Favorite Chypre shave soap

[TBoner]

Palmolive is a fougere scent. The characteristic sweetness that coumarin lends tips it that direction.

Tabac is a chypre. Its sweetness is floral, and it finishes dry.

 

[Owen Bawn]

So Alt-Innsbruck cologne is a chypre, then?

 

[TBoner]

So Alt-Innsbruck cologne is a chypre, then?

Good question. Been a minute since I sniffed this one. It's certainly not a fougere, as those generally feature the lavender-oakmoss-coumarin/tonka axis, and I don't remember any lavender nor any sweetness. But it may not fit the chypre category, either, as I don't recall it having labdanum or anything mossy. Of course, honestly, these categories aren't so neat and tidy, anyway, as some things straddle multiple categories: fougeriental, chypriental, etc.

I don't stress much over classifying scents. I mean, English Fern and Green Irish Tweed are both classified as fougeres, but there are a lot of steps to take/leap over to get from one to the other.

I can say that if you like Palmolive, then most fougere EDTs/colognes from before the mid-1980s are probably a good match, especially Paco Rabanne Pour Homme. OTOH, if you like Tabac, there are a lot of chypres that are not anywhere close to it. It's so floral (which not all chypres are) and has a ton of aldehydes (which a lot of guys just don't like).

 

[Owen Bawn]

Good question. Been a minute since I sniffed this one. It's certainly not a fougere, as those generally feature the lavender-oakmoss-coumarin/tonka axis, and I don't remember any lavender nor any sweetness. But it may not fit the chypre category, either, as I don't recall it having labdanum or anything mossy. Of course, honestly, these categories aren't so neat and tidy, anyway, as some things straddle multiple categories: fougeriental, chypriental, etc.

I don't stress much over classifying scents. I mean, English Fern and Green Irish Tweed are both classified as fougeres, but there are a lot of steps to take/leap over to get from one to the other.

I can say that if you like Palmolive, then most fougere EDTs/colognes from before the mid-1980s are probably a good match, especially Paco Rabanne Pour Homme. OTOH, if you like Tabac, there are a lot of chypres that are not anywhere close to it. It's so floral (which not all chypres are) and has a ton of aldehydes (which a lot of guys just don't like).

Yeah I'm just trying to learn... I appreciate your patience and taking the time to try to explain this stuff. I'm actually much closer to getting it than I was yesterday, so that's something. Thanks.

 

[Jan Sobieski]

Somebody get me a soap that smells like gasoline and cigarette smoke.

 

[TBoner]

Yeah I'm just trying to learn... I appreciate your patience and taking the time to try to explain this stuff. I'm actually much closer to getting it than I was yesterday, so that's something. Thanks.

No worries. I think for me the most helpful thing when I first started exploring fragrances was determining what kind of sweetness - if any - I was getting out of the scent. Obviously there are exceptions/outliers/overlappers, but in general, the shorthand I worked from was:

spicy-sweet/sweetness from vanilla and wood = oriental fragrance
haylike sweetness/green mossy/fresh sweetness = fougere fragrance
floral-sweet/leather-sweet = chypre fragrance (chypres tend to be dry but can carry sweet notes in the heart or alongside their earthier bases)

This is not accounting for floral fougeres, dry chypres, floral orientals, etc., nor for scents that are not in any of these categories.

Today I'm wearing Dunhill for Men (1934). It's unclassifiable in a way. You can sense where hundreds masculine fragrance that came about over the next 50 years drew on it for inspiration, but what is it? Roughly, here's what I smell:

Topnotes - lemon (sweetened-up with something), lavender
Heart notes - carnation, clove, white flowers, petitgrain (sharp, citrus/floral, almost metallic), clary sage
Basenotes - Cedar, tonka, leather

There's more stuff in here officially, but these are the things I can pick out. So lavender and tonka seems fougere-ish; the sheer amount of floral notes leans oriental, as does the spicy carnation/clove; the leather and petitgrain are chypre standards. No vanilla means not oriental; no oakmoss means it can't technically be a fougere or a chypre. I think of it as a chypre because it's just not sweet enough to be an oriental frag, and it's not freshly-washed like a fougere tends to be. It is very, very good, though, and totally unique. It smells like everything good in a barbershop, down to the leather chair.

