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!

Guilty Pour Homme Platinum by Gucci

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So, I’ve had a small decant of Gucci Guilty Platinum Edition for many months now, and hadn’t ever tried it out. I wasn’t sure as to what it was, whether it was a new formulation, or what. So, I’ve been wearing it around, and will present my thoughts and experiences with Platinum in this review. As usual, I will cover what it smells like, how it performs, when it should be worn, or if it’s even worth a buy.

What does Gucci Guilty Platinum Smell Like?

Notes include: orange blossom, cedar, lemon, lavender, patchouli

Click here to try: Gucci Guilty Platinum Edition Eau De Toilette Spray for Men, 3 Ounce

My Full Wear Review

Upon smelling the opening notes of Guilty Platinum, it struck me as being the same as the original Gucci Guilty. Is this the same fragrance in a new bottle?

I was trying to find the answer online, and it does appear, that this was a limited edition version of Guilty Pour Homme. Interesting, guess I’ll be reviewing this for a second time, then.

So, the opening is that familiar lemon and lavender blend, along with the warm pink pepper note. For me, the lemon/lavender combination is better in Luna Rossa Sport, versus this Guilty line. Still, it’s hard to dislike the bright citrus note with calming lavender, and an overall warm mood.

As it moves along, the orange blossom and lavender begin to take over, more of the composition. The lemon note is still present, just not as strong as it was, at the top. The fragrance is quite floral, very smooth and clean, and pleasant to wear.

Further along, we get some additional outdoorsy aroma from a solid cedar base, and light patchouli which gives Guilty Platinum some more depth. That’s about it for this fragrance, as it’s pretty linear overall, in its presentation. You get a floral sweetness, with elements of warm spice, and cedar.

Sillage, Longevity, and Versatility

The sillage is not that powerful from this one. It’ll project around the area immediately surrounding you, but doesn’t take over the room.

Again, what reaffirmed for me that this was indeed just a re-packaged Guilty Pour Homme, was not only the smell but the performance. I get that same 5-6 hours of wear, on my skin, that I did with it.

One thing that I appreciated about Guilty, is its versatility as a fragrance. I like it in the warmer months of the year, but it is honestly, a nice scent to wear year round. Plus, you can wear it in pretty much any situation, and it’ll be fine.

It’s got enough attractiveness to be worn on a date, it can go casual, a night out, or even to the office. It doesn’t overpower and has a subtle touch, that can simply fit in.

Overall Impressions of Guilty Platinum

Overall, do I like Gucci Guilty Platinum? I mean, yes, it’s just Gucci Guilty. I’ve always thought that it was a pleasant scent to wear, but wasn’t a spectacular must have, for me. Why would you want Guilty Platinum?

I guess, if you wanted the limited edition bottle? Who knows? It’s already had its run, so perhaps, you can pick up a cheap bottle and save some money on your Guilty Pour Homme needs.

Nautica Blue vs Guess Seductive Cologne Comparison

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So, here we are with another head to head matchup between two popular men’s fragrances. Today, we are going towards the inexpensive end of the spectrum, in a matchup between: Nautica Blue vs. Guess Seductive Homme. Which of these colognes smells the best? Which has the better sillage? Longevity? Versatility? Please continue below for my full take on how these two scents stack up.

Tale of the Tape: Nautica Blue vs. Guess Seductive

Guess Seductive Homme 

Notes include: Cardamom Milk, Pink Pepper, Patchouli, Sandalwood, And Musk.

Read my Original Review Here

Click here to try: Guess Seductive Men Edt Spray, 3.4 Ounce

Nautica Blue

Notes include: Musk, cedar, bergamot, sandalwood, peach, pineapple, water lily, jasmine

Click here to try: Nautica Blue Eau De Toilette Spray for Men, 3.4 fluid ounce

Read my original Review: Nautica Blue

Opening

Nautica Blue opens with a rather sharp, soapy/detergent-like smell. This is especially true on some of the newer bottles that I’ve tried. The top notes include pineapple, peach, and bergamot. As such, you are going to get that fruity aroma but with the pineapple and musk, it can be pretty intense and not all that appealing at the start.

