Similarities between scents?

[WhosYerBob]

I've been comparing:

• Davidoff / Cool Water - I have to say that while I can easily tell Cool Water and Green Irish Tweed (GIT) apart from one another, they do have some striking similarities. Cool Water initially smells nice to me, but then a synthetic note comes to the forefront and gives me a headache. Too much of it and I get heat flashes and a slow rolling nausea. I tried to give it a go, but ended up hating it.

• Creed / Green Irish Tweed - GIT on the other hand, smells much more natural to me - but then I get too focused on the violet leaves of the middle notes and that's the end as far as I'm concerned. It does eventually die down to a nice muted scent, but that's hours later for me. Cindy liked this one after it had died down to the base notes - some 8 to 10 hours after I put it on. I'd read so many positive things about it that I was disappointed with my response.

• Creed / Erolfa - I was surprised by how much GIT and Erolfa seemed so similar upon initial application, but Erolfa has a salty ocean note to it that I like much better than the violet leaves of GIT.

I was wondering who else has been testing similar-smelling colognes and what you thought of them?

 

[The Nid Hog]

Blenheim Bouquet and Pino Silvestre. BB's opening citrus note is sharper and the herbal elements (sage) really come out in Pino's drydown, but they are a lot alike. To be honest, I like Pino better (to say nothing of its unbelievably cool bottle) I don't know why the guys over at Silvestre haven't quadrupled the price and watched the money roll in.

 

[Edward 1689er]

YSL Korous and Creed Orange Spice. I like Creed's version better.

 

[Aaron01]

YSL Korous and Creed Orange Spice. I like Creed's version better.

Yes these do smell similar, though OS has notes of orange where Kouros has clove. I like Kouros better than Orange Spice though...

 

[bigred90gt]

Cool water and Floris JF are quite similar to my nose. with JF, there is a lemony note that I dont pick up as much in the CW. JF also smells much more refined. I personally dont like cool water much, though I do quite enjoy JF.

 

[The National Razor]

Blenheim Bouquet and Pino Silvestre. BB's opening citrus note is sharper and the herbal elements (sage) really come out in Pino's drydown, but they are a lot alike. To be honest, I like Pino better (to say nothing of its unbelievably cool bottle) I don't know why the guys over at Silvestre haven't quadrupled the price and watched the money roll in.

I like Pino a lot but am ambivilent about BB. The Pino seems more piney to me.

By the way, you mentioned liking the aftershave but couldn't source it--I got mine (and the EdT) on Amazon Marketplace from 99Perfume. They advertise it as "Pino Sylvestre" but the box is correct and the product is legit to the best of my knowledge.

 

[The Nid Hog]

I like Pino a lot but am ambivilent about BB. The Pino seems more piney to me.

By the way, you mentioned liking the aftershave but couldn't source it--I got mine (and the EdT) on Amazon Marketplace from 99Perfume. They advertise it as "Pino Sylvestre" but the box is correct and the product is legit to the best of my knowledge.

Thank you! That's on my Christmas list.

 

[chainfire]

YSL Korous and Creed Orange Spice. I like Creed's version better.

I really like the YSL, do you like Creed's version enough to recommend it with the 3 times price difference, or is YSL close enough?

 

[The National Razor]

Thank you! That's on my Christmas list.

Glad to be of service.

I didnt' put any shaving things on my Christmas List because a) I couldn't delay the gratification of buying it myself in an AD-fued madness, and b) my wife probably wouldn't want to contribute to the clutter in the bathroom any further.

 

[Edward 1689er]

I really like the YSL, do you like Creed's version enough to recommend it with the 3 times price difference, or is YSL close enough?

It would hard to justify the extra expense. They are very, very similar. Creed's version is more refined and there is something about Kouros that just doesn't agree with my nose. If you enjoy Kouros, you might want to sample Orange Spice and compare for yourself.

 

[HoratioCaine]

To me, the key difference between Cool Water and Green Irish Tweed is that Cool Water makes me retch, whereas Green Irish Tweed doesn't. YMMV.

