Green Lavender Cologne Intense
Art of Shaving (2016)

I really like this fragrance! I'm coming off an Art of Shaving cologne jag having recently purchased five of them. Green Lavender is my favorite one between it and the others I have: Coriander and Cardamom, Sandalwood & Cypress, Oud Suede, and Vetiver Citron. It's best for spring and summer, like all of these AoS colognes. One whiff and you'll realize it SHOUTS "Barbershop!" and it does so in a unique way. I'm not a big floral guy but wanted to venture into lavender territory and I am so happy I did. This one just works. Most Art of Shaving colognes are average performers, but this one is slightly above; I can still smell it on me after several hours. All things considered, it's definitely worth a buy.

Edit 8/6/22: I recently sampled Maison Margiela “At the Barber’s”. It’s the same scent profile if not the same fragrance IMO.
++++++++
When I first purchased and used Green Lavender in spring 2020, I would have agreed 100% with the Vagabond’s review. I’d found 100ml at Burlington early in my fragrance acquisition phase. It seemed high quality, interesting - not “cologney “ at all - but fairly one dimensional. A bright green, lavender scent, with an undeniable creamy sweetness.

A bargain for the $20 I paid, and I wore it a lot that summer. Ultimately growing tired of it and actually questioning if I liked it or not after all. As I acquired more and different styles of fragrance, it took a backseat.

I’ve ignored it since., until this morning. Either it changed or I changed. I suspect more of the latter, because after blitz buying about 100 bottles in barely over a year my nose has developed along with my tastes. I’m still a newb, and not great with individual notes, but I’m learning as I go.

I now understand why this is a barbershop profile. And I smell way more notes now than before, including an intoxicating anise and a trace herbaceous essence that escaped me before. All supporting and sitting on top of that powerhouse lavender, that’s always there.

I don’t agree it’s made with cheap ingredients. I do agree that it’s well blended, and I dare say quite clever. I think Green Lavender requires some time to understand and appreciate. And boy, that is the one thing that this hobby reinforces over and over. To understand a fragrance you need to live with it. Until you do you don’t really know it. You can experience many facets of a fragrance without really knowing it. And now that I’ve revisited Green Lavender I want to get to know it better. Seriously! It’s good, and I anticipate it being even a little addicting, with that Lavender Sambuca melange going on, with a hint of mint, daring me to ignore it.

This is going to work really well this. spring, and might, in fact, be best reserved for sunny weather falling just sort of “hot”. In warmer weather the sweet, creaminess of this can get cloying. Fall would be fine as well, but this was made to be a spring signature.

I myself think Green Lavender has a quite strong sillage. It fills up a car that’s for sure, ask my wife! I recall it lasting sufficiently and I’ll go with that for now. I’ll update this if I learn otherwise.

A blind buy no brainer at $40 or less. I understand these retailed for well over $100 at AoS stores. IMO this was less popular because it’s more challenging.

Green Lavender, true to its name, is a rather simple concoction of laveder, tonka, rosemary with hints of cypress. The citrus notes are very subdued and don't stand out. The lavender is sweetish, not medicinal, and the different notes are well-balanced. Green lavender smells good, but is simplistic and a bit one-dimensional. While it does last a few hours, sillage is quite close to skin.

I feel this could have benefited a lot from more depth and complexity, and higher grade materials. In terms of scent profile it's similar to Czech & Speake's Oxford & Cambridge, but falling short in terms of quality. Maybe a good buy if heavily discounted, else it's far more worthwhile to get Oxford & Cambridge for something along these lines.

2.5/5