It doesn’t seem as well-blended or pleasant as it did in the past, either. The original bottles of Nautica Blue were better, than their current crop.

Meanwhile, Guess Seductive Homme, opens with a citrus note of mandarin orange that is paired with a warm and slightly spicy cardamom milk note. These two are flanked by emerging ingredients of amber and pink pepper. It’s fresh, enveloping, and masculine.

Between the two, Guess blows Nautica Blue out of the water, in terms of how each starts. It’s just so much more pleasant and doesn’t require more time to settle down.

Edge: Guess Seductive

Projection

Each of these colognes, has fairly moderate sillage. For the first hour or so, they are relatively the same. However, Nautica Blue loses its sillage power much quicker than does the Guess, and then becomes a pretty light scent.

Guess Seductive is moderate for a longer stretch than is Nautica Blue and thus gets the edge. Seductive is just a much better performer.

Edge: Seductive

Longevity

Nautica Blue lasts on my skin from anywhere between 2-5 hours. Yep, it has a wide range, depending on the climate or other emergent factors of the day.

Seductive will lasts between 6-8 hours on my skin. Most of the time, it is closer to the six hour mark. It does weaken, as it moves along, but not to the extent of Blue.

Edge: Seductive 

Versatility

Guess Seductive is mainly a cold weather scent. It isn’t terrible in warm temperatures, but gets worse when the heat is turned up. It is also good for casual wear and can be worn romantically, as the Seductive name suggests.

Nautica Blue is a warm weather scent, that can hold up fine in the winter. More of a year round scent, than Guess Seductive. However, it is much more casual and feels like more of a teenage scent than Guess.

This is probably as close as Nautica Blue gets to taking a category, but it still falls short.

Edge: Seductive

Overall Scent

So, this is a pretty one-sided matchup. Guess Seductive Homme is the much better cologne, in my opinion, as it has a better scent and performance.

Nautica Blue starts out too harsh for my nose, but dries down much better. It is clean, fresh, and soapy. It has those fruity top notes, musk, and a woody base. Also, lily and jasmine sprinkled in.

It is a nice choice for a cheapie to wear on the daily, especially in high school or something, but it’s not an amazing cologne by any stretch. It’s solid for what it is and one of the better Nautica colognes. It isn’t as good as it once was, but it’s still decent.

Guess Seductive Homme is a pretty unique scent, at an attractive price point. It is warm, slightly spicy, with a juicy mandarin orange note sitting on top. It’s still one of the best buys on the market for that $20-30 price range and a very good starter cologne. Easily beats Blue in my opinion.

Winner: Guess Seductive Homme

Arancia Di Capri by Acqua Di Parma

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Arancia di Capri is another scent from the Blu Mediterraneo line of fragrances from Acqua di Parma. I’m going to post even more reviews from this lineup in the coming weeks, but I figured I would start here, with what I consider one of the best smelling colognes of the bunch. What does it smell like? How does it perform? When should it be worn? Continue below for my full thoughts on this scent.

What does Arancia di Capri Smell Like?

Notes include: mandarin orange, caramel, petitgrain, musk, bergamot, grapefruit

Click here to try: Acqua Di Parma Blue Mediterraneo Arancia Di Capri Eau De Toilette Spray for Men, 5 Ounce

The opening of Arancia di Capri is an immediate aromatic sensation of citrus fruits, mainly the mandarin orange and bergamot notes. Acqua Di Parma, really does a fantastic job with the citrus notes in their fragrances.

They are absolutely some of the best on the market. All very crisp, juicy, and don’t smell synthetic.

Arancia di Capri is a fresh scent that triggers memories of walking around in the open air on a warm summer day. There is a hint of musk in the composition, which gives the scent more depth than the citrus notes would otherwise provide.

About 20 minutes in, the caramel note emerges with it’s sugary sweetness, which provides an interesting partnership with the mandarin orange.

Cardamom and musk deliver a warm and nice bit of depth to the fragrance, but it is mostly a sweet citrus perfume.

