Tres Bon
Armaf (2014)

Tres Bon by Armaf (2014) is actually the little-known first entry in the series that would later become popularized with Tres Nuit by Armaf (2015) a year later. Unlike Tres Nuit, which clearly strives to be included in the Davidoff Cool Water (1988) and the Creed Green Irish Tweed (1985) camp of scents, Tres Bon stays more in line with more contemporary fresh men's styles, being a bit of this and that, including a sheer musk and oakmoss base right out of Kenneth Cole New York Men (2002). Considering we were also a year away from Club de Nuit Intense Man by Armaf (2015), the brand hadn't yet become well-known for clones. What's really odd about Tres Bon is it doesn't really try to be like any one thing, kind of like a lark among the more-recent Armaf range; and because it came out before anyone in the West was really onto the brand as a source of good alternatives for overpriced niche fragrances, went completely under the radar. Not to mention, the execution of Tres Bon feels somewhat throwback.

The smell of Tres Bon opens sort of fruity, sharp, and clean, very much reminding me of something from the early 2000's. From there, I get some lemon and bergamot, mixed with some aquatic flair not unlike New York Men or Abercrombie & Fitch Fierce Cologne (2002), but touched with juniper and black currant. The heart is muted spices like nutmeg and pink pepper, with some violet ionones and hedione tones to lift up and soften all the sharp, sour fruit and spice. Lavender and geranium bring us into territory familiar to fans of Bleu de Chanel (2010) before patchouli, white musks, oakmoss and woody notes appear, rounded by vanilla. In this finish, people with experience wearing 2000's masculines will really see Tres Bon for what it is. Overall, this ends up smelling like perhaps it could be a flanker to your favorite discontinued mall scent from the "aughties", if oakmoss restrictions hadn't killed most of the originals and men moved away from tart fruity openings. Performance is insane, and longevity is more than you need, so Armaf delivers where it matters most to the average "FragBro" in that sense. Best use here is as a year-round signature, as Tres Bon is very even-keeled in temperament.

Unfortunately, none of this really amounts to much more than a hill of beans, which is why I ultimately cast my judgement on Tres Bon as something not essential unless you're some kind of Armaf collector. I'm honestly not sure those exist, but I won't put it past anyone, as the packaging on this is phenomenal like most Armafs, meaning a cabinet of these would be nothing if not handsome. Pound for pound you get a lot of fragrance value for your money, but with a random experimental cross-section of 2000's and 2010's ideas across designer and niche territories, the results here with Tres Bon are truly "niche" in tone. Anyone with any experience wearing fragrance will find this scent as a high-powered mash-up of ideas past their prime, while those who have no concept of that can probably just enjoy this in a relative bubble; but the instant they begin sampling designers or exploring the fragrance market in any meaningful way, they'll see Tres Bon as the stitched-together Millennial Frankenstein it is. So I mean, if you want to smell good and have no concept of fragrance beyond the drugstores, this may be great. To everyone else, Tres Bon is unique, but at what cost? Thumbs up