Just to avoid going through the argument that any perfume is for anyone, and there are no rules about who can wear what, I’ll do this disclaimer: I’m talking about the style of perfume that traditionally is considered masculine where you live.
Saturday Question #123:
What Is Your Favorite Masculine Perfume?
Do you like wearing it or smelling it on someone else?
Bonus: even though usually I’m trying to limit your answers with the requested one, three, five or ten (based on the topic), and usually you “go overboard” with your choices, today I give you a carte blanche to name any number of “runner ups” in addition to the top one.
My Answer
I thought of this question while reading several people’s comments to the last week’s question about the best-known perfumes for the brands that I suggested. I was surprised by the fact that I wasn’t even thinking about masculine perfumes while coming up with my answers. And after they brought it up, I agreed that this perfume was, in my opinion, even better-known than the one I thought of. But the main reason why it surprised me that much was that it was actually one of if not just the most favorite masculine perfumes for me.
Hermes Terre d’Hermes. I love this perfume on my vSO. Had I known years ago that brands reformulate their perfumes without changing names or packaging, I would have bought several bottles of the original one. But even the latest one that I tried was still quite nice. I don’t wear it myself: I always thought about it as his perfume.
Other masculine perfumes that I like a lot but do not wear are Tom Ford Moss Breches and Gucci Rush Men – both sadly discontinued.
The picture of Rusty has nothing to do with masculine perfumes, but I decided that it was a while since I posted any of his photos on my blog (and not all of my readers follow me on Instagram… where I do not post that often either).
How about you?
Undina's Looking Glass 
Always lovely to see Rusty!
At the moment the fragrance I like best on my husband is Guerlain’s Habit Rouge, eau de parfum version.
Jillie
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I’m not sure that I tried this one. But I like Habit Rouge Dress Code (I think it was also marketed as masculine).
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My favourite masculine fragrances are not things my DH would wear.
Dior Eau Sauvage (Diorella’s handsome brother)
Aramis (The forerunner of Azuree & AE)
Chanel Pour Monsieur
YSL Pour Homme
They are all chypres & proper full blown well thought out perfumery
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So, do you wear these? Or do you like to small them on others?
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I wear them or have worn them in the past. If I catch a whiff of them in the wild I would probably try to sniff out the source 😁
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I wear Guerlain Habit Rouge
Guerlain Vetiver
I also don’t mind a spray of Old Spice occasionally Cheap an cheerful X
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Love Old Spice.
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I’ve never warmed up to Old Spice (I smelled it first in the late 90s). But I remember liking drugstore Brit.
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I’m with Matty…love Old Spice
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Wearing or smelling?
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Hello Rusty! I’m a fan of Old Spice too, though I’m not tempted to wear it myself. I like Grey Flannel also. A new fave is Savoy Steam, from Penhaligon’s, which I do wear. Actually, I like several Penhaligon’s “masculines”, either for me or my husband. Juniper Sling is great.
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YAY for Savoy Steam OH. What a fragrance, and that it came out of Penhaligon’s! Hardly something I’d equate with them.
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I need to sample Savoy Steam. I like Penhaligon’s Endymion quite a lot. It’s nothing spectacular, but a very pleasant unisex scent. I bought a liquid hand soap and lotion in the Endymion scent at Penhaligon’s recent sale and I’m enjoying the scent a lot in these versions.
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I like Juniper Sling! I would have worn it, had it not been my vSOs perfume. I have enough of other perfumes to wear, so I leave this one to him.
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Roja Parfums Danger parfum. So wonderfully spicy, yet a little sweet and it makes you feel like a million bucks wearing it. As for Old Spice, friends gave me a bottle as a joke…but you know, it’s not that bad :)
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Steve you need to try vintage Old Spice. In the 1980s I worked in an office in Manhattan and my boss , who could afford just about anything, wore only Old Spice. I will tell you the smell was sublime and no current niche could hold a candle to it. He’s in his 90s now and I bet he’s still rocking the Old Spice!!
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You are so right! Vintage Old Spice is divine.
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I like an wear Danger pour Femme, and I’m not sure whether I’ve ever tried the masculine counterpart of it.
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Dior Homme is widely known as a masculine scent that many women wear….including myself. I had admired its many iterations, and finally bought the Parfum version when it was available in the Middle East.
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I tried it because many perfumistas liked it, but I didn’t feel any special connection to it.
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Dior Homme. I adore it.
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Hello handsome Rusty.
Just recently I have borrowed two of hubby’s frags – Calligraphy Saffron and Guerlain Homme. I have been known to steal his Givenchy Pi also.
