Snikers

Don't get me wrong. I still do like Antaeus in its current form. I think it oozes masculinity and a person that is brave enough to wear it, will for sure radiate with self-confidence, because it takes an alpha to wear this classic without fear of being judged. Why judged? Because it is outdated and that says a guy that loves the classics despite being 32 years old. I wear them very often, much more often the the current boring ambroxan stuff. I simply don't care what others will think of me because I wear fragrances mainly for myself. Sure, I like to get compliments but that is less important. Current Antaeus is aromatic, herbal, floral and slightly leathery, but the abundance of the ingredients cause that it is difficult to distinguish notes, especially when smelled from a distance. This screams - its a mans cologne but without giving a hint, what's in there.

Let's now jump back to the early 80s when it came out. I managed to get a decant of the 82' batch and man, that is a very different fragrance. First of all - oakmoss. Man, the current version uses some artificial substitute, because it is bearly noticeable, while the original version was all about it. Strong, aromatic, slightly earthy oakmoss is very easy to notice. Then there's the rose and patchouli, blended together very well. Surprisingly the original smells less outdated than the current version. This is of course my subjective opinion. But my girlfriend confirms and she likes it way more than the current version.

Is it worth to buy a super expensive 80s bottle? Nope, because up until around year 2002 it smelled nearly the same. I got a bottle from late 90s and it's perfect.

So look for newer bottles and you will get the same scent. Good ol' IFRA destroyed this fragrance. Yes, destroyed, because imho this is the most ruined classics.

The only thing is wrong with both versions is the longevity in my case. It doesn't last but at least the old one has a very good longevity.

I'm relatively young to wear such classics because I was born in a magnificent year 1989, which in my country (Poland) is known as the year of change because exactly on 4th of June 1989 it was announced that the communism was done for. I spoke to my father about perfume habits in the communism era and he said that most of the men wore a couple of types of colognes that were widely available and most of them had a classic smell. Those who could afford designer fragrances needed to visit a shop called Pewex where they could buy Guerlain's Habit Rouge, YSL's Pour Homme, Polo etc. My dad was lucky enough and for his 18th birthday he was gifted YSL's Pour Homme, a fragrance that was already a couple of years on the market and was pretty popular. He used it very occasionally because it was a really expensive cologne back in that day in Poland. He got interested in fragrances though so he started to save money for another bottle. When he saved enough he visited Pewex and after he assured the vendor he could really afford a bottle of a western fragrance (yeah, he needed to show the money lol) he was offered to sample Kouros. By the way it was not that easy to sample back in that era and the owner shared his own private bottle. Crazy huh? He doesn't remember exactly when that happened but for sure it was the first edition of Kouros, manufactured by Charles de Ritz. He instantly loved the smell, said it was the most complex fragrance he has ever smelled. Immediately he asked for a bottle but when realized the price point, he resigned and went for...Drakkar Noir. Yeah, Kouros was damn expensive. It was one of the most expensive fragrances on the market. When it launched it was considered what nowadays we call "metrosexual" (lol, how things changed). It was supposedly a favorite fragrance of the French LGBT community (well, it seems that gay people always had that impeccable taste for fashion and fragrance, nothing has changed here).

Enough nostalgia, I will now tell you how my story with Kouros begun.

I kept hearing about Kouros all the time because I'm a member of a large perfume community. Memes, jokes, "hehe a date? you should pick Kouros buddy" etc. I've never tried it before, it was not available in Sephora or Douglas and I didn't feel like buying a decant so I just forgot about it. I was in Greece a couple of years ago and I noticed a restaurant called Kouros and getting my memory refreshed, I just entered a large perfume shop in that town. And they had it, even exposed. The clerk said he personally liked it and that it's one of the few fragrances that had a Greek name.

I thought it was awful, chemical, urinal cake smell and asked the clerk if I could wash my hands. He laughed and said it is a common reaction among young people and said that I will enjoy in a couple of years.

A couple of years later when I was past my 30 already, I noticed a guy on a facebook group was selling a decant of the vintage juice from 1992. So I grabbed it because I was curios how the old version smelled, knowing that vintage perfume was better before IFRA messed up the perfume world.

Aaaand that Greek clerk was damn right, I just needed some time and a vintage to appreciate it. Animalic, deep, musky, slightly powdery smell conquered my heart and I just got crazy, started to ask people about decants, scrolling groups etc. I managed to find a rare bottle of Eau de Sport and blind buying it for a fair price (now they are crazy), got another decant, then got a 50 ml bottle of Parfum Corp version, 50 ml after shave from Charles de Ritz era (yay!), then time came for 100 ml of Gucci version, had a Sanofi bottle but sold it, and finally I found the holy grail. 100 ml of Charles de Ritz from 1984 + a decant of 1981 premiere edition. I felt like a junkie hoarding my favorite drug. Funny thing is that I paid 100 euros for that and I actually asked the vendor if he was aware what he was selling. It turned out that he was Kouros's fanboy and had a lot of bottles so he decided to share it in the name of love.

So how different they are?

