Adidas Adrenaline
Adidas (2003)

What would you get if you pulled all the mossy wonder out of Van Cleef & Arpels Tsar (1989) and replaced it with ozonic top notes, then pushed the green elements way forward alongside the citrus? Well, apparently the folks at Coty wanted to answer that question so badly that they marketed that answer as the male counterpart to their now-discontinued Adrenaline product line. Jean Jaques of Mat;Male (2002) fame was hired to make this, and he applied the same synthetic minimalism to the masculine version of Adrenaline, but on the even lower Coty budget. Back in the day this was another easy-grab for the teens and early 20's high school and college-going active male crowd, the kind of guy that keeps a bottle of something in his glove box for romance, and in his gym bag to avoid smelling abhorrent after working out because he's too insecure to shower at the gym. I was never the biggest fan of "sporty" 90's and 2000's scents, as they're all nose hair burners with the exception of maybe Perry Ellis 360° for Men, which manages to keep it's hat on enough to not blow me away, and dries down quite nice. This on the other hand, this comes screaming out of the bottle saying "Witness me!" before it explodes in a mushroom cloud of green and citrus. It dries down, but never calms down, mixing with body odor in a way that actually makes it WORSE instead of masking it as was probably the intent. Adrenaline is basically working with body chemistry in the way Kouros (1981) does, but all wrong, and creates something scary instead of borderline sensual. Wearing Adrenaline literally feels like "I worked out" in that off-putting salty sweat on gym equipment padding sort of way that you really don't want to be reminded of when you leave. Spraying on clothing nixes this body chemistry effect, but afterward, one is just left with that ozonic Tsar vibe I mentioned in the beginning.

Adrenaline opens with that "radioactive grapefruit" jet fuel ozonic accord, then adds some neroli, lavender, and bergamot just like Tsar. The middle of "generic green" is probably some mix of pine, muguet, and pepper, like a bastard Pino Silvestri (1955) meets aerosol body spray version of Kouros accord that dries down to white musk, Iso E Super wood-like tones, and bayberry. It's a hot mess of a dry down that tries to be fresh, sporty, then late-game sensual all while being a failed odor-fighter at the same time. A gym dumbbell in one hand, a box of chocolates in the other, and a clueless vapid dudebro expression on the face that is confused about whether one should ask "Do you want to dance?" or "Do you even lift?" is the general feel of this. I see a lot of positive, if brief remarks for this, and while I won't criticize those opinions, I believe I am casting an unpopular vote by saying that this cacophony of notes might be good to the person that hasn't smelled much better, since it does what it does competently, but also rather clumsily, with there being much better-blended, and even equally affordable (at MSRP) scents out there which achieve the gym-to-nightclub transition. Hell, the aforementioned Tsar and Perry Ellis both serve a ton better in this one's stead, particularly Tsar since it is built on a mossy powerhouse framework that doesn't smell synthetic and has enough bottom end to balance all the green. Adrenaline just takes the already limiting idea of "sport scent" and concentrates it so fiercely with the opening and middle that by the time I reach the end, I'm just so tired of being beaten to the ground by the intensity, that I'm over the experience. Luckily it has rather poor longevity, so is more for sprinting than marathon running.

The ozonic genre already has a pretty bad rap with most serious fragrance fans, and this scent sort of epitomizes why. It's just so high on it's own intensity and intent on being "fresh and active" for the entirety it's short-lived existence that anyone wearing it might as well be carrying a megaphone around and yelling at passersby "DO I SMELL FRESH? I WORK OUT YOU KNOW! I'M ATHLETIC AND ATTRACTIVE. I SMELL GOOD! DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE?" Sadly, I do not want to know more, and it looks like the buying public didn't either as this goes for crazy prices in the aftermarket now that it's been retired. Let me tell you, not all discontinued fragrances are underappreciated gems taken from us before they had the chance to shine, or unmarketable exercises in perfume art for the hip in-the-know vintage fans to pass back and forth like baseball cards. Sometimes something is given the axe because it's just plain bad, and I feel that's the case here. Mat;Male was a love-it-or-hate-it scent to begin with, and the nose behind this has a track record for staying in the salty side of the ozonic and aquatic realm for his masculines, so I'm not surprised by this. Functional perfumery at best, an abuse of a trend at worst, you might like this for it's ability to survive the heat of the gym, but I had this sitting for years unused and only recently let it pass to a local friend. Sure, I could sell it for $100 on eBay like the other discontinued scent scalpers are doing, but I rather enjoy being able to sleep at night. I'd rather wear the ginger ale calamity that is Adidas Moves (1999) over this, and that one isn't exactly a charmer either.

An awesome cheapy to keep around. When I do wear it, compliments abound. Very Nice. In fact, ALL Adidas scents have been good. Recommended.

This was created by the same guy as Mat;male, and smells similar IMO, if not sexier (vs. mat;male 'feel good' style); Moves, meanwhile, has 'ginger ale accord'. Need I say more. Adrenaline just smells a bit different so it hasn't caught on as much as that other major Adidas effort; all the better.

Adidas Adrenaline smells very bad! I bought the big 1 FL OZ bottle. I would love my money back. I think by the smell, and the name. That only people that have very bad B.O. would need to use it. I love Adidas Moves!

Adrenaline is a simple, fresh, sporty fragrance that smells strong of oranges and light herbs. It isn't the longest lasting fragrance, which is very much like others that are very similar to it such as Perry Ellis Man and Perceive by Avon. Of all the sporty fresh fragrances I've owned, Adrenaline gets the most positive reaction from women. So not only does it smell awesome but women love it too. I recommend getting the body wash to help it last longer

I sampled this fragrance recently, i bought the the deodorant stick, it not a bad scent, its best so far by Adidas especially considering the price