Men's Grooming Tips And Advice

If you are a regular reader of my blog you will know that I love scents, fragrances and all things EDT and in between. I buy quite a few a year, and have collected so many over the years, some which I love, and some I am not too fond of. I would not like to say I don’t like a scent, there are one or two which I just did not like, but most of the time they are simply my “least favourite”, i.e. I like many others more so use these less.

This is part I which has my least favourites, parts II and III you will see my all time faves and current faves which I have only recently got.

So, in reverse order…

10. Gucci Guilty – I first got this and thought it was OK, it was not a bad smell and something different from a fresh or musk smell, so I got it. However I have not used it so much, and it’s nowhere near as nice as Gucci by Gucci or Gucci Envy.

9. Armani Diamond For Men – Quite a fresh and citrus smell, it’s actually decent, but it’s just not something which I wear much.

8. Prada Infusions – A very fresh type of smell, probably best worn in the day, it just didn’t have that stand out smell.

7. D&G Masculine – This has a very pungent tangy scent, very citrus like. I associate masculine with a woody type of smell, this is not that, as you’d expect from it’s yellow/greenish colour.

6. 212 MEN by Carolina Herrera – I got 212 Sexy MEN and I loved it, so I got this. It’s definitely different. Whereas Sexy 212 in the brown bottle i’d wear on a night, this is more of a fresh day time smell.

5. YSL Pour Homme – Again this is a very citrus like smell, and the smell of lemon hits you straight away. As you can see in the image above, I have used very little of this!

4. Juicy Couture Old English – You can see from the name and the colour that this is going to be a woody musky smell; And it is. It’s a little too woody for my liking, but if you like that kind of strong musk smell this would be great for you.

3. Paco Rabanne Ultraviolet MAN – It has the most odd smell, a sort of flower smell. The front is purple, and if purple had a smell, it would be this! 😛 I do love the bottle though.

2. Thierry Mugler A*MEN – I have to say I am disappointed with this. I got a tester and it seemed to be fine, but after using a real bottle I am not a fan. This is one of my newest scents I got for Christmas 2012, but I don’t like it. It has a very tangy smell when you first spray it, but it does tone down later. I think I have to give this more of a try, but I don’t think it will make my top fragrances any time soon.

1. Marc Jacobs – BANG! – We are at the #1 “least favourite” smell, and it’s this. I can describe this in one word: Pepper. It smells so much like pepper, and I have to say it’s probably the only scent I have which I would say I do not like. I bought this without sampling it, and I wish I did because I’d almost certainly not have got it. I got “Bang Bang” the follow-up scent (in the blue bottle) which I actually like, and is a much nicer scent.

I did get some brand new EDT’s and fragrances for Christmas, but I wanted to get some old favourites, but not any old bottles, I wanted the large bottles.

I usually buy 50ml bottles, and I have loads of them, I actually don’t know the number since I got new ones, but its somewhere more than 50. Since I have so many, and I wear different ones, I rarely run out of the same one, even my favourites. I recently bought a large Gucci by Gucci 100ml bottle, and have decided that I will buy my favourites in the larger bottles, to ensure I don’t run out.

Bvlgari MAN is one of my favourites, and I got it a couple of years ago, more or less when it was released. It’s such a really nice smell, and even though I have half a bottle left, I decided to get a large 100ml bottle.

I got Armani Code in about 2005 and loved it. It’s a real evening kind of smell, and when I smell it, it reminds me of going out, probably because I did wear this a lot 😀 It’s one of the few bottles I have which I actually ran out of, and I had not bought a new bottle, so have not had it since about 2007. I never ever got around to buying it again, since I wanted to try new scents, I love it but there are loads more out there. So, years later, I decided that I would re-live the past and get a bottle. Armani Code comes in an even bigger bottle, this is their biggest and is 125ml.

Large bottles do not come cheap, not for these anyway. the 100ml Bvlgari MAN was £58 and the Armani Code 125ml was £65. The girl on the counter said I had expensive taste 😉

Christmas is now over, but one of the things I love about it is that I get a whole load of new EDT’s and fragrances. This year I got 5 new ones which I have not had before, plus a large 100ml bottle of The One by Dolce And Gabbana, a scent I have loved since it came out years ago.

The new ones are Hugo Element by Hugo Boss, Viktor & Rolf Spicebomb, Diesel Only The Brave Tatoo, Calvin Klein Encounter and Thierry Mugler A*Men.

The Hugo Element is definitely the most fresh smelling, and is probably better suited for day wear. The A*Men is my least favourite smell, it’s very citrus-like and smells like it has a tang to it. I really like the CK Encounter, it’s the most woody of these but not too over-powering, a really great smell for the evening. The Diesel is similar, but a bit lighter, and Spicebomb by Viktor and Rolph is also great for evening wear, and has a slight orange type of smell to it.

I love having such a wide range to choose from, but I also think buying big bottles of my favourites is a good way to go, I got a large Gucci by Gucci a few weeks back. After doing research I found many people saying that as long as they are kept well, EDT’s and aftershaves can last for a number of years, so it’s worth getting your favourites in large bottles. I would also hate it if/when they start to discontinue my old faves like they have done with Gucci Envy.

