Welcome back to the Gentleman’s Gazette.
In today’s video, we’re going to review some of the most retro fragrances of the ‘80s
and ‘90s.
Now prior to the 1980s, fragrances were local and few in choice.
Colognes were the domains of beauty stores counter clerks, high-end designers and a few
fashion houses.
Men would sometimes use certain grooming products in place of cologne.
Today’s fragrance market is oversaturated, to say the least so we’re going to take
a trip back in time to the ‘80s and ‘90s to see if the fragrances from our youth hold
up to today’s standards.
The following 10 fragrances have been tested and reviewed by our team but I haven’t smelled
any of them yet.
So for each one, I’ll give you my first impressions as well as the considered opinions
of the rest of the Gentleman’s Gazette team.
Note that all of the fragrances that we will be reviewing today are going to be shown in
their full retail price.
Although some can often be found at discount retailers, be aware that sometimes you can
find counterfeit products by doing this.
Calvin Klein Obsession For Men.
Calvin Klein Obsession For Men is one of the most characteristic and dominant fragrances
of the 1980s.
Even though this wasn’t Klein’s first fragrance, it was one of their most successful
fragrances that they produced and it helped launch Kline to be a serious contender in
the market.
Obsession For Men was released in 1986, one year after the successful launch of Obsession
For Women.
Now the brand itself in its heyday in the ‘70s,‘80s, and ‘90s was known for being
classic and minimalistic.
The scent is sold as something that is clean, versatile, and is suited for everyday wear.
So that matches the brand’s image, but does it match the scent?
Now it's still packaged in its original packaging.
A curved bottle, that actually feels a little outdated, and a little bit feminine.
But what can be expected from that came from the 1980’s?
Now the price is $82 for 4 ounces or 118 milliliters.
Now let’s cover a few of the fragrance’s notes.
Top notes include tangerine, grapefruit, lime, bergamot, lavender, cinnamon, and coriander.
Heart notes include carnation, jasmine, rosewood, nutmeg, pine, myrrh, and red berries.
Base notes include amber, sandalwood, vanilla, musk, patchouli, and vetiver.
Now upon smelling this the first time, I felt that it was a very light, clean, and mature
fragrance.
This is something that I would highly recommend that most people add to their collection.
Let’s move on to number two: Dior Fahrenheit.
They’re not as famous as Obsession, Dior Fahrenheit was released in 1988.
Dior as a fashion house has actually been producing fragrances since 1947 so they weren’t
new to the game when they released Fahrenheit.
Now the brand describes its fragrance as a Woody Floral Musk, and Intense.
Now that sounds rather busy to us.
Just from that description, we can imagine that this is going to be an acquired taste.
Now, this is still packaged in the original bottle which while suited to the name, does
make it appear like a drugstore-level product rather than a department store level product.
And now let’s go over a few of Dior Fahrenheit’s fragrance notes.
Top notes include: lavender, mandarin orange, cedar, nutmeg flower, hawthorn, bergamot,
chamomile, and lemon.
Heart notes include nutmeg, honeysuckle, carnation, violetwood, sandalwood, jasmine, cedar, lily
of the valley.
Base notes include leather, tonka bean, amber, vetiver, musk, and patchouli.
The price is $95 for 3.4 ounces or 100 milliliters.
Upon smelling this for the first time, I did find that it was a tolerable scent but not
something that I would probably go for.
And now let’s cover some of the team’s thoughts.
One person wrote: “Opener lighter fluid..
Yuck!
Hawthorn and chamomile are over-dominant!”
Another person wrote it's undoubtedly unique, another wrote it gets better but it’s highly
unusual and someone else wrote that it's so, so strong.
Now as far as if the team here at the Gentleman’s Gazette would actually wear this fragrance,
overall, we see that most of us would actually prefer not to be wearing this fragrance.
It’s a little bit outside of everyone’s wheelhouse.
Now let’s move on to number three: Davidoff Cool Water.
Davidoff Cool Water is an icon in this era.
It was actually launched in 1988.
Now even men who aren’t familiar with fragrances are also going to be able to recognize the
name Davidoff Cool Water due to the extensive advertising.
Now, this is still seen as a very common fragrance, so if you want something that’s going to
smell classic but not have you stand out too much, this is a great one to consider.
It is described primarily as fresh which makes sense, given the name.
Now some have claimed that this scent is a little bit of a dupe for Creed’s Green Irish
Tweed which if true, would make the value of this amazing.
Now although they do have some similarities in top notes, we end up disagreeing on this
because of the differences they have in both their base and heart notes.
Now they really settle into being two different scents over time.
Now let’s take a look at Davidoff Cool Water’s fragrance notes.
Top notes include: seawater, mint, green notes, lavender, coriander, and rosemary.
Heart notes include geranium, neroli, jasmine and sandalwood.
