Best Men's Colognes

Best Men's Colognes started back in 2013, as a way to share my learning experiences with the different fragrances that I've owned, as I dove head first into the hobby. Since then, that new hobby grew into a consistent passion, helping millions of readers along the way. I have personally written reviews for well over 800 perfumes and colognes for both men and women. This is along with writing hundreds of other in-depth fragrance guides. You can also follow me on: YouTube, Instagram, and Tiktok!

Eros Pour Femme by Versace

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Eros Pour Femme is a sample fragrance, that I unexpectedly received with another order recently. I thought that I had already done a review of it, but it turns out, I did the EDT version instead. So, this became another scent on my list that I needed to test out. How does this one smell? When should it be worn? Is it worth a try?

What does Eros Femme Smell Like?

Notes include: pomegranate, lemon, bergamot, jasmine, lemon blossom, musk, peony, sandalwood, ambroxan

Click here to try: Eros Femme EDP

My Full Review

Here’s how Versace describes it: Attraction, desire, passion. Eros in a perfume. An alchemy of seductive, luminous and feminine notes. A refined accord of lemon and jasmine, enhanced with soft and sensual woods.

So, the original Eros Pour Femme starts out much more concentrated on the lemon note than the EDT version. Pomegranate is there too, but doesn’t play the same role as the raspberry sorbet does in the EDT.

Here, it’s a lot of citrus. Lemon, lemon blossom, and bergamot. It is sharp, bright, and doesn’t have the same sugary appeal. I do still kind of like it, after a few minutes, as that pomegranate does get to come out more.

When I saw the ambroxan note, I thought that it might be a heavy use of that note. Nope, not on my skin, at least. I do get hints of it, but this has more musk. Even that, isn’t super powerful.

Lemon, jasmine, pomegranate, and some peony is what I get for basically most of the wear. It actually does get a bit sweeter, after that sharp opening, which is a nice change of pace. But, it’s never too candy-like or anything.

The last bit of wear is a drier affair, less juicy. Still lots of citrus and a generic floral aroma. But, the musk still hangs around with woods and I still don’t get much ambroxan.

Sillage, Longevity, and Versatility

The sillage here is actually quite powerful. This one easily leaves a scent trail behind it and projects far off of the skin. Seriously, this is a strong perfume. Not the boldest out there, but very much above average.

However, the longevity isn’t as good as I thought it’d be, based on that powerful opening. I get somewhere in the 7-8 hour range, on skin.

Terrible? No, but I was sure this one was going to hit double digit hours. That initial power is steady for a while, then, begins to fall off from that immediate peak performance.

Seasonally, this is a warm weather choice for the spring and summer months. Outside of that, it isn’t going to get as much use.

Mostly, a daytime casual sort of aroma. You can wear it as a daily wear, so long as you go easy with the sprayer early on.

Eros Femme, despite the name, isn’t really sexy. Not a romantic or nightlife perfume, unlike its male counterpart. Which is sort of strange.

Overall Impressions of Eros Femme

Overall, do I like Eros Femme? Ehh, I don’t hate it, but it wasn’t terribly enjoyable either. The EDT version is much better to me and something I actually did like.

This one is too sharp for my taste, at times. The opening has that effect, it’s nice enough, but can also be bothersome. Lots of citrus and the jasmine note.

I do always enjoy pomegranate and it gets some decent play here. It’s cool. The first third of this fragrance, definitely has its moments.

The back end, is kind of boring. Not too much development, but it gets dry and the generic floral isn’t too exciting. The early stages feel unique, but that isn’t the case later on.

Performance is fine. Didn’t do what I expected, but still no real issue there.

Overall, I’d go with the EDT instead. This isn’t that bad, but I don’t think Eros Femme is all that great either. Versace definitely has better options.

Stronger With You vs. Freeze

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Stronger With You is one of the more popular series of fragrances, out on the market now. The original EDT set the tone over a handful of years ago now, with others following almost every year.

Now, one of the flanker fragrances is, Stronger With You Freeze. Having recently reviewed it, I wanted to create a comparison page between it and the EDT. Which smells better? Lasts longer?

Tale of the Tape: Stronger With You vs. Freeze

Stronger With You

Notes include: vanilla, mint, cardamom, chesnut, amber, pink pepper, sage, violet leaf

Click here to try: Emporio Armani Stronger With You for Men Eau de Toilette Spray, 1.7 oz

My Full Review: Stronger With You

Stronger With You Freeze

Notes include: ginger, apple, vanilla, lime, sage, lavender, cardamom, amberwood

Click here to try: Freeze

My Full Review: SWY Freeze

Opening

Stronger With You opens up fresh and with its spicier notes out front. To me, the cardamom really stands apart from the other notes, it really has a significant weighting in the mix

Beyond that, it’s: pink pepper, mint, sage. The vanilla and chestnut notes are there also, but will gain strength a bit further in. Early on, it’s cardamom and the others.

