Varen Stirling Soap Eau de Toilette

Varen (Eau de Toilette) by Stirling Soap

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7.6 / 10 4 Ratings

A perfume by Stirling Soap for men. The release year is unknown. The scent is green-fougèreartig. The longevity is above-average. The production was apparently discontinued.

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Main accords

Green

Fougère

Fragrance Notes

Cedar

Coumarin

Geranium

Lavender

Lichen

Oakmoss

Sage

Vetiver

Ratings

Scent

7.64 Ratings

Longevity

8.04 Ratings

Sillage

7.04 Ratings

Bottle

6.25 Ratings

Submitted by Caligari, last update on 10.01.2023.

Variant of the fragrance concentration

This is a variant of the perfume Varen (Aftershave) by Stirling Soap, which differs in concentration.

Reviews

3 in-depth fragrance descriptions

09/15/2020

9
Pricing 6
Bottle 7
Sillage 8
Longevity 7.5
Scent

Tempcore
10 Reviews

Tempcore

2

Green and Mean

Varen is a beautiful, sharp, green lavender full of enough oakmoss to give the IFRA the proverbial finger.

Out of the way, barbershop fougeres! Your creamy pleasantness, floral notes, and safe oakmoss substitutes are but an obstruction in the path of a REAL fougère! Move aside as Varen is about to...

Wait, has it been four hours already? It appears it's time for our dear Varen to take a skin (scent) nap. Five hours, you say? Well, that's enough work for today: it's time for Varen to clock-out and call it a day. Until next time, Varen.

Yes, Varen is a beautiful green scent that does not last very long unlike other Stirling Eau de Toilette's in my collection (Barbershop and Stirling Spice). As a result, I wonder whether or not oakmoss is as ideal of an ingredient that many of us in this hobby believe it to be.

Edit 07/10/2022: I regret to say that I based my review of its performance based on a wrist spraying.

After many full wears since then, I'd like to revise my performance review and say it performs really well. The sillage isn't far, but you will be surrounded by a nice, dense scent bubble that you will smell until scrubbed.

06/28/2020

4
Bottle 6
Sillage 7
Longevity 7
Scent

Drseid
819 Reviews

Drseid

1

Brazen Old School Fougere...

Varen goes on skin as majorly green... mossy green, driven primarily by oakmoss before quickly moving to its heart. As the composition enters its early heart the focal oakmoss grows in strength as supporting aromatic lavender and hay-like coumarin join-in, with woody cedar and slightly softer green tree moss adding support. The composition stays highly linear through the late dry-down as the supporting cedarwood becomes a bit more apparent with the aromatic oakmoss led green "fern-like" accord gradually softening through the finish. Projection is above average, and longevity very good at 10-11 hours on skin.

Varen (Fern) is an original composition by Sterling co-owner Rod Lovan that resulted from a project for a Dutch shaving forum. I first was acclimated to the perfume through Stirling’s Varen shaving soap. It was the first soap I had bought from the artisanal soap company and did not have any idea as to what to expect, but when I opened the jar the aromatic oakmoss, lavender and coumarin laden “fern-like” accord came off immediately, and while I got that it was a classic fougere, it did not quite resemble any fougere I had sniffed to date. In actuality, the “fern-like” aspect is front and center from the get-go in all Varen's forms (shaving soap, bar soap, aftershave and EdT). It is a rather rough, old-school aromatic fougere concoction created in an IFRA oakmoss neutered world without the pesky regulations getting in the way. The composition could definitely use some balance and polish, but Varen is all about brash boldness... It makes no pretension to fall into today’s tastes... No, this stuff is more old school aromatic fougere to my nose - all about displaying what the perfumer feels a green fern would smell like if it had a scent. It definitely takes some time to warm to due to its distinctiveness, but it ultimately delivers. The bottom line is the $25 per 50 ml bottle Varen may not be "love at first sniff," but the "very good" 3.5 stars out of 5 rated old school fougere in time wins the wearer over with its brazen distinctiveness, earning it a solid recommendation to old school classic fougere lovers that abhor IFRA driven restrictions in modern perfume.

06/27/2020

7
Bottle 8
Sillage 9
Longevity 7.5
Scent

JackHunter33
84 Reviews

JackHunter33

1

Green Fern Scent

It opens very green and bold with a ton of that oakmoss goodness. It's very aromatic and not a dark green like polo but more of a light green like Brut. It does have what you would imagine fern would smell like up close. I get that leafy greenness like you are smelling the leaf of a plant up close. As time passes that aspect becomes mixed in with a very lovely strong lemony bergamot and this starts to dominate the green mossy leafy scent.

The scent projects within arms length and just seems to last and last with a bold distinctive smell that I can always catch wafts of the scent. One good thing is the scent does not become soapy at any time like some fern scents tend to do. Also there only a tinge of powder but only if you start looking for it.

Now what interests me is this really reminds me of Vintage Brut it has the same vibe and greenness without the excessive powder. I'm saying this as I recently purchased Brut special reserve for nostalgic reasons and it was a powdery short lasting synthetic scent. This is scent reminds me more of vintage Brut than the actual Brut reformulation/special edition. It's as if the creator used Brut as a inspiration to create a old school Fougere scent using the old restricted ingredients.

I have to say even though it has it's rough edges and is not contemporary it does smell good. It's like a little rough diamond which has not been refined. But it has lots of the IFRA restricted oakmoss in abundance, it lasts and has a bold distinctive presence. I have to say I like it!