Which aftershave do you use?

[TaylotS2K]

I usually stick with the classics.

Original Polo by Ralp Lauren. (green bottle)
Original Armani.

[GOATever]

I’ve just got a new one ( to me anyway ) Ermenegildo Zegna Essenze Bourbon Vanilla.
It’s very nice.

[toastybase]

Tom ford noir and noir extreme.

[Don Roque]

I picked up some of this Autograph 'Infinite' from Marks and Spencer the other day when I was in a bind as my other aftershave was in my locker at work (4711 Echt Kölnisch Wasser). It's really good, quite a dark and heavy scent with a lot of spice and wood in it. Perfect for winter and night wear.

[Justayellowbadge]

[GOATever]

toastybase said:

Tom ford noir and noir extreme.

I was actually looking for a Tom Ford Tabacco Vanille, but the John Lewis I was in only had the tester bottle left, then I saw, and smelt the one I went for. It’s a nicer scent, and at 156 quid for 125 ml, a bit cheaper than the TF one as well. It complements the Green Irish Tweed nicely too.

Edited by GOATever on Monday 24th December 14:19

[Toptrumps2]

Due to working for a large health and beauty retailer, alot of the aftershave I get tend to be tester bottles from stores for a fraction of the price.
I tend to wear Boss for work, D&G for dosing about with and Jimmy when going out.

Boss Bottled (100ml)
Dolce & Gabbana The One (100ml)
Jimmy Choo Man ICE (50ML)

Considering it cost me less than £20 for all of the above, i feel when i go searching for some of the recommendations off here i might end up crying at the prices!

[Funk]

toasty said:

Funk said:

Creed Acier Aluminium
V&R Spicebomb - Extreme
Clive Christian X - Masculine Edition
Paco Rabanne 1 Million - Privé
Xerjoff 1861 - Renaissance

It'd be interesting to know your thoughts on those. I've tried three and one is a real stinker while the other two were sublime.

These arrived last week and I've been giving each a try; here are my thoughts:

Creed Acier Aluminium - a much more 'mature' Creed which I rather liked, but then I have a bit of a thing for woody/vanilla-y scents. Packs a solid punch and has good 'staying power'. Wouldn't say it's one of my favourite Creeds but overall it's a thumbs up from me.

V&R Spicebomb - Extreme - This was way too sweet for me, in fact bordering on sickly which is a shame - it's supposed to have notes of tobacco and vanilla (again, which I'm a fan of) but it just didn't work. It's a no from me.

Clive Christian X - Masculine Edition - This one gets the thumbs up. It's a surprisingly complex fragrance but it manages to do it without overpowering and I immediately thought it reminded me of Aventus. I dug a bit into the notes and like Aventus it has pineapple, bergamot, jasmine, ambergris, vanilla and oakmoss so that's probably why. I'd definitely buy this.

Paco Rabanne 1 Million - Privé - Bit of a let-down, this one. As I've said before, I really like Paco Rabanne's 'Ultraviolet' and hoped this would be more interesting than it is. It's perfectly pleasant but doesn't really do much for me. It's also an EdT which does make it less intense than an EdP so would be fine for something where a close-up subtle and inoffensive scent was wanted.

Xerjoff 1861 - Renaissance - I know I said I'd avoid unisex scents but this was recommended somewhere and well, the whole point of a site like scentsamples is that you can try stuff you might not usually like. I took a punt due to the bergamot, mandarin and lime top notes, the other Xerjoff I tried (Shooting Stars: Neo) was really fresh and crisp. 1861 Renaissance is pretty bad to be honest...if you ground up 20 packs of Lovehearts and bottled the smell you'd be on the money. A definite no from me.

Scentsamples also chucked in a freebie - this time it was Tom Ford Patchouli Absolu. Another one marketed as unisex, it was interesting to try a TF which wasn't leathery and it purported to have woody/earthy/spicy notes but all of it seemed overwhelmed by the patchouli unfortunately. It's a thumbs-down on this one.

Toasty - be interested to know if our thoughts align on the ones of these you've tried...!

Edited by Funk on Wednesday 26th December 00:38

[Tannedbaldhead]

GOATever said:

toastybase said:

Tom ford noir and noir extreme.