Freeze lives up to its name and hits you with that chilly lime note. There’s some orange to bolster the citrus accord. plus, a crisp apple note to further that cooling sensation.

This version also brings out spicy notes. Instead of cardamom, you get sage and ginger. Ginger is the leading spice and really works nicely. with the fruity top.

Which do I prefer? At the start, I’ll go with Stronger With You Freeze. It’s a nice and refreshing aroma, that gives you something a bit different from the others in the series.

Also, the opening of SWY isn’t my favorite part of that scent, and isn’t too difficult to overcome in my mind.

Edge: Freeze

Projection

The sillage and projection of each is good. But, the original EDT just has a better ability to project and leave a scent trail. It’s a thicker and heavier scent, on the whole.

That being said, Freeze is actually above average and creates a very nice scent bubble off of the skin. It just doesn’t have the same level of power as the others in the series.

Edge: Stronger

Longevity

The original SWY takes the win in this category as well. On my skin, it lasted at least 9 hours and most of the time, will go more than 10. It’s a long-lasting fragrance for sure.

Freeze, on the other hand, went 7-8.5 hours.

It’s a pretty easy win for the EDT. But, keep in mind, that Freeze is a lighter scent that’s better in the spring and summer. So, not needing to be nearly as dense as its predecessor.

Edge: Stronger

Versatility

Here’s where I think that Freeze has another edge. Freeze is better in the spring and summer months, but can venture into autumn too. While the EDT, is much more limited to the colder months, and doesn’t have as much range outside of those temperatures.

Both are about the same, otherwise. Being casual to semi-formal scents, aimed at younger men. Likeable, mass appealing, and can be worn in the nightlife.

Edge: Freeze

Overall Scent

Overall, which of these fragrances do I prefer? It was a close contest between them, but, one of them ultimately won out.

With Freeze, I really liked the opening act. For a while, I thought that it was going to be among my favorites from this series. However, the dry down is something that I’m less enthusiastic about, and it actually ranks as my least favorite.

It actually starts having more similarities with Stronger EDT, but just never as good. It gets nuttier and has more vanilla. Just falls short of what I get with the original.

So, the original wins this race. It’s better dry down and overall performance set it apart from Freeze. The vanilla and chestnut notes really bring the EDT to another level for me and Freeze’s dry down is a pale comparison.

Update: Freeze has now been discontinued for a long while. Not that it particularly matters, since it was one of the lesser releases in this series. But, the EDT is readily available and worthwhile in comparison. You don’t need to spend around $200 on an old bottle of SWY Freeze, it’s not worth it.

Winner: Stronger With You EDT

Le Beau Le Parfum by JPG

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Le Beau Le Parfum is a new release for 2022 from Jean Paul Gaultier. I bought a sample of it in a batch with others a while back, in order to give it a test and full review for the site. How does this one smell? Is it long last? When should it be worn? Is it actually worth trying?

What does Le Beau Le Parfum Smell Like?

Notes include: ginger, pineapple, sandalwood, ambergris, iris, cypress, coconut, tonka bean, woods

le beau parfum review

My Full Review

Here’s how JPG describes it: It’s impossible to resist temptation in the Gaultier garden, with Le Beau Le Parfum and his intense Eau de Parfum. The forbidden fruit of a fresh and extremely addictive oriental-woody scent, blending ginger and pineapple with the animal sensuality of ambergris and the powerful virility of sandalwood.

Upon first spraying, I get a really tropical vibe with the pineapple coming out of the gate strong and the coconut note sitting underneath. It’s juicy, creamy, and sweet with an added light spicy kick from the ginger note.

The ginger will fall away and the pineapple will lose its prominence at the top. Coconut, tonka bean, amber, and a general set of woods will dry this one up and take away the juiciness of that tropical vibe, at least.

It’s crazy how quickly that aspect fades from the picture. Sure, that sweetness stays around for the duration, just not in the same way.

Sandalwood and the tonka bean really do assist a lot at adding the creamy finish to this one. There is some powdery iris, but honestly, it gets lost in the shuffle and vanishes. Maybe it has more of a role on other people’s skin, definitely not with mine.

This one starts to turn much woodier in the dry down. Not like a green forest or anything, but more sandalwood dominant. With the cypress and other woods, the woodiness really stands out.