Base notes include cedarwood, musk, amber, and tobacco.
Now my first impression when smelling this was you can never get tired of Cool Water.
It’s a clean and fairly timely scent which will work for a lot of different personalities
and age groups.
This is something that I would recommend having in a collection.
Price is $75 for 4.2 ounces or 124 milliliters.
Now let’s take a look at what the rest of the team thought of this fragrance:
One person noted that this is light, and fresh.
They noted that there are baking spices in the background and that it had a touch of
warmth, mint, and vanilla.
One person went ahead and called this a “Douchey” scent.
Another wrote that it smells like cheap, mint body wash.
And another wrote that it seems like big companies are knocking this fragrance off for cheap
hotels and cheap body washes.
Now overall, the consensus with the team was that most people found that they’d be willing
to at least wear this fragrance.
Now let’s move on to number 4: Acqua Di Gio Pour Homme.
Now like Cool Water, Acqua Di Gio is an icon of this era.
It was launched in 1996.
Now, let’s take a look at Acqua Di Gio’s fragrance notes.
Top notes include mandarin orange, bergamot, jasmine, lime, neroli, and lemon.
Heart notes include coriander, floral notes, nutmeg, sea notes, and rosemary.
Base notes include white musk, cedar, oakmoss, patchouli, and amber.
The price is $88 for 3.4 ounces or 100 milliliters.
Now, my first impressions were that this was an elegant, light, and yet masculine scent.
This is definitely something that I would personally want to wear on occasion.
And now let’s take a look at what the rest of the team thought:
Now one wrote that it felt very familiar to us.
Another wrote it’s light, inoffensive, and pleasant.
Another wrote it’s a crowd pleaser and quite mainstream.. almost generic.
Another wrote it’s very wearable because it’s not a big statement.
Another person wrote there’s an Abercrombie and Fitch lightness to it.
A bit of precursor to what many fragrance brands will actually use.
Now, overall, the consensus of the team is that most of us would actually consider wearing
this fragrance, however, not with Raphael.
He found that it was too pedestrian.
And now let’s move on to number 5: Issey Miyake L’eau D’Issey Pour Homme.
Now launched in 1994, this was described as woody, aquatic fragrance.
Now the price is $97 for 4.2 ounces or 124 milliliters.
Let’s take a look at Issey Miyake L’eau D’Issey Pour Homme’s fragrance notes.
Top notes include yuzu, bergamot, lemon, and tarragon.
Heart notes include: nutmeg, water lily, mignonette, cinnamon, and geranium.
Base notes include tobacco, sandalwood, cedar, vetiver, musk, and amber.
Now my first impression when smelling this was there was a bit of a fruit and floral
scent to it.
Kinda reminded me of a farmer’s market.
I found that this was a great scent for daywear, for casual outings, especially for the warmer
months.
Now let’s take a look at what the rest of the team thought.
One person thought that it smelled fresh, citrus, and of mild woods.
Another wrote that it had a bit of a grassy element, and another wrote that they didn’t
really have any strong feelings for it.
Overall, it appears that most of the team would consider wearing this fragrance.
Now let’s move on to number 6: Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male.
This fragrance launched in 1995, and was incredibly popular for well over ten years.
Many have described this fragrance as a bit of a safebuy that’s classic yet unique as
it has warm baking notes and a lot of vanilla inside.
The price was $94 for 4.2 ounces or 124 milliliters.
Now let’s take a look at Le Male’s fragrance notes.
Top notes include mint, lavender, bergamot, artemisia, cardamom.
Heart notes include cinnamon, cumin, and orange blossom.
Base notes include vanilla, tonka bean, sandalwood, cedarwood.
Now let’s take a look at what the rest of the team thought of this fragrance.
One person wrote that it had anise top notes.
Now they found when anise is blended with other scents, it smells quite pleasant.
One person noted the vanilla and baking spices and a slight mintiness.
One person noted that the bottle was well endowed.
And others noted the very dominant vanilla and how unique the fragrance actually is.
When I first smelled this, I really enjoyed the spice and vanilla combination.
I think that this scent would be intriguing to those who happen to smell you without overpowering
everyone else's noses.Most of the team found that they would be wearing this fragrance
however not Raphael as he found there’s a little bit too much vanilla in the finish.
Let’s move on to number 7: Givenchy Gentlemen.
This was launched in 1994.
The price is $89 for 3.4 ounces or 100 milliliters.
Let’s take a look at Givenchy Gentlemen fragrance notes.
Top notes include bergamot, lemon and petit grain.
Heart notes include rosemary, iris and vetiver.
And based notes include ambroxan and musk.Let’s take a look at what the rest of the team thought.
The team noted that it was intensely masculine fragrance and others noted the spices, aromatics,
balsamics and sandalwood notes.
My first impression with this fragrance was “Wow, this smells like success”.