I was actually looking for a Tom Ford Tabacco Vanille, but the John Lewis I was in only had the tester bottle left, then I saw, and smelt the one I went for. It’s a nicer scent, and at 156 quid for 125 ml, a bit cheaper than the TF one as well. It complements the Green Irish Tweed nicely too.

Edited by GOATever on Monday 24th December 14:19

Am looking at this smelling of 007 aftershave bought by sister in law for my Christmas with my jaw on the floor.
It's a bit like reading about £20k watches whilst wearing an 80 quid GShock.

[GOATever]

Tannedbaldhead said:

Am looking at this smelling of 007 aftershave bought by sister in law for my Christmas with my jaw on the floor.
It's a bit like reading about £20k watches whilst wearing an 80 quid GShock.

I know where you’re coming from. Some of the ‘boots’ type of smelly stuff do the job just fine, but a lot of the time, the differences in quality become apparent the morning after. The other big differentiatior is when you walk into a packed establishment, and everyone is wearing the ‘mass brands’ it makes for a manky soup, the higher end stuff will stand out, even in this situation

[toasty]

Funk said:

These arrived last week and I've been giving each a try; here are my thoughts:

Creed Acier Aluminium - a much more 'mature' Creed which I rather liked, but then I have a bit of a thing for woody/vanilla-y scents. Packs a solid punch and has good 'staying power'. Wouldn't say it's one of my favourite Creeds but overall it's a thumbs up from me.

V&R Spicebomb - Extreme - This was way too sweet for me, in fact bordering on sickly which is a shame - it's supposed to have notes of tobacco and vanilla (again, which I'm a fan of) but it just didn't work. It's a no from me.

Clive Christian X - Masculine Edition - This one gets the thumbs up. It's a surprisingly complex fragrance but it manages to do it without overpowering and I immediately thought it reminded me of Aventus. I dug a bit into the notes and like Aventus it has pineapple, bergamot, jasmine, ambergris, vanilla and oakmoss so that's probably why. I'd definitely buy this.

Paco Rabanne 1 Million - Privé - Bit of a let-down, this one. As I've said before, I really like Paco Rabanne's 'Ultraviolet' and hoped this would be more interesting than it is. It's perfectly pleasant but doesn't really do much for me. It's also an EdT which does make it less intense than an EdP so would be fine for something where a close-up subtle and inoffensive scent was wanted.

Xerjoff 1861 - Renaissance - I know I said I'd avoid unisex scents but this was recommended somewhere and well, the whole point of a site like scentsamples is that you can try stuff you might not usually like. I took a punt due to the bergamot, mandarin and lime top notes, the other Xerjoff I tried (Shooting Stars: Neo) was really fresh and crisp. 1861 Renaissance is pretty bad to be honest...if you ground up 20 packs of Lovehearts and bottled the smell you'd be on the money. A definite no from me.

Scentsamples also chucked in a freebie - this time it was Tom Ford Patchouli Absolu. Another one marketed as unisex, it was interesting to try a TF which wasn't leathery and it purported to have woody/earthy/spicy notes but all of it seemed overwhelmed by the patchouli unfortunately. It's a thumbs-down on this one.

Toasty - be interested to know if our thoughts align on the ones of these you've tried...!

Well we agree on the Clive Christian one, I’ve yet to smell one I didn’t like.

The other one I liked was Xerjoff Renaissance, sherbetty orange, but much prefer Nio and Mefisto.

The stinker, for me, was Acier Aluminium reminding me of something you might find in an old handbag in a charity shop. Creed’s worst by far for me.

[BrabusMog]

toasty said:

The stinker, for me, was Acier Aluminium reminding me of something you might find in an old handbag in a charity shop. Creed’s worst by far for me.

One of my favourite Creed's My missus isn't a big fan, though.

[CO2000]

Todd Bonzalez said:

Anyone tried that Azzaro Night?
I really liked the original so tempted to grab a bottle

I got it for Xmas, love the original one and this one is similar, spicier with perhaps a hint of vanilla but maybe not quite as strong.

Other one I love is Sauvage

[anonymous-user]

Tannedbaldhead said:

GOATever said:

toastybase said:

Tom ford noir and noir extreme.

I was actually looking for a Tom Ford Tabacco Vanille, but the John Lewis I was in only had the tester bottle left, then I saw, and smelt the one I went for. It’s a nicer scent, and at 156 quid for 125 ml, a bit cheaper than the TF one as well. It complements the Green Irish Tweed nicely too.

