This is part 2 of our Ultimate Fragrance Wishlist. We hope you enjoyed the first post! If you didn’t see that one, check it out here.
21. Chanel Egoiste – Supposedly woody, sweet with a spicy twist. I haven’t quite tried this but I hear that it is one of Chanel’s finest ever creations for men. I hear it is also an assertive scent; strong and persistent. Just how I like them. Notoriously hard to find and as is with all Chanels, prohibitively expensive, Egoiste is a very exclusive scent and I want to join the club.
22. Abercrombie & Fitch Fierce – Price DOES influence tastes. Why does this non-niche fragrance command prices of well over £80 for a full 100ml/3.4Oz bottle? Why does a bidding war commence when a bottle pops up on EBay? Why is it one of the most faked fragrances available today? Apparently this is a fresh citrus scent with a base of wood and musk. I’m quite eager to try it.
23. Burberry London – I love this boozy tobacco scent. I once had a sizeable sample but it spilled in my bag. My bag smelt great for a few weeks of course. I’ve always meant to buy it but I have never got around to doing it. longevity is below average on this but it is lovely enough to own. It also smells quite expensive and well made! (While writing this, I’ve just acquired a bottle. I’ve noticed that it’s no so easy to find at a ridiculously cheap price. I got mine for £21.50 here).
24. Thierry Mugler A*Men Pure Coffee – Now that it’s so difficult to find, I am instantly taken aback to a time in 2009 when I was in a department store. My girlfriend was holding a bottle of Pure Coffee, ready to purchase it for me and I foolishly said NO! A chance missed. Maybe Thierry Mugler will bring it back into production. I’d love to have it in my collection.
25. Prada Amber Intense – Prada Amber/Prada Pour Homme is one of my favorite scents of all time. That sweet soapiness given weight by the gentle suede note makes for an extremely enjoyable fragrance. Very velvety and extremely long lasting. An EDP version? stronger, deeper, richer? Why not?! I’m eager to try this! (Update: got it and reviewed it here. It’s not very good).
26. Viktor & Rolf Antidote – It’s supposedly short on sillage and longevity. But I remember trying it and instantly liking it. there was a period whereby this fragrance was abundant and dirt cheap on EBay but I did not bother to purchase it then. Nowawadays, it’s much rare and of course much more expensive. I’d definitely like to get my hands on a bottle.
27. Czech & Speake No. 88 – A refined rose dominated fragrance with wonderful longevity. No. 88 is a niche scent that is NOT cheap to buy. It is like a lighter version of Montale Black Aoud as they both have rose as a major ingredient. Czech & Speake are specialists in luxury bathrooms and they also have a fine range of ancillary products such as aftershaves, soaps and bath oils to name just a few. This allows you to immerse yourself in the whole experience!
28. Czech & Speake Citrus Paradisi – This dirty citrus got my attention upon first sniff. that lovely grapefruit opening immediately gives way to a very light but perceivable fecal civet & ambergris. How can something so seemingly clean smell so dirty? It’s a fragrance of great contrasts and I certainly want to have a bottle in my collection.
29. Nasomatto Duro – This titan is supposedly an intensely woody, spicy, leathery affair with championship longevity. I hear tales of how just 1/2 of 1 spray is all you need with this scent. While I absolutely adore this insane power, you’ve actually got to like the smell first. This is why I’m eager to get a sample and find out for myself whether that longevity and sillage means anything. At nearly £200 for 30ml though, it’ll have to be quite something.
30. Knize Ten – This is supposedly one of the finest leather fragrances ever created. I once saw a site that was selling a large sample (15ml) for around £12 plus an extra £5 for delivery. Not a bad deal for a scent that commands prices of over £80 for a large 4.2Oz bottle. The site is here. I may take the plunge next month!
