﻿Strange Shit Hiding In Your Cologne [0:00:00]
Creed Aventus, Paco Rabanne’s Invictus,
Loewe’s Paula’s Ibiza, Prada’s Luna Rossa Eau Sport, Bvlgari’s Aqva Pour Homme Atlantiqve.
Can you guess what these five fragrances have in common? If you guessed whale vomit,
you are correct. [Music]
Yup, you heard me right, whale vomit, a.k.a. ambergris, sperm whale vile duct
secretions. Oh, and it doesn’t stop there. There are hundreds,
including some of the most popular fragrances out there for men that contain ambergris.
In fact, some of the most prestigious fragrance houses seem to have it in
about half of their total colognes. So, what’s the reason, why is whale vomit
used in beautiful fragrances such as Bois du Portugal that doesn’t smell bad at all?
It’s because it helps to prolong the fragrance. And for years, perfumers have known this.
In fact, whenever ambergris washes up on the shores basically,
you know, this is something that the sperm whale will vomit up and ten, twenty years this is
going to float around the ocean. In fact, usually the longer the better because it’s going to become
more white, it’s going to be in the sense dried up in the center. It’s going to become more pure from
an ambergris perspective, the more valuable. In fact, some of these ambergris stones that
wash up on the beach can be valued at over $100,000. [sound effect]
Now, I do want to point out just because a house says it has ambergris doesn’t necessarily mean
that they’re using high quality pure or not a synthetic version of it. And there are many
synthetic versions of it because I think it’s only in France and Switzerland where they’re actually
allowed to use true ambergris and the rest of the world it’s actually been outlawed simply
because I think people have a reaction to it. And, you know, whenever things are coming from
animals in general, they’re trying to move away from that because, you know,
they don’t want to harm the animals. That being said, if ambergris is found
on the beach, I don’t think that’s harming any animal. And why does this happen?
Well, sperm whales as many of you guys know they eat squid and squid do have some hard parts
such as their beaks and the sperm whale cannot digest this. So, what happens,
in it stomach is that part is kind of protected. Basically, you get this vile that forms on this
waxy substance that protects the inside of the whale and over time, I think the
whale either craps it or it comes back up the front side. But, basically, this is expelled.
The longer it sits in the water – and, again, we’re talking ten, twenty years, the more pure the
lighter in color it’s going to become. In fact, black ambergris has a strong smell to it is not
viewed or not nearly as valuable as when it becomes grayer and then, eventually white.
And it’s that high quality ambergris, which a lot of the perfume houses are going after.
It’s not going to really have any scent, it’s going to prolong the life of their fragrances.
And in general has been a go-to ingredient. Again, now, they’re creating synthetic versions
of it. And I’ll talk a little bit later in the video about synthetics
and how they’re different from naturals exact, you know, they’re not always better,
they’re not always worse, they’re just different. Point being is you do see this in a lot of
higher end brands. They did view that as a high quality ingredient
and it is expensive when you get the real stuff. So, if you thought that first ingredient was
weird, this one is going to blow your mind, beaver’s anal secretions. Yes,
and it’s in a fragrance that I’m wearing right now and I absolutely love.
Specifically, we’re talking about castoreum. Now, guys, I have no idea what the story is
and how the first person found out that the anal secretions of a beaver
smell like vanilla, but apparently they do. I don’t know this from experience, but I will
tell you, yeah, in most fragrances produced nowadays unless you find something vintage,
they are not using anything from the animal. They’ve all gone towards synthetics.
But, up ‘til the 18th century, those anal secretions form the beaver were actually
viewed as something that were used in medicine. Apparently, castoreum was believed to actually
have medical properties. It was believed that the great smell would treat hysteria. It was great for
headaches. I’m not sure if it actually worked for anyone, but I will say that it was something that
was used commonly in perfumes whenever it was discovered that this had a smell and it would
stick around. And, of course, it did have a bit of an animalistic property to it as well.
Now, castoreum has also been used in classic leather-themed fragrances. So,
fragrances like John Varvatos Dark Rebel, which is a very strong manly fragrance,
castoreum was used. Not, again, not the real stuff, they’re using a synthetic version of it.
But, when you wanted something had a bit of an animalistic a little bit of the
earthy leather smell still a bit sweet, castoreum was your go-to.
Now, really quick, I want to talk about the difference between synthetic and natural,
especially in older fragrance. You’re going to see Yatagan, a great example. Castoreum is listed as a
note. But, if you get a modern version of this fragrance, it’s going to be a synthetic. But,
if you get the original, came out in 1978, you will probably have real castoreum in that one.
