Good Life for Men Davidoff 1998 Eau de Toilette

Good Life for Men (Eau de Toilette) by Davidoff

Bottle Design Serge Mansau

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7.8 / 10 203 Ratings

A popular perfume by Davidoff for men, released in 1998. The scent is fresh-green. It was last marketed by Lancaster.

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Main accords

Fresh

Green

Spicy

Citrus

Floral

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Fig leaf

Grapefruit

Bergamot

Blackcurrant Melon

Melon

Lavender

Heart Notes

Lemon

Magnolia

Pelargonium Violet

Violet

Base Notes

Almond

Clover

Amber

Sandalwood Tea

Tea

Perfumer

Pierre Bourdon

Ratings

Scent

7.8203 Ratings

Longevity

7.5147 Ratings

Sillage

7.0150 Ratings

Bottle

7.6163 Ratings

Value for money

7.546 Ratings

Submitted by DonVanVliet, last update on 02/26/2025.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Good Life for Men After Shave

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Great Life

Dune pour Homme Eau de Toilette

Gramercy Park

The Best Life

Reviews

8 in-depth fragrance descriptions

04/25/2017

9
Bottle 6
Sillage 7
Longevity 9
Scent

Elysium
866 Reviews

Elysium

Very helpful Review 5

A spritz of green water

Davidoff Good Life is just one of those scents that were always in my mind, but for any weird reason, I did not buy until it got discontinued. Oh damn! But all of a sudden, I came across it while visiting a perfume outlet, and it was there on the shelf, just waiting for me! :D

DGL is the evocation of a summer day's end... when the fig tree, the hay, and the meadow release their scent in the warmth of the sunset. The opening is zesty-aquatic-floral, with a touch of bergamot and grapefruit that give a fresh and tonic start to the fragrance. Despite those notes are pretty dominant, there is even a bit of watery melon and a tad of mild lavender. This rich fragrant aroma reminds me humid grass in the early morning at dawn, when the sun starts rising.

Then, the scent evolves into a warm and comfortable green accord of fig leaves, green tea leaves, and tart black currant, which add a fresh earthy twist to it. A touch of floral notes is added by the white magnolia and pelargonium. That is the heart, so green and fresh, but not aquatic or marine.

The soul of DGL is made of fresh tobacco leaves, mellow amber, and creamy sandalwood. This concoction gives the signature a masculine structure. The fragrance is modern, refined and perfectly embodies all the simple pleasures, that's what good life means.

My gut feeling tells me that DGL is a perfect scent for warm weather, especially spring time. Longevity is good, and sillage stays close to your arms, which is good for the office, for the young and the more mature men.
Unfortunately, DGL seems to be discontinued, and it is very difficult to find, even on the internet.

06/01/2015

10
Bottle 7.5
Sillage 5
Longevity 6
Scent

Drseid
821 Reviews

Drseid

Helpful Review 1

The Somewhat Good Life...

Good Life for Men opens with relatively sweet green fig leaf coupling with an aromatic bergamot and lavender co-starring tandem. As the composition moves to its early heart the green fig leaf and aromatic lavender remain now as co-stars adding slightly tart grapefruit to the mix with additional subtle melon support. During the late dry-down the composition eschews most of its sweetness turning distinctly ambery with supporting green oakmoss and dry woods through the finish. Projection is very good and longevity good at about 8-10 hours on skin.

Ever since Good Life for Men was discontinued I have read many praising the composition, and demand must be there as prices have steadily increased. Just like many other discontinued compositions, however, the legend is often larger than the actual result so it is time to see if Good Life for Men really deserves its stellar reputation. I have worn the composition three days in a row and am again wearing it as I write this review. I am afraid despite my love of its classy bottle, for me Good Life for Men is really not so good. Oh yes, it does have some green aspects that are appealing, like the slightly synthetic smelling fig leaf, but the clover derived green sweetness that makes itself known early and hangs around with the fig through the mid-section is too sweet for my tastes. The woody amber dry-down is nothing new either, with only some green oakmoss adding an interesting twist, though far from original either. At the end of the day, this composition must have been designed to appeal to Davidoff's Cool Water crowd, as that really was their big hit (by the same perfumer Bourdon, no less) but alas, lightning rarely strikes twice and Cool Water in its original vintage form is a lot better composition than Good Life for Men. The bottom line is the approximately $170 per 125ml bottle on the aftermarket Good Life for Men is a valiant attempt by Davidoff and Bourdon to revive the house's greatest commercial success, Cool Water, but while appealing this "good" 3 star out of 5 rated composition comes up a bit short.

08/02/2021

7
Bottle 7
Sillage 8
Longevity 8
Scent

Smellavision
205 Reviews

Smellavision

Helpful Review 2

"Good life, where have you gone??"

This is really nice. Seeing it being a scent by Pierre Bourdon, who amongst others is also behind composing classics like Cool Water, Montblanc Individuel and even the (in)famous Kouros I was excited to test it, and was not let down. Dry, green and spicy, it comes out fresh and extremely versatile. After the grapefruit fresh opening with blackcurrant and lavender, all the floral heartnotes and vanilla come to out play and are joined by melon and a great fig leaf note that stays throughout the drydown where it is joined by amber and oakmoss.