Charles de Ritz - my favorite of all, is the most complex one, the most musky one. At least my bottle is not that animalic, I smell less civet, the amber here is also gorgeous. The opening is a real musk bomb and it is just slightly dirty. It is also the most powdery of all and feels really classy, old school. It has a veeery good longevity while the projection is not huge, but it is ok, I wouldn't like this type of fragrance to suffocate people. The AS version is of course less potent that the EDT and it fades quicker but it is exactly the same as the EDT, high quality stuff. I wear a beard so I can't use it on my whole face. When I shave my neck then sometimes I use if I'm planning to use the EDT. It doesn't irritate my skin and amps up the EDT.

Parfum Corp - it was the first vintage that made me fall in love with Kouros. This one (at least my bottle) is more animalic and the civet is easy to distinguish. It is more skanky than the Charles de Ritz and less powdery. However, after and hour or two it smells almost exactly the same as the first edition. It has the same performance. Best price/quality ratio in the Kouros world. If you see it on ebay or local marketplaces, just buy it it is worth it.

Sanofi - I had it, sold the bottle because I felt it was redundant in my collection and I made another Kouros aficionado happy. It is more potent than Parfum Corp but less deep than the predecesors. It is heavy on the dirty musk, definitely more aldehydic than the rest. Performance is superb, easily 24h on clothes. It smells fantastic when you spray 2-3 times on your chest and wear a linen summer shirt. It won't offend people and you will smell whafts every now and then.

Gucci - It is basically same as Sanofi, even better because even more potent. That one is the strongest Kouros in my possession. 2-3 sprays maximum, even one spray in summer months will be enough. This is basically a high quality slightly dirty musk scent.

L'oreal - I don't own it but current batch seems to be more aldehydic and citrussy in comparison. It doesn't have that skanky nature, which makes it more wearable for people that don't like animalic perfume. The longevity is decent but the sillage seems to be weaker.

I also own Eau de Sport so just a quick note - it is basically like a Parfum Corp edition but with less animalic features. The musk is there but is less potent and cleaner. It is good but not worth the price.

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I think that Kouros pushes people off because they smell it close to the skin. The whole beauty of this fragrance is that it needs some body heat to show its true nature. Hence, I strongly believe that is a summer scent. People tend to avoid it in the summer because they worry about scaring people off. Grab even the most recent batch, spray under your shirt when it is hot outside and see for yourself.


For me it is a masterpiece and an icon. I hope it will never get discontinued.

I love the original and just posted a review, so you can look it up if you're interested.

If you know the vintage Polo so you won't be surprised when you smell Crest. It is very similar to OG Cosmair version, but less deep, less piney. Toned down, more refined, it is a very good fragrance itself but from my perspective is less interesting than the classic. The classic is very polarizing, difficult for young noses, mature and very macho like. Crest is definitely more modern, but it makes it forgettable. It should be still produced though, because it is better than any other fragrance they are selling right now.

Would be way better choice for summer than the OG, but the performance is average on me. But my bottle is not sealed well (miniature) and almost 30 years has passed so maybe it used to be stronger when launched.

It is very rare, I can't see any bottle on Ebay currently listed, so I guess I was lucky.

Polo is my second oldest bottle in collection in terms of when the fragrance was launched. The oldest is Habit Rouge Edt. Polo is eleven years younger than I am, but in the world of perfume, 44 years is a long time. Most of the people my age avoid using such classics and my friends when they hear about classic perfume all they can come up with is Acqua di Gio or Azzaro Chrome. They are not wrong, these too are also classics, but they come from an era and are not polarizing at all. They won't grab Azzaro Pour Homme or Antaeus at the perfume shop, most of them will use some crowd pleasers that their wives or girlfriends gifted them for Christmas. I'm different, don't get me wrong I don't consider myself enlightened or better, I'm simply bored with modern perfuume.

Come on, let's be honest. If you're a fraghead, you probably resent the current situation. Aquatics, amber woods, iris, vanilla. Booooring. Everything smells the same. That's why we seek emotions and buy expensive niche fragrances.

A couple of years ago I started to sample classics and at first I couldn't appreciate them. They seemed too mature and I was back then more interested in what others might think of me rather then enjoy the smell for myself. For example while on a ferry in Greece I decided to sample famous Kouros and was not amazed, not disgusted but I couldn't understand why was it so often mentioned in the community.

One time I saw that a guy from my city was selling vintage Kouros decant and I decided to check if the rumors were true and the old version was thrilling. And boy it was. Long story short, I got hooked and my journey with classics has begun.

One of the first purchases was Polo. At first it was a miniature from the 80s. I immediately fell in love with it. Piney, mossy leather, an absolute ubermasculine masterpiece. You can feel your chesthair grow when you spray it. It is 80s Tom Selleck in a bottle. Macho but charming and a good bud. I later bought an entire bottle of Cosmair formulation, and a set of Polo Crest and Polo.

All of them are basically the same even if the come from different years. I haven't tried the Warner or very first "Made in France" version though. Maybe someday. Btw, the boxes look nearly the same.

I couldn't test the modern formulation so I blind bought it and I really like it too, but it is a completely different perfume. The new one is toned down, less piney. Smells like freshly printed magazine rather than a forest and leather. It has good performance and I got a couple of compliments for it. For the old one I got only one - from a friend of mine and he later asked me for a decant.

I'm really sad that the old formulation won't be around for long. Last bottle are being sold right now. Grab it when you still can.