Steel Sugar
Aquolina (2013)

There is more steel than sugar on my skin, as this is on me never really a very sweet scent. Yes, a flowery-fruity note at the beginning, but a touch of bergamot provides good balance.

After a couple of hours it vanishes but then re-emerges with a gentle gourmand note of coconut oil and whiffs of cinnamon, but now very restrained.

I get soft sillage, limited projection and six hours of longevity. Overall not bad but unexciting. 2.5/5

This is supposed to have a gingerbread note in it which is primarily why I bought it. Aquolina, both men's and women's fragrance are notorious for having stellar performance, for very reasonable prices, the other reason I purchased this.

This one though, for me, isn't the best performance wise. Open the initial spray, ya I guess I get a gingerbread vibe, but it's very short lived. It quickly transitions into a mostly vanilla powdery type of smell, with a coconut undertone. It does smell delicious, but not what I was expecting based on the reviews.

To be honest, this to me is like a more wearable Lolita Lempicka au Masculin.. not that I didn't like LLaM, but the anise in there can be overwhelming.

I do feel Steel Sugar is very unisex. The opening immediately reminded me of Bvlgari Black, without the rubber note.

This reminds me of so many other fragrances too. Le Male, and Midnight in Paris EDP without the iris. The thing separating this from the others is this unique foody aspect, although it may be labeled as gingerbread, to me it smells more like a coconut cookie. Imagine that with a powdery vanilla, then a slight tobacco and musky dry down, and I think you get the idea of this.

This isn't something you can really sample, you just gotta blind buy a bottle. I would say it's blind bottle worthy, but a little redundant too.

STEEL SUGAR is a sweetie! This manages to be very sugary and gourmand but still fairly masculine. I like Aquolina's BLUE SUGAR better, but this provides a nice alternative to the heavier tobacco/leather/musk scents that are so traditional in men's fragrance. Opens with a candy sugar and vanilla quality that dries down to a smoky sweetness with some apple and pear notes. The heart is a mildly burnt sugar and vanilla harmonizing with a lavender floral that has a soapy clean smell. The tobacco is there only very slightly, but does present a masculine note that makes STEEL SUGAR a fascinating alternative statement for the "mild" guy's personality. Unfortunately this lasts no more than 4 hours and doesn't project very much. Again though, perfect for a quiet fragrance statement.

I guess I agree a lot with Mike E. because as him, I am somewhat disappointed with this fragrance, I love Blue Sugar and my wife loves Pink Sugar and I was expecting something in that same cotton candy/caramel "vibe", but Steel Sugar is nothing like those two. I get mainly gingerbread and tobacco, and a faint sweet accord.
Actually it is not bad at all, but as I said, I was expecting something else.
If you love tobacco you'll love it.
It reminds me a lot of Fragonard Desert, but not as good.
Although it is not what I expected, still gets my thumbs up.

This is a fresh aquatic with a hint of gingerbread in the dry-down. In the opening you will smell a powerfull old-school lavender, the perfume has good longevity - 8 hours, projection is good 3-4 hours, but i was expecting something different from Aquolina. Blue Sugar is out of this world...but Steel Sugar is an average perfume, at 35-40$ per 100ml its ok, it doesnt smell cheap, thats a good thing. I blind bought this by the way. Neutral rating from me, but its a keeper. I was expecting another super-sweet frag...thats why im a little dissapointed.