Perceive for Men
Avon (2001)

Avon Perceive for Men (2000) is an odd little number from Avon presenting itself as something fresh and almost new age in tone, especially with that bottle representing rough-hewn crystal, but is really just classic Avon perfume styles in disguise. Avon Perceive for Men is presented as a modern-ish chypre of sorts, but no chypre in the academic sense of containing a trifecta of oakmoss, bergamot, and labdanum. Instead, Avon plays this game of "what is a chypre but in name alone" by sliding their house amber in place of labdanum itself (their smooth green take on amber contains it so I guess it counts), then replacing bergamot with a host of other citrus notes. The success of Perceive for Men with their target audience (mostly older men who have had Avon bought for them by their wives or mothers for years) led them to believe they had a larger hit on their hands a la Wild Country (1967), Black Suede (1980) or Mesmerize for Men (1992), so they began shaping a lot of men's releases around this puedo-chypre accord into the early 2000's until they beat that horse to death and stopped. Others featuring slightly soapier, greener, or more leathery versions of the same drydown (with more, less, or none of the Avon amber) included Avon Uomo (2000) from later in the same year, Avon Modern Balance (2001), Avon Paradigm (2002), and Avon HisStory (2003). Perceive for Men did end up being the hit Avon thought it was, and lived far beyond the others in the catalogs, being still in production within some markets.

My first encounter with Perceive for Men back when I was a much younger man had me confused at first. The stuff was fresh like an aquatic, but aromatic and dry like something I'd expect from an older-style scent (or what I "perceived" to be older at the time), layered in with some tartness and that amber. I wasn't sure I liked it, wearing it off and on again, giving it away, repurchasing, then being ambivalent all over again. Now I've come to love it, but I admit it is an acquired taste like a good beer or Jazz fusion record. The opening is lemongrass, mint, grapefruit, and cardamom, which then sink within moments into sage, bitter artemisia, geranium, and neroli. There is a bit of a sweetish tart smell that I liken to Smarties (the US variety, not the chocolate UK ones), aka "candy necklace", and that might be off-putting to people into lush verdant or redolent classic French perfumery, but it gets better. I blame this strange tart candy smell on the way neroli and grapefruit are playing with the mint and green notes, but it's brief. Eventually that nice smooth green Avon amber comes in with dry patchouli, cedarwood, oakmoss, and a pinch of nutmeg with benzoin to make it smooth. Overall the effect is "chypre", dry and woody, citric, aromatic, and sharp. This unorthodox accord does smell crystal clear like the packaging suggests and last all day, being good for office use in all seasons save maybe the dead of winter. I don't think guys my age when I first smelled this will dig it, but anyone over 30 can respect the "semi-sweet" aromatic nature of Perceive for Men.

The thing about this stuff that took me so long to wrap my head around is what this reminded me of, and what the use for something like this was, back when I was too young to know about individual notes or appreciate things like natural versus synthetic accords. I simply had no frame of reference for this fragrance back then, which is why I couldn't really enjoy it, and that's probably the same reason why young men now have such difficulty understanding the love for 70's or 80's powerhouses devoid of sweetness or anything fresh, mass-appealing, and easy to digest. Perceive for Men isn't super natural smelling, isn't an ode to classic perfumery, but also isn't "beastmode", or compliment-focused, nor is it loud and sugary. This is a scent that basically takes a classic genre exercise and turns it on its head by tweaking certain ingredients and adding a modicum of modernity to it (or at least modernity for 2000), and then doing all that on an Avon R&D budget. Their installed fanbase loved it, and word of mouth made sure it brought new guys to the table too, then Avon marketing exploited what they thought made it special, running that very thing into the ground over the course of the next four to five years with self-cannibalizing takes on the DNA (which are all oddly good too). The easiest comparison to make for this is as a drier and more mature take on Iceberg Twice Homme (1995), but that is a bit reductive. Overall, there isn't much like Perceive for Men out there, and it sits squarely in-between the traditional, and the experimental. Thumbs up.

Interesting, but ubiquitous at the same timeStart with Cool Water then add Joop. Dilute to about 40% strength then add a synthetic grapefruit to the top and a cheap musk and vanilla to the base. For the non-sophisticated user, this is an adequate signature scent. It is most of the cliches from the 90s and early 2000s reduced in strength so that you are not 'that guy' when you walk into the office. Works well for cool weather pre/post workout scent too, and yes, it is one of the better Avon offerings. Pros: Inexpensive price, better than average jusCons: Does not make a strong enough statement"

The only thing about this fragrance is the great bottle. The smell is pretty great, but it doesn't last at all and it's not powerful at all.

Perceive is another fragrance by Avon that would put some designer houses to shame. I admit that there are some below average fragrances by Avon but perceive is not one of them. This stuff is GREAT. The two notes that stick out most to my nose through the whole duration of the scent is grapefruit and mint and boy is it done right. Projection is decent and the longevity with this one is atleast 6 hrs. Absolutely worth every penny you would pay for this. Big thumbs up way up.

Great fragrance from Avon. personally my favourite one. It is a kind of strong, deep, unique fragrance in its own way. I don't know how to describe it. Simply classic fresh aromatic chypre fragrance.
I give it 8 0ut of 10.

Not bad considering the price. Perceive opens well with some lemons and vanilla and soon moves into the drydown where you can pick up on the mint, cedar and sage. It's a little clumsy at times and there's a very synthetic muskiness lurking beneath, however, in general, it's a fairly smooth, woodsy fragrance with some sweetness and powder. The drydown reminds me very much of a quieter, more subdued Iceberg Twice. Projection is good and longevity is about 2 to 3 hours.A good choice if you like the notes and aren't looking to spend more than 15 dollars. While I gave it a neutral rating, it's a neutral leaning toward a thumbs up.