Perfume Reviews by vipersinthefield

Drakkar Intense by Guy Laroche

For $20 how could one resist the new Drakkar Intense?...meh, I'm just not impressed. It's a boozy and spicy scent but so blended down I can't find a starting point. I get a lot of black licorice and toasted vanilla that seem to represent the strongest notes. An ambery, cinnamon, and semi-woody thing going on. I get a hint of brown leather floating around off and on in the licorice and vanilla. The first few times I wore this upfront I got a got a cool lemon spiced with coriander. Since then, after my skin adjusted it's hidden somewhere beneath the murky composition.

Drakkar Intense by Guy Laroche is a thumbs down for me. It's inoffensive but lazily blended. There are boozy/fresh spicy scents that are cheap and just way better designed than this. Perry Ellis Original for Men (1985), Red for Men by Giorgio of Beverly Hills (1991), or Dirty English by Juicy Couture (2008). Maybe 4 hours of very light projection with about5-6 hours of under the collar subtlety. Eau De Parfum? I think not.

Royall Lyme by Royall Lyme of Bermuda

This one opens initially as the smell of a citric soda like 7-UP or Sierra Mist. Then this dries down to a base of lime rind laced with a spice infused musk note. The opening is a tad synthetic only from nose association, but it becomes a simple and clean lime scent for daily wear. Overpriced for how basic it is and how quickly it becomes a skin scent but I'll use up the 8oz bottle.

05/24/2024 Update:

I'm dropping my rating to a thumbs down on Royall Lyme. After several months of wearing this out of the blue one day and since then my skin decided it couldn't remain immune to the lime note any longer. On recent applications until discontinued use my pores felt like they were being decimated from the burning sensation of the citric acid. After the citric acid wears off though it leaves my skin feeling irritated off and on.

Denim Black by Denim

This one by the house of Denim Fragrances I didn't find to be bad at all. Denim Black by Denim seems to open with a body of sweet citrus mixed with a little bit of lavender to feel barely soapy. This is floral from some violet and I catch a hint of leather invoking a certain early 1990's cologne as these two notes ride with citrus and make it "black". Sandalwood and a light amount of musk add a little accent without try to dominate the fresh and clean feel.

Denim Black by Denim is an easy to wear fragrance after a hot shower. This doesn't smell like Preferred Stock by House of Stetson (Coty), but it does borrow a bit of the DNA from it in a smoother form. My reason for a neutral rating is the longevity is horrible at two hours and then it's gone. Denim Fragrances are known more for being lighter in projection but at least give 4-5 hours of detectable enjoyment as a budget friendly brand. Pleasant scent but horrible performance.

Jaguar (original) by Jaguar

I get some orange and amber rendered sweet with a "greened out" cedar from infusing with some pine. The body of the blend is quite powdery and harsh from lavender and gardenia forming together. I get some hints of tobacco, nutmeg, and a really vague leather note.

I'll give Jaguar Original a thumbs down rating. Lagerfeld Classic styled orange crossed with a bright and pungent floral covered in powder I just can't work with. Although the Fougere side rushes in and tries to build that around into a masculine and gentlemanly scent I get an older women's fragrance vibe from it.

Denim by Denim

I'm going to do a review on both of these because this fragrance has changed over the years.

Denim Cologne by Lever Bros:
I get a warm but lightly sharp base of lemon that seems to be touched by a little amber and a good amount of leather. The amber and leather throw a kind of aged feel to the lemon making it more weathered and slightly of orange to the nose. This citric base is colored with a trace of olibanum and anise. I get a little musk and the blend gets semi powdery of lavender and cedarwood. The fluid in the frosted glass bottle is a deep golden color.

Denim Original EDT by Codaa Switzerland:
This opens with a cool and and brisk lemon base. That lemon is blended with a fat mixture of fresh/moist soap, musk, and a little leather. I get a light undertone of a glossy vetiver and olibanum to form a "waxy green spice". The fluid in the bottle is a light golden color.

My thumbs up goes to both of the blends of Denim (1976) with some commentary. The old Denim cologne lives up to it's leathery namesake and has a more unique citrus. The old formula is the one people will relate to as a predecessor to Azzaro Pour Homme (1978). But Denim Original EDT does make a very confident and sexy after shower fragrance with it's fresher but still older style. Performance wise I don't see a difference between these two as far as EDC vs. EDT. The EDT will initially come off as stronger because it has a sprayer that cranks out a lot of juice. So both of these go light in projection after an hour and last five or six hours.

Denim Musk by Denim

This one opens with a just a little barbershop powder from lemon and lavender. The barbershop powder is rounded off with some vanilla and musk combined together. I get a moderate amount of patchouli accented with a bit of leather and wood. This patchouli note though is clean from brushing with the barbershop base.

