foundation Awards (apparently they don't want to be called the FiFi awards anymore, something I object to just for the sake of brevity if nothing else, including the FiFis being fairly lesser known in general fashion to begin with) are coming June 12th.

I am excited that the Fragrance Foundation has created Consumers Choice categories for 2013 as part of its rebranding efforts which include a fashionable logo and media style. The two awards are part of a national ad campaign, and I hope that I am among the lucky ones who signed up early enough to receive a sample package. My only concern is that the two Consumer Choice awards have entries that are quite a different lineup from the finalists for the Fragrance of the Year awards in the various categories (women's luxe, men's luxe, women's nouveau niche, etc.) and the two packaging categories. People who become more interested in the foundation and study of fragrance via the awards might find it confusing that what is up for popular vote isn't necessarily the palate of what the foundation experts consider to be most influential that year.

From the roughly 10 shortlisted nominees in each category, the foundation selected 4 to 6 finalists in each category and they were revealed at a breakfest event on April 19th. The format of having a separate reception which incorporates all of the shortlisted houses and designers greatly appeals to my ideal of sharing the fragrance experience in a broad scale so that more designers, especially niche or indie designers who may not necessarily make the finalists' cut, have a chance to experience the community of fragrance one-on-one and share ideas. I'm not into the popular "artistic community" ethos, but there is definitely an element in that realm which fragrance needs to flourish.

But I digress. Since I am an average guy, and I tend to focus on guy things despite my occasional flights of feminine fancy, I will concentrate yet again on the men's awards. But don't think the awards is all I'm about when it comes to fragrance, I have a whole smattering of facts and trends I'm prepping to postulate for the year to come.


What's next for the Whiff?

- What's new in my collection, or "How I survived the 2012-2013 winter"

- You'll get an in-depth look at my assessment over the Consumer's Choice awards AND I'll reveal my votes.

- In-depth reviews of the critical reception for the FiFi... er..... Fragrance Foundation Award finalists.

- MetaBlind: You pick what I buy for my collection. Sometimes I can't decide, and I'd love to use some of my budget to see what the masses think I should get into blind.

- The long-awaited scent in food vs. scent in perfumery counterpoint analytical essay fun-fest.


Thanks to the one or two people who have casually glanced at the temporarily suspended in animation treatise on scent that is the Whiff and I am eagerly looking forward to more.

- Argent

A Thoughtful Whiff Nugget

While writing a few posts in fragrance forums today I managed to put together this little piece which I want to share.

It's basically a summary of my attitude whenever I see or hear people discussing fragrance in a "good vs. bad" way, and how to qualify those binary opinions based on whom they belong to. This inevitably becomes a negative and unconstructive way to look at fragrance which does nothing but alienate groups of people's opinions or certain types of fragrance based purely on 49% or less people enjoying them in a brief sample.

"Smells are subjective and not easily opened for discussion in this aggressive your taste vs. world's tastes manner. Standing around and smelling samples and forming your whole opinion based on that fleeting moment can be misleading, especially when you're consulting with others. What's completely missing is fragrance context.

The same context problem can be said for any of the five senses. It's a bit like trying to compare colors without a common understanding of what context the colors are being used in. How do you objectively debate good or bad colors with somebody without knowing what the object of color is? Blue might be nice for both of you if you're thinking about a photograph of the ocean, but if the other person is thinking of ripe fruit, blue might not be the color they're going to say is good. Likewise for food, all of those corny competitive reality cooking shows are based on context. Icky ingredients are presented to innovative, talented chefs, and they provide the expertise via context to make those icky ingredients work. If you both don't have an understanding of context, it's a pointless discussion.

Tangible rankings of quality between fragrances tend to lie in the fragrance's context, the innovative aspects rather than the notes themselves. Sensations, applications, unexpected combinations, molecular efficiency, etc. Fragrance is a verb when it comes to judging its quality, not a noun. Just like judging colors in any painting (which is summarily defined by the size, depth, and rigidity of the strokes applied by the artist), it isn't judged on the tubes paint itself."