So, what are people that had the original going to say? That stuff was stronger,
it lasted longer, they had more power, it had more depth and they’re probably right.
[0:05:06] In synthetics,
what you see is you oftentimes get a version, you get a shadow of the original fragrance.
If you look actually at the molecular build of synthetics take what they believe that we can
pick up in our nose, but molecules that we smell are oftentimes very complex.
We’re taking they’ve got dozens if not over a hundred different parts to them.
When you get a synthetic, you get down to the bare essence and they only replicate
the part of the molecule that they know that are receptors and they’re sure are going to be
able to pick up and it smells very similar. But, it oftentimes doesn’t have the depth. And
that depth in a lot of the times the natural notes because they’re going to have all the other things
that you’re not sure exactly if we even pick up and not everybody can, but some people can.
All of that extra gives it depth, that gives it what many people view as, you know, something
that can’t be replicated without great expense. That being said, my personal opinion, I’m very
happy that they come out with synthetics because do I need the original Antaeus,
which an amazing fragrance by Chanel, but do I need animal, you know, I don’t
need any animal components in my fragrances. Maybe it’s not going to last as long, but I can
tell you, this is still an amazing fragrance and for me is, yeah, this is a really good one. I’ve
actually got it on. A solid pick, even if I do maybe smell like a beaver’s ass. [sound effect]
And speaking of fragrances that smell like ass, let’s talk about fragrances that contain
civet. So, that note right there, again, this is a cat-like animal. And, again,
we’re just fixated I guess on anal secretions. Maybe it’s a nature thing,
but I mean, you know that animals go around spraying their territory.
And, apparently with the civet, this is one that they found they could use in fragrances, again,
to prolong their length and the strength and projection of the fragrance.
And anyone that used to have the original Kouros can tell you that that stuff was stronger
than what they’re putting out today. In fact, the original stuff was lethal,
it could kill people if you’re in a room too long with them. This stuff,
well, it will maim the, it could, you know, cause a long term damage to the nose. But,
you know, it’s – it’s not killing people. Point being is, yes, the original stuff is usually
stronger that use the original ingredients. That being said, nowadays, again, they’re not
using animal products in most of these because it’s being regulated, it’s being outlawed.
And, you know, I think it’s a good thing. Now, when you see a fragrance house that’s
using the civet note, understand that this is going to have an animalistic
property. It’s going to have a little bit of a musky, a little bit – it’s hard to put
earthy-type almost like a dirty-type of smell. And if you were to smell the note by itself,
it would be repulsive. But, again, mix it in with the right ingredients,
you have something that’s really dark, something a bit mysterious, something just dirty, sexy,
and, yeah, I mean, anyone that has, you know, had sex understands that sometimes it can get
– it can get that smell in the room, right? That being said, civet doesn’t have to be the
main ingredients and that’s what we’re going to see with a lot of these note combinations.
They are more than just their parts. They go in there and they enhance other notes. They
make then stand out. They make them stronger. They take a simple, you know, vetiver fragrance
and they make it more complex. They take a classic if you guys haven’t smelt the original Givenchy,
yes, this is a shadow of what it used to be, but still I think it’s a really great fragrance that’s
relatively inexpensive and a unique variation to the modern ones that are coming out all the time.
It seems like every time, you know, Givenchy is dropping a different Gentleman,
but if you go back to the original 1974 version, it’s pretty darn good.
The next interesting note I want to talk about and this one has become a lot more common, but the
cannabis note. We’ve seen this popping up in a lot of fragrances recently. I think was it Carolina
Herrera’s 212. That one shaped like a skateboard that just came out, I saw has this note.
The only fragrance I had in my collection was Carolina Herrera’s
Bad Boy Le Parfum. I guess, you know, that particular house really likes this note.
For me, I did not like it in this fragrance. It took a fragrance that I
sort of liked and it made it something that I really have tried wearing. It
just smells dirty. I don’t have great associations with the cannabis note.
That being said, there is a fragrance out there that so many of you guys have recommended to me
and that’s Black Afgano. I saw it has a cannabis note. So, if anyone’s gotten their nose on that
and they absolutely love it, please let me know in the comments. But, that’s one I got to try.
Now, this next note, I was really surprised I had so many fragrances in my collection
with it and that is cactus. I didn’t even think really cactus had that much of a
smell. I grew up in West Texas, was around cactus in our area near Midland Odessa.
