JavSantana

The Icon EDT by Antonio Banderas (There are also Elixir and EDP versions, that last one quite close to Gentleman EDP or Benetton Black Intenso) is a fragrance which, overall, makes the best quality - bang for buck ratio in this price range for a blue fragrance, besides being particularly close to Dior Sauvage EDT.

If you're looking for blues and particularly Sauvage, sure, you could get catalog or clones which are more synthetic than anything and don't last much, or more expensive ones like Armaf, Pradas, Versace, stuff like that, which are going to make a considerably deeper groove into your wallet if you are just starting to collect or want a good swiss army knife frag. Hence, enters Antonio Banderas. The brand, knowing the Sauvage DNA was very high selling, formulated a perfume similar to it with a proper presentation and a particularly low price range, under the 30 USD mark everywhere in the world. I also acknowledge the fact i do not own the fragrance, but i have tested it.

It is pretty much Dior Sauvage from start to finish, with slightly different nuances at certain times. Citrus top, pepper heart, ambrox base, slight fougere lavender / geranium and herbal nuances, and a certain woody backdrop. Great versatile fragrance, great for spring and summer, goes nicely into fall as well, not the best for winter and hence enters the EDP flanker, but overall an extremely versatile fragrance. Does have a lower performance than Sauvage, but i wouldn't say it's bad (Some 6 - 8 hours with a noticeable projection, a good compliment puller to anyone looking for that) and a more synthetic - forward aura to the frag overall, but, for 30 bucks, this is the best alternative to Sauvage imo. Highly recommended to anyone looking for a cheaper alternative to Sauvage. Greetings

It surprises me i had never reviewed Brut here in Parfumo. My main review was posted in fragrantica.es a while ago, in spanish, but i never did wrote it here. But, here i go:

In my opinion, Brut is an excellent example of an aromatic fougere fragrance with some slight chypre nuances like the use of different florals in the heart and some more herbal basil tones, while mantaining the classic lavender - geranium - moss - amber kind of accord typical of the fougere family. Hence, i classify it as an aromatic fougere that later influenced some of the actual designer realm aromatic fougeres, in vogue during the 1970's and 80's, such as Paco Rabanne Pour Homme, Drakkar Noir, and Azzaro Pour Homme, which i find the closest to Brut. Naturally they have different nuances, Azzaro is rougher, mossier, dirtier, leather heavy, less sweet. Brut is the opposite, cleaner, no leather at all, sweeter. But i do find a common line that makes them rather close relatives.

Brut starts off with basil and citrus, quite bright. Then goes into a darker french lavender feel, has a powdery, clean floral bouquet of ylang - ylang in the heart, and a drydown dominated by amber and musk, but does have a slight woody and earthy backbone given by patchouli and oakmoss.
Quite frankly, i enjoy the modern formula, and as a daily scent in a relatively fresh enviroment (Cloudy and rainy places) it would be great. Main complain is the performance. When you open the bottle, the fragrance will perform very weakly even douzing yourself, 15+ sprays. I guarantee you an hour later it will have almost dissapeared. BUT: After wearing the fragrance for a good couple of months and daily, the performance will have reached some 4 - 5 hours or stuff, naturally even longer in clothing. Gives a very neutral and clean image, while being refined and remaining classically masculine.

Bottom line: For the very low price you pay for it, around the 8 dollar mark or less for a 3.3oz EDT bottle and even cheaper for the aftershave, it's worth having in any collection, as with Jovan Musk, Agua Brava, Quorum, Lapidus, to name the few. Extremely easy to find, in pretty much any supermarket. Good as an after shave lotion, but if you're into classic stuff or are getting into this kind of perfumery, you could blind buy it and if you don't like it, you could give it away to an older relative and not lose much money. If you want to get a classic, get it and you can wear it almost everyday or in dates, even when being younger. It's just a clean masculine aura, that, while being old school smelling, i think still deserves a chance. Greetings

Lapidus Pour Homme has an excellent everything. Great presentation, good bottle, only thing that might bother is the atomizer cap comes off easily but nothing that a good couple of drops of superglue cannot fix. Worth commenting the box doesn't come plastic sealed, but you can tell it is new and hasn't been used since the atomizer will need several initial sprays that don't pump out any liquid and then it will atomize normally. When i opened it and first sprayed i noticed the liquid had a bit of an oxidation aura, like when you smell new citrus oils and they come across a bit like oxide. But anyway, after a couple of days of regular wear, that goes away and the nuances start from being rather synthetic, poorly conceived and even weird or disgusting smelling (The aldehydic pineapple note...) to a more refined and natural product. Made in France and for less than 20 bucks and with this longevity, excellent as well, but it does need a bit of aging and more usage of the liquid to reach that beast mode performance.