Scents of the Week: August 27th

First of all,  a bit of explanation. I have seen and participated in "Scent of the Day" notifications on several online communities. Us employees here at The Whiff (just me for now) would like to incorporate a touch of that type of streaming chain of thought, but without the day-by-day breakdown. I mean, hey, it IS just me. Plus, my idea of routine doesn't revolve around a 24 hour system, which is greatly distressing for every other person on the planet who seems to be able to function like a normal human being in these parameters. A Monday-beginning weekly preview will suffice. Working 9-5 M-F as one may find themself doing routinely at at least one point in their life, it seems like Monday morning is truly the 0-hour of the beginning of the week.

This week I'm looking forward to some cooler temperatures brought on by some windier systems. However, these warmer southern winds haven't quite brough the autumn chill that I'm so desperately seeking (I'm definitely a winter person, please don't groan).

In the workplace, I'm already preparing myself for end of year projects, many of them involving a good amount of writing. This week I will stay clear of busier scents, like layered spices and incenses and what-have-you, and instead opt for clarity minus the summertime sparkle.

My weaponry of the week will definitely include:

• Light Blue by Dolce & Gabbana
• *U.S.A. by John Varvatos
• and, Diesel Green by Diesel

This combination allows me wear smooth zen fragrances, and when the warmer temperature or more social day calls for it, a summer flagship like Light Blue or post-summer height grassy Diesel Green will get me through without being over-the-top and reverting back to June.

WestSmell: Vacation to Vancouver

Earlier this month was my triumphant return from a week-long excursion to Vancouver, BC. As someone who has experienced just about every major city in the continental northwest I can say without a doubt that this city, which I call my second hometown, is the best place to experience the west coast.

As far as the topic of fragrance is concerned, Vancouver provides a sparkling three-dimensional continuum of shops, stores, and boutiques to suit every need, taste, and price range. For the higher end items, look no further than famous Robson Street in the heart of downtown and its dazzling array of designer boutiques that have rapidly multiplied in the past 10 years. Robson is Canada's second largest fashion shopping hub and one of the most notable on the continent.

Western skyline from downtown Vancouver, BC

Surprisingly enough to me, I came away with my trip with three purchases (and a fourth gift fragrance) that did not match the purchases I originally had in mind. Was it the hot weather going to my head? Who can say... All I know is that in what felt like the brief fleeting moments I had dedicated to shopping in my week, my senses underwent a paradigm shift that left me with exceptional additions to my collection. As for the names on my original list of planned purchases, they will simply have to wait for another time.

First and foremost, while sweatily browsing through Sephora and soaking in its air conditioning during one of the hottest days of the year, none of the fragrances I had eyes on particularly took me. None were awful per se, but there wasn't a standout hit. I spent several minutes in deep contemplation and even took a break to the gargantuan general women's fragrances sections to pick out gifts. When I came back from this interlude I tried Amber by Prada on a whim having heard before that it was a sublimely smooth powder scent. As I've said before there isn't a fragrance I don't necessarily dislike and there are only those that are very infrequently in my conscious thought. Powders being a main group of these passed up concoctions. What I found was truly sublime. Even in the olfactory sensory overload that is Vancouver during the summer I found Prada's Amber to be exquisite and soft, but with just the right amount of woody spice undertone to meld into a man's natural sensibility. I came away with my own bottle and hit the town once again.

Prada Amber

After visiting a few design house shops in the next couple of days I did not have any additional purchases. Once again, possibly due to my heat-induced euphoria, I was unable to concentrate and find a fragrance that would be the ONE. However, I stumbled upon a fair price on a good addition to my collection while being men about town with my BFF. Located in the midst of the chaos that was the downtown Sears closing extravaganza there was a copious supply of 2011's breakout hit, L'Homme Libre by Yves Saint Laurent. It had a classic scent with a clean twist that I fell in love with, and it completely met my expectations after having read many reviews of it online. The cleanliness aspect was so well tailored it in no way had an antognizing, crisp edge that would have sullied the more oriental aspects. It was instead rounded, smooth, and strong. If crisp cleanliness were the color white, this sensation would have been akin to having a smooth clay grey.