31. Agua De Loewe – I have owned a 50ml of this before. I remember it mysteriously disappearing only to discover an empty bottle in my sister’s room a few months later. To say I was not pleased is an understatement. This thoroughly enjoyable, high quality, long lasting citrus scent is definitely one of my favorites and i’m always looking for a bargain. Wonderful fragrance. The ancillary products are simply sublime too. The lotion has more projection and longevity than your average aquatic (this isn’t one btw) and the shower-gel isn’t too far off. I aim to procure a gift-set if I can locate one at a reasonable price.
32. Esencia de Loewe – This is purportedly a monstrous spicy 80′s style powerhouse fragrance. I HAVE tried this but I have a very vague idea of what it smells like. I’d definitely need to revisit it again before trying it again but it is highly revered for its quality. That’s more than enough for me!
33. Caron L’anarchiste – This spicy fragrance is supposedly a gourmand scent with a metallic edge which mimics the copper that houses the bottle. The bottle also develops a beautiful patina over time making it a great ornament for the house. It also lasts and projects for a very long time. As always, the house of Caron delivers beauty and quality without the premium price. (I can happily say I now have a bottle of Caron L’arnarchiste).
34. Hanae Mori H.M. EDP – Hanae Mori H.M. in EDP guise is an intensely sweet chocolate-vanilla gourmand. The EDT is more citrus dominant (sour) which then dries down to gentle sweet notes of vanilla and chocolate and now that my 100ml bottle has since been depleted, I’m looking for another one. Longevity with the EDT was insane and I could get well over 12 hours of good projection with it. I can only imagine that the EDP is truly special.
35. Serge Lutens Muscs Koublai Khan – While I’m an admirer of spice, woods and sweet notes, I really do enjoy musks. Dirty, fecal animal musks. Why would anyone want to smell like they haven’t had a shower for a week? I believe that these smells are repressed in modern society. These animalic act as amplifiers or complementary additives to the smells that the human body naturally produces and that accounts for the strong reactions (some negative and some positive) that arise from the general public when these scents interact with an individual’s skin chemistry.
I believe that body odor isn’t ALWAYS repulsive and that some people (females in my experience), carry a personal odor that is captivating. Therefore, I feel there are certain compounds in these musks which communicate to a much more primal part of us which we do not quite understand. It explains why heavily musky ‘dirty smelling’ fragrances like Kouros continue to be best sellers. They’ve got to be doing something right… right? Muscs koublai Khan by Serge Lutens is apparently the king of animalic musks. It is quite the stinker and if combined with the correct skin chemistry, the reactions from people can be quite strong. I’m rather eager to try this.
36. Ungaro I – I do not even know what this smells like. To be perfectly honest, I want a bottle to complete my Ungaro trifecta. I have Ungaro II & III. But Ungaro I has proved elusive. It was, afterall, discontinued a long time ago and it commands seriously eye watering prices. i’m confident I’ll grab a bottle though.
37. Ungaro III (vintage) – The beauty that is Ungaro III makes me wonder just how good the original was. Reviews of the current version say it is such a poor version of the original, it’snot even funny. yet I think the modern version is stonkingly brilliant. The original version is quite expensive and rare but it IS available on EBay. I’m quite eager to find out how good it is.
38. Dunhill Edition – This is supposedly one of the finest Dunhill scents ever created. That’s not really saying much though because Dunhill is no YSL. One reason i want it is because it’s rare. Very rare. It’s also rather expensive to buy now that it has been discontinued. I saw a bottle for £300! Yup! Looking to grab a bargain as always.
39. Carolina Herrera 212 Sexy Men – So it smells like Jean Paul Gaultier’s Le Male. Sort of. but its sufficiently different enough to justify a purchase. I’ve lusted after this for the best part of two years. I remember it being very ginger dominant and I absolutely love ginger. I cannot wait til’ I found a bottle cheap enough to purchase.
40. Bond No. 9 New Haarlem – A beautiful niche gourmand with championship longevity and sillage. I’ve heard so many good things about it that it would simply be rude not to. It’s definitely going to be added to my collection very soon.
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