The men's grooming tips which will make sure you look and feel great. Learn what you need for the complete men's grooming routine, including skincare, hair, fragrance and guide on keeping yourself looking fresh.
The Big Pony collection by Ralph Lauren was introduced in 2010 and contains 4 numbered scents which come in different coloured bottles. This is Big Pony 2 which comes in the red bottle. The fragrance is created from chocolate and musk, and is quite a sweet mild scent, slightly warming and fruity. It is so light, and the longevity and strength of this means it does not last too long, and is not as powerful as many other scents. It is a decent fragrance for casual daytime use, however if you want to make an impression with your scent this may not do it, which could be a good thing in some situations.
It’s not something I would consider wearing on a night out at it’s too subtle for my taste, however if you don’t want to make an impact yet want to smell decent, this may be for you.
Best season to wear – All Scent type – Sweet/Warm/Spicy Age Recommendation – 18+ Best Worn – Day, Work, Uni,, Formal, Casual
In 2002 Giorgio Armani released this, Armani Mania. The bottle is a classic no nonsense irregular cylindrical smoked glass bottle with a chunky gun metal grey top. Despite this scent being released over 10 years ago, it can still be purchased today, and is something worth considering.
Back in 2005 was when I first got this EDT, and I fell in love with it. Armani Mania became one of my favourites, and it brings back some great memories. It’s a warm, spicy and woody style of scent, masculine but not too dark and musky.
The spicy woody odour is toned down by a floral note which produces an interesting scent, giving the spicy aroma some lightness. The combination of it being not too light and not too musky but still enough to pack that masculine punch gives it a real elegant and sophisticated scent.
It’s perfect for a night out in the summer or winter, or when you want to pack a bit more of a punch in a more formal setting.
Best season to wear – All rounder Scent type – Spicy/Woody/Fresh/Floral Age Recommendation – 21+ Best Worn – Evening, Daytime, Office, Date Night, Casual
Top Notes – Tangerine Leaves, Saffron
Middle Notes – Cedar, Vetiver
Base Notes – Amber, Musk
What do you think of this Armani fragrance? Let me know, and don’t forget to read through some of the other aftershave reviews to find your perfect scent.
Essenza Di Zegna and Zegna Intenso are two fragrances which I got quite a while ago. Released around 2003 and 2007 respectively by Ermenegildo Zegna. The Italian fashion house is known for it’s elegance, and these two scents can certainly be described as that.
Both bottles are a similar style, with the Essenza being a light coloured clear bottle, and the Intenso being dark, and having stripes throughout in the style of closed blinds.
Essenza Di Zegna is a slightly fresh and aquatic style of smell, with hints of amber and musk as it settles down. It’s quite a strange combination, which makes determining it as a night or day scent is quite difficult. This means I could recommend it as either day or night wear, probably on a more casual basis. It’s a slightly warm aroma, but not something you’d exclusively classify as something for a winters night.
Zegna Intenso is a really nice, inviting scent, which slightly resembles Armani Code. It’s slightly woody and aromatic, and is perfect for date night, a night out with the lads, or any kind of situation where you want to smell like a warm and inviting individual.
Both scents are quite individualistic, and quite underrated in the fragrance market. Neither is a stand out scent which is going to be a must have for someone who’s looking for that one killer bottle of cologne, but if you’re looking for something which others aren’t wearing, either of these could be worth thinking about.
As both scents are quite old now, you can shop around and pick up either for a great price. It’s worth buying if you can get a good deal.
In terms of the longevity, as these are both EDT and not particularly strong, the longevity is fair. Expect to get 4 or 5 hours before the scent really starts to fade away, especially Essenza, the lighter of the two. The projection is also quite small, so people at the other end of the room are unlikely to smell the scent.
If you’ve got or worn either of these fragrances from Ermenegildo Zegna, let me know what you think of them.
Essenza Di Zegna
Best season to wear – Spring/Summer Scent type – Aquatic/Fresh Age Recommendation – 21+ Best Worn – Daytime, Casual
Zegna Intenso
Best season to wear – Autumn/Winter Scent type – Aromatic/Woody Age Recommendation – 21+ Best Worn – Nightwear, Casual, Date Night, Out With The Lads
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.
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
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
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.
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.
