3lbows

On Youtube you can currently scroll through countless toplists a la "best fall scents for men", starting with everybody's darling Jeremy, Gents Scents, Demi Rawling, Redolessence up to Max Forti and many less known people. These lists pray down the usual mainstream suspects more or less depending on the author, like Spicebomb Extreme, Azzaro Wanted by Night, Stronger with you, Ultramale and others. But there are also pearls that I wouldn't have thought of, like Azzaro pour Homme Amber Fever or Issey Miyake's Nuit d'Issey Noir Argent. So eyes closed and through!
The scents of the cooler season with their sweet, heavier, sometimes gourmand notes create for me, in contrast to the summer freshls, more tangible atmosphere and heady cinema. Whether I'm strolling around the Christmas market with Spicebomb, grilling Replica by the Fireplace Marshmellows at the campfire or exploring an Indian spice shop with DSquared's Potion, I simply like to be carried away by scents to another place and let my soul dangle. Layton apple strudel
Wow! for Men EdP Intense is one of those representatives that I miss in the top lists mentioned above. Mainstream, but not really widespread (currently only one entry in the souk), pleasing, but with recognition value, yes, almost a niche somewhere. Actually only three notes play really loud here. There's chestnut, which sets the tone over the entire course, there's cinnamon - the sweet variety, and cashmeran, which freshens up the fragrance and intercepts the sweetness. This trio lets me walk through an autumnal forest on a sunny afternoon and nibble on chestnuts. The orange note, which accompanies the first half of the trail in particular, clearly sets the fragrance apart from the heavier winter sweets like Spicebomb or Stronger with You, making it an ideal candidate for autumn. Wow! Intense is harmoniously composed, the fragrance develops harmoniously, and none of its phases are annoying, although it lasts a long time and is clearly perceptible by the environment. It is Ü20 universally wearable, only for formal meetings I would rather go for one of the guerlains. A round composition, which, if it didn't have JOOP on it, could be sold for more than 30 EUR per 40ml. The presentation is minimalist: metallized bottle with an economical atomizer and plastic ring instead of a cap. But I like the play of colours extremely well and communicates excellently what you experience after spraying on the bottle.
Wow! Intense embodies for me like no other fragrance a positive autumn feeling, which I like to pass on and perceive myself. A blind buy or at least a test candidate!

Yes, yes, the hommes idéales of this world - they didn't have an easy start with me. Starting with the OG, the EdT, which I tested in the Duty Free in Barcelona in 2018 and although it raised my left eyebrow because of its rugged amaretto note, it couldn't arouse my desire for more, I ended up with a full bottle of the EdP, which in my opinion is the best of the line. But more about that later.
This is supposed to be Homme Idéal Extrême, the latest flanker in a series that I think I had to revise my testing of the entire series. Because:
The original Edt does not appeal to me per se. Interesting, yes, but unbalanced and difficult to locate: Summer? Too sweet. Fall/winter? Almond component too fresh/scratchy/bright.
But then the EdP blew me away. After the EdT someone probably thought: Ok, now we have the almond, now let's embed it not only creatively but also appropriately. And voilá - the EdP wraps the almond in a round, sweet garment of cherry, (soft) rose and a touch of leather, thus accompanying its wearer just as creatively, but much more harmoniously than Duftaura in the background. To bite into!
So, but now really to the extreme: I only came to the Edp through him. In my search for autumn fragrances, prominently featured as the 2020 novelty in the red M, I wanted to give Guerlain's Homme Idéal series another chance. The pretty red bottle with its autumnal content did the rest. And what was that? The almond now has a home! Right after spraying it on, I notice a distinct tobacco note, accompanied by cherry. Cherry tobacco it is. And that, together with the almond, makes for a dream trio, much more coherent, so even with the EdT, since here all the components play in the same sweet category. That simply fits together. Only at the end of the drydown, when the gourmand substructure runs out of air, Extrême becomes more scratchy, just like the EdT. The EdP sounds more harmonic and coherent, is also calmer and sweeter over the whole course of the game.
Since I would like to see more short information myself, I am trying to rewrite Homme Idéal Extrême in the style of some Fragrantica users. Please don't take the Anglicisms away from me


WOW RATING: 8/10
Loud, sweet cherry tobacco scent with a fresh component.

