Men's Fragrance Haul & Review | Habit Rouge, Aramis, Arquiste, Les Élixirs, Brooks Brothers

- I'm Brian Sacawa, you're watching He Spoke Style, and today I'm gonna be giving you some first impressions of eight fragrances that I've recently picked up. (gentle music) As you know, I'm a big fan of fragrances, and one thing I love the most is every time we release a new fragrance video, you guys are all over the comments giving recommendations. Some of the fragrances I'm going to review today are from those recommendations, and some are just some that I've been interested in myself. As I said, these are going to be more or less first impressions. I've tried each of these out at least five times, just to get a sense of the fragrance, see what I like or don't like about it, and how it performs on my skin. So let's jump right in. First up is one that so many of you recommended as an addition to my list of the best classic men's fragrances of all time, and that is Guerlain's Habit Rouge or (speaks in French) pardon my French please. Bottom line up front, very first spray, I totally understand why it should be on that list. The top notes are bergamot, lemon, rosewood, basil and pimento. Heart notes, sandalwood, carnation, patchouli, cedar, rose and cinnamon. And base notes are vanilla, amber, moss, leather, benzoin and labdanum. It's a very unique scent, and one that once you get to know it, it's easy to recognize. This is definitely a classic. It's masculine but not masculine in a barbershop fragrance kind of way. I would say it's a little more elegant. It starts with a little bit of citrus but pretty quickly, more floral notes take over. And then there's a sort of underlying powderiness to it. But both the floral and the powder are very subtle, so if you're not into those kinds of fragrances, don't let that throw you off. More suited to night-time in my opinion, but it could be an all day fragrance. It lasts about four hours on my skin. So it doesn't perform super well, but if you're a fan of classic fragrances, this is one that you'll want to own. Being a fan of Floris No. 89, I wanted to give another Floris fragrance a try that sounded interesting to me, and that is this one right here, Floris Elite. It was introduced in 1979 and named after Lotion Elite, which was an aftershave cream that was first featured in the catalog in 1851. We've got top notes of bergamot, cedar leaf, grapefruit, juniper berry, lemon and petitgrain. Heart notes are bay, fir balsam and lavender. And base notes, amber, cedarwood, leather, moss, musk, patchouli and vetiver. I like this one quite a bit. It reminds me of very much a classic gentleman's scent. It's got a similar profile, in my opinion, to No. 89 but 89 seems a little softer. But Elite has a little more punch and edge due to things I think like the grapefruit, lavender, juniper berry and fir balsam. Good staying power, about eight hours on my skin. It's an everyday kind of fragrance, and one that I definitely recommend. Next, we have one that I've been interested in trying for a very long time. It's Brooks Brothers Classic. If you've ever been into a Brooks Brothers, this is the fragrance that you smell. Like the best and most classic outfits, this fragrance is simple. Citrus top notes. In the middle we have jasmine and herbal notes. And base notes are patchouli, sandalwood and vetiver. This is a super classic refined manly scent. The best picture I can paint in your mind of this fragrance is to say it's the white shirt, navy blazer, gray trousers, club tie, tassel loafers of the fragrance world. Great performance, it lasts about eight hours, even longer if it gets on your clothes. And price is right at just $60, you're getting great value for your money. This is an everyday any occasion kind of fragrance, signature scent material, another one that I'm really happy with. Another one by Brooks Brothers here called New York Gentleman. As I was learning more about Brooks Brothers fragrances, this one kept popping up in forums as this holy grail of Brooks Brothers fragrances. It's not available anymore, which I think might be contributing to the mythic quality that it seems to have obtained to some degree. I have seen two different bottle styles. This one that I have here, and one where the glass is kind of cut a little bit. I don't know if there's a difference between the fragrances. If you happen to know, please drop that knowledge down in the comments. Now for the fragrance here, we've got top notes of bergamot, verbena, petitgrain, and mandarin. Heart notes are carnation, iris root and cumin. Base notes, oakmoss, vetiver