Negative Reviews of Cool Water by Davidoff

So glad I didn’t blind-buy this. Reading the notes in it sounded good, but it was so fake smelling and boring. Maybe the reformulation ruined it, but this sad thing has been absolutely neutered. Nothing even remotely interesting.

1988, Cool Water, the beginning of the end… the primordial chemical soup that spawned thousands of calonic freshy laundry spikey noxious monsters that haunt us to this day.

In the year 2021 and possibly after many reformulations since the late 80s, this concoction smells literally like a cheap fabric conditioner or dryer sheets. There is no class, no sophistication, just one ozonic, soapy smell that lingers. You can find it at the discounters at a ridiculously low price but it ain't worth it

Big thumbs down, I literally hate this stuff on my skin that's the problem. Smells good on my brother so I gave it to him.

Aspen and Tres Nuit are so much closer to GIT. I do not detect any grassiness in CW. Smells cheap and bland on my skin. In a word, literally, yuck.

hello, I am new here and new to collecting fragrances. Good to be here and it is really good to hear that I am not alone on my review of cool water.
I have been saying for years to many people that as I get older I really love nice smells. I appreciate all the good scents! Of course, we are all human with a nose, right? Although as I said as I have grown older I really have become fond of good scents of all kinds and forms.
I have been studying fragrances online and Utube for weeks now. I spent 400 dollars on fragrances and really like all of them. I have been buying a bunch of mini bottles and sets so that I can explore.
I decided to buy a 4.2 oz bottle of Davidoff cool water because of all the positive professional reviews. I figured that if it is not great, I can spray it on my towels and bathroom fixtures as I have done with bargain basket fragrances in the past.
I opened the bottle of cool water yesterday for the first time. I sprayed my arms one time each. I could not believe that I have heard, seen, and read so many positive reviews on this fragrance. I even did not want to waste my time keeping it and spraying it on my bathroom fixtures. I put it right back in the box drove to the post office and shipped it back, because the company will accept products that have been tested. I wasted the price of shipping which is close to a third of the cost of the bottle.
I have no problem with not liking this fragrance. My problem is, why so many fragrance experts have said great things about this scent? It is nothing special and it did nothing what so ever for me. Now I can not take the word of all the experts, because of this and that stinks.
From now on I have to sample products before I purchase. This was not much of a waste of money, but a good lesson. I will spend the money on a sample before I buy a product. Maybe someone is being paid to say great things about this product. It is nothing special what so ever. I purchased it from a reputable company, so it had to be authentic. Would anyone spend the time on making a fake Coolwater? lol, I really have a problem understanding why so many people have boasted about cool water being so great? Tobacco note? yeah really.

I cannot believe that this monstrosity and Eternity are the top 2 best selling Men's perfumes of all time...

I never smelled this back in the day when it had debuted, maybe because I was only 7 and better that I hadn't because now, now that my nose is honed to a razor from decades of smelling good scents and horrible scents, my God this is absolutely disgusting. I would hate to wear this. I did a sample spritz on my arm and couldn't even hack a whole hour. This hurts my mucous membranes.

After 10 minutes this goes directly into an overpoweringly strong, metallic, aquatic musky think that reminds me 'strongly' of Animale for Men. Not Animale Animale, 'Animale'.

This just goes to show that the majority of humans don't know shit about a proper perfume because it is far beyond my comprehension how this nasty chemical soup is still a best seller.

By the way, the flacon that I had picked up is from Lancaster with the cursive writing on the front.

Horrible stuff in my opinion. I get lemon, lavender, a marine note with a touch of mint, and a bit of tobacco. This is certainly mimicking the design of Ice Blue by Aqua Velva but it comes off as very off-putting in comparison. Sharp overtones of a hairspray chemical flow through the blend. I think this hairspray note trying to create a breeze effect but instead it's making everything very harsh and synthetic.

Cool Water by Davidoff is a thumbs down for me. Nautica Classic by Nautica (1992) would be another mimicker of the "Ice Blue" scent profile with a slightly different approach. Even better Nautica veered away from the screechy hairspray note making Cool Water look pretty cheap in perfumery techniques.

This (and Green Irish Tweed), smell so disgustingly artificial that I can only tolerate them for a few minutes. Both of them are scrubbers I'm afraid.

One of the worst perfume i have ever tried and purchased.. i purchased blindly by just checking its rating on basenote but what a bad experience it is... i want to give it 0 out of 100

You're a 16-year-old boy. Your hair is spiked, and you're wearing a tacky rental tux. It's prom night and you're looking to get lucky for the first time. What cologne do you reach for? Cool Water of course!

I can't tell if I actually hate this scent or if I just can't get the above image out of my head every time I smell it. I'm not yet pro enough to list the notes I get, but in terms of feelings: juvenile and sleazy.

I do see the similarities between this and Creed GIT as others have mentioned. But, to say you should pass on GIT for Cool Water is like saying to pass on a convertible red Ferrari and for a convertible red Saturn. GIT isn't a personal favorite of mine, but I get why people like it. Cool Water is just gross to me.