If I were to compare it to other things, I might mention Old Spice - an oriental - or Tabac - a chypre - or Francesco Smalto Pour Homme - a fougere.

I've seen guys refer to Dunhill as a fougere, and I won't argue with them, because you could claim it's just not snappy enough on the finish to be a chypre.

Given oakmoss restrictions, both fougere and chypre categories are getting upended anyway, but the categories helped me figure out that I don't actually hate sweet scents as I thought I did when I started exploring. I just don't like vanilla much, and I prefer the sweetness of coumarin. I'm a fougere junkie. That invented green-sweet smell of a fern is delicious to me.

And I wrote way too much there. Oh well.

 

[rockviper]

It's not just @Owen Bawn benefiting from this thread. I'm learning all about Capri and Foggy-Ear myself!
(ps. Yes, I know the correct pronunciations. )

 

[Tirvine]

No worries. I think for me the most helpful thing when I first started exploring fragrances was determining what kind of sweetness - if any - I was getting out of the scent. Obviously there are exceptions/outliers/overlappers, but in general, the shorthand I worked from was:

spicy-sweet/sweetness from vanilla and wood = oriental fragrance
haylike sweetness/green mossy/fresh sweetness = fougere fragrance
floral-sweet/leather-sweet = chypre fragrance (chypres tend to be dry but can carry sweet notes in the heart or alongside their earthier bases)

This is not accounting for floral fougeres, dry chypres, floral orientals, etc., nor for scents that are not in any of these categories.

Today I'm wearing Dunhill for Men (1934). It's unclassifiable in a way. You can sense where hundreds masculine fragrance that came about over the next 50 years drew on it for inspiration, but what is it? Roughly, here's what I smell:

Topnotes - lemon (sweetened-up with something), lavender
Heart notes - carnation, clove, white flowers, petitgrain (sharp, citrus/floral, almost metallic), clary sage
Basenotes - Cedar, tonka, leather

There's more stuff in here officially, but these are the things I can pick out. So lavender and tonka seems fougere-ish; the sheer amount of floral notes leans oriental, as does the spicy carnation/clove; the leather and petitgrain are chypre standards. No vanilla means not oriental; no oakmoss means it can't technically be a fougere or a chypre. I think of it as a chypre because it's just not sweet enough to be an oriental frag, and it's not freshly-washed like a fougere tends to be. It is very, very good, though, and totally unique. It smells like everything good in a barbershop, down to the leather chair.

If I were to compare it to other things, I might mention Old Spice - an oriental - or Tabac - a chypre - or Francesco Smalto Pour Homme - a fougere.

I've seen guys refer to Dunhill as a fougere, and I won't argue with them, because you could claim it's just not snappy enough on the finish to be a chypre.

Given oakmoss restrictions, both fougere and chypre categories are getting upended anyway, but the categories helped me figure out that I don't actually hate sweet scents as I thought I did when I started exploring. I just don't like vanilla much, and I prefer the sweetness of coumarin. I'm a fougere junkie. That invented green-sweet smell of a fern is delicious to me.

And I wrote way too much there. Oh well.

Glad to hear your statement about the way Dunhill inspired many others. It seemed in the nineties and aughts that everything was a riff on it.

 

[Owen Bawn]

It's not just @Owen Bawn benefiting from this thread. I'm learning all about Capri and Foggy-Ear myself!
(ps. Yes, I know the correct pronunciations. )

That's the way the Quebecois pronounce it! Stop making fun of them!

 

[Scaramouche]

Somebody get me a soap that smells like gasoline and cigarette smoke.

Close:

 

[Ad Astra]

Since this posted, have acquired the WCS Chypre set and it is excellent. Duck fat, FWIW, and the aftershave is amazing.


AA

 

[Ad Astra]

WCS Chypre back in rotation and even SHE loves it.

Great stuff.

AA