Musk by Denim is a pretty decent barbershop scent and it is smooth for containing both patchouli and musk. However, once you do smell this it will make you think of Zino Davidoff by Davidoff (1986). In comparison though Musk by Denim is quieter, far less sweet, and easier to wear.

Cameron by Kensington

The opening of this one is resinous and dark/slightly bitter from a base of amber mixing with a bit of black leather. Cinnamon and incense come together to make this spicy and sweet, but it also adds to the darkness of the black leather. Carnation is present in the heart and gets seasoned by the two spicy notes. Sandalwood lies in the finish and it's kind of powdery. I have to admit the cinnamon in this comes off as natural and not a syrupy or gum type of note.



Cameron by Kensington I give a thumbs up. This was discontinued in 1990 when the Kayser-Roth Corporation closed their Kensington subsidiary. As a cologne intended for romantic/night/cool weather wear that you only found in a five and dime store? Cameron had a rather good design. A good design but rather mature. This was definitely designed for men in their late 30's to early 40's at the youngest.

Sergio Tacchini by Sergio Tacchini

I get some fresh lime combined with a bit of cedarwood. Cedar will kick in some sharpness to the lime. So sharp though one might say it reminds them of a cleaning chemical. I wouldn't call this soapy but rather a clean effect from aldehydes filtering in a little pine and mint. The finish is kind of new-agey from freshly green patchouli and hints of styrax incense.

Sergio Tacchini by Sergio Tacchini I give a thumbs up. This one is a nice blend of sport scent freshness meets fougere. It has low projection but is more detectable than most sport scents I've encountered and lasts at least 12 hours. However, this made a better daily wear fragrance for the average joe rather than the tennis playing yuppies it was marketed for. Sweating profusely while playing a sport and wearing a fragrance with patchouli and styrax in it will not mesh well.

Essential by Lacoste

On opening I get tomato leaf and initially a non-descript citrus that quickly reveals to be orange. A moderately sweet and soft orange fused with mild amounts of rose and sandalwood. The tomato leaf note is pleasant as it merges with the black pepper in delivering bitterness. Soapy? very light in my opinion and smells more like a body wash gel.

I'm going to give Essential by Lacoste a thumbs up. It's long lasting but expect subtle projection like any sport fragrance. This one doesn't smell like it was developed in year 2005 but rather more influenced with how sport fragrances in the 1980's were designed.

Chaz Musk by Revlon

This one opens with sandalwood warmed by some cinnamon, amber, and very little geranium and leather. It's kind of a spicy and boozy outcome. It's semi clean from a splash of sweet citrus and powdery lavender. This has a pretty moderate amount of creamy musk in the finish. This is basically a modified take on the original Chaz fragrance. Different wood note with no lemon and pine. The boozy and musky side turned way up.

Musk by Chaz/Revlon was worth revisiting because I was a fan of this cheapie. I like the musk genre but the short list of warm and romantic ones that went defunct were the worthiest for a night out with the wife or girlfriend. Musk by Chaz/Revlon is on that short list. In the end I remember this not coming in a box anymore and had a light blue, Revlon factory issued price sticker of $5.95 for a 2.25oz bottle. This cologne wasn't even kept in display cases at drugstores in the 1990's- it sat right with the Old Spice, Skin Bracer, and Brut products.

Duc de Vervins by Houbigant

This one opens with lemon and a shaving soap form of lavender that's taking in quite a few green notes. I get pine, oakmoss, patchouli, and mint but in moderation to make a smooth and clean fougere/barbershop blend. That's really all it is in style with some notes to add. At initial spray I always get some musk and as this dries down it serves as a light finish. Also into an hour of wear the mint becomes more detectable and just a hint of nutmeg comes in and out.

I'm going to give Duc de Vervins a neutral with a low star rating. This smells great but it just doesn't last. The performance level is poor for the price tag it goes for and the thing is it has a generous sprayer. This just plummets from decent projection to under the shirt collar subtlety within two hours then gone by the sixth hour.

Hawk by Mennen

This seems to open bittersweet with a cherry liqueur note mixed with a light amount of cinnamon. Leather and a dash of sage seems to ride along with this sweetness giving off an old-fashioned boozy smell found in a few 70's scents. I get just a bit of sandalwood but a lot of musk in the finish. This has just a touch of lavender to keep the sweetness clean and non-cloying.

If Hawk by Mennen has any younger relatives, I'd probably say Red for Men by Giorgio (1991), and Dirty English by Juicy Couture (2008). Mostly due to it's style on sweet, leathery, and clean style. It's a shame that Mennen gave up the ghost on drugstore fragrances because Hawk was a good one.

Leather by Yardley

All I get from this one is a lemony opening, leather, pine, moss, and some cedar blended together. It goes light very quickly and is gone in a few hours. I give this a thumbs down because the pine and moss are very synthetic and cheap notes reminding me a lot of a cleaning chemical called "Simple Green".

