I’m a lucky person; I live with a man (“B”) who cannot be intimidated and who is hard to embarrass. I hope everyone reading this post has such a person in their lives — they come in handy! If I were living alone and developed a case of, say, jock itch (sorry if anyone finds this offensive but I need to make a strong point here), I would never in a million years go to the drugstore, even disguised in a wig, hat, faux moustache, scarf and sunglasses, and buy a remedy; I would order a treatment online and suffer till it arrived in the mail. Thankfully, if I ever do develop such a nasty malady, I have B and I’d say to him: “Would you mind buying me a box of Gobi Desert Jock Itch Powder?” B would go to the drugstore immediately. If he walked into that drugstore and saw that the only employee was an 18-year-old Adonis dressed in Prada from head to foot, B would smile and say to him: “Hi, where can I find the Gobi Desert Jock Itch Powder?”
Robin here at Now Smell This has been asking me to review Old Spice for over a year, and I’ve procrastinated because I was too embarrassed to buy a bottle of Old Spice; sad, but true. Last Saturday, as we ate dinner, I said to B: “You know, Robin wants me to review Old Spice. But how will I get a bottle of that — stuff?” As I had hoped, B exclaimed: “What a great idea! I’ll buy you a bottle.” Then he said: “You know, Old Spice is the men’s Chanel No. 5!” I laughed heartily at that statement but then, a few days later, I read an article in Forbes by Lauren Sherman (Best-Selling Celebrity Scents, Oct. 9, 2007) and one of the sentences read: “In a crowded market place, it's more difficult for beauty companies to establish the next Chanel No. 5 or Old Spice.” I felt these two “pairings” of Old Spice and Chanel No. 5, one spoken, one written, within the space of three days were a SIGN to write my review and even explore a Chanel No. 5-Old Spice connection.
Chanel No. 5 (1921) and Old Spice (1937) are well-established brands; they are popular and sell well, are distributed worldwide and have great name recognition. Everyone seems to know someone who wore or wears the fragrances. Name me a men’s fragrance that is as iconic, enduring, legendary, and powerful in the marketplace as Chanel No. 5? I think Old Spice qualifies. There IS a price difference: you can buy a big bottle of Old Spice (so I’ve been told by B) for $6.95. But I came to know Chanel No. 5 in its down-market days. When I was very young, Chanel No. 5 was sold at an old country drugstore near my home. On Saturdays, while sipping a cherry Sprite slush or chocolate milkshake, I would wander the drugstore’s aisles — browsing the comic book carousels or smelling the perfumes that were displayed in a garish mirrored alcove. In those days, Chanel No. 5 shared shelf space with White Shoulders, Charlie, Jovan Musk, Emeraude and Old Spice; Chanel No. 5 wasn’t “luxe” at all. (Around the same time, a friend’s mother kept her bottle of Chanel No. 5 on the toilet tank lid, alongside a Renuzit solid air freshener, tissues, and a hairy hairbrush; beware — first impressions are hard to forget!)
Old Spice and Chanel No. 5 are often referred to as “old fashioned” fragrances, fragrances that many perfume lovers find hard to wear because of their popularity, their “vintage” aura and their instant recognizability. As I tried Old Spice for this review, I wore it at home (not in public) for fear of being sniffed and “outed” — “Everyone! Come quick! The picky Kevin S is wearing OLD SPICE!!! HA! HA! HA! HA!” I can imagine my friends’ laughter now!
I have no idea how today’s Old Spice formulation compares to the “original” Old Spice. (The Old Spice brand was purchased by Procter & Gamble in 1990.) Old Spice was created by perfumer Albert Hauck for Shulton; its old recipe sounds more complex than today’s fragrance smells. Old Spice’s original ingredients were: orange, lemon, spices, clary sage, aldehydes, cinnamon, carnation, geranium, jasmine, heliotrope, pimento berry, vanilla, musk, cedar wood, frankincense, benzoin, tonka bean, ambergris.
When B presented me with a bottle of Old Spice, I poured the scent onto my skin from the bottle. I smelled — carnation. I was surprised; I had imagined I would smell a manly ‘bay rum’-type scent. I put some Old Spice into an atomizer bottle and sprayed it on. Sprayed, the fragrance seemed more complex; I detected the aldehydes, carnation/clove, spicy cinnamon, a peppery accord, and a bit of vanilla and “faded” wood. Overall impression: NICE!