It’s like an old friend! The above pic is from my blog in 2009, where I tried to find some Gucci Envy for men, it is so old and even 3 years ago it was quite hard to find, but I did find some and was over the moon. But now, it’s apparently ‘officially’ been discontinued, so I may never get my beloved scent again 🙁

I first got this at Christmas 2005, despite this fragrance being released in 1998, so wearing it throughout 2006 which was a great time for me. It was quite a crazy time, going out a lot in Newcastle meant I had to wear a scent, and most of the time I would choose this, my favourite. It’s not just the love of the smell, it’s the memories, the good times, Envy could tell so many stories! 😉

If you did not know already I love EDTs, aftershaves and smells, this was the last pic I took of them in March 2011…

Yep, a lot! 😀 Still, my all time favourite has to be Gucci Envy which you can see in the pic above on the right at the front.

I do of course love others, such as Narciso Rodriguez, Gucci by Gucci, Bvlgari MAN, and now Allure Homme Sport Extreme by Chanel. But the vast majority of the above I still really like, so picking one to wear is usually very hard 😛

ANYWAY…

So yesterday I decided that I would try and track down a bottle of Gucci Envy. I only have about half a bottle left, and I rarely use it because I like it so much and know I don’t have much left. My search got me nowhere. Nobody seemed to stock it. After reading a few forums it seems like it has been discontinued, and after searching for hours, could not find a bottle, not for a decent price anyway.

There are some stores abroad which are selling it for over £100 for the 50ml bottle and over £200 for the 100ml, that is terrible! Such a high price, but I do love it.

I decided to email as many of the websites which used to stock it as I could, so I emailed about 20 of them, and the vast majority said they had no stock, and would almost certainly be getting no more stock 🙁

I’ll continue my hunt to see if I can find some at a sensible price from a shop, the search goes on! 😉 If you’re looking for an alternative to this, try checking out my men’s fragrance reviews, where I can recommend something which is similar but obviously not the sadly discontinued Gucci Envy For Men.

A great alternative is Floris Santal. It’s a premium scent which is very close to Gucci Envy for men, but is still a scent on it’s own. Going forward this will be what I use, and is one of my favourite fragrances.

I picked up some Allure Hoome Sport Extreme by Chanel when I was in Stockholm Arlanda airport, and I have to say, I really, really like it.

It is a powerful type of scent, and I would recommend it for night use, although I like it so much I use it through the day 😀 It is quite a sensual smell, and it hits you right away, unlike some others which take a while to sink in.

As with Chanel this is quite expensive, this regular 50ml bottle cost me £52, which is usually the ball park price for a 100ml bottle of an EDT. It is worth getting if you do not buy a lot of aftershaves, and want something to get you noticed on a night out.

I got YSL La Nuit De L’Homme EDT today, and I absolutely love it! It smells so nice, it could be my favourite Fragrance of this year.

It is really hard to describe smells sometimes, and this is one of those. It is a darker smell, more intense and a little bit woody, but not too much. It is not fruity/citrus, which I am not the biggest fan of, but is not too heavy. I would recommend this to be worn on a night, maybe not as a day scent, because it is a little strong, but it depends on how you like to smell.

I think it is so nice! 😀

As it is Christmas time of year I got a gift set which was the same price as the bottle, which is 60ml. Included in the gift set is the usual aftershave balm and shower gel.

I originally went to have a smell of the YSL L’Homme Libre, which is also very nice, but more light. I will get that for Christmas,  and bought this today.

So two of the brands which I love when it comes to fragrances and EDT’s are Gucci and 212 by Carolina Herrera. I have got a few 212’s and have liked them for a while, and I have some Gucci’s too, which I love probably more than any.

I have 2 prestige Gucci’s the bottles on the left and right. I got these for Christmas one year, and do not use them much. The smell is very strong, and is an old school musky smell. One is an EDT spray and the other is aftershave lotion. This is what I call “man smell” because it smells like old traditional aftershave. The bottle in the middle is Gucci Envy, which could be my all-time favourite scent. I love it. I got a bottle in 2006, and loved it so much I had to track down another bottle last year and finally did. Its quite hard to come by these days, and is old. I also have Gucci by Gucci, which smells amazing. Very strong and powerful, it is a really good smell. The newest to the collection is Gucci Guilty. This smells a little less powerful than the previous, but is still a nice smell.

Now to the 212. The first to the left is the first one I got, and the best out of the three. It is 212 Sexy Men. Its a strong and powerful smell but quite light and fruity with a little bit of spice. The next is the bottle on the right, simply called 212 Men. This is a more fresh smell, but still smells pretty good. 212 VIP Men is the bottle in the middle, and has a magnetic top just like the previous two. Again this is a nice smell, and is currently the newest in the collection.

Do you own any of these? What do you think?

I got the latest Lacoste blue EDT a few months back, and then a week or so later I got another bottle for my birthday! It is really nice, out of the three Lacoste L12.12 which came out this year I like this one the best. The others are nice, but I prefer this one. It is a more powerful stronger smell, whereas the white for example is a more fresh smell.

If you are looking for a new scent, give this a try 🙂

I got some more smelly stuff! 😛 Its Hugo Boss Bottled Night, and it smells sooooo good!! 🙂 Its my favourite smell this year i think, i got the 50ml EDT bottle which was £35.

It has a very strong and rich smell, its definatly a night smell which is where it got its name i guess. I will be wearing this alot, it is hard to describe a smell, but it is good.

Its the new fragrance from Hugo Boss, I have a few of theirs, and this is by far there best effort, its really nice 🙂