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Free Life Aigner 1987 Eau de Toilette

7.7 / 10 34 Ratings

A popular perfume by Aigner for men, released in 1987. The scent is spicy-woody. The production was apparently discontinued.
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Main accords

Spicy

Woody

Floral

Sweet

Leathery

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Lavender

Muscat grape

Rosewood

Bergamot

Heart Notes

Geranium

Cedar

Rose

Lily of the valley

Base Notes

Amber

Patchouli

Vanilla

Sandalwood

Ratings

Scent

7.734 Ratings

Longevity

7.524 Ratings

Sillage

7.521 Ratings

Bottle

5.030 Ratings

Submitted by DuftJunkie · last update on 05/03/2025.

Source-backed & verified

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Zino Eau de Toilette

Free Life After Shave Lotion

Bozart

Gatsby Eau de Toilette

Ungaro pour L'Homme Eau de Toilette

Honour Man

Reviews

4 in-depth fragrance descriptions

05/09/2015

ColinM
516 Reviews

ColinM

2

Underrated smoky gem

Free Life is an underrated and – it seems – well unknown fragrance suffering from a coincidence of bad luck and bad choices – a hideous 1980s’ racing-inspired packaging, an achingly dull name, and the fact it’s from Aigner, which has always been both fairly underrated and maybe badly distributed. But the fragrance, well... that’s good. In my opinion it smells basically like a darker, smokier and “boozier” version of Zino Davidoff: I get many similarities between the two scents, that same kind of aromatic herbal-powdery-tobacco camphorous dustiness stuffed with (quite heavy) floral notes, aromatic herbs, and musky dry woods. An aromatic Oriental fougère with a twist, which is here represented by a more prominent presence of woods, amber and resins, and possibly something like rosewood too. So overall a drier, smokier take on Zino. That ambery-wood accord smells to me so dark and intense it recalls a boozy note of whiskey, which however vanishes soon. The drydown is an elegant, cozy and discreet musky-woody-smoky smell with a classy floral nuance. Overall something miles away from what you may imagine by looking at the name and the packaging – this is a really sophisticated dark scent, perhaps just a tiny tad tacky but surely closer to a virile yet mannered “Aigner pour Monsieur” than to the “BroDouche Sport Powerhouse” one may imagine by looking at the box. Nothing really new, but total quality to any extent.

7,5/10

11/22/2020

9Scent 8Longevity 8Sillage

Unterlaender
7 Reviews

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Unterlaender

Helpful Review 7

Free Life -- last positive resurgence at Aigner

People, if it still existed, "Free Life" would have been my signature scent even before the brilliant No 2! Two things right off the bat -- yes, similarities to Zino by Davidoff are undeniable, although Zino, released a year before Free Life, is a bit earthier and herbier. And secondly -- I found the bottle, especially the one from the first series with the lilac satin glass, the light gray cap, and the neon green lettering so very 80s that I still like it today.

As I said, I knew it before Zino, and I still love it today. This has a lot to do with sentimentality, as over the past 20 years it has become increasingly rare and is now, like so many old-school fragrances, practically weighed in gold. Once again quickly on the topic of sentimentality -- I wore it when I had to say goodbye to my then classmates at the graduation ball in April 1989, I wore it when my sister and years later my best friend got married, and I wore it, now already ennobled as a rarity, on the day my little daughter was born and a few months later at her baptism.

What do I still like so much about this olfactory steamroller from Aigner after 33 years? It’s this uncomplicated "I am Free Life, your buddy. I’m a real easy-going guy, always ready for fun and offer you your daily dose of good mood included." Yep. We can leave it at that.

"FL" is a balanced mix of bergamot, lavender, and citrus notes, to which a good amount of vanilla and tonka bean then joins in the heart note, and even patchouli raises its voice, albeit a bit shyly. Towards the end, it becomes powdery and sweet one last time, but not TOO sweet. One last time because with "FL" -- from a purely subjective point of view -- the great era of Aigner fragrances ended. Soon, just a few years later, "FL" and its powerhouse giants like Sport Fragrance, Silver, Super Fragrance, and ancestor No 1 were laid to rest. What then -- with the exception of my, see above, all-time favorite NO 2 -- sailed under the Aigner flag was honestly a shame for the alcohol that was used and damaging to the reputation of a still great brand.

I consider myself lucky to own two full minis and a 30ml bottle from the first series, and yet I will only wear this broad-spectrum seducer again on a worthy occasion (wedding, baptism, world peace, my 100th birthday in 48 years, etc.). Peace!

05/25/2018

7Scent 8Longevity 7Sillage

Taurus
1175 Reviews

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Taurus

5

Feel free ... to copy!

What should one actually think of a perfume that is so obviously copied, like Free Life? The model here was clearly Zino by Davidoff. That one was released just a year earlier and has a similar violet tint in the bottle. The listed ingredients are nearly identical, with the small difference that cedar in Free Life is already present in the heart note (officially) and tonka bean is completely absent here. It couldn't be more obvious.

So let's dive deeper into the details. To make a proper comparison, I dripped a drop of Free Life and Zino (both from a well-preserved miniature in the original version) onto paper and skin, and I find that both march in exactly the same direction of spicy-woody.

Zino has more radiance and feels darker, rounder, and at the beginning, a hint more citrusy, while Free Life feels a bit lighter and somewhat flatter. Towards the end, both scents are indeed quite identical.

Even I was faced with the choice of deciding between the two back then, but on one hand, Zino was already in my collection and seemed to me to be more stylish and valuable in terms of bottle design and packaging than Free Life. Green writing on violet is quite special.

Sure - if there were no Zino, Free Life would be "the one and lonely," but as it stands, for me, it is rather a really well-made copy of another major brand - but just a copy!

04/05/2014

9Scent 7.5Longevity 7.5Sillage

Schmörkes
74 Reviews

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Schmörkes

2

The Spice of the 80s Captured in a Bottle...

Just give the Schmörkes a spice hammer, and he is happy.
Yes, no, please, thank you. It's not that simple.

Sportfragrance is for me a real heavyweight among Aigner scents, like No.2.
And Free Life draws from that.
But it's not that straightforward.

What is often sought today, freshness and spice, stylishly intertwined, never intrusive, and never coming off as cheap, lacking sweetness, but not completely devoid of it, a squaring of the circle, here it is.
Take it. Now.

Many are looking for the scent of the 80s, here is one that must be noticed. For spice lovers who never lie.
A spicy smoke salon, timeless and honestly composed.
Buy. Available now as a mini.

Statements

7 short views on the fragrance

ChicoRoch1

2 years ago

8.5Scent 7Longevity 5Sillage

1

A man sized powerful launch by the unsung fragrance house Etienne Aigner

MonsieurTest

4 years ago

8Scent 8Longevity 8Sillage

27

23

Ugly duckling
With the soul of a dino:
From Zino!
Fresh spicy lavender-rosewood-patchouli blast
With a sandal-vanilla amber base.
Good!

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Gold

6 years ago

8Scent

5

2

I still know it, that spicy-masculine powerhouse scent. Sprayed on in the morning, still active and effective at night. Anti-wimp, no prescription needed.

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