Triumph
Avon (1995)

Avon Triumph (1995) is a johnny-come-lately of sorts, being mostly an attempt to capitalize on both the fresh fougère craze and the aquatic fragrance craze that overtook the designer men's realm in the late 1980's. By the mid-90's it was in full swing, with many of both genre's most defining fragrances having already been released save maybe one or two game-changers that came later. Avon however, was still in the transformation process to be more competitive with said designers, shuttering internal development of fragrances and working with the big chemical firms to have the latest novel materials in their perfumes. You can likely thank Ann Gottleib for this, but how long she was with Avon is really unknown beyond her coming on board in 1987 and actually perfuming two scents in 1988 for them herself (she mostly consults/directs). Of course, the days of Avon masculine scents keeping to their staid, simple, but satisfying wet shaver and barbershop lanes were by the 90's over, so we get stuff like Triumph instead. What this, to be plain and simple about it, is one of Avon's inspired takes on designer masculines where they take two popular fragrances and make a twistie soft-serve cone of them. With Avon SIgnet (1987), this mix was two early 1980's powerhouses blended in about 70/30 fashion. Here in Triumph, we see the pioneering aquatic Davidoff Cool Water (1988) and the pioneering fresh fougère Calvin Klein Eternity for Men (1989) mixed in about a 90/10 ratio. Surprisingly, this works, but it won't blow minds and isn't worth any significant change should it become more expensive than the things it copies.

The opening is where this is most like Eternity for Men, to be sure. Although the kind of lavender Avon Triumph opens with a bit more powdery than what the Calvin Klein uses. This powdery old-fashioned lavender is also accompanied by an unusually sour bergamot note, that quickly gets absorbed into the dihydromyrcenol, calone-1951, and acetates miasma of freshness that is the rush of Cool Water. Triumph moves pretty smoothly from fougère to aquatic, using really subdued versions of the violet ionones that inflect the Davidoff, themselves a holdover from god-parent Creed Green Irish Tweed (1985). All of these types of fragrances, including the much-greener Coty Aspen (1989) and every Middle Eastern clone of the 21st century that came much later, are all usually swimming in this violet leaf, but not Triumph. The fact this leans more heavily on its traditional powdery lavender more than the rest, before settling on it's mostly clean white musks base sets it far apart from all competitors. There is oakmoss here too in a tiny bit, plus some sage, tonka, woody materials, and that similar soapy sparkle; but it all just hits a little different. Of course, Triumph doesn't have the tenacity of the rest, and is goes to skin level in just an hour. You'll get about 6 hours from Triumph, so it sits below average for its class, making it not the best deal even for the price unless you're an avid Avon collector, or that unique twist of powder really speaks to you. I find the best use for this is right out of the shower if you shower at night and only need a few hours before bed anyway.

I can tell Avon Triumph was not a big push for Avon because it didn't get its own unique spray bottle like Mesmerize for Men (1992) or Seazone (1992). Instead, Triumph was given the old splash treatment then later released as a spray only in the "pill bottle" with the cheap sticker and plastic caps. This is something they mostly stopped after 2004 except for the original Avon Wild Country (1967). These bottles really do no favors for the fragrances they come in, and the plastic spray heads are super cheap, give a big airy puff of scent that goes everywhere but where you put it, and can lead to evaporation from the mechanism not fully resetting after a spray. You don't know how many new old stock bottles of Avon released in these things with a quarter or third of their juice missing, just because someone sprayed them once 20 years ago and never bothered to check to see if the ball valve in them shut all the way, which isn't something you should really have to check, to be totally fair. Instructions even say the sprayer may need re-priming each time it's used, like they know the things are dodgy but didn't care. Oh well, at least the caps fit unlike Creed, and the sprayers don't hose you down like Creed sprayers from this period did. Nobody wants to wear 10 applications of their scent at once. Of interesting note, Triumph did get released in a 1996 Olympic Winter Games trophy splash because Avon sponsored the US team. This is separate from the actual "Olympic fragrances" they made that year, and handy if you like their kitschy decanters. A Cool Water clone perhaps, but not an indistinct one. Thumbs up

A failed attempt at a Cool Water clone. Triumph starts off with that classic watery fougere but has way too unbalance lavender notes to make it a good clone or even a good fougere. It's also a lot cleaner and woodier but after all that, it's still a bad execution of a decent fragrance.