﻿Top 1 percent fragrances [0:00:00]
Gents, I’m going to be straight with you. There isn’t really a good reason why any guy
should own as many fragrances as I have. I’ve got hundreds in my collection. Over
the last few years, I pretty much have become a fragrance addict.
Now, I just 0:00:14 with my accountant and my wife by telling them, yeah, it’s for research
purposes. But, the reality is I’m probably just addicted to smelling something new.
Now, for my collection approaching 500 fragrances and with there being 356 days in a year,
as you can see I could easily go a year without wearing one of the fragrances in my collection.
Have said that, there are some fragrances I just seem to gravitate towards that I’ve got down here
that I seem to wear multiple times throughout the year when I’m just going out with my family,
when I’m going out with friends, when I don’t want to think, but I want to smell good,
I want something that just simply I love. [Music]
Now, gentlemen, the first fragrance on this list is coming from the house of Tom Ford and it’s
not Black Orchid parfum. I talked about this fragrance before, it’s a nice fragrance. But,
I think the original EDP was even better. There was something that was lost in this one.
Maybe it was the earthy, the notes the truffle. I don’t know what it is about this one.
Now, let me be clear, this is definitely in my top three of all time. I’ve talked
about how I love this fragrance, unisex. But, this year, I didn’t wear it as much, instead,
I started wearing Tom Ford Noir Extreme. And the reason I was wearing this EDP is because
I really wanted to understand this fragrance whenever I was going in and comparing it to
the parfum that had just come out. Now, because I kept wearing this,
I kept forgetting actually go actually test and try this, it really grew on me. And I
absolutely love it. I realized how versatile this is especially compared with Black Orchid. A lot
of guys are just simply going to love this. That being said, I have to say the parfum just
won my heart this year, an absolutely beautiful fragrance and it’s one of the only new – well,
there are a few other new releases, but this one right here is worth the money.
Now, the top notes are cardamom, ginger, Mandarin orange, neroli, and citrus. The middle notes,
coffee, orange blossom, Bulgarian rose, and jasmine. The base we have vanilla, suede, leather,
amber, guaiac wood, Tonka bean, and cedar. Now, if you’ve got the EDP, am I going to
recommend you grab the parfum? Not necessarily, but if you’re looking at both, I would grab
the parfum. It’s a little bit deeper, richer, stronger, which makes sense being a parfum.
But, it also has – there is like a ginger note to it that just really separates it
and I can smell the difference. Usually, isn’t always the case, my nose isn’t that great. But,
I have to say that I wish I had a bigger bottle of this versus what I’ve got here.
But, that being said, this one is beautiful as well, so if you can get
on a deal or on a discount, grab it. Now, if you’re thinking this video is
going to be all about new fragrances, you’re wrong because this next pick is the original.
Now, there are many variations of this. You’re going to see Infrared out there,
which is a solid fragrance if you like cinnamon. Night Vision, this one got penned and
I have both the parfum and the EDP. I think that both of them are solid fragrances.
It’s just a lot of people expected Spicebomb to stick next to the original. And you’re going to
see a number of other influencers talking about the Extreme version. A little bit more expensive,
harder to find, but I’m going to simply say that the original Spicebomb is a classic
and is definitely one of my go-to fragrances. Now, the top notes on this fragrance are going
to be pink pepper, bergamot, and grapefruit. In the middle, we’ve got cinnamon, saffron,
paprika, and elemi. At the base, tobacco, leather, and vetiver.
Now, please excuse the digital camouflage, this fragrance was actually sent to me by
Viktor&Rolf and it was the first fragrance that I ever received from a company,
one of the only ones. They don’t really send me, I buy most of my fragrances.
But, this one right here, because I wore it so much because my son wore it, it’s just becoming
– we did it around the holiday season, so for me and it does naturally a smell of Christmas.
That spicy – it’s an oriental fragrance. Maybe it’s the elemi, which is a resin and
I don’t know, it just gives me the smell of almost church-like and it just reminds
me of the holidays. Absolutely love it. This one, you can wear it to the club. This
is one you can wear as an everyday, just don’t overdo it because it is strong.