Funny as it may seem, this actually reminds me a little of the also discontinued "What about Adam" by Joop, which I tested only about a month ago - apart from the color of the juice, the scents are both very green, grassy and fresh.

One word : dynamic!

01/24/2020

8
Bottle 7
Sillage 7
Longevity 8.5
Scent

Gucciolini89
1 Review

Translated Show original

Gucciolini89

Top Review 23

Why Good Life is not mainstream.

Many questions are certainly always why one or the other fragrance is adjusted or can not have a long life.
There are two fragrances in this category for me, including Good Life and a fragrance from Joop, namely what about Adam.

Both fragrances are to be found in the group fresh - green.
For me grandiose compositions which are really unique and are mostly to be found in the niche section.
The just mentioned is the crux of the matter... the fragrances are simply not mainstream and for everyone. It is not for nothing that scents like Cool Water or Le Male are still around, because they are simply made for people who don't have 200 scents in their collection and only have one scent to smell good on special occasions.
The two green fragrances Good Life and What about Adam are for me fragrances on niche level and unfortunately not as pleasing as other designer fragrances This is one of the reasons why such great fragrances simply disappear from the shelves forever.
Not a great turnover and therefore not very economical for the big brands.

I'd also like to say something about the fragrance.
Good Life starts out clearly green for me, which in this case is due to the fig leaf which is underlined by citric tones. A great refreshing opening.
Not much changes in the fragrance character except that for me a light syrupy sweetness is added.
This green theme and freshness remains almost throughout the fragrance, a really great summer scent. Sweetly amberish, the fragrance finishes and lasts for 8 hours for a fresh scent.

For me the fragrance will always have a place in my collection and I like to wear it again and again as long as I still have some of the good perfume.

Thanks for reading it

10/16/2018

8
Bottle 7
Sillage 8
Longevity 10
Scent

SchatzSucher
107 Reviews

Translated Show original

SchatzSucher

Top Review 15

Good mood for spraying on

The thing with favourite fragrances is always a very personal and subjective matter. What one loves and enthusiastically wears is pissed off at the next. And vice versa.
Also my thoughts about the good life of Davidoff are very personal and subjective. But I like to share them with interested people.

There really are scents where the corners of the mouth automatically go up when you apply them. Good Life belongs to this category for me in any case.
For me, it perfectly embodies spring, when nature comes back to life, when everything is green and blooming and when it gets warmer again and I want to go out into the fresh air and enjoy the young green and all the fine flowers.
Good Life is a really wonderful companion.
Already the first sprayer makes me think of a beautiful sunny and friendly day, on which I would like to take an extended walk in the green. Gentle citrus fruits in combination with a hint of lavender flatter the palate (it immediately gives you a green-fresh feeling), a piece of melon and a handful of currants (but only a very small handful, otherwise it gets too sour) make it fruity and delicious, and a fig leaf also rounds it off. It gets a little more flowery, the spring meadow is in full flower splendour, violets beckon, geraniums smile, a beautiful magnolia tree greets splendidly, clover is added, which gives the spring walk a certain green-herbal note, which remains throughout the whole course. This is definitely this pretty meadow clover, which can be found everywhere, the one with the very delicate scent.
An interesting scent, which is probably not used so often, could be used more often by me.
Towards the end of the walk in the green I feel like a cup of tea with a few almond pieces, not many, it should not get too strong. And the tea's not too strong either. A piece of sandalwood with a bit of amber smells like a nice background.
The spring walk in the green has taken its time, so about 7 hours, which is quite good for such a fine and unobtrusive scent.
I wore Good Life again today after a long time. Even though it is the epitome of spring for me, today it was a perfect match for the still very mild weather. If there wouldn't be so much leaves everywhere, you could really think it's spring or early summer.
He did very well in my work, he waved gently around my nose again and again and I felt very comfortable. I was also asked twice today about the fragrance, which made me very happy. I always see a compliment to the fragrance as a beautiful icing on the cake.

The name Good Life is in my opinion very fitting, you get very quickly good mood and think so with yourself, yes life is beautiful :-)
Unfortunately, Good Life has not been produced for a long time, which I think is a pity. I don't know exactly when he disappeared from the shops, it must have been the beginning of the 2000s. Anyway, I never saw him again I still have a half-full bottle that I bought in the late '90s. Thank God there's still nothing wrong with the scent. Sometimes you can't understand why just the scent you like so much is taken out of the assortment.
There may have been several reasons, maybe he didn't get the sales he hoped for, maybe he was too overshadowed by other fragrances that sold better. In contrast to many other scents from his time, Good Life is quite quiet, almost inconspicuous. It has few corners and edges. That may have bothered some.
In any case, I have nothing wrong with Good Life, it makes me feel good, puts me in a spring mood and makes me feel good all around. Just like on a sunny spring day, even if it is already October and actually deep autumn.

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