Initially, this scent does come off a bit strong but as long as one does not completely
bathe in it, I think that it will be a great for a sophisticated and mature individual.
Overall, the general consensus with most of the team was that would actually not be wearing
this fragrance.
Number 8: Calvin Klein CK One.
Like it’s predecessor Obsession, Calvin Klein CK One became an iconic and very popular
fragrance upon it’s launch in the 1990s This is actually one of the first to be introduced
as a unisex fragrance.
This really suited the brand at the time as they constantly were featuring models, male
and female wearing the same underwear.
Let’s take a look at what the rest of the team thought.
One person noted that it was very lime forward and not as sharp as other lime forward fragrances.
In the description, we’re seeing pineapple and green notes as top notes.
And the rest of the team was noting soft citrus rounded by other fragrances.
Another person noted that it’s definitely a unisex scent.
It doesn’t mean too far into being either too feminine or too masculine.
And another person noted that it’s a crowd pleaser but not too strong.
The price is $65 for 3.4 ounces or 100 milliliters.
Let’s take a look at CK One fragrance notes.
Top notes include pineapple, green notes, mandarin, orange, papaya, bergamot, cardamom
and lemon.
Heart notes include nutmeg, violet, orris root, jasmine, lily of the valley, rose and
freesia.
Base notes include sandalwood, amber, musk, cedar, oakmoss, green tea and green accord.
Upon smelling this for the first time, I found that I don’t usually go for very strong
scents but if you’ll give it a minute, you’ll notice that the intensity appears to melt
away and you’ll have a very tolerable scent.
I especially enjoy the hints of the mandarin orange and the green notes.
Overall, the Gentleman’s Gazette team is finding that they would consider wearing this
fragrance.
Number 9: Drakkar Noir.
This was launched in 1982.
This is still popular, it won a FiFi Award for best men’s fragrance in 1985.
It’s heavy and masculine advertising, made it a household name in the 80’s and 90s.
It was the bestselling men’s prestige scent in 1991.
This is described as an aromatic fougere scent and it really helped cement the trend.
Let’s take a look at Drakkar Noir fragrance notes.
Top notes include rosemary, artemisia, lavender, basil, verbena, bergamot and lemon.
Heart notes include coriander, carnation, cinnamon, juniper and jasmine.
Base note include leather, sandalwood, fir, amber, patchouli, oakmoss, vetiver and cedar.
Let’s take a look of what the rest of the team thought.
The team found that it smells sweet, herbal and soft.
They found that the base notes were extremely subtle and a bit of a boudoir smell.
Another person noted that it smells quite bohemian.
Another noted that it’s not traditionally masculine but calling it unisex might be a
bit a stretch.
And another noted it smells like a french guy made it.
And the price is $65 for 3.4 ounces or 100 milliliters.
Upon smelling it for the very first time, I had to admit that I was pretty surprised
but actually liked it as much as I did.
Although I shouldn’t be too surprised as they have a bit of ahead going after the scents
of a cedar or sandalwood notes.
Although this is not my favorite or my first choice, I could see myself occasionally considering
to wear this fragrance.
However, it does appear that most of the team would actually prefer to not wear this scent.
Last but not the least, we have number 10: Eternity for Men by Calvin Klein.
Launched in 1990, this is again another famous fragrance from Calvin Klein.
The price is $82 for 3.4 ounces or 100 milliliters.
Let’s take a look at an Eternity fragrance notes.
Top notes include lavender, mandarin orange, bergamot and lemon.
Heart notes include coriander, lily, orange blossom, juniper berries, basil, jasmine,
sage, lily of the valley and geranium.
Based notes include sandalwood, amber, musk, vetiver and brazilian rosewood.
When I smell this for the very first time, I really liked it.
I found that it was clean, fresh and almost reminded me a bit of a barbershop for some
reason.
I definitely feel that this is something that could be worn in both casual or business settings,
Out of this list today, I would say that my personal favorite is probably the Aqua Di
Gio.
I love how clean and light that fragrance is.
But I would say, if I were to talk about what kind of fragrances I usually would go after,
as mentioned before, I do kind of find myself really enjoying things that have woody, cedar.,
sandalwood notes, things that that have a bit of a leather or kind of a tobacco scent
to it, mint, citrus notes in there as well too, I think that too overpowering but things
with those kinds of combinations are the things that my nose is typically drawn to.
Today, I’m wearing a cream quarter zipped polo sweater over a casual blue and white
button-down long sleeve shirt.
I’m pairing that with a slim fit blue trousers I picked up from Banana Republic, I like wearing
this sometimes, they’re really comfortable, have a little bit of stretch built inside
of them as well and then I’m pairing that with some Fort Belvedere blue and red shadow
stripe socks and some white, kind of a bit up but comfortable leather sneakers as well
too from Hugo Boss.