A light amber, tonka bean, and coconut take up the rest of the composition. It’s sweet, fresh, warm, and has an appealing aroma that’s surprisingly clean in the latter stages.

Sillage, Longevity, and Versatility

The JPG scent starts out with a great deal of power. It’s not massive, but it will project itself off the skin and can fill a room early on with enough sprays.

But, that’ll temper down and it will be basically above average in sillage for the rest of the way. Lighter for sure, just never weak until the very end.

The longevity here is really good here.  With Le Beau Le Parfum, I get somewhere in the 9 hour range. Once, it lasted about 10, but that probably is its maximum…on my skin, at least.

Those last few hours are definitely softer with how it comes across, however.

Seasonally, this one starts out as being best for spring and summer, but with the woodiness it’d work just fine in the rest of the year too. Maybe skip the depths of winter, but Le Beau works well with a variety of climates.

That’s probably a main strength of this fragrance.

It is more of a casual to nightlife sort of cologne. Not something that is going to come across as being a formal scent. Not really an office wear or anything. More suited for younger guys, but does offer a nice amount of versatility at times when you don’t need to be serious.

Overall Impressions of Le Beau Le Parfum

Overall, do I like Le Beau Le Parfum? Sure. That opening with the pineapple note, is really interesting and one of the aspects I like about Le Parfum. It is short-lived, enjoyable, but I can also see how it might get annoying after a period of time.

The rest of the way is nice. The latter stages are fine, just not my favorite. Dry and woody with tonka bean and that remaining coconut. Some might love it, but it’s not something that I’m completely into.

However, on the whole, this is a solid release from Jean Paul Gaultier. It brings something different to the table versus a lot of other fragrances in the market. Which is one of the things, JPG colognes are known for.

It does have a youthful and playful vibe. So, it’ll probably best serve a younger guy. A burst of tropical sweetness with a dry and creamy finish.

As one to try? Absolutely, if it sounds interesting to you, give this one a go. It can be a great pick up for the right guy.

Stronger With You Intensely by Emporio Armani

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Stronger With You continues to roll along as a fragrance series for the Emporio Armani label. I’ve been going through the releases over the past little while, in order to give each of them full reviews. Today, I finish up my thoughts on Stronger With You Intensely. How does it smell? How long does it last? Is it worth a try?

What does Stronger With You Intensely Smell Like?

Notes include: pink pepper, cinnamon, toffee, lavender, sage, suede, amber, violet, vetiver

Click here to try: Stronger With You Intensely

My Full Review

Here’s how Armani describes it: This addictive fougere scent features notes of pink pepper, vanilla and an ambery wood accord. It reflects the personality of today’s young man in search of an intense fragrance that lights up his profound love story!

Intensely really kicks off with its spicy notes blazing. That pink pepper really commands attention, a dash of sage, and even a little bit of the cinnamon, as a part of that toffee accord, and that’s found in other fragrances from this series.

But, it’s not a complete spicy takeover, since the sweetness it there early on too. It’s got more of a caramel aroma early on, that will shift more towards the vanilla end of things by the end of the wear.

That initial spiciness isn’t a long lasting affair. Stronger With You Intensely shifts to a warmer and sweeter overall aroma. But, the lavender note becomes more noticeable to me after the opening is done.

In Absolutely, the lavender comes on strong in the end.

The good news for me, is that lavender will get weaker in favor of the amber note. Toffee and vanilla. Plus, a bit of suede giving it a smooth leathery finish.

The pink pepper and other spices are basically gone for the back half of this one, on me at least.

Sillage, Longevity, and Versatility

Sillage wise, this one is well above average, and will leave a scent trail behind in one’s wake for a few hours at least.

The projection is really good, able to reach pretty far across a room. Then, it’ll become a 4-5 foot scent bubble, and finally a skin scent. Not the heaviest or most beast mode projection out there, but I wasn’t disappointed.

On my skin, Intensely lasts up to 11 or 12 hours. It’s really got fantastic performance for a designer mass market fragrance. Now, those last few hours aren’t really that strong, but the cologne is still there.

Seasonally, this one has autumn and winter written all over it. You can probably venture into the spring, since this is a great choice for the nightlife, but I’d stay out of the heat with Intensely.

It’s a sweeter fragrance, a nice one for romantic wear, nightlife, and such. Probably not what most will want to go with to the office.

It probably does skew younger in its appeal. But, it doesn’t strike me as being completely immature or only a teenager’s fragrance.

Overall Impressions of Stronger With You Intensely

Overall, do I like Stronger With You Intensely? I do and it might be my favorite from the whole series. Though, I like Leather, also. Kind of a toss up with those.