Clubman Lilac Vegetal by Pinaud

Some may be a fan of this but I'm not. I learned from this aftershave that lilac in high doses can be very dusty or old, pungent, and emit a hint of a resemblance to cat piss. Never mind the powdery undertone of lavender added to the lilac that tries to give a barbershop feel...it's just an old, rotten floral smell.

If I smelled Lilac Vegetal on someone, I wouldn't interpret this is as an aftershave. I would guess that they were a mortician complete with the pungent odor of formaldehyde and dead flowers from the funeral parlor.

Tai Winds by Avon

I finally got my hands on a bottle of Tai Winds cologne. I've been interested in this one since I heard "green and powdery barbershop" and the neat tiki bottle.

The first thought that hit my mind was "this smells a lot like Brut" but mellower on certain notes. I get lemon, anise, lavender/barbershop powder, oakmoss and vanilla. The lemon in Tai Winds isn't as sharp and the anise doesn't attack as hard. I found this to be a little lighter on vanilla than Brut. The musk is generous but initially has a light dryer sheet tone to it, but that disappears on drydown. This does have some kind of cooling note that hides in the oakmoss and it must be a little menthol. I gather to capture a breezy feel to reflect the fragrance's namesake.

Tai Winds by Avon is a barbershop scent you just don't hear about. I think it's an interesting variant modeled after Brut. Very close to the shirt collar projection but it's an Avon fragrance.

Hunter by Armaf

This one starts out very woody of cedar and it's filtering through some citrus. I catch a yellow floral in this...ylang-ylang but possibly a yellow jasmine. I do get a bitter green hint of moss. Lots of calone floating around in the blend. I get hints of leather in the finish.

Hunter by Armaf is an odd one. This feels like it's trying to merge a spring and fall scent into one as a casual wear or office scent. But the design clashes for the first few hours and it's quite rough until it mellows down. It's very dry and sharp. Calone makes this feel like an early 1990's fragrance but there's just too much. When that calone mixes with the yellow florals it strangely smells like bananas.

Roma Uomo by Laura Biagiotti

The opening is very fresh and clean, it's a lot of orange and a grapefruit note. The grapefruit note is holding some laurel so this comes off as a 90's sport shampoo or soap smell with a green twist. The orange develops a sweetness and at first it's really peachy to the nose from a calone note that burns off after a few minutes. Then this sweetness changes to incense tones from benzoin resin and vanilla powder...it's almost a caramel like sweetness. I get a good amount of sandalwood which is softened by the powdery and sweet orange note. I also get musk which has a slightly creamy and semi nutty hint to it from the soft sandalwood.

Roma Uomo is an easy to wear fragrance. I'm giving it a neutral because I think for it's time it was quite original. But the fruity/vanilla thing has been done so much over the past 20 years in under $20 men's fragrances that this just doesn't stand out.

Furyo by Jacques Bogart

Recently I acquired a bottle of Furyo that's current from it's extensive ingredients list on the box.

This opens up with a punch (I feel) is more hefty on civet than castoreum. The initial piss tone of the civet just sticks out more until dry down. I get a large note of jasmine that's linked to subtle amounts of sweet cinnamon, sandalwood, laurel, nag champa incense, and lavender. It's a dark red/exotically sweet and incense-ish (but not too sweet), and kind of leafy smell with a mildly soapy tone. The lavender note gets bigger and picks up the animalic notes and jasmine. I'll be blunt the whole floral and animalic note fusion shapes out a slight urinal cake smell. I'm usually not fond of the urinal cake association but Furyo is the exception. It's the slightly "new age" blend of notes that surrounds that urinal cake note. It's dirty sex in the bedroom while playing Enigma's "Principles of Lust" on the stereo.

Furyo's design I can detect some character similar to Kouros (1981). But Ron Winnegrad did use jasmine and animalics in an older fragrance of his called Leonard Pour Homme (1980). Furyo was a better fragrance than Kouros in my opinion and definitely was abstract. Furyo goes on heavy yet smoothens out balances out it's animalic/aromatic sides quite well. This was one that liked to stay close to it's wearer though so don't expect Kouros level projection.

Sybaris by Antonio Puig

Sybaris has been on my list to get for many years and especially in a splash bottle. Now after obtaining a 6.7 oz bottle the bottom of the box says this is "a Quorum designs
product"...so this is a follow-up scent. Also a copyright year of 1987.

On opening a bit of lemon that fades away only to be taken over by honey, amber, and a little oakmoss. This blossoms out to reveal a little jasmine lightly dosed with soapy lavender which is dipped in some animalic musk. This is sandalwood soaked in cinnamon creating dry and spicy warmth. The blend is finished off with some leather coming through the mix.

