Men's Grooming Tips And Advice

A fire red bottle, and an oriental and warm smell, Hot Water by Davidoff is a fragrance which has been around since 2009. This EDT features a quite tall and slender looking bottle, with a few grooves thrown in and plastic sides.

An inviting aromatic scent, it’s a spicy one which will warm up your cosy autumn or winter nights. The spicy scent hits you straight away, and is not the most powerful I have experienced, although it does pack a punch, so if a warm spicy smell is not what you like, you should avoid this.

It’s not a classic scent by any means, but if you’re looking for something a little bit different to what the others are wearing, this could be a contender. It lasts for a fair while, a few hours, long enough for an evening out. It’s definitely one for the night, I would not really recommend wearing this as daywear for work or college, people may think you’ve just rolled in from a night out!

Best season to wear – Autumn/Winter nights
Scent type – Aromatic/Spicy
Age Recommendation – 18+
Best Worn – Evening, Date Night, Casual

Notes

Paprika, Pimento, Benzoin, Woodworm

What do you think of Hotwater from Davidoff? Let me know, and you can check out more of my aftershave reviews if you’re on the look out for a new signature scent.

The Bluebeards Revenge describes itself as the ultimate shaving experience for men. It was designed by a real life “bluebeard”, tired of having to combat tough stubble.

There is a paraben free range of luxury shaving products including everything you need for your shaving regime, including everything from shaving creams, pre and post shave solutions and a selection of razor blades.

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I have been going through my old fragrances which I still have and came across Tokyo by Kenzo. It was released in 2007 but it’s now been discontinued, so I am glad I still have a bottle. It was never going to be a firm favourite, but it’s still quite a nice scent.

I like the bottle, the infamous Kenzo looks like it’s going to fall over bottle, a similar style to other Kenzo fragrances. The design on the bottle represents a night city sky such as Tokyo, with the bright lights of the city emphasised on the bottle.

The fragrance itself is a very intriguing one, and almost unique in it’s style. It’s a spicy and oriental type of scent, warm and inviting, so as you can imagine, it works it’s magic best on an evening. Once the initial spicy notes settle, you get a real sense of the woods which are pleasant to smell.

As this one is quite spicy and woody, I would say that it’s best worn on an evening, while out. Due to it’s unique characteristics and the fact that not many people have owned it, if you can still find a bottle, you’ll be the only person in the room wearing it.

This is a nice scent, but for me, the evening and night time fragrances have to have that little bit extra, something that bit special, and I don’t think this has it. That’s probably why I don’t wear it so often. During the day it’s a good time to experiment and try out different scents, but for an evening, I want the killer cologne, and although this is nice, it’s just not that.

Perhaps I’d wear this on a casual night when I want to smell good but not going on a big night out, it will do well.

For the longevity, as it’s a woody and spicy scent it will linger that little bit longer, and you can get 6-7 hours out of this one. It’s moderately strong, so it will have a nice projection, so there’s no need to over-spray.

Best season to wear – Autumn
Scent type – Spicy/Fruity/Fresh
Age Recommendation – 25+
Best Worn – Nightwear, Office, Date Night, Casual

Top Notes
Ginger, Grapefruit

Middle Notes
Maté, Green tea, Pink pepper, Orange

Base Notes
Cedar, Nutmeg, Cloves

Male grooming should be an important aspect of your life, and you should incorporate it into your daily routine as much as possible. This does not mean using 4 or 5 products every single day, but you should put some effort into keeping your skin looking fresh and healthy. Two good products to get you on your way are a facial scrub, and a moisturiser. I have these two from Scaramouche and Fandango.

The bottles are branded and marked with large colour coded initials, which is a nice touch. A facial scrub should only be used a few times a week, as it’s quite harsh, and removes dead skin cells and exfoliates your skin. The FS is a really nice scrub, smells good and does a nice job, not foaming up too much.

The HY hydrator keeps the skin soft and hydrated, hence the name, which is something you will benefit from. Both of these products will keep your skin smooth and soft, which will make shaving an overall nicer task.

If you are looking for a moisturiser/hydrator or a facial scrub, I can recommend giving these a try from Scaramouche And Fandango, which will set you back £10 and £8 respectively.

Joop! Thrill MAN is quite a recent fragrance, and was released in 2009, so is not too much of an old classic just yet. It comes in a pretty standard red bottle, no flashy gimmicks or novelty bottles, just a non eye catching bottle.

The scent itself is a very inviting one. It’s warm, and you can really get a sense of the vanilla when it first hits you. It’s designed to be a sensual and sexy fragrance, and it does give off those kind of aromas. For this reason, I would recommend wearing it on an evening. It would work great when going out with a girl, or just a general night out. There are only small hints of woody type notes, which are more spicy than musky, so if you prefer these you will not find it here.