I remember as a kid going out and the prickly pears picking these and eating the sides of
them and not knowing if I could or not, but, hey, they tasted good. And come to find out,
they do have a distinctive smell. And happily the fragrances I have in my
collection, I can actually see and get this. It’s a very light airy clean. It’s not overpowering,
really nice. Right here, I’ve got Givenchy’s Xeyrus Rouge. I also find that that note is in
Tommy Hilfiger’s signature fragrance, Tommy. [0:10:00]
And you have also Curve. I know so many of you guys wore Curve in the 1980s,
maybe early 1990s. I think that’s – when did it come out? Late – late 80s, early 1990s?
Somebody can correct me down in the comments. But, I know this fragrance was huge for many
of you guys back in high school and it has a nice cactus note to it.
Next up, we’ve got labdanum, which apparently comes from the rockrose shrub. And that may
not seem really weird, except for the way that they used to collect this. Apparently,
goats and sheep would rub up against this and then, they would comb the thighs of these goats
and sheep to be able to get the extract of the labdanum that they would use in fragrances.
Nowadays, they’re able to extract labdanum in a variety of different ways and they don’t
have to be, yeah, massaging the thighs of goats and sheep. That didn’t sound
very efficient or effective to me. But, you know for hundreds of years,
that particular scent, that, you know, particular note has been sought after
and it’s been used in aroma therapy and a variety of other means. But, we still see
it today in a variety of great perfumes. In fact, I found it in a couple of my
favorite perfumes like Apple Brandy by Kilian, Prada’s Amber Pour Homme. Yeah, just look in
the houses of Chanel, Mugler, Parfums de Marly and you will find fragrances with this note.
Now, if you’re watching this video and thinking, “Antonio, why doesn’t somebody engineer a set of
fragrances that just make you more awesome?” Well, guys, don’t worry, that’s what I’ve
done over at Mission Fragrance. Seriously, if you haven’t seen what we’re doing over there
creating scent triggers. These go beyond fragrances. The idea is these have been
engineered to help you become a better man. We’re talking Courage, Honor, and Commitment.
I’ve got an app that goes with this that teaches you how to leverage
the science of scent. Basically, you are conditioning yourself to feel a certain way.
Guys, if you’ve ever smelt great home cooked food that reminded you
of your mom’s or maybe your grandmother’s. If you’ve ever smelt coffee and woken up,
if you’ve ever smelt something that has put you in the zone, you know what I’m talking about.
And what if you could call that on command? Guys, that’s what we’re doing over at Mission
Fragrances, teaching you how to leverage the science of scent with our starter set right
here. If this at all sounds interesting, down in the description of today’s video,
I’m going to link over to Mission Fragrances. Go learn more about us.
It’s free to sign up to the email list that will notify you on the next launch that we do,
guys. But, this is my passion project and something I’ve been really just enjoyed
crafting beautiful fragrances that don’t have really super weird ingredients.
They just have their unique fragrances, again, that you can condition yourself. You want to be
able to perform at a higher level, you’re training for triathlon, and you want to be able to impress
your boss’ boss when you give that presentation. And you want to be able to call onto courage
because you’ve put in the reps. Guys, this is the type of fragrance that you want to
wear that you want to check out. If this at all sounds interesting,
down in the description of today’s video, learn more, go over to Mission Fragrances.
Now this next note, I didn’t have any fragrances in my collection that have it and it’s probably
good. It’s called skatole. And as you may be able to indicate by the name, this is literally the
smell of feces, except incredibly overpowering. And there is a fragrance out there apparently
called Chinese Knights that was notorious that is one spray of this would clear a room. I have
no idea who would want to wear this and why, but, yeah, the legend is out there.
I will say about skatole that in minute traces in certain flowers,
this note is present. And this is where they try to use it because in those minute traces it
actually has a very animalistic-type of sexual more like it really can turn some people on.
People are into different things, but when combined, again, in minute very small amounts
in certain fragrances, this apparently was a note that, yeah, you had to be it was,
yeah, you had to use the smallest amount and it would just nuclear just it could really take a
fragrance in a direction that wasn’t indicated. Something normally you don’t have in florals.
Florals are clean are clear are light, but with a bit of skatole,
yeah, you could go and do a direction that, yeah, apparently a lot of the ladies like.
Now, this next two notes I want to put them together because, again, I didn’t have any
fragrances in my collection with them. But I thought they were really cool and that is bacon
and popcorn. Simply because they both smell great to me and I love bacon and popcorn.
And this makes a lot of sense and both of these would be considered gourmand notes.
