Tony

[EmpressPixie]

TONY
Soap and water, hair gel, and a hint of aftershave.

In the bottle, this smells exactly like: imagine walking down the street (of a nice, clean city) while someone is doing laundry in the basement. That warm, soapy, vaguely sweet laundry scent that reaches up to you in a cloud of steam? That's Tony. I love him.

Wet, it smells a lot like industrial complimentary hotel soap with a splash of sweetness to it (a splash -- not much at all, maybe a drop).

Dry, it gets a bit sweeter and the sweetness is a cologne-y, hair gel-esque style of sweetness. It's more cologne in the male deodorant kind of way than actually splashing on perfume. And the soap is definitely classic Dove. Because this basically smells exactly like my fiance after a shower. Which, since he lives about 600 miles away from me, makes it the best perfume ever for me.

[CitizenBree]

I was hoping for something really sexy for a man. More cologne and hair gel and less soap. I tried this on my husband and there was no cologne to it at all. It was just straight soap. Like she said above, classic Dove soap. I don't consider this very manly so I was more than a little disappointed. Husband didn't like it either so we had to pass.

[fairnymph]

Clean and fresh, with a bit of pleasant sharpness to it - like the initial alcohol blast from aftershave. There's a bit of almost synthetic hair gel - like a silicone based hair product - actually quite a bit, enough to remind me of a hair salon or barber shop. The soap has an herbal tinge, but smells classically white and opaque - think Ivory soap. That may sound generic, but this blend is not at all - it's compelling. The aquatic is definitely a fresh note, and this really smells like the bathroom right after someone's showered. Powerfully evocative.

 

I detected a slight sweetness in the bottle which amps instantly on my skin, and has almost a resinous quality, like benzoin. I get more resiny notes too, like - maybe some balsam to explain the green/herbal note, but there is a fresher green true herb here that has a faint mintiness to it - I strongly suspect basil. It is a bit soapier and powdery on my skin, verging on too much for my tastes, but not TOO much yet - and the amped sweetness, greenery, and resinous balance the soapiness very well. The alcoholic aspect of the aftershave has vanished, leaving a rather musky cologne - I'm getting skin musk, a lighter touch of white musk, and I think some of the herbs I noted earlier are part of this cologne's 'fougere'. The hair gel note holds, but it's the faintest relative to the other notes, though far from indistinct. This is much more complex on my skin but less evocative bc of all the herbal and resinous notes and their very strong, rather dominating presence.

 

This has some CRAZY throw - though I did accidentally slather quite a bit more than usual - but um, as with many men who wear cheap cologne - use this one sparingly, please! (Not that I am comparing this to those atrocities.) The hair gel has amped back up, or rather the greenery has faded to reveal it - I'm not sure. Sweeter and more honeyed such that I am fairly sure about the benzoin. I also get the same lavender note from TKO - not sure how I missed it before! - and with the sweetness of the benzoin, there is a passing resemblance to that blend, although this is of course, soapier, and much more unisex to masculine. The aquatic note is unfortunately turning soapy on me as aquatics sometimes do on me, and it's a distinct soapiness, not the actual Ivory-soap note, and much less pleasant, in fact definitely unpleasant. This is also making my face itch when I sniff my wrist and my rosacea flare, so I would not be able to wear this scent personally regardless of how I end up finally liking it. Right now I'm kind of 'meh'. One evolution I do like is the emergence of an 'airy' feel, could be ozone or something else - but it reminds me of flying and returns a bit of the conceptual feel.

 

The final drydown is quite lovely - it's interesting how this scent changes on me, from lovely in the bottle, good on my skin wet, not so great on my skin dry, then pretty darn good on my skin in the later dry stages. The herbal/lavender soapiness fades to a tolerable level and the Ivory -like soap that I really like holds. The benzoin turns a bit darker, a deeper, even more resinous, sort of aged honey that's so thick it won't drip but must be dug into like soft wax. The basil-mintiness holds in quite a lovely way and the evocative 'freshly showered' scent returns. I also get a deep, sort of dull ambery/musky note - but not in a bad way, rather fascinating and unique. I love how this scent has both clean and light aspects yet a lot of subtly sweet honeyed resinous depth to scaffold the lighter tones and balance the scent. Yet I only get these layers if I sniff closely with effort - otherwise, it's a very well-blended and seamless blend in addition to being wonderfully balanced and unique. There is not scent in BPAL I have tested to which I can compare this. Great throw and longevity! Unisex to masculine; too masculine for me, and that musk or amber note isn't quite my style, but once again - a beautifully crafted scent.

Edited April 22, 2010 by fairnymph

[GypsyRoseRed]

In the bottle and wet, this smells strongly of classic soap and dryer sheets with a touch of something kinda cologney - (kinda like those giant tubs of green hair gel my brother used to use in high school). Dried down, Tony is very different. It ends up smelling like warm cotton sheets, fresh from the dryer and redolent with that clean, 'dryer sheet' smell with a touch of something that warms it up and stops it from being a straight up fresh or clean blend. Because I usually *hate* those scents, but the overall effect of this is really goooood. I would love to have a linen spray that smells like this. And I would give it to every single male friend I have, because dammit, they need it.

