Farneon

Undoubtedly a fine citric scent with an aquatic undertone and a slight herbal note. That's what I smell. But musk, oud and tonka bean? No way! You can spray it on warm summer days and beyond without hesitation, but Versace pour Homme lacks something special in my eyes. Bad tongues could say: "I rub lime on myself and it's good!" ;-) Now I personally like citric scents very much and therefore there is no reproach in this direction.

Nevertheless, I find it astonishing that the name "classic men's perfume" of a brand like Versace is so citric. Now it's only 10 years old, this perfume construct. But somewhere else it would probably be called "Pour Homme Sport Eau Fraiche" ;-) In general, I somehow lack the olfactory base with a few woody and spicy notes and an individual touch.

If some other scents were beers, this one would be a cyclist with an extra dash of lemon. If one takes gladly on hot summer days with the contemplation in the beer garden. But with the sun setting I would prefer a Belgian Leffe or Irish Guiness! ;-)

Well, it's always the price tag question! Can a dupe be as good as the original? It's good that I don't know Dior Sauvage, so I can only form an opinion about Extreme Story. The fragrance is very balanced, but I don't see it as fresh as most here (only in the stairs). I feel the Sillage more intensely than with many brand scents. Of course you have to like the scent mixture. In my case it does, although it doesn't quite make it on the list of my top favourites ... However, this is not a question of quality, but of taste. Sauvage might not have the very best cards for that either.

I'll make a daring comparison with the pharmaceutical industry: If you buy a nasal spray or headache tablets, who will use the expensive original from Bayer or Merck today? The main thing is that it works. The comparison may be a little flimsy, but La Rive can really be smelled here for less than 15 euros for 100 ml. This also applies to other fragrances of this brand. We know that the cosmetics industry has the highest profit margins of all. And yet you keep asking yourself the same question: Can a cheap product do the same thing as a five times more expensive product?

What I would deny in the case of sports equipment or mattresses, for example, since they are permanently exposed to high mechanical stress, may not necessarily apply to the perfume industry. I am currently wearing ES on my left arm and Bleu de Chanel on my right arm in the self-test (haha) for several hours now. I actually like the latter a bit better, but only because it comes across more citric and I like it. In my opinion, however, they don't give themselves anything in intensity and balance. And if I go out tonight, maybe I'd actually rather go for ES ...

There are these scents that hardly impress me when I spray them on a test strip or on the skin for the first time. Dior Homme Intense is undoubtedly one of them. Of course, this is always a question of personal taste and also of the olfactory daily form. For me the overall construct is at any rate significantly too powdery in the first half hour. I'm more into fresh woody or spicy citrus scents. And only in the rarest cases do I smell what the list of ingredients has in store for me. Lavender? Only with a lot of imagination! I have several real flowering lavender varieties on my roof terrace and like this scent very, very much

Of course, Dior Homme Intense is not designed to be sprayed in the office. But when I come home late at night and can't keep my nose away from my arm anymore, there must have been a lot of things going on in the fragrance development. Dior Homme Intense is warm and sweet without being overblown like so much of Gaultier or Mugler. In my nose, mind you! I admit it openly: I don't know exactly how pure vetiver or pure cedar smells now, so I can only associate.

After a powdery start, Dior Homme Intense develops an extremely elegant and harmonious note that lingers on the skin and in the brain for a very long time. A little powder remains, clear, but woody-sweet sets the tone in the long run. But it is not as gourmandig as for instance CH Men Privé, which I consider suitable for the same occasions. But in my life there's not enough of it (weddings, Christmas parties, anniversaries etc.), which is why it's not a favourite fragrance for me. More like one that I put on when I throw myself in a suit and tie for a festivity ... Then we'd love to!

When I was young at the end of my forties, my perfume cupboard finally needed a refreshment. For a long time I hadn't really cared about supplies and was busy putting on my Ultraviolet from Paco Rabanne and my Givenchy Play Intense. Now something new or old was supposed to remind me of the beginnings of my daily "oiling" about 25 years ago. Unfortunately most of my favorites of that time are no longer available: no Bogner Man, no Lagerfeld Photo, no Davidoff Good Life.

So via this forum I came across Zino, which I didn't know from before, and which can be bought for 20 Euro for 100 ml at Amazon. I don't know if it's the original or a fake. I ordered blindly and was surprised by a Sillage, which looks for her equals and which I still noticed even after showering.

But let's get to the most important thing: the scent itself. In keeping with the year of publication, I have to use old-fashioned words and film quotations here. Davidoff Zino is a real, rude roughneck. "Yippie Ya Yeah, Pig's Cheek" you'd like to shout, because I think that's the same smell. A shrill performance that I associate with the color squeaky yellow.

Which brings us to the problem. I'm not an olfactory expert, I don't smell the finest nuances of any essence, on the contrary: What Zino reminds me of the most is ginger, although it's not even on the "list of ingredients". Since raspberry aroma for the food industry nowadays is mostly made from cedar wood, that doesn't necessarily mean something, does it?! Two splashes were enough and I felt like I was bathed in ginger lemonade. Later leather and vanilla were added (for me personally, mind you). In the first moment I was very taken by this scent cocktail, but in the course of an evening in the club I couldn't smell myself anymore.

What I would like to say to Zino is that his uniqueness is far removed from the mainstream. It fits very well into the popcorn cinema of the 1980s and when I think of the right guys, Bruce Willis and Terence Hill come to mind very quickly (for whatever reason). For me, however, this is nothing: too shrill, too unbalanced, too penetrating. And while I'm about to embarrass myself: Where is the ginger freshness, which is not mentioned anywhere here, but which I can smell above all else?