So, my first two picks are deep rich heavier fragrances, perfect for the cold weather. But, if
you want something for the tropics for vacation, I’ve got two fragrances right here. I’m going to
first mention Creed’s Virgin Island Water. This one right here, well, I was a latecomer
to it. It was one of the last Creed fragrances I picked up. They’re expensive. Similar to most
Creed fragrances, it doesn’t last very long. It’s very light, airy, but that coconut note
just really made me love this fragrance. I took it with me to Puerto Rico and absolutely love,
just reminded me of my vacation. Now, the note breakout at the top is coconut,
we’ve got lime, white bergamot, Sicilian mandarin. In the middle, we’ve got ginger,
ylang-ylang, Indian jasmine, and hibiscus. At the base, the white rum, sugar cane, and musk.
Now, it takes about fifteen sprays, but I do pick up the rum and sugar at the base.
It didn’t last too long and I have to found that I was looking for an alternative and I found it.
[0:04:57] When I say alternative, I would say it’s
just something on the other side of the world. For me, this is about my Hawaii vacation. And that’s
going to be LOEWE’s Paula’s Ibiza. Correction, Ibiza. Come on, guys, I tried. And I’ve
actually never been to the Greek islands, so. Now, with Paula’s Ibiza, the top notes are going
to be galbanum, coconut, Mandarin orange. And the middle, driftwood, narcissus, frangipani. At the
base, ambergris, patchouli, and bourbon vanilla. Now, it seems like half those notes, I’ve never
had in any fragrance, but that combination this stuff is beautiful. One of the best
summer fragrances I’ve ever owned. It’s not going to replace the Creed, you know the whole Puerto
Rico vibe, but this is definitely more energy, more fun, and it’s still, you know, pricey for
everyone, but it is cheaper than Creed. Oh! And longevity is actually pretty good.
And the bottle is they’re pretty cool for a unisex fragrance.
Now, speaking of vacation scents, what if you don’t want that coconut note,
really turns you off. There are tons of options out there. I talked about this one in the past.
I had a love affair with Creed fragrances. They were the first ones I went out and bought
pretty much all of them. I spent a lot of money. And Erolfa was the one that surprised me because I
ended up put – I usually put it number one on my Creed fragrances. It’s just a mix of melon with
the citrus. This just smells like you’re on the Mediterranean on a yacht. Absolutely love it.
That being said, it doesn’t have much staying power, so it’s going to take a hit. I’m not going
to put it in my top 1%. And I almost put Acqua di Gio Profumo Special Blend. And this one smoky
darker than the original Acqua di Gio. And the Special Blend, this one Jeremy
Fragrance gave me when I was visiting him in Germany and it really kind almost got me on my
entire fragrance journey. Now, the regular Profumo,
I ended up buying this one because basically it has the same smell as Special Blend and
I didn’t want to use up that entire other bottle, so I bought this one as a backup.
But, it’s the Profondo that I personally would be my go-to. I wasn’t expecting much,
I read it had more of aquatic notes to it. I went to California this summer with my
daughters and this was the fragrance that I took because it reminds me of the smell
of the ocean. What’s interesting is ocean smell often has a bit of decay in it.
Yes, you’ve got, you know, animals that are probably or a fish that
have washed up and there’s just a smell of the ocean. That being said,
there’s something nostalgic about it that draws me to this. This one definitely has
that smell and I’m not saying it’s a bad smell of decay. I’m not even going to go there.
Point being is when you look at the notes on this one. At the top we’ve got sea notes,
aquozone, bergamot, green Mandarin. And the middle, rosemary, cypress, lavender,
mastic. At the base, we’ve got mineral notes, musk, patchouli, and amber.
The master perfumer, Alberto Morillas, knew what he was doing when he put this together. This is
the most aquatic of all the Acqua di Gios and you can really tell if it’s too much for you,
then grab the Lights version of it, which I think is a fine fragrance.
A little bit more on the citrus, less on the oceanic smells. But for me, this one,
it’s got a great longevity too, so I am going to put this in my top 1%.
Now, some of you guys are saying, “Come on, Antonio, enough of all these designer
fragrances. Give me something niche.” Okay. So, this one is not going to be
on the list, I picked it up the other day and really nice one from Tom Ford,
but as soon as I smelt it, I’m like, I smelt something similar, except better before.
