I just bought some Grey flannel and can honestly say I wasn't impressed.. at first. When i opened the bottle it had an almost smokey smell about it. It was as if I were smelling the fur of a timberwolf. Something that should be pleasant but somehow it isn't. It also seemed to me that the word lotion in advertising is almost always misused. Lets find a different word for something made almost entirely of alcohol shall we? Anyways, I smelled it and instantly regretted my decision to buy it... but as a man who has ordered a bottle of Johnny Walker blue but is not a scotch drinker... I knew I must grind and bare the new scent which was highly likely to never be used again. As I splashed it on... the smell changed. Now I am used to smelling something that is stronger in alcohol scent and the scent lessens or strengthens depending as the alcohol evaporates and throughout the day the scent mixes with your own chemistry to make a better or worse smell. This is not what happened with Grey Flannel. What happened instead was a metamorphosis of incredible proportion. If the same comparison had to be used and I idly sat watching a toaster, the toaster would have changed into a 57 Chevy before my eyes. The only similarity was the smell of sandalwood remained. Other than that the scent had changed remarkably and as I approached my GF she couldn't help but take the new smell in and immediately notice a difference from the normal aftershaves that I use (not an easy task as I normally partition my week between 3 aftershaves) It was insane how much the smell had changed in just a few minutes. So to bring back what I was saying before. Gentlemen, should you ever try out this particular scent... give it a minute or atleast splash it on before you make judgement. Have a manly day!!
Grey Flannel
- Thread starter patrickmjett
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I've always been a fan of Grey Flannel. I'm almost out of my current 4 oz bottle and saw one at TJ Maxx's yesterday for $12.99. How could you NOT buy it at that price? I didn't though. Mainly to force myself to focus on newer scents and it's not THAT classic to me that I have to have it in the rotation, although it's prety dman close.
Max
Max
Really nice stuff! Agree, very strong on initial application, but calms down almost immediately for me. Damp earth and violets!!
Grey Flannel has always been one of those fragrances that you have to wait a good 30 minutes before you really judge it.
The opening notes are harsh to say the least.
The opening notes are harsh to say the least.
I've worn Grey Flannel for a long time.
I miss it. It was the fragrance, the only fragrance, of my young adulthood. I've never gone back to revisit it because it feels like it belongs to that time and not to this one. An ignorant prejudice and I'm beginning to rethink it.
I think Gray Flannel is a great scent, and back in the day I wore a lot of it. But I agree that to me, it is seems like something of a different time in my life, and because it is so recognizable as a scent, I have trouble wearing it these days unless I am feeling nostalgic. Similar to Aramis or even Issey, much less, say, English Leather, I wore so much of it in the past I have trouble wearing it now! I never wore that much Halston Z14 or One-12, but I feel similarly about them as being a part of an earlier time. Same for Pierre Cardin pour Homme, or whatever it was called!
I remember when it first came on the scene, though. It was revolutionary to my nose. Violets and damp earth for sure, with very aggressive opening notes. A scent that greatly evolves. Good stuff.
Thinking about it some more, I think I could wear GF and Issey now, if I personally had not wore each do often in the past. Not as true of the others above.
I remember when it first came on the scene, though. It was revolutionary to my nose. Violets and damp earth for sure, with very aggressive opening notes. A scent that greatly evolves. Good stuff.
Thinking about it some more, I think I could wear GF and Issey now, if I personally had not wore each do often in the past. Not as true of the others above.
I'm not sure which chemical cocktail it is, that gives this scent, but I've been fooled few times by this smokey and woody scent. Same thing happened with Grey Flannel. It started out great, but after few minutes the scent somehow "burned out" and gave me a headache. I'm not really prone to headaches or migraines, but this specific scent seems to cause some.
I have the edt spray and I love that smokey opening note. It does mellow into a nice violet scent quickly though.
It is one of my favorites, glad you like it.
I haven't sniffed it in probably 15 years. I don't really remember much about it, but it certainly has it's fans and gets a lot of praise around here. I do have an affinity for classic scents. I'll have to revisit it at some point.
Funny Jay, I love Bay Rum and Grey Flannel. And of course, I am one of the Chosen.
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Do you know who Renato Laranja is?
Careful now, I don't want to have to lock down this thread (sorry--couldn't resist).
Ya know, I have never tried or even smelled Grey Flannel. I must have been living in a cave. The OP actually has me intrigued. Sign me up for anything smokey or smells like a timber wolf!
This thread reminded me of how much I miss Grey Flannel. I can't wait for mine to arrive.
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Ah Grey Flannel...Halston, Geoffrey Beene, Cartier Santos....scents of my younger yuppie lifestyle.
I still wear Santos......
I still wear Santos......
So I'm so happy to hear that this is such a well received frag. I came across this last week in Marshalls for $12.00 and the bottle was out of the box so I sprayed some on my wrists. I walked around the store for a while and decided I was not all that impressed with the harsh violet overtones that were radiating from my body. However... while driving home, the warm air from my vents were wafting the scent of the GF during the drydown phase and I was amazed by how wonderful the scent was! It is a strong floral and powder scent that radiates masculinity and strength. I was so surprised by how much I enjoyed it that I went back that night and purchased the bottle. What's interesting, is that in some parts of the frag community it appears that GF is NOT well received (Youtube Grey Flannel challenge). I think it's the harsh top notes that are the turnoff for some, but if you give it some time, it mellows out (a bit) into something intense and beautiful. Interestingly, I had it on yesterday (1.5 spray on chest) and it lasted 16 hours for me.
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