Projection wise, the opening is strong but it settles extremely quickly into a skin scent. It is better that the performance I got while wearing Bergamotto di Calabria, but it still isn’t great.

I get about 4-5 hours out of it as a skin scent, with a normal spray. You can double up the sprays, apply a layer of unscented lotion to your skin prior to wear, or spray it directly on the fabric of a shirt that you don’t mind potentially damaging. For instance, I sprayed this on an old t-shirt and the performance was much better.

Seasonally, this is warm weather all the way. It’s really a fantastic aroma for this time of year and extremely well put together. I wish the intensity was scaled up and then it would be near perfection because the scent does smell wonderful.

If the cardamom and caramel were stronger, this would be a heavier winter fragrance. But, as constituted this is a citrus summer fragrance. 

Overall, do I recommend Arancia di Capri? Yes. It is one of the best scents from Acqua di Parma and a true highlight in the citrus fragrance space. Is the performance great? No. But if you can get it for a good price and use some techniques to stretch out the longevity, it can be an absolute winner in the summertime.

The orange note is fantastic and quite realistic. That’s really the highlight of this Acqua di Parma scent. I wish it could hold up better than it does, but outside of that, Arancia di Capri is great. 

Higher Energy by Christian Dior

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I have already done some posts on this site about the top Christian Dior fragrances, along with a review of the companies’ latest offering, Sauvage. So, when I getting together my latest haul of cologne samples, I thought that I would revisit another Dior fragrance, Higher Energy.

How does this scent stack up to Dior’s other men’s colognes? Is it worth a purchase? Find out more by reading below. Note: This has been discontinued for over a decade, which is about the time frame of my initial review.

What does Higher Energy by Dior Smell Like?

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Notes include:  Cypress, rosemary, musk, melon, juniper, mint, grapefruit, cedar

Click here to try Higher Energy!

My initial reaction to Higher Energy is one of familiarity. I cannot quite think of what this scent’s opening smells like but I think it is a fragrance by either Hilfiger or Lacoste. Maybe a bit of Dior Homme Sport?

I get a definite summertime and sporty vibe from the fruit notes which come out smelling very smooth and wonderful.

However, it doesn’t take on an overly sweet or candy-like aroma, as it seems to be grounded by the woodsy and mint notes.

At first, it’s a combination of mint and grapefruit to my nose. Some other fruity notes and juniper. There’s a slight clean spiciness, but nothing overpowering.

Higher Energy is a very clean and fresh cologne which isn’t too loud or overbearing. Like I said, I get a sport type of vibe from it and it projects decently when outdoors in the warmth of the sun.

I definitely get more emergence of the grapefruit note as the time went on and it took on a less sweet and more woodsy aroma. Cedar, juniper, grapefruit, and musk is what I’m left with, once Higher Energy has fully developed.

Sillage, Longevity, and Versatility

Now, while I think this scent smells good and I would have no problem wearing it during the late spring or summer, it does have some issues. It’s not a long-lasting scent, after about 3 hours of wear, I had to press my nose against my skin to smell it.

Maybe you can get 4-6 hours out of it but it didn’t seem to hold well on my skin.

The projection starts out moderate and obviously fades, people won’t smell you from across the room, which is great but after a certain period of time, they may not be able to detect it unless they’re right up on you.

Also, this is definitely a seasonal fragrance which limits its appeal even further. Again, spring or summer. It is attractive enough and would probably draw some complements, it’s performance is just such a hinderance.

Overall Impressions of Higher Energy

Overall, I like Higher Energy. It’s a really nice and fresh cologne. It’s just not a big time performer for the price, lacks some versatility, and isn’t all that unique.

It has been discontinued, so, even trying to find a bottle nowadays is getting more difficult. Update: The Dua Brand has their own inspired take on Higher Energy, called #Energetic

The smell itself, is actually quite nice. Though, the performance isn’t really good at all.

