Wild Country Outback
Avon (2003)

Avon hadn't put out a flanker for it's legendary cowboy cologne since the musk version landed in the 80's. The original Wild Country (1967) had become the mass market direct seller's oldest continually-produced scent and most popular male fragrance because men just had a tendency to keep buying it, passing it down to their sons, and etc. since it's inception during Avon's first big push for male clientele. The musk version faded from sight in the 90's outside the Latin market, and the seller decided to release a new version in 2003 for it's now-shuttered Australian market, but released the flanker in the US too. Avon was rather daring in the 2000's, a gambit that lead to some great underrated cheapies but also lead to their fiscal decline, and this is one such unsung gem. Avon Wild Country Outback (2003) is at it's core, an old "fern" style barbershop scent reinterpreted with modern synthetics and white florals, grafted onto a fresh base released smack dab in the middle of an aquatic glut. I can see why it didn't work on the mass level Avon needed it to, since it really didn't have an audience, but it hung around a few years so I guess it did better than some things from the period that had just one bottling run. It's original packaging duplicated the beaker-like dimensions of the original Wild Country, but it soon moved into the 3.0oz 88ml "pill sprayer" that most masculines getting a second bottling run received at the time. Both are the same formula, so "deep vintage" fanatics need not hunt unless they want the cooler bottle.

Wild Country Outback opens with bergamot and a light bamboo note, white pepper, calone and cucumber, with some unidentifiable synthetic green notes that make it reminiscent of Calvin Klein's Contradiction for Men (1999) but lighter and drier. Perfumer Frank Voelkl would seemingly tinker with his formula here and make it fruitier/younger with Kenneth Cole Reaction (2004) the next year. From that stark and frugal opening comes a dainty middle of lovely cypress, a touch of iris, muguet, geranium and pale lavender, making Wild Country Outback smell unisex or at least dandy in the way of the old 19th century piquant men's florals used to, before those notes disappear on a bed of then-modern white musk, some synthetic Iso E Super for the "wood" accord, and vetiver. Surprisingly, I don't get the "Avon amber" here like I'm used to, but I guess in a masculine unafraid to feature a prominent cucumber note, it's not on the agenda unless it's there in very miniscule quantities. Wild Country Outback is definitely budget-conscious artifice but artfully done and a great alternative to a "blue" aquatic or other "freshie" on a bright or warm day. Wild Country Outback isn't even a lick like the original and I wonder if it had been named differently, if its success would have been greater? As an early 2000's reinterpretation of what a wild frontier man would wear, it's a fascinating 180 degree shift from the carnations and rawhide of the first Wild Country. We'll never know the answer to that, but if you enjoy Wild Country Outback, it's best as a casual summer fling, featuring 8+ hour wear with moderate projection.

Wild Country Outback won't blow the doors off anyone to be sure, and it didn't sell by the bucket, so despite a respectable few years run, Avon gave it the axe globally sometime in 2007ish or so. However, here is another example of Avon having "gotten their s**t together" on the front of male fragrance after an 80's and 90's worth of downright bizarre creations. The fresh bamboo, cucumber, white florals, and cypress notes are really what makes this stand apart as "fresh but different", giving me a lovely warm weather or after-shower wear that has staying power. Wild Country Outback is more than a skin scent, but no powerhouse. Sure, there are more modern freshies, or truer fougères, but I'm going against the usual grain here by saying that the bargain bin synthetics are actually what gives this old-meets-new hybrid a crisp, sharp, and chipper scent; it's quite literally the antithesis of rote genre exercise on the cheap or brazen chemical abstraction that seems to plague this price point, in the way it joins the two by the hand. I also highly doubt anything about Wild Country Outback evokes imagery of the Australian bush, but Avon is about as culturally authentic as Taco Bell, so expecting that is setting yourself up for failure. Worth a try for the fan of dime store charms and recently-deceased vintages or just more modern smells overall, but if you're not a kook for odd cheapies like I am, you best move along. Also, testing is impossible for retired Avons, but also don't overpay for a blind buy either, since there is nothing particularly collectable about an Avon flanker in a drab pill-shaped bottle. Thumbs up.