Defy
Eau de Toilette, Calvin Klein (2021)

Defying nothing
Why do I love this fragrance
Generic as hell?

Flipo, Dong, Gaurin
Created too many loves
For rebellious nose

That still loves wrongly
Radio Free Fragrance on
Designer short-wave

Niche Guard patrolling
OGB in the Vintlin
Watching my keystrokes

Careful what I say
Is my last real defiance
To call this junk good?

"It's all relative"
Pine-Sol, my dirty handler
Smooth-talking my ass

Back to his service
"Scarcity's illusion, kid
And all the rest, too"

"You love what you love
Don't overthink it - OK?"
I spray one more hit

Top notes are a curse
The heroin of citrus
Coursing through my brains

Lavender kicks in
The biggest lie was the truth
"An addictive blend"

Hail Euphoria
Both generic and Intense
We're comin' home, babe

You're gonna love me
I smell like a damn new shirt
I'll wear a good one

That smells like walking
Past Abercrombie & Fitch
When it smelled so good

And we were still young
But not my Obsession days
Or before we met

When they sold fly rods
And I touched vintage smells with
Hands and working nose

Damn your ass, Pine-Sol
Don't you and three laughing frogs
Make me need this shit.

Instantly forgettable. Not worth smelling. It's a waste of energy to even write this review. Unfortunately, I have to hit the character limit, so here are a few more random words.

So, nearly 20 years after Abercrombie & Fitch released Fierce, Calvin Klein decide to introduce their version to the market, but with poorer performance.

If you've ever experienced the aforementioned 'inspiration' to Defy, and surely to goodness you have, either in its original form or from one of its countless acolytes, then you'll know exactly what you're getting here, namely a fresh citrus opening (in this case bergamot) on top of a underwhelming woodsy heart.

It smells fine, it's just that the lack of thought and ambition on display here in bringing something like this to the market in 2021 and labelling it as 'new' just highlights a company, and probably an industry, completely devoid of ideas.

I'm sure it'll sell well if the advertising campaign is anything to go by.

Received this in a sample pack from Macy's (thank you). It's just so meh, below average in scent uniqueness; nothing there to grab or even tap you on the shoulder. I would never look forward to wearing Defy if it was in my collection.

Calvin Klein Defy (2021) really defies nothing. This fragrance comes at a time when most buyers even in general-interest realms have written off the brand as passe, irrelevant, and more at home in a discount store than a department store. With releases like Defy, this opinion is only further reinforced. Three perfumers made this somehow. Now, I know it's common practice for Calvin Klein to wrangle together all the perfumers applying to a brief into a single think tank to make a perfume; but in this case it manifests nothing of interest. The budget must have been just about zero on this one too, as it smells like a second-generation copy of a clone house attempt at Prada Luna Rossa (2012). In short, this wonderjuice of just 4 notes is a fresh, slightly powdery smattering of lavandin and vetiver, with vague woody-amber underpinnings that disappear into the mist after just about 30 minutes. None of the strangeness, none of the "future-is-now" cyberpunk chic vibes of past 2000's and 2010's Calvin Kleins is here, and none of the only thing making the house fun to explore is left. Without that quirky bang-for-your-buck entertainment value their scents always brought (no matter how synthetic they were), Calvin Klein would have literally nothing to offer the modern buyer. Indeed, this fragrance has nothing to offer.

The opening is vague citrus that comes across juicy but at the same time dry, like they borrowed the grapefruit Avon liked to use in the 2000's, then dialed it down even lower somehow. The opening is absolutely buzzing with acetates and clean musks, then some of that powdery lavandin reminding me of Luna Rossa appears, mixed with some of the nutty lavender from Calvin Klein Reveal Men (2014). Problem is again, the dosage is so low that you can barely detect any of it at all. The final rounding out of woody-ambery meh completes the scent and within roughly an hour, you can forget that you're even wearing anything. Is this stuff seriously an eau de cologne? I don't know guys, but this is one seriously weak perfume. I can get a little more from what feels like some patchouli isolate floating in the foggy background, but there isn't much else to really pick up. The opening is gone in 30 minutes, and the rest of the perfume gone in about 4, with 3 of that being at skin scent level. Maybe this is a repeat of Calvin Klein Euphoria Men(2006), where they'll release an intense version later (that really is the "normal" version); but even Euphoria wasn't -this- weak. Best use is whenever, because nobody is going to be smelling this, not even you. Another non-fragrance for people who want to say they have a fragrance but don't like actually smelling it.

If I really try to think here, the only thing this scent could be trying to Defy is the belief that Calvin Klein can't sink any lower in the eyes of the online fragrance community. Calvin Klein Defy is a real "hold my beer" kind of fragrance, proving that just when you think the bottom has been reached, someone manages to dig just a bit deeper. There is absolutely nothing enjoyable whatsoever about Defy, even if on the same token, there is absolutely nothing awful about it either. In some ways, having a perfectly mediocre fragrance with abysmal performance is worse than coming out the gate smelling like harsh chemicals or something really challenging like a fuzzy wall of woody-ambers. At least in those instances, you can say the perfume smells like -something- good or bad, and gives you a real "take me as I am" moment to fight or fly away. Here with Calvin Klein Defy, the fragrance perfectly merges with the background undetectable and not a single person will remember anything about this fragrance in a few years, not even what it's also-boring bottle looks like, nothing. Now I know CK overall has had resounding success in countries like China, where the general taste in fragrances is to be lighter and barely-there, so maybe this is localized to sell in those markets. if so, I'm the wrong man for this fragrance, which is fine by me. Thumbs down

4 Notes

4 notes and this stuff? Pathetic. Do better CK. Like a invictus knockoff opening, so volume down. Mid has some sage and herbal aspects, and brings it less sweet. Underneath its a generic amberwood base. Feels cheap, but wont smell bad for $20 at TJ Maxx for somebody someday.