Also, they’re quite expensive and aren’t a real good value proposition. Unless you really need a bottle to round out your collection, it’s not particularly worth a try, for a full bottle. If you can still find a sample vial or mini, it may be a decent experience.

Not a bad fragrance, though, not one of Dior’s best. The Higher line didn’t hang around too long before Dior came out with the Dior Homme series, which is still going on to this day. I’ve also reviewed the original Higher, if you’re interested.

6 Best Smelling Adidas Perfumes for Her

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Adidas has been a huge name in athletic wear for decades upon decades. Naturally, they’ve moved well beyond just shoes and equipment, and into other fashion ventures. One such detour, has led them into the fragrance world, over the past 20-30 years with some nice results.

In this post, I wanted to present six options from their women’s perfume lineup which could be considered the best smelling of them all. Each selection, presents something different, so there’s probably something on the list to fit any lady’s style. Also, check out my post on the Best Adidas Colognes for Men.

What are the Best Adidas Perfumes for Her?

Fresh, Clean, and Woodsy

ADIDAS MOVES by Adidas for Women EAU DE TOILETTE SPRAY 1.0 OZ & EAU DE TOILETTE SPRAY .5 OZ– The others on this list will either more on the fruity or floral side of things. However, Moves Her is a different sort of experience. It’s a fresh and outdoorsy perfume with notes of cedar and ginger.

The ginger gives it a bit of a kick and the cedar provides that stable and clean base. Underneath that, there are floral notes which prevent this scent from becoming too masculine…it’s almost unisex but leans feminine.

All of this is wrapped up in an aquatic/sporty vibe, that nearly all Adidas scents seem to share.

Citrus and Mango Energy

Unlsh by Adidas for Her– This one is a simple and energetic citrus based fragrance. Lots of orange, both mandarin and blood orange, with a tropical mango note which is quite captivating.

Beyond that, you do get a noticeable and decent peony note, later on in the wear. Mostly, this one is a fruity, fresh, and sporty fragrance that comes with a low price tag. Though, with a hint of a candy-like presentation. Nice performance, but not insane longevity.

Uplifting Citrus and Rose

Adidas Fragrance Fun Sensations Eau de Parfum Spray, 2.5 Fluid Ounce– A lighter, bubbly kind of perfume, Fun Sensations sticks to its name with a playful raspberry and lemon top.

The other main notes to be on the look out for are the rose and warm/slightly spicy pink pepper, that lurks in the background.

The base is solidified by the familiar aromas of sandalwood and musk. A good casual or activewear scent for warm days.

Sheer Floral with Aquatic Sensations

Adidas Body Fragrance Pure Lightness, For Women, 2.5 Fluid Ounce Spray Bottle– As the name suggests, this Adidas scent is very light and airy. Pure Lightness is a floral based perfume with notes of lily and violet.

There are some crisp fruity undertones supplied by apple and melon. However, most of what you’re going to get is the flower arrangement but more of an aquatic floral, than a heavy old-timey fragrance.

Very pleasant aroma to be around, still with enough of a sporty sort of vibe to make it an Adidas fragrance. Great balance and value for the price.

Carbonated Tropical Aroma

Adidas Fizzy Energy Women’s 1.7-ounce Eau de Toilette Spray– Fizzy Energy gives you a super blast of tropical notes like: papaya, pineapple, and grapefruit. Though, it’s mainly the pineapple and grapefruit combo that gives off a citrus sort of vibe.

It’s a bright and really clean sort of scent for an active summer day or just to freshen up when it gets too hot outside. Definitely one with an upbeat energy to it.

Raspberry and Freesia Goodness

Adidas Fragrance Body Fragrance Fruity Rhythm for Women 2.5 Fluid Ounce Spray Bottle– A heavily slanted blend of fruity notes and then florals, led by raspberry and black currant. Fruity Rhythm delivers a beautiful wear, for a small price.

The fruity is very juicy and sweet, before the fragrance dries down into a sporty sort of floral. Quite girly and feminine. Mostly, you’ll pick up the freesia note, in the dry down. Similar to Ralph by Ralph Lauren, for those wanting a super inexpensive alternative.