Open Road / Prospect
Avon (2003)

Avon Prospect (2003) was part of a new generation of Avon fragrances made in conjunction with perfumers and suppliers outside the Avon ecosphere. Prospect wasn't the first masculine not made entirely by anonymous internal Avon perfumers, as this is something Avon dabbled with previously in the 80's when it went on a diversification spree to try and stem off market loss to a growing cavalcade of designer competitors in their home market of the US, particularly when the renowned Ann Gottlieb came on board. However, after selling off all that stuff and cutting ties with collaborators into the 90's to go it alone once again, Avon decided to flip the switch back in the 2000's and double down further on the collaborations with celebrities, outside perfumers, designers, and suppliers. In this particular case, perfumers Jean-Claude Delville and Ilias Ermenidis from the firm Créations Aromatiques (now Symrise) were tapped to create Prospect, which was manufactured in Europe but sold there under the alternate name of Open Road. The first thing that gives away this as not your average Avon masculine is that the fragrance is oddly listed as an eau de toilette, when Avon at that time still mostly stuck to their age-old tradition of calling everything for men a "cologne" regardless if it was or not; it's a banal practice Avon held onto too long. Being an actual EdT in name doesn't make Prospect any more potent than your average men's Avon fragrance, but that's not why this is special.

The actual smell of Avon Prospect, now that is what truly makes this scent special. Imagine if you will, a fragrance that banks a bit on the creamy peppery woody style popularized by Gucci Rush for Men (2000), but also focused on a sharp juniper head like Morgan de Toi Homme (2003), and merging soft white floral elements of the female-market Calvin Klein Truth (2000). Sounds like quite the mixture right? Well Jean-Claude Delville had been cranking out hit after commercial hit for Liz Claiborne, and with future perfumer of Paco Rabanne 1 Million (2008) Ilias Ermenidis also in tow, it's easy to imagine how this turned out so dialed into then-current trends while also being a little left of center in the usual quirky Avon way. The opening is mainly about juniper and a ginger note that propels a note of mate and the odd herbal choice of celery leaf. The spiced green herbal opening is met with pink pepper (in another astonishing early use by Avon), moving into a dusty dry cold spicy heart of artemisia, nutmeg, geranium, and muguet. By this poiont, Prospect resembles a rounded and mellowed take on Azzaro Visit (2003), which was created by another Créations Aromatiques alum of the time: Annick Menardo. Unlike Visit, Prospect goes in a powdery prim direction into the base, rather than a woody one, although cedar is part of the show alongside coumarin, musk, and a bit of denatured patchouli. Prospect stays sharp, clean, woody, musky, and "white shirt" appropriate, making it a great office choice year round with mild projection but great longevity. Best use in other contexts would be in spring and fall for casual social gatherings.

This kind of stylistic quality was most likely lost on the average Avon buyer at the time, as Prospect merged perfectly into the background of a catalog dominated by $15 and $20 fragrances with various Avon idiosyncrasies on display, like attempts at classic chypres or amber-heavy orientals. The rather plain, tall, nondescript cylindrical bottle probably didn't help win this over with Avon buyers either, as they were still used to flashy plastic caps, wild shapes, and loud colors. The smell inside the bottle most definitely wasn't your average Avon for men, and had none of the usual hallmarks of an Avon masculine of the time, which is why it's so cool. No heavy use of "Avon amber", no lavender/tonka shoehorning into otherwise modern-themed styles, and no other "Avonisms" met the nose upon smelling Prospect back in the day. I really like Prospect a lot and still wear from my little stash quite frequently, although as one of the shorter-lived 2000's Avons, I can't really recommend hunting or paying good coin for it either. At the end of the day, this was a fragrance created like a designer, by perfumers usually assigned to designers, and followed a popular theme among designer masculines of the time, but it was still an Avon. The woody/peppery/dusty micro-genre would continue throughout the 2000's, but none of them had the powdery floral juniper edge of Prospect. Fans of Rush for Men, Visit, or the Morgan de Toi scent should explore their prospects with Avon on the open road wearing this obscure gem. Thumbs up.

when is this product coming out?an open road by avon was released a few year ago but now ui cant find it anymore.is this the same with a small change?

Fresh ginger and some discreet oriental notes.Appropriate for casual wear.Too bat this is not for my skin.