Just on performance alone, you already get the awesome longevity and sillage of the original EDT, but amped up and with a better smelling formula.

While the spices don’t last that long on my skin, I do like that bold kick to start off. Then, with the toffee/caramel aroma comes in with the suede and vanilla, that’s when Intensely is really a joy to wear around.

This one is sweet. Which, I get can be too much for some people. I find this to be more tolerable to wear than the original, which I found much more cloying.

So, if you don’t want the sweetness to the same extent, maybe try out Absolutely. That Stronger With You fragrance is almost as good to me, but I like Intensely slightly more.

But, I do think that I prefer The Most Wanted by Azzaro to this one, which often gets compared to Intensely. That has a simpler aroma, more cardamom, but really works on my skin.

Chelsea Flowers by Bond No. 9

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Bond No. 9 is an American niche brand that has released a ton of very successful fragrances for men and women over the years. One of the early ones, is Chelsea Flowers. I rediscovered a sample vial of this perfume, that I got back in who knows when. So, it was time to test it again and give this a proper review on the site. How does it smell? How long does it last? Is is worth a try?

What does Chelsea Flowers Smell Like?

Notes include: musk, peony, hyacinth, rose, tulip, sandalwood, magnolia

Click here to try: Bond No. 9 Chelsea Flowers Eau De Parfums Spray, 3.4 Ounce

chelsea flowers review

My Full Review

Before getting into my review, let’s see how Bond No. 9 describes it: The Scent of the Ingenue: dewy, freshly-picked blossoms, gathered in a paper wrapper, worn to perfection at New York’s newest art gallery-club-restaurant scene. An exuberant but slightly insolent all-day floral bouquet.

True to its name, Chelsea Flowers, is all about those floral notes. Early on, this one is dewy and has greenish qualities. Later, it is more like flower petals in a shampoo-like composition.

Opening up, I get a pretty big dose of magnolia. That along with a tulip note. It is pretty aquatic smelling, not completely watery, but more than a sprinkling of dew.

I’m concluding that this early dew/green aroma is coming from the hyacinth and tulip. It never takes a pole position, but sits underneath the top two throughout this opening act. Pretty distinct.

The next phase sees the rose and peony notes emerge. On my skin, the rose really isn’t all that heavy. I get a lot more peony, than I ever do from rose, which might be the fourth or fifth strongest of the floral notes.

Chelsea Flowers becomes much more appealing to me, once the hyacinth has calmed down. It becomes a fresher and muskier floral, that’s actually very pretty with its soapy vibe.

The final dry down is an amalgamation of the floral notes, on my skin. None of them feel all that separate from one another. Maybe still some magnolia and tulip I can pick out…sometimes.

But, the rest of the notes really bring home the dry freshness and shampoo aroma. Musk, vetiver, and moss. A greater dose of the moss and musk. The watery side of the perfume is basically gone.

Sillage, Longevity, and Versatility

Sillage wise, this will leave a scent trail for the first couple hours especially. It’s not a massive cloud of scent, but Chelsea Flowers, is above average and projects itself very well. 

At it’s peak, it’ll project itself to around seven feet or so. That’s about where I could pick it up from, after spraying the fragrance on a shirt.

The longevity is good, not elite. Somewhere in the 8.5-9 hours of wear range, on my skin. Is that amazing? No, but really no reason to complain for most purposes.

Seasonally, it would best be served in the spring and summer. Though, it can be used during the more temperate days of autumn, as well. Keep to wearing it above a certain temperature, since this doesn’t fit in for winter.

Chelsea Flowers isn’t a sexy scent, nor is it a nighttime party animal. However, within the daytime, it is very versatile.

It can be worn by girls or older women, without issue. It’s fine for office wear, casual, or pretty much wherever else one might need it. Not the most formal scent, but it’s clean aroma wouldn’t be out of place.

 

 

Overall Impressions of Chelsea Flowers

Do I like this fragrance? It’s pretty good, but nothing all that unique or special. It’s not among my favorite from the Bond No. 9 line, though, you could do worse.

The opening act isn’t all that great, the hyacinth is somewhat bothersome here. I like the dewy and aquatic aspects of this scent. But, this really comes alive when the rose, peony, and musk have their turn taking the reins. 

The latter stages are like a dry floral shampoo. Fresh and very presentable, just nothing super memorable or groundbreaking. It’s not bad, just know what you’re getting here.

The performance is solid, on the whole. It lasts a good amount of time and really doesn’t need to be super powerful.

I don’t really want to recommend this to everybody, since it might not have the most exciting scent out there. But, if this sounds like your type of perfume, Chelsea Flowers is a good example, and worth trying. Buying? Maybe not.