A woman could certainly wear Old Spice; it smells like a carnation-themed Eau de Toilette. I have a love-hate relationship with carnations. I love the flowers and their natural scent in the garden and I use carnation-scented soap and home fragrance products on occasion but I usually dislike carnation in perfumes where it can be overwhelming and stifling. Old Spice is a clean/soapy, spicy-floral fragrance and it smells better than some carnation-scented room sprays I’ve bought that were 10 times Old Spice’s price. I can imagine myself spraying on some Old Spice, at home, on an ice-cold day; I don’t know why, but to me carnation smells best in winter.
OS Signature was released in 2006 and contains lime, grapefruit, pine, marine accord, coriander, cedar wood, patchouli. OS Signature is honestly described on its website as smelling like a “shockwave of electricity”, a “burst of freshness”; it has a “high energy top note” that produces a “cool shiver” in the wearer who feels “clean, fresh.”
OS Signature’s frigid “marine accord” envelops and overpowers the other notes; apart from the aquatic accord I smell only a hint of citrus/pine and some cedar. That being said, at $10 a bottle OS Signature smells as good as most of its aquatic/ozonic cousins that crowd the men’s fragrance counters at Nordstrom and Macy’s and sell for $55 or more.
I’ve learned a few things while sampling Old Spice. First, just because a fragrance is inexpensive doesn’t mean it has to smell cheap. I was also pleasantly surprised when Old Spice, the classic mass market men’s fragrance, turned out to be a spicy-floral! Finally, the old ‘dame,’ Chanel No. 5, mixes well with the ‘man’s man’ — Old Spice. So what if he’s 16 years her junior, they still have a lot in common.
Ahoy! LOL!
The new commercials for OS have had me thinking it's ready for a comeback. My oldest daughter has recently been going through a phase of loving men's colonge for herself (she's 12!) and has passed all the cotton candy frags down to her sister. So I've been spending a lot of time smelling men's frags with her lately. I'll tell her to try the old spice!
*I can remember buying a bottle for my dad every year at Christmas, turns out he was a Farinheight man! poor guy! 🙂
Rose: Ahoy! I do think a young girl could wear Old Spice with ease…just get her OS in the spray bottle, K
Thanks! How cute would it be if buying *her* a bottle every Christmas became tradition?!
*Forgot to tell you…loved your review, the jock itch thing had me rolling! My sweet dh is the same, cheerfully buys girly products and such for me all the time. 🙂
my high school boyfriend wore Old Spice deodarant. I have to say, he smelled fabulous at 14!!!
Love Old Spice – my grandad, bottled. And I'm one of those unembarrassable sorts too, most of the time.
HOUSEOFSTONE: I think the OS deodorants, body washes, body sprays rake in the dough…and I guess teen boys are the target audience. Since most teen boys think that a quarter bottle of perfume is ONE application you were lucky your beau stuck with scented deodorant!
Leopoldo: I keep hoping age will stiffen my spine…and make me the male Germaine Greer! HA!
I absolutely love Old Spice and always have since my father wore it. Cheap (in price) or not, it smells divine to me. Now that I have encountered Serge Luten and L'Artisan, I am learning a lot about smoky, woody, deeper scents but I still love Old Spice.
OK, I think this will fit into even my budget. What kind of perfumista am I that I haven't tried Old Spice, anyway? Thanks for taking the plunge, Kevin. Another old standby from my childhood is English Leather. Perhaps you'll favor us with a review of that as well? I won't ask you to review Hai Karate, though, for fear of getting banned from NST forever.
I used to work for a maritime museum. During the winter, I'd spend time going through artifacts in the exhibits and storage. The storage area was a long, brick building and it housed wood, metal and cloth archives in a climate controlled space. Every time I'd enter it, the most distinct smell would surround me—vaguely nostalgic and comforting. Despite the fact that most of items in the building were over 150 years old, that scent conjured up the impression of deja vu familiarity—I could've sworn I'd smelled it somewhere else before. It took me forever to realize that some combination of the elements (both historical and modern) had somehow created a ghost of “Old Spice”; one of the most readily available, seriously affordable and fairly modern fragrances is actually reminiscent of maritime luggage of the 1800's. Go figure.
