Items by Featherweight

One Man Show is Jacques Bogart's 1980 release for men. I don't know how it gets classified because there really is nothing like it, but if I had to guess, I'd say it's a fougère. It employs all the right aromatics, with green spices, emaciated citrus, and bitter woods. Its heart and base capitalize on raw incense and tobacco. What's important about OMS is that it has an extremely aggressive top, right in the same league as Kouros and Quorum - perhaps even more so. It's obvious from the...

Love in Black is an interesting fragrance. For a Creed, it has perfume level strength and longevity, comparable to the potency of other houses. I've read that this one is more unisex and wearable for men than its counterpart, Love in White, and I concur with that assessment; Love in Black is definitely unisex. The top is an explosion of iris - my least favorite part of the scent by far. Creed seems to have some issues with its top notes for me, and Love in Black doesn't make me want to...

... ... Fruity aquatics don't do anything for me. I'm always trying to avoid them, but every time I step into a Marshalls or Walgreens, or a real brick and mortar perfume merchant, I inevitably find myself scanning shelf after shelf of blue boxes and bottles. Thank you Cool Water, for, as Off-Scenter put it on Basenotes, "spawning so many inane progeny." It makes my life easier; I can disregard an entire swath of any store's stock, and have an easier time narrowing in on...

Green Water is one of the oldest colognes around, although it has been reformulated since its early days into something that many critics consider to be unworthy of the Fath brand name. I don't have an overwhelming interest in trying it, but recently came across the hair & body shower gel, which seemed pretty difficult to find and unusual, so I gave it a go. I have to say, I have mixed feelings on this one. Usually shower gels have a very strong concentration of fragrance, but Green...

I've read some reviews of S&W that make it out to be pretty lousy. One person considers its birch note "nothing out of this world", while another says "dunno who approved this." Other reviewers are a little more charitable: words like "impressive", "old-school", and "masterpiece" are used. So what do I think of S&W? I think it's really good. I'm just not so sure it's worth $550 for 8 ounces of the stuff. But let me talk about the scent first. Initial application brings an incredibly...

Frédéric Malle Editions de Parfums has put out a lipstick rose scent that would certainly not work on men. Une Rose is the answer to that. Creed's Bulgarian tea rose meets my need for a green rose. When I want a dark, earthy rose, I turn to the Malle. Une Rose gives me the dark, gummy, masculine flower in all its glory, completely offsetting any feminine associations it may have. The opening is a boozy explosion of rose, black cherry, geranium, and plastic. Each note is blended to a...

.. This is surprisingly good. I say "surprisingly" because Creed, for all its prestige, does not have such a great track record when it comes to floral fragrances. Let's face it: Vanisia, 2000 Fleurs, and Tubereuse Indiana aren't making anyone's Top 10 list. The opening of Fleur de Thé Rose Bulgare is an explosion of old-fashioned soliflore rose, swimming in green tea. Also floating around in there are massive lumps of ambergris, Creed-style. Which, to me, makes this a little...

.. Fahrenheit . . . there's no reviews of this on here until now? Used the B&B search function repeatedly to no effect, so here it is. Someone once mentioned that Fahrenheit is a lot like what Grey Flannel would be if it was in touch with its feminine side. Grey Flannel in a dress. There's some truth to this. The citrus/violet leaf/sandalwood concept is similar, although I find the actual notes in this fragrance somewhat hard to pin down. This is more abstract than Grey...

Without getting into a long description of Citrus Paradisi, I'll just mention that grapefruit lovers/fanatics should buy this without a second thought, or even a sample. You certainly can't find a better dry grapefruit cologne for men. That said, I must ask - why grapefruit? The thin, sour nature of grapefruit leaves much to be desired of the fruit, and even more of Citrus Paradisi by C&S. A peripheral issue for me is the price. I don't really care how skillfully it's rendered, or how...

One of the greatest mysteries of the modern age is why in god's name Azzaro discontinued Acteur. I blame Cool Water and the rise of aquatic nightmares - Acteur was issued in 1989, and is reminiscent of '80s aromatic fougères, many of which were more popular in the earlier part of that decade. It would not have been as spot-on in the '90s, but it should have been. It's infinitely better than most of what was big when I was in high school, stuff like Tommy and Acqua di Gio. Acteur opens...