Best season to wear – Autumn/Winter nights
Scent type – Aromatic/Spicy
Age Recommendation – 25+
Best Worn – Evening, Date Night, Casual

Notes
vanilla, woody, fresh, spicy, aromatic

One of my old fragrances I have is Z Zegna by Ermenegildo Zegna. It’s a few years old now, but I have been using it again for a week or so, and I really love it 😀

As you will know if you read my blog I have so many fragrances, so wearing the same one a lot does not happen much, and I usually wear my favourite 10-15 all the time. That’s a big number, so when there are 50 or 60 more in my collection it’s really hard to decide which to wear and most of the time I just keep referring back to my favourites.

I decided on giving Z another chance, I remembered it was a pretty nice scent, so went back to it, and of course it is. It’s a refined, warm and inviting scent, probably best to wear at night, but works equally if you want to wear it through the day, a great choice for the office. It’s a classic masculine style of scent, not too woody but more of a fresh, youthful type of scent.

It’s definitely something I’d recommend, and if you want an individual smell which nobody else will be wearing, this is a great choice. It’s quite a few years old now, but still a great choice.

Floris had their winter sale recently, so I decided to pick up a few bottles to see what they have to offer. My first experience with Floris was Santal. I was looking for a replacement for my beloved Gucci Envy, heard about Santal, got a sample, loved it, and bought a big bottle. I love Santal, it’s one of my favourite scents now that I can’t get Gucci Envy anymore, so I though I’d see the others Floris has to offer.

The Floris sale contains their fragrances which are bottled in their older packaging, so they sell them off cheaper. I got No.89 and Elite, which were £17.50 each, for 30ml bottles, the perfect size for just trying a scent out.

This is their older packaging, but I have to say I quite like it. I like the way you can take the box apart, and have the bottle sitting in the bottom half of the box, I think it looks pretty nice if you have your bottles out on display.

No.89

Top Notes: bergamot, lavender, neroli, nutmeg, orange, petitgrain
Heart Notes: geranium, rose, ylang ylang
Base Notes: cedarwood, musk, oakmoss, sandalwood, vetiver

Elite

Top Notes: bergamot, cedar leaf, grapefruit, juniper berry, lemon, petitgrain
Heart Notes: bay, fir balsam, lavender
Base Notes: amber, cedarwood, leather, moss, musk, patchouli, vetiver

Both scents are actually quite similar, with No.89 being the more citrus and Elite being a little more woody. Elite is very citrus when you first put it on, but on the dry down it calms down and turns into a more refined woody smell. No.89 retains more of the citrus smell, with a hint of freshness.

Other Floris Fragrances

• Floris Santal
• Floris Bergamotto Di Positano

A new fragrance I recently got was Noir by Tom Ford. This is the EDP, which was released in 2012 so is a relatively new scent, but Tom Ford also released an EDT with the same name, Noir in 2013 which I liked, but is a different scent to this. Both bottles are the same style, however the EDP is a black bottle, and the EDT is a frosted clear bottle.

Once you smell Noir you’ll notice it’s a really warm and inviting scent straight away. It’s a very masculine but in a modern way which is not musky like an old classic fragrance. I would definitely recommend this for a night, and would suit any type of situation, whether going to a posh formal night, having a night out with your friends or taking a girl out, this is perfect for any evening.

Top notes: Italian bergamot, verbena, caraway, baie rose (pink pepper), violet flower.

Heart notes: black pepper, nutmeg, Tuscan Iris resin, Egyptian Geranium, Bulgarian Rose, Clary Sage.

Base notes: Opoponax, amber, Indonesian patchouli, vetiver, civet, vanilla

It is a little on the expensive side, but this is an EDP rather than an EDT. That means it’s a stronger in terms that you’ll need to apply less, it will last longer on the night, and it will last longer when you keep it. The cost for a 50ml bottle is around £60, and you can get a 100ml bottle for around £78 which obviously is a better value.

I don’t usually write about deals and offers on one particular product, if I did I would be on all day writing about everything! But you may (or may not) know that The Perfume Shop is doing Boss Bottled Night 200ml for an amazing £39.99! I already own this fragrance, read about Boss Bottled Night here, you’ll see that I love this and have owned it for a few years.

As you can see, I only got the 50ml bottle, which is a standard size you’d expect to buy, and usually cost around £40. Large bottles are usually 100ml and occasionally some brands offer supersize bottles.

Boss Bottled Night is a slightly woody and masculine smell, as the name suggests it’s designed for the night, and you’ll love to wear on a night out. It is a really inviting scent, without being overpowering.

This is likely to be a limited offer, get a 200ml bottle. Perfect for yourself or a gift for Christmas.

Launched earlier this year was a new David Beckham fragrance, David Beckham Classic. It’s just the latest of his collection of fragrances, which has included The Essence, Instinct, Homme, Signature and Intimately Beckham.

It’s said to be a woody citrus type of scent, with an elegant feel.

Heart notes
Cypress Orpur, Nutmeg, Fresh Mint

Top notes
Gin Tonic Accord, Lime, Albanum

Base notes
Texas Cedarwood, Ambermax, Vetiver

Scent – Woody
Feel – Elegant