 

[jakespoppy]

To me, the key difference between Cool Water and Green Irish Tweed is that Cool Water makes me retch, whereas Green Irish Tweed doesn't. YMMV.

 

[StylinLA]

To me, the key difference between Cool Water and Green Irish Tweed is that Cool Water makes me retch, whereas Green Irish Tweed doesn't. YMMV.

No, no. Please, be frank.

Tell us how you really feel about Cool Water.

 

[kingfisher]

T&H 1805 and Antonio Banderas' Blue Seduction Cologne for men.

Almost a DEAD RINGER. Honestly.

 

[HoratioCaine]

Tell us how you really feel about Cool Water.

All kidding aside, I smelled Cool Water when it first came out. I remember the advertising campaign - and it was elaborate - focused on how the cologne was "the smell" of Provence. My arse. Needless to say, I didn't think much of it. Years later, I smelled Green Irish Tweed. It's not my favorite scent by any stretch, but I liked it well enough to buy a bottle of it. I never made the connection with Cool Water, until I started reading reviews on Basenotes that compared the two. Now I can sort of see it, but I still think GIT is vastly superior. And if one fragrance is being a copycat of the other, it's Cool Water, since it came out several years after GIT.

I suppose my biggest misgiving about GIT is that a fair amount of people might think it's Cool Water, as evidently a number of people do. I really don't want people thinking I wear CW. Call me a snob, but I know how I feel when I smell some dude leaving a trail of some horrid, department-store scent of the week, and I get caught in its wake. I don't want anybody thinking that about me.

Anyway, them's my thoughts.

 

[StylinLA]

Antico Caruso and Le Male both open identically.

Caruso is like 6 times the price. I don't know what they were thinking. I guess the dry down is different. More almond. Not as synthetic.

 

[StylinLA]

Now I can sort of see it, but I still think GIT is vastly superior. And if one fragrance is being a copycat of the other, it's Cool Water, since it came out several years after GIT.

Clearly a GIT ripoff- and it was designed by the exact same perfumer who did GIT.

I think there's a fair bit of thought that GIT was inspired by Grey Flannel.

Sean Jean's Unforgivable is a clone of Millesime Imperiale. I think it's funny because I remember reading somewhere that P Diddy wore Creed's Imperiale -then he comes out with Unforgivable.

 

[HoratioCaine]

I think it's funny because I remember reading somewhere that P Diddy wore Creed's Imperiale -then he comes out with Unforgivable.

If you ask me, everything P Dribble does is unforgivable. There's a man who has made a whole, highly lucrative career out of ripping off other people's ideas, then reselling them as his own. Then again, I don't suppose he's all that different from Bill Gates. But at least Bill Gates manages to keep his mouth closed for photographs.

 

[jakespoppy]

All kidding aside, I smelled Cool Water when it first came out. I remember the advertising campaign - and it was elaborate - focused on how the cologne was "the smell" of Provence. My arse. Needless to say, I didn't think much of it. Years later, I smelled Green Irish Tweed. It's not my favorite scent by any stretch, but I liked it well enough to buy a bottle of it. I never made the connection with Cool Water, until I started reading reviews on Basenotes that compared the two. Now I can sort of see it, but I still think GIT is vastly superior. And if one fragrance is being a copycat of the other, it's Cool Water, since it came out several years after GIT.

I suppose my biggest misgiving about GIT is that a fair amount of people might think it's Cool Water, as evidently a number of people do. I really don't want people thinking I wear CW. Call me a snob, but I know how I feel when I smell some dude leaving a trail of some horrid, department-store scent of the week, and I get caught in its wake. I don't want anybody thinking that about me.

Anyway, them's my thoughts.

Nice detail, and very easy to follow and appreciate your perspective, HC....

To me, the key difference between Cool Water and Green Irish Tweed is that Cool Water makes me retch, whereas Green Irish Tweed doesn't. YMMV.

...but I still like your first response!

 

[Kouros]

I wear scents for how they make me feel.

GIT makes me feel like a million bucks, Cool Water does not.