Open Road EDT by Coach

Open Road was a release from Coach in 2022. I wasn’t aware of this fragrance until I had the opportunity to buy a sample and just added it to my cart. It hasn’t seemed to get very much attention thus far, but is that a mistake? How does Open Road Smell? Is it actually worth a try?

What does Open Road by Coach Smell Like?

Notes include: lemon, red apple, lavender, Sichuan pepper, sage, vetiver, cedar, patchouli

My Full Wear Review

Here’s how Coach describes it: inspired by a road trip along the American coastline and the thrill of living for adventure. Woody and aromatic, it combines energizing Sichuan pepper with notes of lavender and vetiver.

Open Road does indeed open up with an aromatic freshness to it, but paired with the early Sichuan pepper spice. It’s got a crisp feeling from the light apple note that is present, even though, the lemon is the leader between those two.

The fruit notes are present, but this one doesn’t have too much juiciness and isn’t very sweet. More of a sharp lemon with that softer crisp apple. It is balanced with the pepper, calming lavender, and an earthiness from patchouli and emerging vetiver early on.

The patchouli is very light in the mix and only seems to be around for the first 20 minutes or so on my skin.

The next phase the lavender and Sichuan take over the main focus of the cologne. It’ll move more into its woody phase, but the top notes will have to burn off some more before the vetiver really comes into its own.

I’m surprised that the lavender doesn’t just dominate on my skin, but it is more of a shared power with the spiciness for this phase. Sage seems to peak through for a little while, just not an insane burst of the stuff or anything.

After maybe an hour, you’ve pretty much entered the dry down where vetiver reigns supreme. This gets very woody and clean, less spicy, and pretty straightforward and pleasant. Vetiver, lavender, and cedar are most of what I’m getting.

Sillage, Longevity, and Versatility

Sillage wise, this is a lighter moderate fragrance. Not going to completely envelope you and leave a long trail, but its detectable and has a decent reach off of the skin. Open Road is one that you’ll sort of forget that you’re wear and then randomly catch a whiff of, hours into the wear.

I get about 7-7.5 hours of wear with this one from Coach. If you’ve ever tried any other fragrances from this brand, it’s about what they all seem to provide. Not terrible performance, just a tad above average, but never elite.

Seasonally, this is almost a year round wear. It’s very nice in the moderate temperatures that we’ve been having this week in spring. It could probably do quite well in warmer weather too. The extremes either way, might not be ideal, however.

It’s super versatile. Mostly for daytime use. But, within that it can go from casual situations to work. Not very luxurious or super formal. However, as something for when you just want to smell fresh and not have to overthink it, Open Road does the job.

Overall Impressions of Open Road

Overall, do I like Open Road? The opening act is pretty mid, but I do like that dry down. Even if it is super simple and not too original. This gets compared to K EDT by D&G, which I also have a sample of right now. They are fairly close, but K is a tad better to me.

This one is super basic, but I definitely don’t hate it at all. Sure, the lemon and Sichuan are kind of annoying up top, that’s the worst of it though.

The rest of the wear is pleasant and just a clean woody aromatic fragrance. It did have me sniffing my arm, every so often, because of how nice it was the other day.

The performance is nothing to brag about, though, it’s pretty good. I don’t think that this one is particularly a gem, but it might be worth checking out for some guys. The price has already dropped at some of the discount sites, so, you’ll probably be snagging a decent deal if you do want to check Open Road out.

Best Men's Colognes

Best Men’s Colognes started back in 2013, as a way to share my learning experiences with different fragrances, as I dove head first into the hobby. Since then, I have written hundreds of reviews and other pages about perfumes and colognes.