DISLIKE RATING: 3/10
Drop and round. If you don't like gourmand sweets or fragrances that go in the direction of Pure Havane, it's better to avoid them. But don't worry: cardboard sweet or chewing gum-like is by no means!

UNIQUENESS: 7/10
One rarely smells the combo almond-cherry-tobacco, the tobacco primer on the other hand more often.

MASS APPROVAL: 8/10
Not mainstream, but suitable for the mainstream. Perfect to attract attention in autumn without being a nuisance

PROJECTION: 5/10
Not a space filler, but perceptible over an arm's length.

SILLAGE: 7/10
Projected less, but the scent comes through at regular intervals.

DURABILITY 8/10:
A valuable Guerlain - on the skin he likes to go along for 8 hours, but the last 2 hours are very close

SELF-PROOFING:
Does not fade out with me - the whole day over wahrnembar.

DOSING:
4 splashes and good is'.

FLACON:
Valuable, great colouring, well-dosing spray button. I would just like to have the rubber coating on the edge of the first EdP bottles, for example.

TIME OF THE YEAR:
Autumn. Clearly. In late autumn and winter then to EdP.

WHEN TO CARRY:
Work, leisure, going out. Yes - even after the sport I could still imagine it.

AMBIENTS / EMOTIONS:
Playful, active, extroverted - spending a sunny autumn afternoon outside with friends or the children.

VERSATILITY: 7/10
Versatile, but extroverted.

SEX:
Due to the tobacco clearly male.

ALTER:
20+
BLIND-BUY:

No - fill up first!

ALTERNATIVES:
Pure Havane, One Million Priveé, but less: Spicebomb, Herod, Rehab - these go in a spicier, sweeter and therefore more wintry direction.

CONCLUSION:
For me bottleworthy, if you have to choose a Homme idéal, and the EdP already has.

One side of a fragrance is, of course, the handcrafted quality, the ingredients, the bottle, etc. Then follow its durability and perceptibility. But this is where design decisions and, on the customer side, subjective observations start. Even if an even, non-locatable projection is still a generally acceptable quality feature: what is too little for one person may appear to be a shortcoming for the lover of delicate fragrances. But for me, the most important point is the feeling that comes with the scent. Where does it transport me? How do I think to have an effect on others? And how do I feel myself when I get a "whiff"?
I can make it short at L'Homme. If you don't know what it smells like, scroll down to the other comments. There's little to add to that
The warming, powdery top note with the delicately hinted, almost nutty sweetness of iris is the highlight of this fragrance for me. Very big cinema. But it soon gives way to a scratchy, synthetic-lifeless cleanliness. High-end but cool and distant. L'Homme skilfully continues Prada's soap concept between innovation and recognition. From presentation to performance, it appears to be a unified whole - just as BMW regularly quotes and develops itself further during model changes. So I think the high average ratings here are quite justified.
But: Wrapped in his veil of scent, I feel as if I'm being complimented out by the salesman in a noble lamp boutique (or the Jaguar dealer, which you can better imagine) by just raising my eyebrow after he has assessed my supposed purchasing power. The seller smells the same way. As an 11-year-old, I feel like I'm spending my teenage afternoons with my well-to-do aunt, whose porcelain and flowery perfume remind me of her, or of the dressed-up communication science student models at interdisciplinary meetings at university at that time. Dad, I'm taking the BMW.
After 8 hours of wearing my bottling I realize again: This is not where I belong. I can't identify myself with it, and I don't want to spread such an identity either.
Please do not misunderstand: This may fit 100% on the right person and underline their appearance and state of mind perfectly. And of course there is nothing wrong with such people. They are simply there. Like BMW. But this is where we come to the crux of every perfume comment. Because where I can still grasp craftsmanship qualities reasonably objectively, the emotional connotation is over. After all, this is what regularly gives even well-made mainstreamers the edge and makes the niche so attractive. If you smell One Million, you immediately have an image in your head. And that applies to Me also for L'Homme.
I am currently wearing the l'Eau version of the fragrance more often. The citric aspects make the fragrance for me more human, natural and likeable. Its powdery nature is preserved, and the durability and sillage are comparable. However, the eau is lighter and more sparkling, and thus seems a bit out of place in the colder season.