[angelicruin]

This was quite different in the wet stage than I thought it would be. Wet on my skin, it's a very fresh, almost outdoorsy green scent.

 

I agree with GRR that, dry, it smells very much like clean cotton sheets. And, yes, I would love this as an atmospheric spray.

[Little Bird]

Tony smells like very sweet, creamy, floral, slightly powdery soap. My husband likes this on me and said that it smells clean and girly. I agree. This doesn't smell masculine to me at all (my husband refused to even try it on, lol). I'd say that this reminds me of Dirty, but I don't find this as complex as Dirty, and this is more artificial-clean-smelling. Dirty is like clean laundry hung out to dry over a flowerbed. Tony is like a bar of sweet, pink floral scented soap on me... not bad, but not really 'me' either.

[devilot]

Tony

In the vial: SOAP! Nose-burningly soap. Like, Ivory soap. Not Dove, because Ivory is the one that is soooo strong it burns my nose hairs (mebbe not literally, but I wouldn't be surprised if that turned out to be the case after all).

 

Wet: From Ivory to Irish Spring. I swear it. From in-your-face-soapy-clean, to slightly aquatic-soapy-clean.

 

Drydown: Still that Irish Spring green clean, but it's been sweetened somehow.

 

Verdict: I think that subtle sweetness is why others are saying that while this is a very clean scent, it doesn't read as "masculine." Way back in the day, I only ever used bath and body products that smelled clean and this would've been a hardcore favorite had I had it then. But these days, I'm less about this kind of scent. Still, like GRR said, if this were an atmo spray?! I'd love me one! BIG THANK YOU to the C2E2 sniff circle started by GypsyRoseRed!

[bluerose]

In the bottle: It smells like the inside of a laundromat.

 

On the skin: I smell clean, like just fresh out of the shower kind of clean.

[edenssixthday]

Tony - The smell of a busy laundromat is one of my favorite smells in the world -- all that detergent soap and dryer sheat and so much fresh cleanliness. And that is exactly what this reminds me of -- a busy laundromat. The soap smell is definitely the scent of strong, harsh detergent, and it's not something I'd wear as a personal fragrance, but the scent is dead-on, and I absolutely positively LOVE it. It would make an awesome laundry-room or linen spray.

[jencallisto]

In the decant: Clean and sweet.

Fresh on the skin: Huh. Basically yeah, hair gel and aftershave. And shaving cream. Actually, especially shaving cream.

5 minutes in: Yup, stuff like shaving cream and such. Huh.

15 minutes in: Shaving cream, yup.

35 minutes in: Still shaving cream. I... don't think this is for me.

1 hour in: Seriously shaving cream. Chemical cleaner. Meh.

2 hours in: It's going a bit musky. Still not my style.

3 hours in: Light, chemically musk. Soapy. Almost gone. Not a fan.

4 hours in: Ditto.

5 hours in: Yup.

 

Verdict: Peculiar. Not my style. I only very rarely like clean" scents (I am much more likely to loathe them, but every once in a great while, one will surprise me), and shaving cream in definitely not a step in the right direction.

 

One phrase: Shaving cream.

[zankoku_zen]

Clean, slightly manly cologne. But yeah---- super CLEAN! Huge throw.

[sunshinedaisybliss]

For something that's more 'manly' sounding in its description, I'm finding Tony to be quite un-manly! As everyone else has said.. this is the smell of clean laundry - that 'busy day at the laundromat' fragrance of warm soap and clean towels. The smell of a bathroom after someone's just had a shower and the room is still a bit warm and foggy and soapy clean smelling.

 

It's a bit more complex than that though.. I swear there's something floral in here - lilac maybe? A hint of violet? I dunno - it's a pale and slightly sweet floral, not a herb-y one on me. Iris? Orchid? Gah - this is going to make me nuts, trying to figure out what it is!! What's also driving me nuts is that Tony smells very much like another BPAL that I've encountered.. but I can't remember what it is.

 

When I first put it on (and I confess, I did slather rather a bit) - it was a bit too heady and overly sweet, and I was concerned that it was just too much of a good thing. But it calmed down within about five minutes, and has now settled into being a lovely warm and snuggly soft scent. It's almost got a baby powder fragrance about it - not that it's powdery at all.. it just smells a little like baby powder. And I'm pretty sure there's a skin musk of some variety in here. Good throw, and excellent staying power.

 

I think I will wear this one quite a bit - it's one of those BPALs that don't really have a distinct or obvious fragrance.. it just smells good. Oh.. and I'm adding my voice to the chorus of "this would make a great room spray". And although I did say that I don't think this is a particularly manly smell.. if more men actually did smell like this, I certainly wouldn't be complaining