L'Homme Libre by Yves Saint Laurent

My aforementioned BFF is a great sport with my fragrance mania, so much so that he gifted me a fragrance of which I would have otherwised not considered. I'm not explicitly opposed to commercial lines, my only beef with them is the exclusivity aspect. It's hard to get store brands when you are neither near a store, nor able to secure them from a different vendor because of licensing. I digress, the gift was A is for Aldo: Red by clothing retailer Aldo. The A is for Aldo line consists of three primary colors in the women's fragrances, and so far only Red and Yellow for the men's fragrances. Red is definitely a captivating experience because of its rich, and much like its color name, fiery expression.

A is for Aldo Red for men

At the end of the week when I finished packing to head to the airport I had a sneaking feeling that even after all of my goodbyes I still had unfinished business. Leave it to the good people at the YVR duty free shops to make sure I had one last hurrah, and I did find something that was unexpectedly "the ONE" of the whole adventure. Recent flanker to the bold Bang by Marc Jacobs, Bang Bang instantly had a hold on me. I cannot stop wearing it either. Trust me, this is great stuff. Definitely a new star of my collection. I'm unable to make a comprehensible assessment of it at the moment so I will simply entice my readers with a bottling image, and let me just say it wears 100 times better than it looks, and it looks AMAZING.

Bang Bang by Marc Jacobs

Despite the total veering off direction of hunting for my collection, my trip was refreshing and gave me some new outlooks on fragrance and possibly life in general. Mad semi-anonymous props to those who put up with me during my trip, you are truly lifelong friends and worthy of some brofists. I am looking forward to some full reviews of some of these fragrances in the future, and I'm preparing my fur hat for the inevitable blast of winter cold and what it will bring.

Re-View: Burberry The Beat

Fortunately for me, I am now able to enjoy the full spectrum of late summer with careless abandon. As you may have noticed there has been a gap of considerable size in my posts. This is due to a necessary procedure to correct, of all things, my inner nasal passages. I am now fully recovered and able to smell and sniff as much as I please. So let's get back to business!

Burberry The Beat - for men

2008

The Goods

In the past 20 years or so legendary British house Burberry has undergone a transformation in its brand. Now a global phenomenon, its steady branching out into casuals and then the nouveau niche high-end-casual catapulted Burberry fashion into post-modern "cool" without any of the all too familiar 1960's British pop culture idiosyncrasies that can dull down other British brands. Its dynamic design ethos is also found in its fragrances, which all seem to shy away from the overt general "perfume" sphere of scents and instead show off a raw, organic, and, well, casual, feel. The men's version of Burberry The Beat emphasizes the organic clean feeling that dominates contemporary fragrance wrapped in a classic men's woody fragrance bow.

Black pepper is a soft introduction into the scent profile that can leave a person wondering what exactly is in store for the rest of the fragrance. Any pepper has the tendency to be a mysterious scent as it sits in the crossroads between green, spice, floral, and wood, and in The Beat this is no exception. What does put the black pepper into perspective is the lighter middle note of bourbon. This layer has a unique way of making the pepper lean towards the greener and woodier side, but also "candies" the pepper to make it a sweet sensation.

Leatherwood provides the coniferous base to The Beat, establishing the fragrance as a time travel device between the sweet contemporary scent spearheaded by pepper and flower leaves and the old, pine scents men used at fever pitch in the 1940's and 50's.

My preferred time to wear Burberry The Beat is during weekdays that call for a relaxed appearence. Classic conifer sensation will give you just enough of that certain 20th century masculine aura, and the lighter notes will even it out to allow you to wear the scent in a professional, mixed, and upbeat 21st century setting.

Argent's Random Artistic Fragrance Word Association

Pinecones. Wool. Button-ups. Jonquils. Black framed glasses. Hi-Tops. Partially cloudy skies. Blue glass. Pocketwatch. Deodorant. Parking meter. Coffee shop sofa.