When Cool Water first came out in the late 80's I was 25 yrs old and bought a bottle just like every other 25 yr old male in America. But 20 yrs later, it just reminds me of things that I'd rather forget. When I smell it now, it reminds of a fragrance that would be available in buckets from a club mens room attendent for a small tip. Not something I like.

I still own about half a bottle, but just can't stomach it any more and will likely never wear it again.

Smells like Old Spice Aqua Reef mixed with bug spray.

This should have stayed in the 80's. In fact its so bad I would go back in time to stop this being made.

I don't get it, CW is a mediocre perfume at the best, and it gets so much brouhaha.
I have the vintage version (with the script font for Davidoff ) that according to everybody is better than the new version (block letters), so I can not even imagine how awful the new version must be.
Besides, the market is literally flooded with clones making this perfume as common as houseflies.
It is not nauseating (well, almost), and it may induce headaches sometimes.

It's a decent fragrance for spring days and summer night.
Start fresh, green and herbal but synthetic with huge dose of LAVENDER! lavender give me the cleaner vibe. Smells like refined and pleasant detergent! lol
Yeah, it's synthetic and smells like detergent but it's not that bad!
It's pleasant with very good price and great projection and longevity.
A casual fragrance when you are at work and your pals don't know much about fragrances and when they smell it on you, they say : wow you smell very good!! lol
The opening is better than the base. in the base we have a very cheap smell.
It does smells like GIT. yes. but much more synthetic. GIT smells more natural and have a much better drydown but they smell 80% the same!

You can buy this for almost nothing these days and there must be a reason for that...This was a blind buy, just based on the many positive reviews and therefore tried it many times but the outcome was always the same. It is just too synthetic and in the end gives you a headache. Nice try to make a cheap alternative for GIT, but just not good enough...

Smells like Bounce fabric softener sheets right out of the dryer.
I think I will sprinkle the sample I have over my laundry. Ok for clothes, but I don't like it on me. Giving me a headache.

I really wanted to like this fragrance, and ive tried very hard to after I blind bought it a year or so ago. To be honest the top notes are quite nice and the first 15 min or so is promising...nice and fresh and clean....however the dry down is just an absolute disaster. Smells so cheap and abrasive, i get a cigarette ashtray and body odour vibe and I just want to wash it off my skin.

I can happily wear most super-popular mainstream scents, but not this one.

I only tried this once but the scent was too sharp and harsh for me. I will try it again when I have the chance to see if I will change my mind about this one.

UPDATE: I gave this one yet another chance. I think the note pyramid at fragrantica.com is more accurate: "Top notes include mint and green nuances, lavender, coriander and rosemary. The heart notes include geranium, neroli, jasmine and sandalwood. The base is composed of cedarwood, musk, amber and tobacco."

I get a hint of tobacco, which I like, but overall this is a "blob"-like fragrance to me (not much note separation. Out of that blob, lavender and neroli stick their heads, and there is a sweetness to it that just makes things worse. To me, it's crude and unpleasant, but perhaps this is part of its charm to those who like it (that is, the "swagger," which I view as crudeness). This is the kind of fragrance that led me to think that there is no reason to wear fragrance. Some scented deodorants smell better to me.

The original review: Cloying, "synthetic," lavender-on-roids fragrance that comes across as a "perfumey," crude, "drugstore," "cheapo." Not sure what the appeal ever was, since I didn't wear personal fragrances in 1988. It was so irritating that I had to wash it off right away, so I can't speak to longevity or projection/"sillage." This seems like more of a statement (against the typical "men's" fragrances of that era) than an attempt to create a wearable fragrance. I'd much rather wear something like Eau de Cartier than this if I want a "fresh" fragrance, and I tend to wear ones like Green Jeans in warm weather, just to give you an idea of my preferences.

A horribly cheap fragrence. Makes me think of an icehockey player on his way home from training. Smells like axe...

I think the name is misleading. I was expecting a aquatic fragrance but what I got was a dry floral scent. The longevity is not good for me at all. At least 4 sprays and I couldnt smell it after 2 hours. The projection was pretty good during those 2 hours at least. I get a ton of lavender in the top notes. I just cant get over the overload of the lavender that reminds me of my laundry detergent.

My dad wore this...usually on special occasions. When he did the top notes usually gave me and my sister nausea, especially when he sprayed some on in the car during a drive to the said occasions. On him Cool Water was loud, VERY loud, and lasted a long time. It's because of this I've been hesitant to wear it. Why would I want to wear something that would make me sick?

Fast forward: Due to the knowledge that I've acquired here about most perfumes it was clear that my dad over-over-applies every cologne he's ever owned. I told him about over-application and Cool Water was still loud on him. I don't know why he likes this stuff. I finally decided to try it on my skin. Oops. After I washed it off I had to lie down for a bit to get the room to stop spinning. Others have said it was synthetic in the dry-down and they pretty much nailed it.

Sorry. I wanted to like CW but this stuff makes me sick...literally.

A poor mans GIT that tries to live in its shadow but fails. A pale reflection of something greater than itself.