Scent wise: Very complex, mantains nuances of pineapple, herbs and citrus in the opening, which kinda smells like a grape soda or stuff, then honey appears, also heavy animalic musk nuances in there, and its base consists of a mixture of amber, oakmoss, patchouli, musk, and smoke tones of tobacco (OG tobacco, like cigarrette, whether lit or a new cigs pack, not the hookah sweet tobacco of today...) and incense, like an esoteric store or stuff where they burn incense sticks on interiors and you smell the incense so clearly and strongly as it impregnates everything in the place with smoke. It is quite musky as well, and floral also, has a good nice rose note in there and some say it brings out an animalic jasmine note. Has a good backbone of wood as well in there, particularly cedar pops up to my nose. Mantains that freshness of aromatic notes like artemisia and juniper berries to a good part of the fragrance as well, and sprayed on clothing it will be a monster. If you ask me, seems to be as heavy smelling as back in the day and it is the fragrance i guess will be the closest to its original formulations, but surely a bit toned down in concentration, while mantaining a good performance. In the worst of the cases, the aged liquid after some 6 months of use will have a performance of around 8 to 10 hours and a monsterous projection for around the first half. If it goes better, i am pretty sure it will reach a longevity of around 12 or 14 hours easily and project more heavily so. Overall a great fragrance and a great price - value proposition. Highly recommended. Not for everybody though, and bear in mind the smell is not particularly luxurious or stuff.

Bottom line: 80's bottled. Put on a synthwave playlist and drive a Delorean or Lamborghini Countach at sunset and night with this on.

Modern day version, costed 17 USD on a department store. In the opening i find a slight citrus brigthness paired with pepper, tames down into a darker and darker carnation flower with a musk backround, it is warm spicy as well, slightly woody and quite animalic. Current one is naturally NOT deer musk, it's a white vegetable musk base (Soap / sweet smell) with a slight touch of animalic to give it more longevity and complexity. I'd say a synthetic deer or civet - like musk? Smells as if the musk note was freshly shaven skin or stuff like in its contemporary, Paco Rabanne Pour Homme, naturally without the fougere / green / honey nuances that one has but anyway.

Price / value i think is good, you could find this for 10 bucks in a drugstore, has a quite low longevity but the musk note remains for several hours (8 / 10?) as if it was a second skin, not projecting at all but still present. I thought in the beginning would be a good office scent but this is sex in a bottle for that animalic musk note, maybe pair it with a fougere after shave and it will give if more fixation and complexity. I am still learning to love it but it's nice enough imo. Greetings
EDIT: Also has a good dose of aldehydes in the opening, very straightforward 70's style, waxy, synthetic, herbal, even transparent liquor - aldehydes, in the sense that modern aldehydes are fruit - forward.

I bought the fragrance yesterday for a cost of 25USD. Good price, but i will tell that more in depth later.

The fragrance has a good presentation for the price, let's not expect particularly high quality pres. The cap is plastic and a bit light, the atomizers are as usual by the brand, it doesn't pump out a large amount of juice but anyway, a good 5 sprays will be enough.

The opening presents dominant herbal nuances and a bit of citrus, as if they were aromatic notes like rosemary and absinthe, with potent green lemon / bergamot nuances as well. Into the heart becomes darker as the citrus fades into this kind of lemon - peel aromas and the herbs tame down, we are welcomed by a bouquet of warm spices such as slight cloves and cinnamon. The base presents dominant notes of moss, slightly smoky incense, amber that smoothens and sweetens the mix slightly, patchouli adding to the earthy sensation, a bouquet of woods as a backbone and a musk note that gives the overall fragrance a soap aura.

I find similarities of this fragrance to several perfumes from the 1970's and 80's, such as: }

Paco Rabanne Pour Homme (The citrus, herbal, lavender, oakmoss - musk - amber)

Carlo Corinto Classic (Herbals, citrus, woods)

Halston Z14 (Citrus - Cinnamon - Smoke - Moss)

And finally, the one i find the closest to it, Quorum, by Antonio Puig (Citrus, herbs, oakmoss, smoke, amber thing)

What i mean by this is that at certain stages might recall one or the other and takes elements of all of the previosly mentioned. However, it is far easier to wear than a couple of the two (Halston Z14 and Quorum are rather difficult to wear for the funky aura they have) as it overall completely departs from animalic notes and it is rather a classic herbal and spicy bouquet with a wood backbone. It has, again, a good price in my opinion, however, Quorum still offers a better price - value proposition, since the presentations are pretty much the same quality, but the Quorum juice is more natural smelling, deeper in character, has greater longevity and above that, it costs less. (Quorum around 15USD, like 10 bucks less than the Jafra) Even if they were found in similar prices, Quorum is of higher quality. However, given the animalic leather - tobacco - caraway thing that one has, gives it a pretty rancid kind of BO sweaty funky vibe which is not for everybody. If you want to dive into these kind of old school fragrances, JF9 Green is a good starting point. Or, if you're like me, you already use this type of frags from a while ago, it's still good for the collection since it is a cheaper, more versatile and easier to wear version of several of those perfumes.
Longevity is slightly above average, ranging from some 4 hours with a new bottle and some 6 to 8 hours with the bottle having been opened some 3 or 4 months before and some 20 percent of the juice having been used. I cannot really complain on it.

Bottom line: If you have the chance of trying it out or if you have to blind buy it, recommended either way, however, if you want something more challenging, go straight to Quorum IMO.