When I went to Nordstrom to smell Dolce & Gabbana’s new Light Blue Pour Homme fragrance, I asked the sales woman, “What’s new and doesn’t smell like everything else?” She clapped her hands and gestured towards a large Gucci Pour Homme II display. I told her I had already tried Gucci Pour Homme II, so she suggested Lancôme Hypnôse Homme or Terre d'Hermès or Dunhill Pursuit or Fleur du Mâle or Viktor & Rolf Antidote or Lacoste Elegance or …. Finally, I asked point-blank about Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue Pour Homme and she said, “That’s OK — but it smells like lots of other colognes.” Her response was unusual; at Nordstrom all scents are “wonderful,” “fabulous” or, at the very least, “interesting”.
Female perfume lovers have an overabundance of fruity-florals to contend with, but men, we are plagued by too many “fresh citrus-musks”. A ‘fresh citrus-musk’ fragrance contains large quantities of “fresh” (ozone or marine) accords, all types of sharp citrus (mandarin, bergamot, lemon, grapefruit, tangelo, etc.) and a base of soft, vague ‘woods’ and light musk. Sniff a department store perfume area and what you will smell is a dull and artificial aroma, the combination of all this perfume “stuff”: fruity-florals and fresh citrus-musks.
Light Blue Pour Homme is a fresh citrus-musk; its listed ingredients are Sicilian mandarin, ‘frozen’ grapefruit peel, bergamot, juniper, rosemary, Szechuan pepper, rosewood, ‘musk wood’, incense and oak moss. Before smelling it, three of Light Blue’s notes caught my attention: mandarin, rosewood (the King of Woods to me) and incense, but my imagination created a fragrance very different from Light Blue Pour Homme’s actual synthetic, and instantly recognizable, scent.
Light Blue Pour Homme begins with zippy citrus (accent on the ‘frozen’ grapefruit peel). In this well-blended fragrance, one strains to find individual notes, but I did “sense” for a split second ‘juniper’ and maybe a driblet of ‘rosewood’. The long-lasting base of Light Blue Pour Homme’s composition is ho-hum ‘musk wood.’ Rosemary, incense, pepper and oak moss were nowhere to be smelled. Not being a chemist or perfumer but having no fear of making a fool of myself, I imagine the formulation of Light Blue Pour Homme thus: add to a bottle’s worth of alcohol, water, fixatives — one tablespoon of ‘fresh’/ozone notes, ½ tablespoon of “bright” imitation citrus, ½ teaspoon ‘musk wood’ and ½ drop of all other (exotic-sounding) listed ingredients.
Light Blue Pour Homme is a mid-strength fragrance and could be worn year-round. The commonness of Light Blue Pour Homme’s juice is matched by its bland-as-can-be bottle. And what to make of the advertisements? There’s a tan man in a boat, legs splayed, aiming his crotch at we viewers, and wearing suspiciously flat white swim trunks — weird and prosaic at the same time! (I did a quick search of Vogue Hommes and L’Uomo Vogue to see if European audiences were allowed to see the bulges that normally appear within a man’s swim trunks but could not find a Light Blue Pour Homme advertisement.)
The week I sampled Light Blue Pour Homme I came upon some 50-60 tuxedoed teenage men standing together on the sidewalk in front of a Cheesecake Factory restaurant (“Welcome Class of 2007!”) As I passed this bunch, the smell of Light Blue Pour Homme was powerful in the air. Of course it was probably not Light Blue Pour Homme that I smelled, but the scent of modern mainstream male perfumery into which Light Blue Pour Homme blends effortlessly.
(Note to self: Get t-shirt with “What’s new and doesn’t smell like everything else?” printed on it to save self and SAs time and frustration.)
Yeah, what's with the flattened briefs? “Light Blue — a fragrance for the man in transition”? Thanks for calling our attention to that, I think.
HA! Those briefs are freaky…blurred, flat.
I always ask that quesiton when I go into a perfume shop and I'm always surprised at how SURPRISED the SAs faces look. Then I'm shocked at the dull things they recommend! K
he’ll be well shaved “down there” because even that can give a bulge to underwear.
and he’s tensing his stomach which also makes them flat
and you can faintly see the real bulge inbetween his legs kind of underneath. he’s not a female.
Men (and therefore, very often, indirectly, women too) ARE plagued by too many “fresh citrus-musks”. Perfumers, just say no! 🙂
I laughed out loud at the comment about the bulges 🙂 I wonder if the Europeans are indeed allowed to see them 🙂
very funny- and very true..
I am continually passed by men wafting clouds of that “frozen” tinfoily citrus and neutered wood. I'd much rather smell turpentine.
I … I loathed this thing. And I am on record as being wild (in spite of my better judgement) for Light Blue for women, which at some point I had to admit smells great. And it is also unusual, assuming you can stand it at all. For something so pervasive, it's very nicely done.
I get a lot of the herbal aspect from LB Homme, which maybe would have rendered it more interesting to you? But there was something unaccountably bitter to my nose, welded to the effervescence of LB Women. It just seemed all wrong to me, like a first draft that should have been rejected for something better.
I'm a men's dept. newbie and am always interested in the male perspective (have I said that before?) Gucci II PH I bought for the husband, and he wafts deliciously.
And no, there is absolutely nothing in that poor young man's pants. I spent quite some time looking. I feel terrible for him.
