Colours for Men
Alexander Julian (1994)

Colours smells like it could've been released 25 years prior. It's a creamy, powdery floral (mostly jasmine), very sandalwood -forward with moments that remind me of a somewhat more refined Zizanie. It dries dry and mossy, quite soothing I must say, but I have this style covered and while its quite lovely, it doesn't warrant my going full bottle.

Why, oh, WHY did they discontinue this??? It would've been my favorite until the end of time!!!

A rare jewel that gets the powdery-sweet thing done right. My bottle is showing the ravages of time (I bought it back in the 90's), but still the elixir within doesn't disappoint. Patchouli is quite evident in this one, along with a nicely mossy heart. An oriental scent to be sure, in the same family as Royal Copenhagen but smoother and more classy.

I have to disagree with tvlampboy here, in that I don't find this "perfumey" at all. I obtained a bottle in a swap, without ever sampling it, so I feared that it might have strong geranium, for example, which can created what I consider to be a "perfumey" quality. Instead, I agree with 20scents. This is really smooth, but I don't find it especially fresh. It seems to have a minor animalic note, actually, but it's so smooth that no note can cause "spiking" issues. I don't find it "powdery" because it's not dry enough for that, nor do I consider it "creamy" because the blending is just right, and it seems to stop just short of creaminess. The only "negative" I could imagine is that some might find this boring or lacking in dynamism after a while. It seems "natural" enough and the longevity and projection ("sillage") are at least very good with my skin chemistry.This seems to be the "blurb" on it (on various sites): "a sharp, oriental, floral fragrance. This masculine scent possesses a blend of oriental notes with sandalwood and patchouli." Don't expect to actually smell sandalwood or patchouli, however. I don't really think of it as an oriental fragrance, because it's not especially sweet and I don't detect much if any spice. How anyone can call it "sharp" is beyond my comprehension, unless the top notes are (which I avoid as much as possible). My guess on the notes: iris/orris, white floral, lemon, civet, amber and/or heliotrope, and perhaps moss. I'd say there are at least several others, which certainly could include sandalwood and patchouli, but the blending makes it difficult for me to feel confident about my ability to determine what's in here. Whatever the notes are, the perfumer did an excellent job of creating a unique fragrance (AFAICT) that is pleasant and technically sound.

Powdery beyond powdery -- the quintessence of powdery, in fact. (n.b.: The underlying sweetness here is of the "perfume-y" type, not the gourmand type.)A definite try-before-you-buy kind of frag, esp. in light of its high "discontinued, hard-to-find" price tag.

I get a spicy, sweet and a mossy scent. I like the spice but not the sweet. It's not overly sweet but it's just enough to turn off the spice. It's very nice.