- Bottom line up front,
you don't have to spend a lot of money to smell good.
I love niche fragrances.
However, niche fragrances tend to come
with a bit of a hefty price tag,
and no matter who you are,
it can be hard to justify spending hundreds of dollars
on a bottle.
A great smelling, budget-friendly alternative?
Aftershaves.
They're easy to find, inexpensive, and very masculine.
Eights picks reviewed, rated, and ranked right after this.
(upbeat instrumental music)
I'm Brian Sacawa and you are watching "He Spoke Style"
where we are dedicated to giving you all the tips,
knowledge, and inspiration you need to dress well,
have more confidence, and unlock your potential.
All right, so here's how we're going to do it.
So we're gonna start with a brief overview
of each aftershave.
I'm gonna assign them a score from 1 to 10
in four categories: scent, longevity, manliness, and value.
Will total all those scores up
and then at the end, we will declare our winner.
First up, we have Aqua Velva Classic Ice Blue.
Now, the interesting thing about this is that it was
originally introduced as a mouthwash, not an aftershave.
It wasn't until 1935 that Aqua Velva started to be marketed
specifically as an aftershave.
Hallmark of Aqua Velva is the cooling menthol sensation.
It's a very fresh and bright aftershave
with notes of amber, peppermint, bergamot, lavender,
cedar, vetiver, lemon, petitgrain, jasmine, and moss.
Aqua Velva is really a kind of love it or hate it aftershave
in my opinion and that is reflected in my scoring.
For scent, I give this a two.
It's just really potent and I'm not a huge fan of menthol.
Longevity, five.
Lighter scents tend to wear off a little faster.
Manliness, I'm gonna give it a seven
just because of the intensity and potency.
Overall value, three.
For me, even though this is cheap,
I wouldn't spend another $5.50 on this.
So that gives us an overall total of 16 points.
Next up we have Brut Classic Scent.
Introduced in 1966, this is an iconic masculine scent
and one of the most classic fougeres that you can find.
It is associated with many famous people,
people like Roger Moore, Elvis Presley.
Top notes of lavender, anise, lemon, basil, and bergamot.
Heart notes, you have geranium ylang ylang, and jasmine.
And base notes include sandalwood, vetiver, patchouli,
oakmoss, vanilla, and tonka bean.
They call it the essence of man.
Let's see how it stacks up.
Scent, straight up 10.
This is a classic for a reason,
and it doesn't get much better than this.
Longevity, eight.
Pretty decent but it doesn't really get you through
an entire day.
Manliness, 10.
It's the essence of man.
What did you expect?
Overall value, coming in at just around $8
this is an incredible value for the money, so 10 out of 10.
Finishing up with a total score of 38 points.
Gonna be hard to beat.
Continuing in alphabetical order,
here we have Canoe by Dana for men.
Launched in 1936 and created by the perfumer
who was also responsible for iconic fragrances
like Miss Dior.
And interestingly, Canoe is included
as part of the Smithsonian's cosmetic collection
in the Museum of American History.
On the bottle, you have the name,
as well as the nautical flags,
which also spell canoe.
Notes include bergamot, petitgrain, lavender, geranium,
patchouli, and musk.
Now, one final note before we get to the scoring
is that if you haven't seen the old TV commercial for this,
I highly recommend looking it up on YouTube.
Scent, I give this a solid seven.
It's fresh, it's light, it smells like the ocean.
It's definitely a great year-round fragrance.
Longevity, seven.
Interestingly, although this is a lighter fragrance,
it doesn't last.
Manliness, also a seven.
Total value, four.
At 25 to $27, although a solid performer,
it's pretty expensive for what it is.
So that gives us a total score for Canoe of 25 points.
Moving on now to English Leather also by Dana for men.
This was created in the 1930s.
The scent, they say, was reminiscent
of what Russian saddlers used to tan leather
so it was deemed Russian Leather.
However, when it was released in the U.S. in 1949,
they changed that to English Leather due to the Cold War.
The notes for this one include Italian bergamot,
kaffir lime, leather, oakmoss, vetiver, sandalwood,
cedarwood, and musk.
Now for scent, I give this an eight.
It's not a fougere.
It's definitely very leathery,
and initially that threw me off and I scored it lower
but as I tested it out more, I really came to appreciate
the softer and maybe more subtle quality of this fragrance.
Longevity, 10 out of 10.
It's fairly incredible,
but this stays on the skin all day long.
Manliness, nine.
Again, not the in your face fougere manliness,
but a very subtle, soft, and deep manly sent here.
And value, I'm giving it a seven.
