Olfattivo

There is this certain interplay of scents that can be called a cola accord. A result of the interaction of citrus and spices like cinnamon or vanilla - or even resins. One frequently encounters this epithet of the colaesque in fragrance descriptions. These are usually heavy fragrances. I'm thinking of Etro Relent, Paco Rabane Pure XS (which some say has a vanilla coke note), Roja Enigma (which some say has a cherry coke note) and many others. With all of these scents, I tend to smell the cola note with some imagination. Some other times the cola attributions seem rather adventurous to me. Citrusy spiciness alone does not constitute cola for me - especially since cola must first and foremost be fresh for me. In this respect, all those heavy citrus spices must apriori miss the cola theme. Admittedly, I have often thought I could spontaneously detect a hint of cola even when smelling something. Perfumery sellers usually turn up their noses at this usually short-lived 'eureka': cola doesn't seem to pass for an exquisite fragrance creation. Yet I only meant well!
Quite different in a Viennese niche perfumery in 2019. The saleswoman wanted to show me a 'very special' fragrance (oh well, how special, that was yet to be seen). She digs out the Eau d'Été by Parfums de Nicolai and hands me the test strip: "This one smells like..., well, try it for yourself first." I smell - and know ad hoc how she meant to complete the sentence: "...like COLA!" With feigned irritation, I remark, "It may sound funny," - eyebrow raise - "but it smells like Coke to me." Bingo, broad nod on her part. Finally, I have a perfume saleswoman on my side about Coke.
About the scent itself: It reminds me of nothing I already know. Real Cologne-Anklänge I can hardly recognize, because the spicy base gives this fragrance a completely different quality. Reminiscences of Eau Sauvage, as mentioned in a statement, I therefore do not recognize. Rather, it reminds me of an eau like Acqua Decima by Eau d'Italie. Eau d'Été is tart, sparkling, effervescent and full-bodied. Even though it fulfils its refreshing function as an eau, the name doesn't seem quite appropriate to me: Eau d'Été - such a generic title for a fragrance with such a strong character and profile. This is also where the only 'flaw', if one can speak of it at all, comes into play. In fact, as much as I love this fragrance, it can sometimes be a little too characterful for me. That's when I prefer to reach for more 'subdued' fragrances like Versace pour Homme and its ilk when I'm in a daily rut. That doesn't mean that the fragrance is annoying, stinging, pinching or anything like that. On the contrary, it is always wonderfully harmonious. But it is a plastic fragrance. You have to wear it if you want to smell and not just smell like something. To that extent, I sometimes layer it with other citrusy scents to 'water it down' and up the citrusy over the spicy. I do this by using one of my other summer favorites, the aforementioned Eau d'Italie.
Bottom line: to anyone who doesn't know this scent: Try it! It is, for me, one of the best summer fragrances I know. Here he is scandalously undervalued, which is certainly due to the low number of reviews - at least until he has the following that he deserves.

Note: When I mention the original of Guerlain in this commentary, it is not to make an objective comparison between the two scents. This is not possible at all, because I only smelled the Guerlain once and of course cannot have an exact impression. So if I draw an apparent comparison here, it is only in order to draw up an imaginary foil from which it becomes understandable what disturbs me about this scent in reality. So it's not about what's better about the other scent, it's about what Perry Ellis would have to be like for me to like it.
I bought the Perry Ellis because of the admittedly very ephemeral impression the Guerlain had left in my scent memory. Whether this impression itself was solid is of negligible importance here.
So what did I think I appreciated about the Guerlain? I tested the fragrance in midsummer, but not the best time of year to sniff it - and yet: I liked it, it was less vanilla-heavy than I had guessed. On the contrary: the rum, I think, loosened the whole thing up. It was something easy that didn't even bother me in the midsummer sun.
So it was on this basis that I bought the Perry Ellis - a bad buy, as it turned out. Because if the scent I had in mind was a "boozy vanilla" with a distinct light-footedness, his discount version turned out to be a heavy vanilla with a double bottom. I almost smell vanilla. You can also smell the rum, but it is clearly too weak for my taste. One senses a breath and wants to force him to spread out and show himself in full splendour. But I'm afraid that doesn't happen. Instead of spiritually balancing the vanilla note, the rum is just a tiny accent crushed under the vanilla blanket. Unfortunately, the fragrance loses its complexity and becomes a one-dimensional vanilla for me.
For me, the fragrance is only beautiful when I smell it in a kind of contemplative place on my hand. Then I can consciously enjoy the rum - of course by strengthening it in my imagination. In the Sillage, however, only a penetrating vanilla cloud remains, which even somehow smells 'cheap' to me. One knows this fragrance impression of vanilla coconut skin creams, from which one sometimes gets a whiff of a person passing on the street.
So no scent for me. I don't want to make him look bad either. Under two criteria it is perhaps better, than described by me: 1. it is in each case a better lady smell by the Vanillelastigkeit and 2. it is for the same reason definitely a winter smell for the same reason
Anyway, I had to part with him and keep dreaming about the rum that didn't want to show itself.