(“18 year old Adonis”…”buying jock itch cream”…hahaha. Immunity to embarrassment is a god-like quality all its own. Excellent post!)
clarestella: so many people are reminded of their fathers by Old Spice…and the price IS unbeatable, K
Exist: I will get B to buy me some English Leather…HA! And don't quote me, but I think Hai Karate is discontinued. K
nlb: so you have really good associations with OS. I'm a lover of all scents “nautical” too, even the smell of “marsh mud” in summertime. As I was reading about OS I was shocked to see all the versions of it that have come and gone…I was especially intrigued by the black bottle version: in LIMES scent. K
I have somewhere in my files an old magazine article recounting how a panel of experts could not recognize extremely famous fragrances when blind testing them. About Old Spice they said it was certainly a high-end perfume; they couldn't tell whether it was for men or women.
In my relationship, *I* am the one who can't be intimidated nor embarrassed (you would never have guessed, would you? LOL!). Unfortunately. I can't call upon anyone else to go and buy stuff for me. Hmm… 🙁
Funny review! Until now I've never heard anything about the story of OS and without prejudices I chose it as my deodorant years ago and since then wear it daily. The reasons:
1.) I really loved the spicy, natural scent (carnation! Never realised…) that is light enough not to interfere with perfumes I wear.
2.) I was looking for an aluminium-free deo (heard about health risks & causes marks on textiles) which is hard to find.
Wanted to try the cologne for ages. Now I definitely have to. Is it American? Must be.
Ok at the risk of sounding teacher-like, I can tell you the following: Old Spice is in the Fragrance Hall of Fame of the Fragrance Foundation. So, of course, is Chanel No. 5. In the old days (70's) when I worked in the industry, we had a chart on the wall that was the Geneology of Fragrance. All along the chart were “parent” categories with all subsequent fragrances listed as the “children”. Both of these classics were “parents”.
And FYI, just because something is sold in a drug store, doesn't mean it's cheap or bad. It's just a form of distribution. Many small towns didn't (and still don't) have department stores to feature better fragrances. Nowadays, scents go “mass” very quickly because so many are produced. The sad fact is that so many are poor “children” of their classic “parents”.
I think DH married me because he's both easily embarrassed and squeamish (I'm the one who will always readily do close inspections of canine poop, etc.) and I'm…well, I'm not. At all. 🙂
I don't think I've ever smelled Old Spice. Didn't grow up in the US, so I think that's why. I probably have smelled it since living here, but just wasn't aware of what it was. Will have to go check it out and maybe DH will at least use the deodorant if I love it – which it sounds like I will. OS Signature doesn't sound nearly as appealing to me.
Have to chime in to say I think a huge percentage of the boys in my high school wore the OS deodorant. And yes, it smelled great! Now I'd guess they're all wearing Axe something or another.
I immediately thought of the concept of “blind” testing too when I was reading Kevin's review. I really wonder how “mass market” fragrances would do against some “luxe” products if tested blindly. I'm not exactly thinking they'd do as well, since many cheaper scents have some nasty-smelling synthetic accords in them — but I'll bet that there would be some shock and surprise at how pleasant some “cheap crap” can be. Snobbery doesn't always correlate with quality.
Regarding OS, I don't know if I could identify it, but I seem to vividly remember a bottle perched very high (out of anyone's reach) atop my grandparents' bathroom cupboard, so I will somehow always associate it with my late grandfather. Oh, and I really need someone in my life who isn't easily embarrassed, because I'm definitely not quite there yet.
Another outstanding and hilarious review, K.
R: I believe I read that OS is trying to challenge Axe by developing its own line of fragranced body sprays. Please don't make me review them all! A generous application IN CLASS of Axe by one of her students recently resulted in a friend having to call the paramedics to her classroom…she had a SUPER-DOOPER asthma attack! And didn't some boy die after putting on too much Axe…near a FLAME? K
LOL — like I could make you review *anything*!
Bela: NO! I never would have guessed! HAHA! Pre-“B”, my mother fit the bill of The One Who Can't Be Intimidated…so I hope at least in childhood you had someone to call upon to go buy embarrassing things for you!, K
Thanks, Joe: so true…it's like so many tests I've seen of vodka and coffee/tea snobs who ended up choosing a supermarket brand as their favorite in blind taste testings. AND a good idea for a future post: finding some good-smelling cheapies!