.. .. Lomani Pour Homme is one of those 23 year-old "fresh fougère" aromatic fragrances that makes me awfully suspicious. My misgivings are about a certain assumption that has been made in serious fragrance communities like Basenotes, and is one that I myself was guilty of - until I tried Lomani. The supposal in question is that Pierre Bourdon, famous for creating Davidoff's Cool Water, based that formulation on an earlier (uncredited) work of his, Green Irish Tweed. This...

Top Notes Bergamot, Artemisia, Lemon, Grapefruit Middle Notes Cumin, Patchouli, Jasmin, Pine, Sandal, Cyclamen, Carnation Base Notes Leather, Tobacco, Moss, Amber, Olibanum I know I said I wouldn't write another new review in a few years, but with this one I couldn't resist. So much for resolutions. Quorum dates from 1982, and as a kid growing up in the '80s, I remember walking into my friend's houses and wondering what the acrid...

Ever smell Fendi, the original released in 1985? Well I have, and it always struck me as being unisex, despite its marketing as a feminine perfume. Those big dry florals and soft leather notes that are cleverly woven between being girls-only, and all-inclusive. Well, I'm here to tell you that I sometimes wear Coco by Chanel, and guess what . . . First, I don't expect anyone but the ladies here on B&B to be remotely interested in this, but as this is my last review here on this site (for...

Nobile has been discontinued for some time. However, it can still be found online, and it's really worth the $$$ to pick up a bottle. Gucci Nobile is something of a silent phenomenon. It comes from the '80s, and specifically from that decade's "powerhouse frag" category. It's also, obviously, a designer frag. Despite all this, Nobile is not really an in-your-face Kouros-esque monstrosity, nor is it particularly gaudy in any way, which runs counter to much of what Gucci represents...

Le Male is, to me, the 1990's as defined by a scent. Mediocre, saccharine, artificial, superficial. The notes are mint, lavender, cumin, blah, blah, blah . . . Really, with this one, the notes aren't relevant. There's nothing in Le Male that smells natural, beyond some aspects of the mint and vanilla in the base. I get an atypical explosion of sharp sweetness, haloed in a dusty, slightly floral glow, with a very rich vanilla/tonka drydown. Despite how good that may sound, my overall...

Safari for Men is exactly what I don't want a cologne to be. It gets some points for packaging - I'll admit the box is somewhat interesting with its faux reptile hide print, and the bottle has that slightly overwrought appeal of something that glitters and shimmers when it could just as easily be overlooked. Some say this is fresh, others call it complex - I call it synthetic junk. I get a blast of false citrus, followed by a beggars-can't-be-choosers fake floral escapade that...

Straight out of 1934, Pour Un Homme de Caron is old school without being old school. There's something criminally decadent about it, and I can't help but think that this is a cologne some running gun of the Great Depression would've spent blood money on. It is easy to misunderstand Pour Un Homme. Anyone who is acquainted with Yatagan knows the brute force behind that scent, so visiting the house's signature men's fragrance takes bravery. Pour Un Homme is not, however, anything like...

Creed Original Vetiver is the most expensive cologne I've ever purchased. The price is truly abysmal. At $130 for a 4 oz bottle, which is half of what Creed asks on its website, I expect only the best. Fortunately, I get it. The quality is all there. First comes a burst of bright citrus, mandarine, oranges and lemons, followed by vetiver, vetiver, and more vetiver. This isn't the pungent vetiver root, but the green, grassy vetiver leaf, and the result is something very green...

I've been on a quest to find one perfect cologne for each of the four seasons, and Yatagan, to me, perfectly represents autumn here in New England. That aside, let me get to the point. This is truly, by every definition, a man's cologne. It's also somewhat retro, mid-70's. But don't think leathery, musky, Burt Reynolds 70's - more like Clint Eastwood, High Plains Drifter, The Man With No Name, you can keep your lilac water 70's. Everything about Yatagan points to the great outdoors, and...

I discovered this terrific men's scent a few months ago while parsing the internet for something aquatic. Having been through the somewhat blah Acqua di Gio experience, I felt the need to find something that outmatched both its quality and price. Doing one or the other seemed easy, but doing both seemed almost impossible. After all, if Giorgio could charge $55 for its trademark men's cologne, who could possibly usurp the universally-popular ADG for under $20? Halston, that's who. Believe...