Mainstream Monday: Sniffing a Popular Perfume
I featured Chanel Antaeus in my Favorite Masculines for Men post. This was a post about perfumes that I love to smell but don’t feel comfortable wearing. And it’s very evident from that post that I love late 1970’s and early 1980’s masculines. I like men’s fragrances that will remind you of Tom Selleck’s mustache.
Antaeus is a powerhouse. It is THE powerhouse. It broke the ice for a decade of “sooo masculine it was borderline campy” powerhouse fragrances. Antaeus opens with a blast of dry sage reminding me of Hollywood’s interpretation of Wild West tumbleweeds. Underneath the dry sage, it’s all animalic. There’s unwashed scalp. And faint traces of sweaty man armpits. Sandalwood and pine needles. Sweat and leather bars. Beeswax pomade in perfectly coiffed hair. A dry moss and patchouli chypre. It’s all hyper-masculine notes thrown into a sleek black bottle.
Really all I want to say is that I love Antaeus and I don’t really feel like breaking it apart. It smells really good and that’s all I feel like saying about it. David hates it; he won’t wear it. I lied. I have noticed when he tries to get out of the doghouse for saying something stupid, that he’ll wear it. And last week he thought I was going to die (or something) and he wore it (I’m still trying to figure this one out).
Notes listed include moss, cedar, sandalwood, tobacco, pine, Russian leather, clary sage, myrtle, patchouli, and beeswax absolute. Launched 1981. PERFUMER – Jacques Polge
Give Chanel Antaeus a try if you like good perfumes 🙂 or if you like fragrances like Halston Z-14, Caron Yatagan, Yves Saint Laurent Kouros and/or Tom Ford Italian Cypress. Antaeus smells very masculine to me. Like aggressively masculine. Like Tom Selleck mustache masculine.
Oh, and Antaeus is an EDT. I imagine that one spritz of an EDP could be noticed at least 3 states away. This fragrance has ABOVE AVERAGE sillage and longevity.
The 3.3 oz bottle retails for $84 at Nordstrom and Harrods (UK). You don’t have to spend a fortune to smell great.
*I’ve reviewed a modern version. You’re going to hear all kinds of things about the vintage on-line. Yeah, vintage is nice but so is the modern. I’m not going to go around chasing things that remind me of a different hairline or a different body type than I have today…
Victoria’s Final EauPINION – An amazing powerhouse masculine that defined a decade. It’s one of my favorites to smell on masculine types. I will take this over Bleu de Chanel any day.
Want more reviews? Try…
Now Smell This (love Kevin’s review)
Victoria I am so with you about Chanel Antaeus. It is a beautiful peddle to the metal full on macho man with a capital M. M for Magnum P.I. (I also pick up some bad boy Alec Baldwin in there and lurking way in the back is Sam Elliot.)
It is in a class all its own in my book and a class act. But a guy has to wear it with confidence or it will wear them.
Or a tough no nonsense woman. I can see Joan Collins putting it on before a power meeting with the suits at ABC to negotiate a bigger piece of the Dynasty action. Her perfume creation was Scoundrel but I just know she had to love Antaeus.)Brava on a fun and wonderful review!
For a laugh hop over to YouTube and type in Joan Collins Scoundrel!
LANIER SMITH recently posted..THE IMAGINARY LUNCH ~ L’Orchidée Terrible by Imaginary Authors
Did you read Kevin’s review on NST? I love his take. Smelling Antaeus now, it seems more unisex. The only things like it that have really survived have been the classic chypres marketed to women. When husband wears this, he says he smells like a woman. And I find this funny because it’s such a masculine fragrance to me. But, I guess he’s associating it with some mossy chypre that maybe a great aunt or someone wore. So, yeah, I do see this being worn by anyone that can “carry” a powerhouse scent.
For the record, San Elliott’s mustaches are more my speed 😉
You are so right! And I can see your husband’s point. But to me it will always be the Macho Man! I have to check out Kevin’s review. Yes…Sam Elliot wins whiskers down with his mighty mustache!
LANIER SMITH recently posted..THE IMAGINARY LUNCH ~ L’Orchidée Terrible by Imaginary Authors
It seems that men’s mainstream is getting more “feminine” with time and vice versa. It’s interesting because the classic feminines now seem more masculine and classic masculines now seem more feminine. The line has become blurry and I rather like that. But, I don’t see mustaches doing a crossover 🙂
I was at Nordstroms this past weekend with a friend on mine and sprayed his wrist saying this is a classic powerhouse manly masculine. To my surprise, there were several guys around me listening in and after we walked away I saw several of them reach for the tester.
Out of curiosity, I went back to the men’s grooming area about an hour and asked the SA if they had a sudden surge of Antaeus sales. He said that he noticed about an hour ago they sold out all 5 bottles they had on the counter and backordered more for people who wanted it.
Its amazing how much you can warp men’s minds by telling them – this is manly – if you wear it, you will be manly too. I guess that’s why there are all those stupid Old Spice commercials on TV right now.
🙂
Ron
Ron Slomowicz recently posted..By Kilian Apple Brandy Fragrance Review
Wow. You should do a blog post about this. That is really interesting.
But, you’re right. It’s about selling masculinity. And obviously, it works. It works 5+ in a hour on a lazy weekend day in Nashville. I mean, I’m not complaining. I love smelling the stuff.
It makes me wonder. Let’s say you walked by with a girlfriend and said, “OMG, Coco is a classic vavavoom feminine” would they have sold Coco that fast? It’s all really interesting.
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