If you’re not familiar with gourmands, these are type of fragrances that smell
almost like something that you could eat. It makes a lot of sense and in fact if you
want to be attractive you’re going to be going out with the ladies, wear a gourmand, find something
that the smell of chocolate I think Mugler’s A*Men, that fragrance right there with this
smell of chocolate and I really like Kryptomint. That one is my daughters absolutely love that
one. They stole that bottle from me. I will say that, you know, gourmands are
just attractive because who isn’t attracted to something that makes your mouth water? That’s
what they associate with you. So, again, if you want to attract the ladies, don’t be afraid to
wear a fragrance, maybe not one smells like bacon, but popcorn I think would work.
[0:15:01] But, I would go more
towards something a bit sweeter and gentler, it’s going to play it safe. But, yeah, both
of those notes apparently are in some perfumes some fragrances out there. None of which I own,
but I may pick one of these up at some point. So, this next note is really interesting and
it was discovered in 1998 and it was actually produced in a series of events. So, it’s called
space rose and I wasn’t able to find a fragrance with this,
but I was able to find some stories about it. Apparently, when John Glenn went back
in the space in 1998, again, the oldest astronaut ever to return to space. What I love about this is
apparently they even did some of the engineering of this frag – of these roses in Wisconsin and
they sent them up and they bloomed in space. What’s interesting is because of the conditions
the type of lighting the zero gravity, there was no other rose that apparently had smelt like
this. And John Glenn was the guy that actually collected and they’ve got these special devices.
So, whenever they collect a fragrance that used to be that they would have to run and destroy the
product that you’re collecting fragrance from. But nowadays, they actually have these monitors these
types of measures that have very, very sensitive devices on them that will actually pick up a few
of just molecules and then they will measure and they could actually bring that information back
and then they can replicate the molecules. So, that’s how they’re able to grab sense of
things without destroying them and they’re able to capture some weird smells like what’s the smell of
the ocean. Because think about that, like how do they get an ocean smell in certain notes.
These devices a lot of them they take a variety of molecules and be able to mimic that smell and
they did this with the space rose. And the space rose apparently was super unique. I’m really
surprised that no one has commercialized this. Maybe there wasn’t that much of an interest.
But – but, yeah, apparently this note is out there. I have yet to see a fragrance with it.
If you know of this fragrance, again, let me know in the comments below.
Now, this next fragrance note is perhaps the most common weird note out there and we see it again
and again, a lot of us don’t even think about what it is. What am I talking about? Musk. Specifically
I’m talking about Tonkin deer musk. And for over a thousand years this
particular note was found in pretty much every fragrance up to the 1970s when it was outlawed.
Now, the reason musk was so sought after was for a couple of reasons. One, it prolong
the length of fragrances. This is done with a lot of other animals, but this one in particular
would just make fragrances last for a long time. In addition, the use of musk also had a lot of
sexual energy, a lot of sexual feelings to it that people couldn’t put their finger on,
but they knew it was there. And if you’ve ever worn Abercrombie & Finch Fierce, this one right
here would just draw people in the stores. And so many of you guys have told me it has been
one that gets compliments, it’s been copied many times. This
thing, yeah, the musk in it was strong. But, you also saw fragrance, you know,
like Jovan Musk. I mean, you guys remember this from the 1980s, maybe 1990s. I can’t
remember exactly when this one came out, maybe 1970s. Correct me in the comments.
But, I will say that it had right there in the title. When people
think musk, they think something heavier, they think animalistic, they think sexy.
And as I mentioned earlier, they are no longer collecting this from animals, which is a great
thing because even though they could get it from the deer when the deer was alive,
it was much easier when the deer was killed, so that’s what many times they would do.
But, if you know your history, you just realized, wow, that’s why Chanel No 5 actually I think it
had like 15% civet, 15% musk. I mean, that thing was a stinky bomb back in the days. Nowadays,
it’s really were – rare to be able to find a fragrance that’s able to replicate that and
it’s also trends, you know, people go for things that are lighter that in their minds are cleaner.
When we think of fragrances especially in the men’s world,
the best sellers by far that make up like 90% of sales are going to be fragrances that have what
are considered to be a clean air about them. And what video to watch next? Well, guys,
if you want to smell good, I’ve got you covered with this video right here. I break out some of
my favorite picks for this season, so if you’re interested, if you want to smell good, if you
want to learn a little bit more about fragrances, check out this video.
Enjoy it, it’s, yeah, it’s a good one. All right, guys. I’ll see you in the