Far Away for Men
Avon (1998)

Avon Far Away for Men (1998) is a weird little perfume that like most Avon fragrances, came and went from the catalogs with the quickness. One would assume that with the ever-popular original Avon Far Away (1995) still producing flankers to this day, that this men's version would have been given a bigger marketing push, but nah. This was pretty much at the tail end of the malaise period for Avon fragrances anyway, just a few years before Andrea Jung was freshly ejected from Nordstrom to take over the Avon empire and inject fresh creative life (and capital) into its fragrances. Far Away for Men was created and summarily destroyed like many Avon fragrances for men in the late 80's through to the late 90's, with bizarre packaging that felt like a holdover from the previous decade, and an equally bizarre composition style that felt like a riff on something popular taken so far left of center that it nearly misses the plot. In this instance, the chosen target was clearly the sweetened take Liz Claiborne gave us on the fresh fougère genre with Curve for Men by Liz Claiborne (1996), but infused with some oriental facets borrowed from the original women's Far Away mixed with some other odd choices that were likely meant to make it stand on its own. Whoever cooked this up for Avon deserves a pat on the back for somehow getting Curve for Men into a three-way with Lapidus pour Homme (1987) and a then-current bottle of Batb & Body Works Plumeria shower gel. Far Away for Men couldn't be more painfully 90's if it tried, but 90's shower products popular with teenage girls was not something anyone had on their Avon men's fragrances bingo cards. Oh well, at least Far Away for Men got its own spray bottle.

All in all, those howling demons of budget fragrance craft back at Avon somehow made this unholy trinity of things work in Avon Far Away for Men. The opening is clearly on the sweet side, but more 90's clubber sweet and not a modern ethyl maltol blast kind of sweet. You have fig leaf and coriander dancing with some aldehydes and ionones that create a green floral feeling under it all, then some geranium, jasmine hedione, muguet, and a touch of lavender buried in a very heavy plum note crossed with plum flower. It's the latter that really comprises much of the vintage B&BW Plumeria comparison, and it's so jarring for those who remember that stuff from back then. The rest of the fragrance is less bizarre (thankfully), and a synthetic sandalwood note (from polysantal) mixed with cedar, patchouli, musk, and tonka. There is a bit of booziness late in the wear too, and that combined with the patchouli and musk recall a bit of the fruity musky patchouli dance that is Lapidus pour Homme, while the tonka steers Far Away for Men late-game into being a psuedo-tobacco fragrance. Madcap as that may all seem, it makes for a pretty interesting wear, like someone took the basic DNA of Curve for Men and made it much more flamboyant. The bit of genderfluidity worked into the stuff thanks to the plum flower notes may be lost on people not old enough to remember the B&BW line, but there is still an intrinsic femininity about it most "dudebros" will spot right away, making them go "hey, there's something wrong" when they smell it. Definitely leaning more on its 80's oriental clubber and boozy/tobacco facets later on, Far Away for Men makes excellent cool weather or night time wear, if nothing else. Performance is pretty good despite "cologne" labeling too, so be warned upon applying.

Those who know Avon probably expect that this was also given a full suite of bath products for its short existence too, with talc and soap, after-shave, and deodorant, so you can layer yourself up in it. This may have actually been one of the last men's fragrances from the house to come with this traditional set up. as most men's fragrances going into the 2000's were lucky to get an after shave and maybe a body wash unless they were a big seller that survived in the books long enough. To give you an idea of how out-of-touch Avon was at this point, no guy was using scented deodorant body talc in 1998, especially not after the advent of spray body antiperspirants, and I doubt many boomers who still used the stuff were looking to smell like their granddaughter's body mist crossed with their teenage grandson's cologne. On one hand, I can see how this made it past the marketing guys, because they likely wanted a men's scent that smelled like it belonged next to the fruity gourmand powdery oriental vibe of the popular women's Far Away; but on the other hand, I really wonder if they did any market testing at all to see if they had an audience for this; or did they just fatalistically release it knowing nobody wanted it? With all the quirky, sometimes inane, sometimes accidentally good men's fragrances that Avon was tossing at guys in the 90's, I wonder if anyone was at the wheel at all, since the lunatics ran the asylum. In the case of the near-nonexistent men's version of Avon's #1 selling women's perfume, if you like fruity and boozy, floral patchouli and sandalwood fragrances tossed up with tobacco and stretched over a fresh fougère frame then dressed up in drag, there may be something for you here. For most of you, I imagine this is one to avoid at all costs. Thumb up

Like 'Far Away', Far Away for Men isn't something for everybody. It is woody and very powerful. I used to love this scent back in the days.

It's not the best in the world, but taking into consideration the price and that it was pretty intense and powerful, it's not a bad deal.