ECHO.....ECHo.....ECho .....Echo.....echo.... . (Davidoff: Davidoff Echo for Men, Eau de Toilette)

Member Name: Gingaro

Product:	Davidoff: Davidoff Echo for Men, Eau de Toilette
Date:	22/02/06 (410 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cool bottle, fairly cheap

Disadvantages: Heavy smell, too woody and spicy, long lasting

Davidoff Echo was an impulsive purchase whilst strolling around duty free in Las Vegas nearly 18 months ago. I was assured by my better half after a squirt that it was a fragrance she liked and hence I parted with $35 for a 100ml bottle.

The first thing that attracted me to this on the shelf was the stylish bottle, it has to be the funkiest aftershave bottle I’ve ever seen, made from clear glass it is more of a sculpture than a bottle. On deeper research it comes to light that a designer was commissioned to actually make the bottle! A bit over the top for an aftershave, but a nice touch all the same. The picture above shows the bottle in all its glory. The atomiser is located in the top corner.

I’ve never seen Echo advertised in the UK, but it is widely available from online retailers and most good perfume counters that stock other Davidoff fragrances such as Cool Water and Cool Water Deep. Prices vary wildly. I paid roughly £19 for my 100ml bottle in Las Vegas, but online the average price for the same bottle is currently in the region of £29. All in all, that is actually a reasonable price for such a large amount of fragrance from such a reputable company.

Marketed as dynamic, cool and masculine Echo has contains the following notes which according to the blurb makes it an urban trendsetter:

The notes to Echo build it up as an airy innovative fragrance that contains:

Head: Suede, musk, liquid air.

Heart: Sandalwood, cedar wood, nutmeg.

Dry-down: chilli pepper, black pepper.

Had I not tried this before purchasing I would be lead to think from the notes that the fragrance would be very dry and heavy on the nose and with the combination of suede, musk and sandalwood would make this strong providing a very hard wearing masculine fragrance.

Actually applying the fragrance is a bit tricky due to the size and shape of the bottle. The smooth ridged glass combined with wet hands is not an option and I found that I had to use two hands. One to hold the bottle and the second hand to actually press the atomiser! The first thing to strike me was that large amounts of the aftershave are dispensed with one press of the atomiser, meaning that three squirts are more than enough.

My initial thoughts about this fragrance were correct, heavy suede with a warm musk was the first smell to strike me and it was far from cool. After shaving this stings, it stings a lot a in my case inflamed the shaving rash I usually get. I am not a big fan of heavy fragrances and as such I wasn’t happy when I first applied this, but to its credit, the head notes do fade very quickly, however the woody and spicy notes are equally as strong as the head notes and again, these seem to heavy on the nose.

Thankfully within 10 minutes of application the head and heart notes do become lighter and less evident, however there remains a warm, woody spicy fragrance and the dry down notes to me were at no time evident. This doesn’t mean that they weren’t lingering though. An hour after applying Echo my better half would not come within 50 yards of me, due to the “awful pepper smell”.

In the interests of seeing if the fragrance altered over time, and indeed how long it would last I persevered. Unfortunately the fragrance does not calm down and the dry down notes do seem to overwhelm the head and heart notes making it overly spicy and it is hard wearing lasting well over 8 hours.

Overall, I was drawn in by the cool bottle, cheap price and first impressions based on a fleeting test and I was left disappointed. To this day Echo sits on the shelf in the bathroom and is never used. Although some people would like this sort of fragrance I personally prefer light fragrances that have a citrus base and personally would never ever buy this for myself or as a gift.

Davidoff Echo in my opinion would appeal to those who like Christian Dior Fahrenheit, Polo by Ralph Lauren and Diesel Zero Plus. I could also only see it suitable for daywear due to the heavy nature of the fragrance.

If you like your fragrances to be light, citrus based and easy on the nose you should avoid this at all costs.

NOT RECOMMENDED

Thanks for taking the time to read and rate.


Steve :o)

Summary: Nasty!!