Cologne Layering Adventure

While layering together more than one cologne can have disastrous effects. Like causing a mass stampede towards the building's exit doors by people trying to escape the fumes emanating from your skin; leaving behind only those with gas masks or anosmia. I'll admit that there are a handful of scents I like to layer together.

Sexy Vanilla Cologne Vanillaville

Sexy vanilla. Spritz it on and soon the scent of leather, tobacco, and vanilla assails.

Fragrance Profile
Name: Vanillaville
Aromas: Chewing Tobacco, Vanilla, Leather
Perfume Line: Soivohle
Creator: Liz Zorn

On a flight to Los Angeles, I bring this little bottle of Vanillaville along. I travel light & the 11ml size spray bottle is just the right size to toss into a carry-on. I suppose it's worth mentioning that I wouldn't wear a cologne on a plane. It's too hard for other people to move away if they find a scent to be annoying. So once the plane lands, I fish out the bottle and squirt some of the Vanilla goodness onto my arm.

It's as I walk along the streets of Hollywood that I enjoy the wafts of vanilla. A man in line behind me keeps leaning in so close that it feels rather awkward until he says he wants to know what the good scent is?

My Experience with the Fragrance Underworld

Now before you read on thinking I have a dark association with the black market underbelly of the perfume world. I don't. (What would I know about that? I am a scrawny actor). I mean my experience with the cologne adeptly named Underworld by Liz Zorn. (Creator of Rivertown Road cologne, a favorite of mine.) When I read the name of the fragrance Underworld I was intrigued. My mind conjuring up the inspiration for the scent being mythological images of Anubis, the Jackal-headed Egyptian god bringing condemned souls into the underworld.

On My Quest for a Good Cologne I Had to Stop & Ask For Directions

After reading a few books on the topic of smell (Like NY Times Scent Critic Chandler Burr's The Perfect Scent & The Emperor of Scent, also Luca Turin's wickedly funny scent manifesto Perfumes: The A-Z Guide) I've been a lookout for great cologne. Hopefully one I can call my go-to scent. Easy enough, right? Um, sure... if there were only a handful of scents to choose from. But there's hundreds on the market and a steady stream of new ones every month it seems. (Let's just toss in a few more truck loads of hay onto that stack hiding the needle.)

Navigating Without A Scent Compass

During a long phone conversation with my fire-red haired chum on the topic of perfumes and scent, I came to the realization that she has a quasi-scent-compass. Opium. By Yves Saint Laurent. (Oh the lament she wailed about Opium's reformulation! But that's a different story.) It's her go-to scent. Hearing her speak, I think it bestows her with supernatural powers. Clark Kent needed a telephone booth to transform, she just needs a spritz of Opium. It seems that she navigates through perfume with more ease than I do. I theorize this is because Opium has become a sort of bearing for her in the endless stretch of perfume land. It's something she can return to if she doesn't find something else her nose enjoys. I want a scent-compass of my own.

Trudging Through Aroma

At first, I like every single cologne I smell on my skin. Nothing is bad. This isn't because everything is good. In retrospect, I realize it's because most everything I was trying out was just mediocre. Nothing that I'd really want to sleep in.

Bottled Up Shiny Blue & Red Spandex

I am under-whelmed. I am asking for a lot, I know. Who doesn't want to crack open a bottle of cologne and find a red cape and spandex tights inside? (You know what I mean.) An aroma that turns the wearer from normal to super with just a spritz.

Making Headway With An Emerging Scent Motif

From all the time spent whiffing, I realize my nose responds favorably to Honey, Violets, warm spices, and Citrus. (Can someone say classic Bay Rum cologne recipe?) Of which I have tried a few versions. Like St. John's Bay Rum, C.O. Bigelow, and Ogallala. Of those I prefer the second. My issue with all of them is they disappear from my skin in a matter of an half hour or less. Which isn't really what I am after.

Finding Tweeters Leads Me To Artist Perfumer Liz Zorn

Upon slight coaxing from my red-haired chum, I join Twitter. (Love the idea of getting away from Big Brother Facebook.) Which leads me to follow the tweets of business luxury-brand blogger @NathanBranch and men's scent blogger @FragrantMoments. Adding much delight to my online reading time.

It's through reviews by each (read Nathan's review & Fragrant Moments) that I become introduced to independent perfumer Liz Zorn and her recent work Rivertown Road Pour Homme. Their glowing write-ups pique my curiosity. Especially the quote from Liz herself saying "Rivertown Road is a complex yet modern Bay Rum Fougere with Seville Lavender Absolute..." The clincher is the Bay Rum reference. So I buy a sample vial to try out. Then I look up the word Fougere.

Definition Of The French Word Fougere

"Fern-like", is one of the main families into which modern perfumes are classified, with the name derived from the perfume Fougère Royale... The class of fragrances have the basic accord with a top-note of lavender and base-notes of oakmoss and coumarin. Aromatic fougère, a derivative of this class contain additional notes of spice and wood. -From Wikipedia

Cracking Open The Vial Of Zorn's "Modern Bay Rum Fourgere"

It comes in the mail on Saturday. I quickly cut open the envelope and pop open the top of the vial and apply to my skin. I am not sure of this scent at first. Sweet, a little honey. I move on with my afternoon of reading and every few minutes find myself putting my wrist to my nose and inhaling. The book winds up slipping from my hands as I drift into a cat-nap. A half hour later coming out of a cozy sleep haze, I wonder what the good smell is? It's me- err, it's the Rivertown Road. It would seem that this scent doesn't vanish in 30 minutes like those earlier mentioned bay rums.

The Aroma Brings to Mind a Sprig of Fresh Lavender Dipped in Honey & Spice

I like it so much that later that same evening I order the 32ml bottle from Liz's website. It comes inside a red cardboard cylinder. The bottle itself makes me think of a chunky nail-polish jar. Rather cool.
Considering that I've already used up a third of the bottle, also that I find myself sniffing the aroma in my shirts when I take them off, and that I wear the cologne to bed- I think it's safe to say I've found my go-to scent.

Gratitude

It seems to me that I've got a sense of my bearings a little better now in the terrain of men's cologne. I'll certainly be trying out more Fourgere style scents, that's for sure. Much gratitude to the bloggers & authors that assisted me.

Fellow Scent Soul Mates?

I actually like Rivertown Road so much I find myself spritzing my wrist before bed so I can smell it while I drift off to sleep. (Does anyone else do that with your favorite scent? Let me know with a comment, so I know I am not a lone weirdo.)