RPM
Avon (2002)

Avon R.P.M. was released in 2004, and although it saw see moderate success in the US (enough to gain the flanker R.P.M. Intense), it would ultimately be discontinued in that country and launched elsewhere in the world as KM/H (Mexico and UK) and Full Speed in other parts of Europe. Oddly enough, not every country got the sprayer built into the bottle with a plastic housing, and some instead just had a cap, but otherwise the same bottle shape. Hmmm... anyway.... I used to make fun of R.P.M. when first we met in 2004 because it's top note of mandarin orange is so blunt and heavy it almost drowns out anything else going on, even the mild yuzu that also floats around, giving this a slight link to the immortal Issey Miyake fragrance I need not name. This is in no way a me-too fragrance, and it smells literally like nothing else (unless there's another mandarin orange cologne out there I'm unaware of), but at the time that dominating pang of citrus almost made me declare this a single note scent, which after a decade of evolving tastes no longer seems a bad thing to me as it once did.

R.P.M. is quite the linear scent, but it's such an interesting linear that it's enjoyable. With all the citrus sporty active this and that propagating on store shelves at the time, Avon just very elegantly cut to the chase and said "Hey guys, you wanna smell sporty and fresh? Smell like an orange!" when they joined in on the trend. What's odd is this trope is still popular to a niche degree in the US, so why Avon pulled R.P.M. from it's catalogs after a few years remains a mystery. I can understand some territories not liking something this simple (Mexico still has plenty of robust, complex, and manly Avon scents long killed off elsewhere for example), but I'd never suspect the U.S. to be a market where a sport scent during the era of sport scents would fail to appeal. Regardless, the "Smell like an orange!" idea must have been a real big hit in Poland, where the R.P.M. line under it's "Full Speed" moniker would continue past not 1 flanker (like the U.S.) or 2 (like other territories where it would also die off) but a total of 6 variants including the original, all still available. All I can say here is that Polish guys must really love their oranges, and I mean that in the kindest way possible. Hey, it means once the U.S. variant is too rare for me to care, I can just import some of theirs and maybe try a few of the flankers for kicks. It's seriously successful there, more than all the Black Suede and Wild Country flankers combined have been here.

The juniper and cardamom notes are not so visible to me in the drydown, although something slightly dry or woodsy seems to surface right at the very end, but that orange is just so in-your-face from beginning to end that it's the only thing I can really focus on in this review. If you want to smell really fresh on a disgustingly hot day, and are utterly tired of cool aquatic tropes, this is for all intents and purposes a modern citrus-based scent that isn't some throwback chypre or sweat bomb. I recommend applying it to the shirt because projection is mediocre, but at least it's an EDT and not EDC so longevity is more what you'd expect out of a department store fragrance, instead of the "take the bottle to work" strength of most Avon colognes. I rate it very highly because what can I say? I love oranges. I also could have just skipped all the details and called this a drier clone of Clinique Happy for Men (1999), but where's the fun in that? Come on Avon, bring it back. We need some Vitamin C in our wardrobes here in America too ya know!

It's cheap and good. Overtly mandarin at first, but it has a depth to it that doesn't seem too synthetic. Not a complex scent, and strictly fairly citrus and spicy. Has a marine quality on dry-down and stays pleasant throughout. It definitely doesn't last long, but it has excellent projection while it's there. Certainly worth the price and can be a decent go-to when money is tight!

It's one of the greatest fragrances for Men by Avon. Probably people know it better under the European name: Full Speed. very fresh, great citrus notes.