The poor guy probably hasn't got much in his pants to write home to and that may well be the only reason for the flatness of his briefs, although the stark whiteness of said briefs does look suspicious. Now you tell me why I am focusing on his crotch rather than the scent. Perhaps because the launch of LBPH left me completely cold and uninterested for the simple and painfully irritating reason you've turned into today's essay – Mrs FF and Mr FCM are a match made in heaven indeed. I have yet to try the LBPH but am in no rush, no rush at all…
C: I'll keep tabs on those D&G ads in Euro magazines. K
Tom: me too…turpentine, shoe polish, furniture wax…
Interesting; I'll have to smell LB for women next time. I guess strong herbs would have made it more interesting to me…or if they had delivered on ROSEWOOD at the very least.
Dusan: do not go out of your way to sample this…for you have smelled it MANY MANY times under other names…standard-issue stuff.
There's a TV ad for LBpH here in the UK. featuring the guy-with-no-goolies. It's actually a little disturbing; no music, just the bloke advancing rather menacingly on a prostrate female, in this tiny boat floating somewhere off a Thai beach. It's closer to porn than a perfume ad. His white trunks are rather better fleshed out, as it were, in 3D. The first time I saw this ad, I was startled to realise that it was for LBpH, which hardly strikes me as a 'dangerous' juice. Could bore your date to death, i suppose…
LMAO! I need to flip through the fashion magazines next time I am at the grocery store and see this suspicious flatness and whiteness for myself. The whole concept of suspicious briefs in a perfume advertisement is hilarious to me!
Hahaha! That sounds awesome… Buy this cologne for your boyfriends if you want to have creepy, passive sex in exotic locations!
…especially when it comes to D&G…who usually feature “overstuffed” briefs in their ads…even in tame Details/GQ. HA!
VG: I'll have to see if they post the menacing ad online eventually. The lady in the boat is probably enjoying a LBpH-induced nap. K
K, click on the word “advertisements” in the article above, that is a link to the print ad & you'll see what Kevin is talking about 🙂
Mr. Neuter-pants! Not a pretty sight.
I am a perfume SA and i wish more customers would ask questions like that. You have no idea how many people come through our doors and ask for 'a nice fruity floral', opium and red door. I'm in Australia and we only have a very small range to pick from but myself and our staff LOVE things that are different. However, the most 'different' fragrances that we stock are lolita lempicka, j del pozo and in mens, armand basi.
I too have been menaced and strangely startled by the TV ad here in the UK. The bulge is there; the tan supercontrasts with his whiter than white briefs, and the passive woman seems somehow stupified. And then there's a clapperboard at the end to show us it's all artifice. Oh, D&G ad execs, you really are playful…
*YAWN*
Dang, I did see that ad but I didn't keep the paper. I THINK he had a bulge, I think the bulge in the foreground was part of what made the picture so creepy (along with his hairy, sweaty chest and scary blue eyes) but I can't prove it! When I got home from work delivering morning papers I woke up my girlfriend to show her the awful ad, that's how bad I think it was…
HA! I guess the ad turned out to be more interesting than the fragrance after all…I should receive a round of French/Italian magazines this week. Curious to see the “continental” ads! K
hi kevinS and all others here – by chance I arrived here to this so wonderful website… I'm from europe (english is not my mother language – so please sorry for my mistakes) …I red all the comments about the new light blue of D&G… and I smiled so much because it looks like in usa you take more attention on the not-excisting-bulge:)) …but I can tell you here in europe we have the same ads! …no bulge – but lot of sweat and armpit hair! but exactely that's the message of dolce & gabbana… it's the new kind of sexy looking men… here NOT the size of a bulge is important… there are much more subtle… and look – the marketing guys and girls of this ad did reach their aim: I bought the fragrance… okay, it's one more of those casual-fresh-masculin scents for the summer… but with a little dirty touch of armpit sweat…
Das Parfum: thanks for the advertising update from Europe! I guess the fact that D&G are not stressing the size of the bulge this season is “progress?” HA! I certainly remember a D&G ad campaign last winter that had men in swim trunks and briefs and one could tell if the men were circumcised or not! Things change I guess, K
This is the best parfume that I own, its just right. A bit of a fruit scent makes it very exciting while jasmine and white rose give it quite exquisite note of elegance. The parfume is medium to light, does not go overboard. in short Dolce & Gabbana ROCK!!!
And I really liked it. Gutted.
Sheebay: sew yourself back up and keep enjoying Light Blue. (See my Diesel Only the Brave review for my own and many others’ admissions of guilty perfume pleasures.)
oh I love Gucci pour homme 2 😀
I want to try this aswell
and you can see the bulge in the advertisement
it’s kind of underneath inbetween his legs :S
I was in House Of Fraser yesterday and gave this a try, I really like it.
it’s kind of powdery but has some either florals or citrus in there too 🙂
it lasts a long time but isn’t that strong and I don’t think it ventures that far from your skin :/
I wish I had read this review before I bought a bottle of G&B Light Blue Men. Lured by some description on the ‘net that said it reminds of a summer day on the beach at the Atlantic ocean, I bought it blindly and was disappointed. The review is spot on. I’m glad I’m not mad that I couldn’t smell any rosemary, neither does it remind me of a summer day at the sea (I live at the Atlantic coast, so should know). The citrus vanishes quickly and the remainder is some sweet, somewhat fruity synthetic musk flavor. I also disagree with people online (not on this forum) who claim it doesn’t last long. I can clearly smell it 10 hours later after one dash, and so does my girlfriend.
Anyway, I’m not saying it smells bad. It’s pleasant but not really the right thing for me. Now I’m getting testers before I make a similar mistake again.