So, the notes here what really do was the incense with the smoke. I’m like,
this smells like midnight mass. Again, I grew up Catholic and I remember going to midnight
mass. Zaharoff Pour Homme. This one, I’ve got two bottles of. I’m already on my second bottle.
I had a love affair with this one. I forgot about it for a while,
pulled it back as soon as I, yeah, went to that Tom Ford Ebene Fume. This one is better
in my opinion and it’s actually more affordable. And from a niche house and a good friend of mine,
George Zaharoff. What I like about this fragrance, again, it’s not going to be for everyone. Get your
nose on it, maybe get a sample. I know he sends out like free samples if you reach out to him.
What he put together here for me just reminds me of growing up in west Texas going to Our
Lady Guadalupe Church at midnight just having, you know, the priest go up and down with the,
you know, all the different incenses and stuff. This one just takes me back.
Absolutely love it. Great for the holidays. Now, if you’re watching this and thinking,
“Antonio, I’m a complete hedonist. I don’t care about church or
smelling like it. Give me something good.” Well, you know I’ve talked about Carlisle by
Parfums de Marly before. To me, this is the perfect, swear to you. It’s the patchouli,
it’s just the sweetness. There is the wood with this. This thing right here is also strong,
I really love this fragrance. That being said, there were a
couple others from Parfums de Marly that I was gravitating towards. So, Layton Exclusif,
speaking of [0:09:16 inaudible], this one just has sex appeal. Maybe it’s the oud in
there. There’s something dirty about this thing. You know how you’re going out, have a few drinks,
didn’t expect anything, hook up with that girl that you probably shouldn’t have. She’s got the
tattoos, but, man, you have a night to remember and how you smell that night that was amazing, yet
dirty. Yeah, that’s this fragrance right here. And on a side note, if any of my friends
or family watch this video, what I just described has never happened to me. It’s
just it was in my imagination. [sound effect] But, seriously, gents, sometimes you want to
wear something that’s a bit animalistic. Now, I’ve talked about Yves Saint Laurent’s Kouros,
a great option. But, for me, a little bit classier, we got Antaeus, the whole Greek
guy that wrestled Hercules. [0:09:57]
And the way that Hercules beat him is he was able to lift him off the ground, which has connection
to earth. The earth was his mother and was able to pin him. I think he actually killed
him up in the air, broke his neck or something. In any case, Chanel named the fragrance after
him and this is animalistic, strong, over the top, this would put hair on your chest,
and I absolutely love it. That being said, if you want
another classic that is going to scream attention and just is a lot lighter
gasoline mixed in with a leather jacket while you’re mowing the lawn, that is Fahrenheit.
Now, there’s a few other options out there, the perfume version. This one right here is the
classic EDT. I think that this is fine. Now, a lot of people are going to complain, it’s not a strong
as it used to be, that’s probably a good thing. If you put on, you know, three sprays of this back
in the 80s, and you light a match next to you and, you know, light on fire. This stuff is powerful
even in its weaker version. That being said, it definitely is something, I don’t think a lot of
younger guys have the courage to pull this off. So, if you’re in your 20s, you heard about this
fragrance, you might as well start rocking it because it’s amazing.
Now, speaking of Dior, if you’re not familiar with this house, they make some of the best
fragrances bar none. I mean, Sauvage, the original Sauvage from the 60s. Let’s just say
that Sauvage is number one seller for a reason. But, one of the fragrances that [Frank Heads]
talk about all the time is Dior Homme Intense and the lipstick, the iris,
a lot of people just absolutely love it. I actually was a latecomer to this fragrance
and instead, I checked out a different house and that’s going to be Givenchy. So,
you’ve probably walked in and you see all of these Gentleman, Gentleman, Gentleman.
If you see that Ulta or Sephora, it can be kind of confusing. There are tons of flankers. There
is a slight difference, but these are going to be powdery, they’re going to use iris, and they are
incredibly versatile. It’s one of the reasons I love these fragrances and they grew on me.
That being said, I didn’t want to go with something that was I find kind of boring,
just that lipstick thing. I want a little bit of spice in there.
