Gentlemen: Find Your Fragrance this Year

What does the scent you wear say about you? Do you wear cologne to signify the image you portray? You DO give that thought right? If not, shame on you. Every gentleman needs his signature scent. Smell triggers memory, and you would love for a great scent to do half the job in the mind of your subjects. Subjects being coworkers, dating partners, spouses, potential clients, anyone who crosses your path, and definitely people who want to get to know you. I encourage you to go forth and determine what you should smell like this year.

Today I dared to boldly go where few have ventured. As the continuing mission of The Gentleman League is to inspire genuine success and greatness, I have to seek out new worlds and cultures every chance I get. I have been in London almost a week and have spent hours at some of the great centers of fashion and style in the world. It’s almost as if this city is the nexus for the universe of fashion houses, boutiques, luxury labels, acclaimed designers and the millions of fans who shop them with loyalty and fervor. Today, I went to Brompton Street where you can find a strip of exclusive shops but none compare to the Harrods of London. Trust me, if you have been there, then you know. It’s days like these where I really enjoy my traveling lifestyle.

First, I went to the Men’s section to see what all the hoopla was about. I walked past the Tom Ford boutique that’s across from the Louis Vuitton shop, right before you walk into the likes of Givenchy, Balmain, Valentino, and more. I ended up in the men’s shoe salon where I tried on shoes right next to some NBA players from Milwaukee (I asked them if they appreciated their anonymity in shopping here in a different country so I shall omit their names). One of them grabbed up a new pair of Balenciaga sneakers; I prefer Maison Martin Margiela but there was a flaw in the pair I tried on… The 10% discount they offered wasn’t enough to make me bite so I went upstairs to the perfume section.

I have been interested and at the same time intimidated by the Creed brand for some years. Whenever I hear the word creed, I think of heritage, dominance, and overarching arrogance in that preceding heritage and dominance. It turned me off. Few brands can actually back up such a statement, so in my ignorance, I did not know that The House of Creed has existed since 1760 to provide exclusive scents to royalty, celebrities and well-known political figures. They were the official supplier for Queen Victoria, chosen by Napolean III, Empress Eugenia, François Joseph, and many more. They have created over 200 fragrances in their history, traveling the world to source natural essences for their creations. Needless to say, from one conversation about them, I was completely turned around to love their brand just like hundreds of people who have made them the most sought after fragrance maker in the world.

I tested many fragrances; so many that I had to stop for fear that I would not be able to keep up with them all. They were all so different that I felt I entered a new universe, one full of amazing amalgamations of scents that evoked entire ideas on their own. I was stuck between a few, but ended up landing on one that exuded manliness, passion, dominance, and the allure that every gentleman should own. That fragrance also happened to be their most popular scent- Aventus. Inspired by the life of Napoleon, this fragrance is a superb blend of top notes blackcurrant, Italian bergamot, French apples, and royal pineapples along with middle notes of dry birch, Moroccan jasmine with a hint of patchouli. Then it’s followed up by a strong base note of musk, oak moss, ambergris, and a dab of vanilla. Now if all that sounded foreign to you, good, because it was for me too. I’m just trying to do justice by this masterpiece by being as specific as they were. All my nose and I can say is “this smells great and I want to wear this!” It’s so creatively dominant and powerful that it carries the idea of success with it. It is totally a scent to wear when you want to be noticed, listened to, admired, then sought out.

I also learned I was approaching the world of men’s cologne all wrong. Not only was I applying it wrong, I was applying it for the wrong reasons. Firstly, since finely designed colognes and perfumes are created in layers, they should not be rubbed in on such places as your wrists or neck. This just changes the way it smells and causes it to go away faster. Just spray or dab on the wrists if you’d like, and let it breath. Another great place to apply is the neck obviously. I used to think this was because vessels were close to the skin, but I was totally wrong. Our skin is warm all over in respect to how cologne reacts to it. We buy and wear cologne for the way it makes us feel as well as the way it makes others feel about us, so wearing it near the neck is where it will be surely caught on first embraces. No matter where you apply to your skin, this is important as the scents will evolve over time and release the various notes throughout the day, making it more of your own distinctive aroma. You can be creative with this but just do it after a shower. Spraying your clothes (especially your scarf) is a great idea since it allows the scent to last longer than your skin which eventually evaporates. I enjoyed talking to the sales people at the counter about all this, there were times when I even pulled all of them in on the conversation.

Every gentleman needs to dabble in fragrances, having a top fragrance of his is a great way to establish confidence, personality, and appeal. I challenge each and every one of you out there to go to the perfume counter at a department store or a reputable purveyor of fine fragrances and spend some time going through different lines. As for me, I have determined that Creed Aventus is going to be the scent that follows me and titillates your olfactory nerves this year.