Lars, what country do you live in? Here in the US (yes, the home of Old Spice) we have about a million choices for non-aluminum deodorants…everything from blocks of alum to pricey brands like Weleda. If there's Weleda where you are, their rosemary spray deodorant is famous for not causing stains on clothes and REALLY working. K
Hi Marlo: I would love to see “the chart” of fragrances, esp. the Parents. I'm pretty sure Chanel has tightened its distribution channels (as best it can) since my childhood days…if you had seen the drugstore where it was sold you'd understand how shocking it would be to find Chanel there today. Every now and then one must re-glamourize a product/line. Please share if you can think of other OS-like scents — mass market, but good quality smell, K
Hi Elle: we've “talked” so often..where did you grow up? OS Signature is not in the same league as original Old Spice…and as I've mentioned once above…do get the atomizer bottle of Old Spice…. K
Kevin, I love this post!!!! So sweet and funny. I realized as I was reading that I had no realistic conception of Old Spice, because for years I've just assumed it smells like bay rum! The SO has at least seven different Old Spice deoderants in the medicine cabinet, but as they are all in the Sporty/Arctic/Cool Rush vein I doubt they smell anything like the original fragrance. Next time I see a bottle, I'll have to stop and sniff it!
I used to be afraid of my own shadow, then I dyed my hair a truly incredible shade of red, which helped a lot, and finally I got cancer. (I really don't recommend that last thing as an anti-shyness remedy, but…). I am becoming more like my mother by the day (she would be so proud of me now, LOL!).
Keeter: yes, smell the original scent…there are SO many scents in the range now (as far as deodorants go). I laughed when B told me the price for a full bottle…that's what I pay for some SAMPLES of perfume online!
My father had serious wanderlust, so as soon as I was born he went to work for USAID and took us to Iran and then Pakistan. He then switched over to work in the private business sector and we moved briefly to Korea and Japan and then to Panama and Guatemala. Spent every summer in Germany and Sweden w/ my Estonian mother who wanted to be as close to her Esti friends as possible. I inherited my father's hardcore wanderlust and before I married, spent a lot of time living/traveling abroad – mostly in Europe and Russia, but some in South America as well. DH, however, is firmly rooted here and so I make do w/ shorter trips – almost always alone since DH fails to see the joy of adventurous travel on a super tight budget. 🙂
Will definitely get the atomizer bottle.
Bela: whenever I read your posts I did picture you as a red head/reddish-brunette. Are you six feet tall too? I need to have you accompany me on perfume-buying expeditions in France! (It does seem to be our fate to end up doing everything we used to make fun of, becoming like those who we VOWED to rebel against! I'm turning into my … grandmother!)
Kevin,
Kudos for featuring an excellent but “unfashionable” scent.
Are you familiar with Tabac? In the event you aren't, it is another fantastic scent at what can only be described, relative to quality, as a throwaway price. I heartily recommend it as worthy of a review Kevin.
Well done, again.
Karthic.
Karthic: Will do! I've seen Tabac in shop windows my whole life and never smelled it.
Elle: no wonder you have such varied tastes in perfume…I think people who travel (physically, or thru books/imagination) yearn for great variety in scent, food, etc. It may well account for your HUGE perfume collection. Tell DH you may stop buying so many perfumes if he agrees to a trip every now and again! K
Thanks for the laugh, K! Indeed, I used to be a 6-ft redhead; now I'm a 5-ft silver-haired gnome, but I'm still the same inside. I would love to accompany you on 'perfume-buying expeditions in France' -except, like fine wine, I don't travel very well. I could be with you in spirit, though.
Yes, we can't help becoming like the people who used to make us cringe. I'm sure your grandmother was a lovely person. *grin*
It was produced by Haarman & Reimer which is now Symrise. A smaller version of the original can be purchased from Costwold Perfumery (you can find them on the net). Some classics are Canoe by Dana 1935, Pino Silvestre 1952, Tabac 1959, Brut 1964, Eau Sauvage 1966 and Jovan Musk for Men 1973. They say now that a “classic” is 15+ years. The true classics are much older IMHO.
Thanks Marlo…that's two mentions of Tabac today so I want to try that…and the other untried: Canoe. I'm with you, a 1992 (15 yr old) scent a classic?!
Thanx 4 the advice, Kevin, Rosemary! Nice. I'm German and if you mean the anthroposophic writing/natural ingredients/gorgeous scents (& expensive!!) Weleda, I know it. It's actually German I think.
Alum blocks… I thought these oh-so-natural crystals were pure aluminium salt! I'll stick to my OS now, although it contains Triclosan, which I read bad things about as well… I guess deos just ARE unnatural and always a health risk. But that's a compromise I want to make.
To know it's from the 1930s makes it even more attractive (don't mean the German 30s of course). I love the red/white packaging. It somehow makes me think of New England. Doesn't the original come in a white medical looking ceramics bottle? So smart!
