Hey guys! I’m getting married in Hawaii in July (hot I know) and I have no clue what fragrance I should wear. I know smells and scents bring back and hold memories like nothing else so I want to make sure this is the best possible one I can wear, but I don’t want to wear my signature scent. I’m totally up for all ideas and recommendations and guidance on this. Thank you.

Ocean Noir Dive / Michael Malul — second wearing of this flanker and just like its big brother it is a complement magnet 👍

Started my Maison Margiela discovery set, going in order of arrangement, so first up was Jazz Club. Definitely the most popular from Maison Margiela. The opening is a zinger. Lemon, neroli and pink pepper blend into a fresh spicy burst. Almost instantly the mids come out with rum, sage and vetiver oil. You can pick them out individually, and the vetiver oil feels very unique. It stays like this for a good 45 mins before the base fully shows up with tobacco, vanilla and styrax. I have never been to a jazz club, but I have been to old British clubs and there are similarities. Knowing the brand, it is probably spot on. It is refined, classy and unique. To my nose I mostly get vetiver, vanilla and tobacco. The rum is either done differently or I simply do not know how rum smells. My only references are from SWY Absolutely and Monkey Special, but this feels more herbal than boozy. Performance is abysmal. I know the brand does not perform strongly, but this feels watered down beyond saving. I got around 4-6 hours before it disappeared, with skin scent after 70-90 minutes. Overall it is an intimate scent and I over-sprayed as well. My Afternoon Delight sample lasted the longest at around 6-8 hours. The profile is quite nice. It feels like a smokier, older cousin of The One EDP. I would personally get a candle of this rather than the perfume and use it for candle-dinner nights, or maybe a guest-room freshener. It is something I have not smelled before and it is nice, but it is not my style. As snobby as it sounds, it is not the level of quality I want. I am in my evil Tobey Maguire phase with the niche snobbery. I think it is a fragrance that would grow on me, so for now it is a 7.5/10. Not bad by any means, but maybe I am not the jazz-club type to fully appreciate the scent. Most points were lost because of performance. If it performs like The One, it should be priced like that too. £100 for 100ml is not a good value imo. Anything under £60 and its a great deal. I also tried layering The One with Zara Rich Warm Addictive from Zara to see if I could replicate this, but it was different from what I expected. Maybe I should have tried it with Gentleman Society EDP from Givenchy. I will try that another day.

A discontinued gem and actually the first addition for me from this line if you could believe it. A buddy of mine is a “One Frag Only” kind of guy, and this is it, so I just needed to know. Super hard to come by but I found a website that had it and actually paid a great price for this 50ml (sub$50). Definitely a freshy but with an earthy kind of undertone. Still getting used to vetiver. I let off around 8 sprays then shelved it. Smell great gentlemen.

A lot of people think summer fragrances have to be light, blue, citrusy, or weak. I don’t really agree with that. To me, the key is not whether a fragrance is “heavy” or “light.” The key is what kind of heavy it is. Some heavy fragrances actually work great in summer if they have lift — citrus, mint, marine notes, green notes, tropical fruit, dry woods, incense, clean amber, vetiver, moss, or polished oud. What usually does not work in real heat is something sticky, syrupy, overly sweet, thick rose-oud, heavy leather-oud, dense tobacco, or a gourmand that feels like melted dessert on skin. So, for me, summer oud and summer-heavy fragrances are not about blasting the strongest thing I own. It is about finding fragrances that move in the heat instead of choking people out. How to Wear Oud and Heavy Fragrances in Summer: Oud and heavy fragrances can absolutely be worn in summer, but you have to respect the heat. In America, especially in hotter places, most people are not used to walking into a cloud of oud, smoke, amber, leather, rose, tobacco, and incense at 2 p.m. So I treat them differently in summer. I usually keep the sprays lower and more controlled. One spray on the chest under the shirt, one behind the neck, maybe one on the forearm if I am going to be outside or moving around. I avoid blasting the front of my shirt, both sides of my neck, and my collar when it is really hot. In summer, I would rather wear two smart sprays than six loud sprays. The best summer heavy fragrances usually have: Freshness, Air, Movement, Dryness, Green notes, Marine notes, Citrus , Mint , Vetiver , Moss , Incense , Clean woods, Polished oud. The ones I am more careful with are: Thick rose-oud , Syrupy amber-oud, Heavy leather-oud, Barnyard oud, Sweet tobacco, Dense honey, Heavy vanilla, Thick amber, Sticky gourmands, Animalic musks. Those can still work, but usually at night, indoors, dressed up, or with one spray. Best Summer Oud Fragrances: Tom Ford Oud Minérale: This is probably one of the best examples of true summer oud. It has that salty, marine, mineral feel with oud in the background. It smells polished, masculine, airy, and different without being too sweet. This is the type of oud I would actually wear in daytime heat.