My bottle costs around $25 so it's on the higher end,
but I think for what you're getting,
it's really worth the price.
Giving us a total for English Leather of 34 points.
Next up is Old Spice Classic.
This was introduced in 1938.
My grandfather wore it.
Your grandfather probably wore it.
And you may recall in late 2000s they had the slogan
"If your grandfather hadn't worn it, you wouldn't exist."
If you look up the notes on Old Spice,
it's actually kinda crazy.
I did list them all off
in the Top 10 Classic Men's Fragrances video
I did a while ago
but we're gonna skip that today
only to say that Old Spice smells like Old Spice.
Okay, so for scent 10 out of 10.
Of course, it's a great fragrance, but for me,
and I'm sure many of you as well,
it also carries strong notes of nostalgia,
which is important as well.
Longevity, seven.
Not bad, kinda wears off around lunchtime.
Manliness 10 out of 10.
What else is there to say?
And for overall value at $8, incredible value, 10 out of 10,
giving us a total score for Old Spice of 35 points.
Our next aftershave is Pinaud Clubman.
This eponymous brand was debuted in Paris
in the early half of the 19th century by Edouard Pinaud,
who has an interesting story.
He left home at the age of 13, moved to Cologne, Germany
to become a perfumer.
He started his own perfume factory in 1830
and by 1855, he caught the attention of Queen Victoria
and became her official perfumer.
Pinaud Clubman has been a barbershop staple
for a long, long time.
Notes for this one include orange, bergamot, lemon,
green nuances, jasmine, lavender, of course,
and then all underpinned by musk.
Scent, for me this is an eight.
It's nice, but it's kind of on the softer side
and doesn't really seem to have a fullness to it,
which would have gained more points for me.
Longevity, I give it an eight as well.
Manliness, also an eight, and that is because of the musk.
It has a little bit of a powdery undertone,
which for me, knocks it down a bit on the manly scale.
Total value at about 7 or $8,
this gets a 10 out of 10 with a final score of 34 points.
Next we have Proraso Lozione Dopobarba.
Now this brand was founded in Florence in 1908.
You can find it all over the place now in America.
Personally, I really love their shave soap.
They have a very closely guarded secret formula,
they say, based on eucalyptus oil
that has been passed down for generations.
In the notes for this you will find
eucalyptus oil and menthol.
For the scent here, I'm giving this a six.
As I mentioned, not a huge menthol fan,
but this is fairly pleasant and not super potent.
And I would characterize it as very bright.
Longevity gets a six as well.
Manliness also a six.
Overall value, for $15 you're getting, in my opinion,
kind of a ho-hum product.
I feel like you're paying more for the name
and the idea of it being Italian
more so than the product itself.
So we're going to give it a score of three,
bringing our total for a Proraso to 21 points.
Last up we have Stetson Original by Coty for men.
This was launched in 1981
and named after John B. Stetson
who created the iconic Stetson hat,
which you can see on the back of the box.
It looks to be a very manly and rugged fragrance,
and we've got lots of citrus up top,
but the real notes are in the heart and the base
where you have patchouli, orris root, jasmine,
vetiver, cedar and geranium,
along with honey, tonka bean, amber, musk, and vanilla.
Scent, this is an absolute 10 out of 10.
Of the eight aftershaves I tested out for this video,
Stetson has the most complex scent.
It's classic, it's very sexy,
and it just has an incredible depth to it.
Longevity is a nine.
Incredibly long lasting for an aftershave.
Manliness, it's a 10 out of 10, no question.
And value at around 12 or $13 a bottle,
I really think you are getting a great bang for your buck
all around so I'm also giving it a 10,
making our total score for Stetson Original 39 points.
Now let's recap and see who our winner is.
Coming in in the number eight spot with 16 points,
we have Aqua Velva.
Next at number seven, with a total of 21 points Proraso.
In the number six spot with 25 points, we have Canoe.
Number five and four, we actually have a tie at 34 points
between Pinaud Clubman and English Leather.
So for the tiebreaker, we're going to the manliness score
and Pinaud Clubman with an eight slots in at number five
and English Leather with a nine
takes the number four position.
Here we are at our top three,
and our number three position
with 35 points goes to Old Spice.
Now coming in at number two, the runner up with 38 points,
Brut Classic Scent,
making the winner of our aftershave competition
with 39 total points, Stetson Original.
(bell ringing) (people clapping)
I would consider all of these aftershaves
to be really, really classic masculine scents.
If you like classic fragrances, like me,
be sure to check out that video right over there
where I talk about the 10 most classic men's fragrances
of all time.