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Ooh, I like Givenchy Pi! Went through a whole bottle of it by myself many years ago. My nose got so used to it that I couldn’t smell it on myself shortly after putting it on most days.
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It’s stellar. I can find similarities between Pi and Organza Indecence in the drydown.
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I used to love Pi (I told my story about it more than 10 years ago – https://undina.com/2012/03/14/givenchy-pi/). I still have the same bottle with some juice left in it. I should probably try it again next year in March.
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As you will probably guess from my other posts, my favorite masculine scent is Hermes’ Terre d’Hermes, followed closely by Guerlain’s Vetiver, which I wear myself sometimes, and YSL Pour Homme Nuit. I need to explore Dior Homme!
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We share love to Terre d’Hermes. I also used to like their Voyage, but Iso E-Super in it started bothering me.
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Rusty looks so handsome in this photo, very regal.
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It is almost selfy. He was sitting on my lap, and his pose was very human-like. But my arms are too short to get a proper view. So, this is what I managed to.
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I would have to say mine is the long-discontinued Gucci Nobile eau de toilette, because when I first tried it as a teenager, I sprayed a whole cloud of it around me and felt so happy and confident. Unfortunately now the prices of remaining stock are prohibitive. I did manage to get a mini relatively reasonably, but without the big spray, it smells mostly soapy and doesn’t have the same effect. It must be something in the top notes.
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I don’t think I’ve ever tried it. But judging by the prices of the discontinued one, it was something special with its own following.
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I have several “masculines” that I really like:
Habit Rouge
Dame Sky Father (“for a man, mostly”)
L’Homme Ideal Cologne
Grey Flannel
My husband doesn’t really wear fragrance, and my son is just getting started exploring it so I don’t really have a favorite on any of the men in my life. Most of the time I smell fragrance on a man “in the wild” these days it’s because they have overdone it…
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L’Homme Ideal Cologne is great! I was lucky enough to snag a bottle at TJ Maxx when it was discontinued. I wouldn’t need another, which is also lucky. My own husband’s daily “fragrance” is Mennen Skin Bracer, so I quite like that. He’ll happily wear fragrances I’ve given him, but more for going out, which we don’t do often. Which ones has your son discovered? Mine likes Cool Water, which I got for him a few years ago.
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I liked Grey Flannel but somehow never got to buy it either for myself or for my vSO,
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Hey Undina and gorgeous RUSTY! So good to see him.
It’s funny, when we talk about masculine perfumes I always think of Jin rather than myself. So I’m going to tell you what I like to smell best on him that has come from the men’s counter. So much of his stuff is unisex or from the women’s aisle, only about half of his collection are marked for men
Calvin Klein Eternity Aqua
CHANEL Antaeus
DIOR Homme (the original, he still has half a bottle)
Though he doesn’t wear it often I always swoon when he gets the Terre d’Hermès on. I think there’s an early note in it that irks him.
He does have a bunch of others but I don’t notice when he wears them.
Portia xx
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I liked CHANEL Antaeus, I think, but I’m not familiar with the rest.
Even those perfumes that I could wear theoretically, I prefer on my vSO (not that he would mind sharing – I bought them all :) ).
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HA! Yeah, I bought or have been present for most of Jin’s purchases too.
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Great question. I don’t often wear them because unless there’s an Homme or Uomo somewhere in the name, I don’t even think about it other than “leaning masculine”. Some of my favorites include: Chanel Allure Homme Edition Blanche, Valentino Uomo (and its intense flanker), Guerlain Habit Rouge, among others.
Waving at the handsome Rusty 😻
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Are you talking about the original Guerlain Habit Rouge or the Dress Code flanker? I’m not sure if I tried the former, and I like the latter a lot.
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Sharp eyes – it’s Dress Code. The bottle label design is nice too!
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In my teenage/college days, I loved Cool Water by Davidoff on men. My vSO is not much of a cologne wearer, but I can get him to wear Nautica Blue, which works well on him. As for masculine scents that I wear, I prefer Derring-Do by Ineke.
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I grew to like Derring-Do, though, I’m not sure I will ever wear it.
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Ooh, seconding Chanel pour Monsieur, Dior Home and Habit Rouge (edt). I also like Ormonde Man, and Carner Barcelona El Born. And Rima XI layered over Diptyque Tam Dao – which was one of my civilian protégés own idea!
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I also like Ormonde Man, El Born and Tam Dao (and my vSO have all these in his wardrobe to prove it 😉 ).
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One of my favourites will always be Cartier Declaration, dear Undina. Such a classic!
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I’m sure I saw this one at a store at some point, but I’m not sure I’ve ever tried it. Cartier as a brand is usually not on my radar. For no specific reason.
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Definitely one to explore, dear Undina.
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