LOVE your review Kevin! My father used Old Spice as an after shave. Remember that white ceramic bottle. That was in the 50s and beginning 60s. Later he had another brand of aftershave, something blue with green, black letters, with some sort of sponge on top which was considered as more modern. Can't recall the name of it. That was in The Netherlands.
My mother used talc powder. I remember the light green and the light purple flacons. She loved lillies of the valley and lilacs.
Old Spice and Yardley's? lilly of the valley together in the bathroom. Thats my mom and dad.
Untill very recently my husband used Old Spice shaving stick with a brush… now he is more modern with Gilette shaving foam (gel is too modern) and he doesn't use any fragrances.
My dad was way more modern than my own husband.. haha..and only now I realize that..
Oh well, I compensate this with my not so small collection of fragrances.
Very funny and incredibly endearing at the same time, this was SO good to read I now crave more “B” stories, Kevin!!!
As for Old Spice… I haven't smelled it in years.. I remember having a love/hate relationship with its creamy character back in highschool when a boyfriend used to douse himself with it…
It is so cool and kinds funny mind you, seeing Old Spice logo when opening up your page this morning but omg lots of memories,my grandpa wore this and my dad,I recall purchasing it for my dad as a lil girl several times.
I do love the smell! 🙂
Marianne: GOOD EXCUSE to buy fragrance: to your husband: “Since you don't wear fragrance that means I can buy twice as many, right?”
Divina: ah…again with the teen boys dousing themselves! HA! I didn't wear any cologne in high school…I probably would have been too liberal with the application in those days! (I'm sure more B stories will pop up from time to time) K
Jasmine: I know…P&G will probably never change the packaging very much…so many people recognize it instantly. K
Right ! ! 😉
My man is a bit like your “B” he is completely himself when e.g. he buys new clothes. It's like he doesn't even notice how great those salesmen/women sometimes look and is never intimidated by them. He is who he is and they sure do their best to help him to look nice again.
Lars: I guess I need to be a LIT-TLE more thorough when it comes to certain products! For some reason, laugh if you must, I always thought those alum blocks were made from some distilled ingredient from ALLIUM plants!!!!! HA! You're right of course: they are made of aluminum sulfates. (There was an interesting article in the NYT last week about deodorant use in the U.S. and how people who “went without” weren't really more smelly. But then the doctors who advised less use of deodorant all admitted they used it every day), K
Death by Axe… why do you think they named it after a weapon?
Oh, I do have to laugh, that's so funny!! Are you aware that Allium is the botanic name for plants like leek and garlic?! Imagine a deodorant made from onion extracts…
I think if you don't wear deo you certainly have to change your shirts each day and avoid walking too fast (not to sweat). I once forgot to put it on when I had the most important interview of my life so far, I felt horrible and dirty. Immediately after I went into the next drugstore and bought an OS stick.
They redesigned it. Used to be round, now it's flat and “sporty”, the colour changed from yellow to blue. I was afraid the fragrance had changed too, but I don't think so.
Kevin, I finally “remembered” to buy a bottle of Old Spice last night at the supermarket, and am wearing a few dabs of it today. The opening was a little rough, but after a few minutes I found it, and find it now, at lunchtime, quite pleasant and wearable. It's no Domenico Caraceni, but then, what is?
Exist: good! glad you tried it.
Hi Kevin,
Awesome review of Old Spice. Makes me want to buy a bottle. But I'm really “afraid” to wear it just as you are. lol
Could I ask you to consider reviewing “Lui” by Rochas? it is a real nice men's fragrance that never became successful here in the US. An amber-woodsy scent created by perfumer Michel Almairac and launched in 2003, it did welll in Europe. Really worth reviewing. If you cannot get a hold of a bottle, I would be glad to send you mine. Please let me know how since I'm new to this blog.
Thanks,
Eric
Eric: you know where I live the only Rochas scents you ever find on the shelves are Femme, Mme Rochas and Byzance. I can't remember ever seeing a Rochas scent for men on display, including the new one Désir de Rochas pour Homme. I just read the ingredients list for Lui and am intrigued by the sycamore and buffalo grass! I don't want you to have to send your bottle to me, but you can send a sample vial and I'd be glad to try it and perhaps even review it since I've never reviewed a Rochas scent before…just write me at kevsta11(at)gmail(dot)com. Kevin
Howdy:)
I need some help. My boyfriend of 18 years was killed in a car accident 3 weeks ago and i miss him so much. I was in his room today and came across a bottle of his aftershave. I really want to buy a bottle for myself to just remind me of him. It was in a small kind of slim dark blue bottle with a ship on it and America was written on it in big writing. So I looked it up on the internet because it didnt have the name of the brand on the bottle. The ship that was on my Boyfriends bottle is the same as the ship on the old Spice bottles but every image of Old Spice has it as a white bottle. Theres none of a skinny blue bottle with america written on it. Is it the Old Spice brand? And what is the name of it…like is it “original” or “sport” or what? It would mean so much to me if someone could help me out here, I miss him so much and having his scent would really help me. Cheers.