Edited by GOATever on Monday 24th December 14:19

Am looking at this smelling of 007 aftershave bought by sister in law for my Christmas with my jaw on the floor.
It's a bit like reading about £20k watches whilst wearing an 80 quid GShock.

I was the same. Then I bought myself a bottle of Tom Ford as a present. It's well worth the money. Long lasting, one pump is more than enough for the day, its not overpowering, its well worth the quid a day or however much it works out at.

And I would never buy a 20 grand watch.

[toasty]

BrabusMog said:

toasty said:

The stinker, for me, was Acier Aluminium reminding me of something you might find in an old handbag in a charity shop. Creed’s worst by far for me.

One of my favourite Creed's My missus isn't a big fan, though.

Is this you? It's what I imagine someone wearing AA might be like.

[BrabusMog]

toasty said:

BrabusMog said:

toasty said:

The stinker, for me, was Acier Aluminium reminding me of something you might find in an old handbag in a charity shop. Creed’s worst by far for me.

One of my favourite Creed's My missus isn't a big fan, though.

Is this you? It's what I imagine someone wearing AA might be like.

It's like looking in the mirror

[Funk]

OpulentBob said:

Tannedbaldhead said:

GOATever said:

toastybase said:

Tom ford noir and noir extreme.

I was actually looking for a Tom Ford Tabacco Vanille, but the John Lewis I was in only had the tester bottle left, then I saw, and smelt the one I went for. It’s a nicer scent, and at 156 quid for 125 ml, a bit cheaper than the TF one as well. It complements the Green Irish Tweed nicely too.

Am looking at this smelling of 007 aftershave bought by sister in law for my Christmas with my jaw on the floor.
It's a bit like reading about £20k watches whilst wearing an 80 quid GShock.

I was the same. Then I bought myself a bottle of Tom Ford as a present. It's well worth the money. Long lasting, one pump is more than enough for the day, its not overpowering, its well worth the quid a day or however much it works out at.

And I would never buy a 20 grand watch.

For me it's one of the few ways men have to mix things up a little. The way I look day-to-day is nearly always the same and a choice of EdPs allows me to change to suit my mood. It's also never a bad thing to get occasional compliments on how good you smell..!

I will happily wear a £200+ aftershave whilst sporting an £80 G-Shock - I'm up to four now! Whilst I can appreciate a £20k watch, it's just not 'me', even if I could justify one!

[g3org3y]

Funk said:

For me it's one of the few ways men have to mix things up a little. The way I look day-to-day is nearly always the same and a choice of EdPs allows me to change to suit my mood. It's also never a bad thing to get occasional compliments on how good you smell..!

I will happily wear a £200+ aftershave whilst sporting an £80 G-Shock - I'm up to four now! Whilst I can appreciate a £20k watch, it's just not 'me', even if I could justify one!

£80 G shock!? Flash git. £15 Casio is where it's at (also have four).

I agree that it's a nice thing that you can alter depending on mood/environment/season/weather etc. I know some people prefer to have one fragrance that they stick to so it's their 'trademark' fragrance but I enjoy the variability. When I mentioned to my colleagues I was requiring a winter fragrance (Pure Malt or Spicebomb) they looked at me as though I was crazy.

No shame in making an effort, whether that be fragrance, clothes, hair etc imo.

[rsbmw]

Just came across https://www.scentandco.uk/, basically a subscription service picking a 10ml sample each month for £14.99. Reasonable lineup including Creed and Tom Ford. Code from basenotes - BASE20 - gives 20% off making my first months 10ml sample of Green Irish Tweed £12 delivered.

[Funk]

rsbmw said:

Just came across https://www.scentandco.uk/, basically a subscription service picking a 10ml sample each month for £14.99. Reasonable lineup including Creed and Tom Ford. Code from basenotes - BASE20 - gives 20% off making my first months 10ml sample of Green Irish Tweed £12 delivered.

Scent & Co is another name for Scent Samples (their subscription part of the business). I can see why they'd want to nudge people toward a subscription basis though as it would provide a continuous cashflow rather than someone like me buying randomly as-and-when and in smaller quantities such as 1, 2 or 5ml....