Now, there are two releases in the last couple of years and either one would be a solid pick in my
opinion. They’ve got more of a wood element and in the case of Reserve Privee, I feel it’s got a
little bit of a boozy note and I really like it. So, for that reason, the Reserve Privee and
I’ve been wearing a lot of these this year trying to better understand them,
but this one the latest version that just came out in 2022 I think is a solid pick and it’s
easy to find in a lot of box stores. Now, guys, throughout this video,
you’re hearing my opinion, but I want to hear yours down in the comments below what
is your top 1 percent fragrance, what is the fragrance that is your go-to, you absolutely
love that you think every guy needs to own. Oh, and if you’re enjoying today’s video and
if you think Creed Aventus is just way overpriced for what you get, guys, do me a favor and smash
the like button. I mean, it’s a good fragrance, but is it worth the money? That’s up for debate.
Now, gents, some of you are talking about fragrances, wouldn’t it be cool if there
were performance-enhancing colognes? I’m talking about perfumes that when you wore them, all of a
sudden you would feel more confident, that you would feel more honorable, you would feel like,
hey, I’m going to commit to actually doing what I want to do whether it’d be losing weight,
whether it’d be running a triathlon. Guys, guess what? You don’t have to imagine,
I’ve built them, the performance-enhancing colognes over at Mission Fragrances. So,
these are specifically formulated to help you get into the zone, to help you reach
peak performance through scent conditioning. If this sounds at all interesting, guys, down
in the description of today’s video, I’m linking over to Mission Fragrances, where you can learn
more. We’re going to ask for your email address and I’m going to send you more information.
So, my journey is I collected hundreds of fragrances and I love the way that they make
me feel. But, I kept finding all these research because I studied the science of style about how
fragrances improving you do this, do that. I mean, even the trucking industry was using
certain notes to keep truckers awake. And I’m like, “Wait a minute, why isn’t anyone developing
a set of fragrances that are specifically formulated to help men reach peak performance?”
So, that if you guy give a presentation to your boss’ boss, guess what? You wear
Courage because you’ve conditioned yourself to feel more courageous when you wear this.
Or if you want to be more honorable, when you’re traveling, when you just simply want
to stand for your ideals or you want to be more committed, again, to accomplishing the goals.
Guys, we’ve designed these fragrances in away and there’s a whole course that goes with this
that teaches you how to use them, so that you can become the man you know yourself to be.
Again, if this at all sounds interesting, check out the link down in the description of today’s
video or just type in mission fragrances, you’ll find us. But, we only launch a few times a year
because I give white glove customer service. I want to make sure that I can actually give
live training and I can only run so many guys through this. And,
again, if this at all sounds interesting, click on that link in the description of today’s video.
Now, it seems like no top 1 percent fragrance list would be complete
without talking about Creed Aventus. This is in many people’s minds the gold standard
when it comes to high-end men’s fragrances. For better or worse, a lot of fragrances are
compared to it. But, I get it, a lot of people think it’s overrated. It is a solid
fragrance. And it was the first expensive fragrance I ever bought, which just goes to
show the gold standard. You want to buy it and go through the experience, smell it and
really try to formulate your own opinion. That being said, if you’re over you’re like,
“You know what? Creed Aventus should go on out the window, I need something that still fits the bill,
but I’m not going to buy into you anymore.” [0:15:01]
Guys, check out, Bond No 9 The Scent of Peace. This one right here an absolutely beautiful
fragrance. It’s got some similar notes, but is a very different fragrance. And what I
love about this, incredibly versatile. The top notes, pineapple, juniper berry,
bergamot. Middle note, currant buds. The base, cedar and vetiver.
It’s got great longevity, it smells natural, it works perfect in hot weather and, yeah,
it’s just a banger of a fragrance. If you want something even lighter,
you don’t want that whole pineapple note, but you want a fruity aromatic, check out
Dior’s Higher. This one, it’s interesting. Past, I mean, really high temperatures we’re
talking 100 degrees, you know, Fahrenheit, maybe almost close to 40 degrees Celsius.
This one actually really shines at hot temperatures. A lot of fragrances can become
annoying, overpowering. This one has a bit of sweetness to it, it lasts, and it is just light.
A little bit harder to find, came out in 2001. Top notes are going to be pear, basil, lemon,
and peach. Middle notes, cypress, rosemary, cardamom, and pepper.