Haha, Kevin, lesson learned. Old Spice is what a man *should* smell like. I find it the most attractive scent imaginable and have inadvertently turned two ex bfs onto it solely because of how much I love it (no cajoling necessary). Price doesn't matter in this case, and I even have a bottle of my own for those days when I need it. 🙂
I'm so glad you enjoy it!
Coming really late to this post, but I just had to comment. Like everyone else in the world, I remember this so clearly as my dad’s cologne when I was little. I’m really glad for the information that the formula was changed in 1990. The scent that I remember (from the late ’70s) really highlighted the spices and cinnamon, wrapped in vanilla, tonka bean and ambergris, with a little bit of slightly-sweet orange underneath. I guess the carnation was probably prevalent then, too, but it doesn’t stand out in my mind. When I was in college, another friend wore this scent, and I couldn’t believe how different it had become! In the reformulation, the aldehydes hit me hard, which make the whole fragrance a lot more harsh than I remember from my childhood. The cedar and musk are more prevalent to me now, too. I wish I could find a bottle from the ’70s, because OS is probably my clearest scent-memory from childhood.
Thanks for the nostalgic trip!
My father has worn Old Spice since before I can remember, and still does, so this scent has a very nostalgic effect on me. Since I’ve been getting sick of my Dove Cucumber-something-or-the-other deodorant, I decided to try out Old Spice, because, come on, it’s one of the best smelling scents on the market, regardless of gender marketing. I’m a 22 year-old woman, and I couldn’t be happier with this scent. Just wonderful.
My grandfather was an Old Spice man and since he passed away, I have been dipping into it quite regularly. I just wanted to say that it pairs PERFECTLY with my Chanel no 18!!
The Shulton Company, original producer of Old Spice, was founded in 1934 by William Lightfoot Schultz. The first Old Spice product was a fragrance called Early American Old Spice for women, introduced in 1937. Old Spice for men followed in 1938.
As many of you have said, Old Spice is a scent that brings up memories. For me they are negative. They remind me of a creep I knew in high school and the scent makes me nauseous! The thing is I love spice in men’s scents and love the Aramis line. The original Aramis drives me crazy!
As a lifelong OS guy myself, I thought it’d be good to chime in. The girls in my family – all agree, that, all commercialism aside, it’s hard to beat the original OS. And you’re absolutely right – they HAVE changed the formula. I ran across an OLD bottle of Old Spice (ca 1970?) – never opened – and decided for the good of this exploration – to crack it open and compare old and new. OK, so the bottle is some 40 years old, and who knows what time has done, but if that is set aside, I just conducted a test with my wife and daughter who BOTH attest to the fact that the OLD formula is a bit darker – more “spicy” – cinnamon, etc. – that the NEWER formula (regrettably now in a cheap plastic bottle) is a bit more “floral.” Still, both agree that it’s still the best out there IMHO (and in the opinion of my clients, some who whom remark that they love the smell – I’m a photographer who, when I’m posing them, catch it slightly on the back of my hands, which I do for the babies)…
Oh, I went through a few different ones (Dolce & Gabanna, even Caswell Massey #6) but always come back to OS simply because it’s fresh and makes me feel good in the morning. Reason enough.
One more thing – kids, stay away from the new OS scents…. they’re simply awful, commercial, chemical concoctions that only use the OS name to sell…
As a faithful ‘wearer’ of the “original” (Shulton) Old Spice “Long Lasting Cologne, I was disappointed to realize that even when Proctor & Gamble first took it over in the early-‘90s, something was different. The cologne didn’t have that rich undertone of complex vanilla/spice it was once famous for – nor, did it have the staying power, either.
With all the numerous ‘garbage’ varieties out there, at today’s prices, P&G could put a $30 price tag on it and people like me would gladly pay it, but alas – times have changed; hopefully, P&G will ‘give up the Old Spice ship’ and give it to some company who’s willing to let her set sail, with pride, once again.