Conclusion

Burberry The Beat is a multidimensional fragrance that effortlessly blends the classics of male fragrance of yesteryear with the 21st century trend of being obsessed with cleanliness.

Rank It Up!

6 of 7 Sprays. Burberry The Beat's primary sensation is strictly a classic scent with the complex modernities arriving later on the train. It may not be the best first impression for more important occasions due to this assessment.

Comin' Up! 

This season on THE WHIFF:

• A foodie's sense of scents. How eats can please the fragrance minded and how even the most floral fragrance really can harmonize with delectable edibles.
• Summer luxe shopping excursion extravaganza! Will Argent be able to find treasure beyond his favorite haunt, Sephora?
• Pseudopsychology of scent. Get along in the world with the non-fragrance minded and start asking "When?" instead of "How Much?"
• Autumnal Equinox Forever: Tips for blending in your fall scents over the calendar without accidentally smelling like a pumpkin pie as soon as September.
• Just for Str8s: What does she think and does it matter? A guide to the fairer sex, their perspective on fragrance, and avoiding the "girlfriend's cologne pigeonhole"
• FutureFrags: Has every smell been discovered? How complex can the scent continuum be? Will fragrance ever be "finished"?

Re-View: Lucky You

Around my piece of the planet, green grass only starts to dominate the ground in late May and its only about now where I have finally "caught up" with everybody else on the continent season-wise. Its pondering the verdant natural carpet that leads me to my next review.

Lucky You - for Men, Lucky Brand

2000

The Goods

In the late 90's Lucky Brand got on the bandwagon with hundreds of other clothiers, fashion houses, retailers, shops, boutiques, etc. to venture out into their own expanded merchandising. As I've mentioned before, this period of time was an explosion of nirvana in men's fashion. Mall culture caught up to the male gender and everybody who was somebody in the business wanted to rein in on the cultural shift. Often, in-house scents produced by retailers and individual brands during this era of male enlightenment, so to speak, leaned heavily in the soapy, grassy, and clean section of the athletic variety, and ended up being overwhelming or just too weak. Lucky Brand, just one of many venturing out, struck green gold in 2000 releasing Lucky You, which took the classic green scent and turned it on its 21st century head.


Perhaps its the cotton flower top note, but the first experience of Lucky You gives me an unintelligble sensation that I can only compare with fabric. Call it a bizarre mixup of the senses, but I definitely feel fabric as a "scent". Regardless of its origin or what note it may be attributed to, its a soft clean scent that helps temper down the go-to elements of a fresh green fragrance. Too often "greens" can be summed up to smelling like lawn clippings and Lucky You does a masterful job of avoiding that pitfall with its soft freshness.


Normally I'm able to pump it up a bit and drop all kinds of mad rhymes to go along with my thoughts and ideas, but Lucky You puzzles me. Another guess of mine is that the teakwood base note, also a soft, clean smell, does what the cotton flower does at top: keep the greens in line and keep the fragrance compatible to a man's skin. A gentle and almost undetectable dose of sandalwood also does some of the work in this regard.


I prefer wearing Lucky You in the morning. Yes, in the morning! If you're not a morning person, like me, rare fragrances like these can do wonders of keeping you awake and feeling clean enough to drag yourself into the nearest Starbucks for your first proper wake-up without looking like a starlet-gone-wrong photo shoot.


Argent's Random Artistic Fragrance Word Association


Parks. Gardens. Ball caps. Cargo shorts. Sandals. Flower patches. Sunrise. Garden hose. Sunglasses. Convertibles. Messenger bags. Buses. Clouds. Sidewalks. Weeds. Hair highlights. Button-ups. Converse hi-tops. FM radio.


Conclusion


Lucky You presents a classic green fragrance with just the right combination of warmer undertones and soft, fabric top notes to give the user a fresh sensation without being muddled down, a big danger on a hot summer day.


Rank It Up!


7 of 7 Sprays