At the base, we’ve got musk and cedar. It’s a beautiful simple aromatic woody
fragrance and not a lot of people talk about and for me is high on my list.
Now, what about gourmands? So, Mugler does it really well with their A*Men line and I’m
not going to bash them, it’s just they’re a little bit too synthetic for me. I wanted
something that smelt like the real deal. Kilian is where it’s at. If you can stomach
its prices the small bottle and I have to say get some samples. These are amazing fragrances.
My two favorites if you’ve watched some of my videos, you probably see them pop up,
but we’ve got Apple Brandy. This one is so unique. I don’t
drink alcohol anymore, but when I smell this, I, yeah, it’s – my mouth waters. It’s that
good. I oversprayed this thing, it’s amazing. And the other one is going to be Back in Black
or Black – no, this is Black Phantom. Back in Black, that’s ACDC song. I think did he
do a Back in Black? I can’t remember. Let’s just say that if you ever get into a Kilian store, be
prepared for your wallet to hurt, but you’re going to find an amazing set of gourmand fragrances.
And these ones, you know, right here Black Phantom, this has a chocolate note to it,
caramel, and it just, yeah, you know, my mouth is watering just thinking about this one.
Again, with these heavier fragrances such as the new Sauvage Elixir, I’m not going to put
it in my top 1 percent, but it definitely was one of the best fragrances to come out
this last year and worth getting your nose on. That’s coming out with larger bottles finally,
but the licorice smell on this and gourmands these heavier fragrances, they’re perfect for
the fall winter, cool spring. You don’t want to wear these heavier fragrances during the summer
unless – I don’t know, maybe you can pull that Apple Brandy during a cool summer day.
Now, one thing I will say about buying a lot of fragrances is you go to these discounters
and you start seeing all these vintage fragrances that maybe have been reformulated,
but you want to try them anyway. You can get them for, you know, at [Swanson] and they are good.
Egoist is one I’ve talked about in the past. Chanel, this is a classic and they’ve got
the Platinum version, but I really like the original. This one was so versatile,
it was nice. It has a little bit of, you know, the other one maybe had a more of metallic to it,
the Platinum as the name implies, but this one is a little bit harsher and I liked it.
Yeah, it’s just a really nice barbershop light fragrance that just has an old school type of
feel to it. But, I get it that not a lot of people want to go maybe old school. You’re
a younger guy, you want to try something new. So, check out H24. This one was penned by a lot
of the critics and I know there’s a new one that just came out. It’s on the way,
I’ll probably put out a video on my Centeno channel, which if you type it into Google, I’ve
got a whole YouTube channel just for fragrances. But, this one right here came out in 2021,
I grabbed it and it took a while, it grew on me. But, this year, I’ve been wearing the
heck out of it. Absolutely love the metal note. There’s just something about it.
When you look at the note breakout, you got clary sage, narcissus, rosewood,
and sclarene. So, in a nutshell it’s basically a linear fragrance, but when
you wear this, there’s just something magical. I don’t know what it is about Hermes and all their
fragrances, Terre d’Hermes is the same thing, which came so close to making it on this list,
but, no, this one right here is absolutely amazing. I’ll easily put this in my top 1
percent. It’s such a versatile fragrance and for some reason reminds me of the gun range.
And a really quick shout out to couple niche fragrances. We’ve got Vivamor by Navitus Parfums
and we’ve got Gravitas by Naughton & Wilson. My friend, Dan, Mr. Smelly, he put this one out.
Both of these fragrances, what I love about this, this one is going to be more towards, you know,
if you like Creed Aventus, if you want something a little bit sweeter something strong similar to
what Scent of Peace, this one is going to fill the niche. It’s really got great longevity.
Right here, if you enjoy Bois du Portugal by Creed,
but you want something a little bit stronger, an old school-type of barbershop fragrance,
give this one a shot, really nice lavender notes, just a beautiful solid fragrance here.
So, what video to watch next? How about how you’re messing up when it comes to
applying your fragrance? Seriously, gents, I break it out here how to apply fragrance
the right way. So many guys mess this up. Step by step and even if you’re an old – even
if you’ve been applying fragrances for decades, I think you’re going to learn something new in this
video. So, go check it out, it’s a good one. [0:19:52] End of audio