and musk. Right off the bat with this, you get a blast of citrus which dies away pretty quickly. Then it transitions more into a kind of vetiver scent. It's a clean scent, it's not very powerful. And I have to say that I was really underwhelmed and disappointed in this, especially with all the buzz around it. It doesn't last very long, and overall not one that I can recommend. Moving now to a classic that many of you thought should have been included as well in the 10 most classic fragrances video, Aramis. I wasn't familiar with it and I had to give it a try based on all of the love that it was getting in the comments. It is known as a true classic, and named after a Turkish root that is renowned for its aphrodisiac qualities, says Estee Lauder. It was introduced by Estee Lauder in New York in 1964, and then made available in the UK exclusively at Harrods in 1965. Making up this unmistakable fragrance, we have top notes of bergamot, gardenia, galbanum and cumin. Heart notes are sage, myrtle oil, clove bud oil, jasmine, patchouli and orris. And then base notes, we have patchouli again, sandalwood, vetiver, tree moss, leather, castoreum, amber and musk. As I said, this is a totally unmistakable fragrance. It is very very strong, kind of pungent to my nose. It projects like crazy. It's extremely long-lasting. It almost smells kind of retro to me. This, in my mind, is what the 70s and early 80s probably smelled like. I really tried to give this an honest try, but I just don't think it's a fragrance for me. Next up, one of the newest additions to the Arquiste lineup, Arquiste, one of my favorite niche fragrance companies, this is Misfit. On the website, it says this fragrance was inspired by 19th century Bohemians, and that it is a smooth interpretation of patchouli essences re-imagined in their original elegance. Let's get to the notes. Top notes are Calabrian bergamot, carrot seed, angelica root and French lavender. Heart notes, Bulgarian rose, ambrette seed, akigalawood, styrax. And base notes are patchouli, Spanish cistus concrete, Venezualean tonka bean and tolu balsam. I'm not gonna pretend to know what every single one of those things smells like, but what I can tell you is that this is definitely a patchouli fragrance, but one of the most elegant patchouli fragrances I've ever smelled. I can kinda compare it to Monsieur by Frederic Malle, but Misfit has so much more richness, complexity and softness to it. It's very sexy and one of the most intriguing fragrances I've smelled recently. Here is a new fragrance from a new company called Les Elixirs. This is Oud. The company is New York based and they call themselves an experimental olfactive design and development studio. And the fragrances are concentrated at 20% or higher pure perfume depending on the scent's characteristics. Notes include blood orange, cypress, cardamom, timur pepper, oud wood, vanilla bean extract and patchouli. This is an absolutely amazing fragrance. It's strong but not overwhelming. It's elegant and sophisticated. It almost has what I would call a satiny quality to it. It's definitely got those oud and woody characteristics, but there's a lightness to it that makes it very approachable. This is an awesome evening fragrance, and I actually think it could work year-round. Finally, you know I always like to throw one of these in, we have Brut Classic Scent After Shave. This is the Essence of Man, don't question it. In all seriousness though, I was in the supermarket and I saw this, and you know I'm a fan of Old Spice, so I wanted to pick this up because it's often cited as one of the most classic fougeres, associated with people like Roger Moore, Elvis Presley, and many many more. And for the price, you can't beat it. Top notes, lavender, anise, lemon, basil and bergamot. Heart notes, geranium, ylang ylang and jasmine. And base notes are sandalwood, vetiver, patchouli, oakmoss, vanilla and tonka bean. What does it smell like? The essence of man (laughs). It is like Old Spice, one of those super classic old-school grandpa kind of scents, but there's nothing wrong with that. It's a classic for a reason, and I have been splashing this on after shaving a lot recently. Links to all of the fragrances in this video are down below in the description. Leave a comment about any of these fragrances here, and please as always, drop your suggestions and favorites in as well. Thumbs up, subscribe, hit the bell to get notified every time we publish a new video. Until next time everyone, thanks for watching, and stay tailored. (gentle music) Here let me see the frame. Yeah let me see.