Anyone who knows and - like me - loves Lolita Lempicka's no longer produced Au Masculin, and the slightly watered-down follow-up version Pour Homme, would naturally like to have more of it, especially as the brand with its imaginative flacons and dreamy women's fragrances creates a fairytale aura around itself that arouses curiosity.
So I was all the more surprised when, after the first spray from the crystal-clear, slightly green bottle, an old acquaintance greeted me, whom I had not expected to see like this. Pure XS from Paco Rabanne! The green-sweet, youthful clubber in the elf costume? Mainstream proll meets vegan tree cuddler? Someone definitely put the wrong djinn in my bottle!

I am disappointed because Pure XS is actually greener than the Green Lover. Both are based on an intensely sweet vanilla note, which is green - how should I put it - pierced. But where Paco brings out this green note in a tart, woody, albeit synthetic way, Lolita throws all the desserts she can find in the fridge into the brew, all at the same time. Especially this transparent woodruff jelly puts its stamp on the brew. It doesn't look like an abandoned, dreamy witch's house in the fairy forest, but like the psychedelic unicorn level in Diablo 3. Would I eat that? I don't think so. And I wouldn't want to smell like it. Instead of compliments, I get questions like, "Where did you get this vape-liquid?" Uh, yeah
In addition, the green lover is actually more of a lover, precisely because he lacks a harsh primer. That in itself would not be a problem, but who's going to wear that? Medieval fans? Too synthetically freaky. People who are committed to a sustainable lifestyle? Trust me, they don't want to smell this way. Arianna Grande fans? They might want to, but they smell like cloud. And they better.
And when should you wear this? In summer? Too heavy and intense. In winter? It lacks the spice of cinnamon, cardamom or similar as an opponent. At a romantic dinner? At best with slushie and bubbletea!
Granted, Green Lover is a potent concoction. Applied at 7:00 this morning and still noticeably sillier at 12:00. And as I said - actually not unpleasant at all, but apart from hunger this smell does not evoke any emotions in me, and thus Green Lover unfortunately does not fulfill the function of a perfume for me.
With a weeping eye I will probably let the Green Lover wander back into the souk.

No, I didn't really want to use the A-word at first, because the black horse head is by no means a scented twin to the black rider.
No, not even to Pour un homme de Caron. Nevertheless, this was the first fragrance I thought of right after spraying Bucephalus XI (what an abysmally stupid name) on my head.
Why?
And assuming you all know Aventus. Bucephalus XI starts with the fresh, fruity top note that we know and love from Creed and his clone army. This one, however, sits on a dry, unsweet vanilla base, which gives it a completely different scent, and it is not easy to describe. I had expected a creamy Aventus variant like this at first, a little bit in the direction of Allure Homme Edition Blanche. But it isn't.
Here the vanilla does with the fruity note what it does with the lavender in Pour un homme de Caron. Both together give me a vintage note, like sniffing into an old pharmacy cabinet, but not in a negative way. I have a similar association with Dior Homme Intense, but in a completely different, stronger expression and sweeter, heavier
Bucephalus XI remains rather a fresh, light fragrance. The vanilla grounds it nobly, more mature. It turns the nouveau riche daredevil into a resting Ü40 who likes to think of old days and does not want to settle down yet to Camp David and Cool Water. Edward Mulhare could have carried it well, swinging a whisky glass in the trailer of the black Knight Foundation truck, because I think I can perceive a very delicate, alcoholic note. This makes the drydown a bit spicier compared to the refreshing start, and the overall scent more complex, but not more difficult. Bucephalus IX is a very conciliatory companion, despite its presentation with this abysmally stupid bottle; versatile, unagitated but still distinctive and special. Just like Edward Mulhare. But I would still allow him a little more presence and staying power. Compared to his youthful, ostentatious relative and his countless imitators, the horse's head is relatively tame. So if you still want to be noticed at Camp David's age, you better go to L'Aventure by Al Haramain or Kouros.