Sybaris by Antonio Puig is a good one. It is thick and heavy and reminds me of Versace L'Homme by Versace (1984) but with improvement. In comparison Sybaris isn't quite as dry and avoids the vanilla sweetness. it's just more elegant and balanced.

Hugo by Hugo Boss

This fragrance opens up quite sporty smelling of mint, pine, and a somewhat fizzy soap blend from lavender and grapefruit. This sporty freshness quickly calms down to reveal some spicy clove ,geranium, and cedar which filter through the fresh/sporty body. If you sniff at the geranium you'll catch that the rum and clove is merged with it. In the finish I get just a bit of calone that puts a slightly aquatic hint to the mix. I have never detected apple in this fragrance.

Hugo by Hugo Boss is a fragrance I'm revisiting again. I don't think this is as deeply synthetic as others have stated. But I do feel this fragrance was inspired by Ungaro III (1993).

Léonard pour Homme (original) by Léonard

To me this fragrance comes off as very powdery in design. The heart of Leonard PH is very romantic of carnation and some leather. A good amount of castoreum flows through the powdery body of this, so expect it to be musky. There seems to be a lot of movement from the incense at times branching out between the leather and oakmoss for a "burning leaves" similarity, then to the castoreum to make it dark and more oily. There is a lavender/oakmoss/herbs/citrus combo that creates a green yet citrusy fresh soap smell. This soap design is mild though, almost as a separate layer to not interfere with the dark side of Leonard PH.

I'll gladly add to the thumbs up crowd on Leonard Pour Homme. This is a gentleman's scent that is smooth and balanced for the stronger notes it has. I think a fan of Aramis (1965) would really take to this fragrance. It's strictly a classic men's fragrances with just a dab of 80's innovation. Outdated to some...timeless to others.

Eros by Versace

I acquired a bottle of this as a blind buy under batch code# SA422 and I must say I'm not impressed with Eros by Versace. I guess I was expecting more artistry to the composition.

The opening is kind of fresh and sharp of lemon, cedarwood, and ambroxan. A vanilla coated green apple takes over the blend and initially is sweet but becomes kind of airy and thin from merging with an ozone note. Mint is in the blend, but I most pick up on it tagging along the cedar note and drifting into the vanilla. I get only two hours of low projection and another four or five hours as a skin scent. Due to the amount of vanilla and ozonic/airy nature of this fragrance.

Eros by Versace I'm giving a thumbs down. It's inoffensive and it works for casual or work wear. I can't help speak ill of it though because it's so generic smelling at $60 for 3.4oz bottle. It reflects an office scent formula that was used so repetitively from 2000-2010 that it exhausted itself so there's nothing special here. $15-$20 office scents like Thallium by Yves De Sistelle (2003) and Original Penguin for Men by Penguin (2011) are at least appropriately priced.

Carrera (original) by Carrera

Carrera Pour Homme was a blind-buy for me and wasn't quite what I was expecting. It's bottle looks like a deodorant stick and other reviews on Fragrantica described it as an "after shower" or sporty fresh scent. Being that this was made in the late 80's I was curious about those descriptions.

I get some light and powdery lavender and pretty firm on sandalwood. I don't get any of the other florals mentioned but one (not listed)... it's violet. All of this is creamed over by some tonka. The tonka though seems to be lightly touched by moss giving bitterness to the vanilla. This toughens up the violet a little and reflects the pale green fluid color to a degree. There's some kind of mild sweetness to this working through the fragrance. It comes off like a cherry sweetart. It's a familiar synthetic sweetness that must have worked it's way into the mid 1990's fragrances like Faconnable EDT and Arsenal (grey grenade bottle with red lettering) by Gilles Cantuel.

Carrera PH is a very creamy and colorful aromatic that is easy to wear. It's not refreshing or a sharp/soapy just showered smell. But it does smell good. Why I give this fragrance a neutral is I unknowingly met it's clone many years ago. Carrera PH just gets too light veering to a skin scent in a few hours after 6 sprays while the clone is longer lasting/stronger. That clone is the Arsenal fragrance I mentioned and smells remarkably similar. Arsenal will also be much cheaper when the secondary market starts driving up cost off rarity/discontinuation and the Carrera name.

Lapidus pour Homme Sport by Ted Lapidus

This one opens up strong of white florals and citrus. There is some lavender in here but for powdery texture. This fragrance isn't soapy, it's rather clean from the citrus. I catch a soft sandalwood accompanied by a light aquatic note. A little incense and some of that animalic musk from Lapidus PH (1987).

Lapidus PH Sport is the fresher version on the classic powerhouse for spring and summer wear. In that tradition it also cranks out some of that Lapidus raunch. Even though this is more tempered it's not going to fit with the generalization of a energetic and ultra clean sports scent. I'd recommend this to a Lapidus PH fan who wants a version that works for warmer weather.