Sultry Sweetness (Joop Homme Aftershave)

Member Name: thenumnum

Product:	Joop Homme Aftershave
Date:	24/03/03 (1323 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: staying power, distintive

Disadvantages: can be overwhelming

I've had the good fortune to travel far and wide via my job, and as a result have spent endless hours sat around in airport lounges. One of the things you can do there, is wonder around the duty free shops - all of which contain a plethora of new fragrances. So being a habitual people watcher, I used to park myself near said shops and watch as people tried fragrances. It was during one of my trips to Paris that I came across Joop! Pour Homme.

Usually I passed over this pinkish, rather simplistic bottle during my own fragrance testing, considering it too girly to contemplate a whiff. But what caught my eye on this occasion was the way three middle aged women were passing the bottle between them. Their facial expressions and repeated scenting indicated that they were rather entranced by this pink gem.

So off I went, and tried it on a tester (cardboard to you and me). My first reaction was ?Holy schmoly, this is rank!? Luckily for me, the shop assistant was more educated than me at such things. I was directed to bare my wrist, and voila, she despatched a short burst onto it. Within seconds, I realised what those three women were delighted about.

Joop is a sweetly spicy little number. Its very hard to describe, but the best I can do is as follows: Imagine a sweet shop, smelling of powdered candy, and those love heart sweets. Transplant said sweet shop to a very warm and sultry location, like a hot sweltering bali beach. And top it off with a light touch of spice, Manly spice!. The result is a very VERY distinctive aroma.

Now the thing about fragrance reviews, in my opinion, is not how the wearer really feels of the scent (though aromatherapy has a lot going for defining a mood for oneself), but what others think of you when you are wearing it. This is why I am rather amazed at what I call the Joop phenomenon.

As mentioned, Joop is very distinctive. I must also add, Joop is one of the most lasting and powerful scents a man
can wear. The lessons learned by this young chap is ? wear this pink gem sparingly. Two squirts ? one to the chest and one on the neck-pulse point. I was told these are the best places to spray scents, allowing your body heat and glans to work their magic with the scent itself. So back to the phenomenon?Its extremely easy to identify when a man is wearing Joop. On the Tube, in a room, the man who has Joop on leaves the ?sweet-shop in bali next to the spice garden? trail behind him. But the most interesting thing, is that a vast majority of people, men and women, actually enjoy being in the presence of it.

Of course, not everyone likes this, and you will also read a review or two where someone is not singing its praises as I do. But what I have found, is that when it comes to Joop, when worn with caution and sparseness, the effect is stunning. Women can identify this in an instance, and immediately form a rather friendly opinion of the wearer. Men, also, are not aggressive to it, but rather chummy. I think it has to do with the fact that despite being Manly, it has a childish/playful side to it. No other fragrance is quite the same as Joop.

So whether you are a man looking for your next scent, or a woman looking to see what to buy your man, I cannot emphasise enough the benefits of at least trying out the Joop phenomenon. It?s a very distinctive, sweet, masculine, and sultry fragrance, and will most certainly provide you with a rather interesting conversation piece should anyone ask what it is you are wearing. Especially in these days of the ever-simplistic fougere/citrus trend.

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