A Guide to Men's Fragrances, and, my experience with the Milton Lloyd Smell a Likes

I must admit I wasn’t particularly a big fan of men’s perfume, but have dabbled with the cheaper brands such as Marks and Spencers, Blue Inc, and, David Beckham Instinct.  Whenever I made a purchase, the Eau de Toilette was always on offer, with the biggest bargain being the 75ml David Beckham Instinct, which I purchased for £8 from Poundland.  In hindsight I wish I had bought a few more bottles at this price, although I did see the brand available to buy on Amazon for £9.40, with free postage being offered on orders totalling over £20.

I think my biggest problem with purchasing fragrances is the cost.  The largest brands of Jean Paul Gaultier, Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, and, Davidoff, were asking in my humble opinion quite hefty sums of money for their offerings.  It wasn’t until I had an assignation with a member of the opposite sex, who commented on my perfume (which incidentally was the David Beckham Instinct), to say it drove her wild that I started to seriously think about the subject, and, the benefits, hence leading to this blog post.  The other pressing factor is that the bottle of David Beckham Instinct is now starting to get seriously low, so I have to find a way to either replenish or find a substitute at a reasonable cost.

Given this I started to do some research, and, it turned out to be somewhat more complicated than I first imagined.  One of the issues I had with the perfumes I purchased was the longevity of the product.  My experience was that after the first initial spray the scent disappeared, and, hence my thoughts that the product was a waste of money, however, I failed to understand the complexities of the perfume industry.  The first thing to consider is that the type of perfume you purchase determines how long the smell lasts.  This depends on the perfume content as follows:

Parfum                              20 – 30%      from 6 hours to a day

Eau de Parfum (EDP)         8 – 15 %       upto 6 hours

Eau de Toilette (EDT)         4 – 10 %       upto 4 hours

Eau de Cologne (EDC)          2 – 5%       from 2 to 4 hours

Aftershave                            1 – 3%       upto 2 hours

As can be seen from the above the greater percentage perfume content translates into an increase in the longevity of the scent, however, the same also goes for the price, i.e. the higher the concentration the greater the cost.  I have also provided an estimate of how long the scent will last, but you have to appreciate this varies from person to person.  The reason relates to the oiliness of your skin.  It just so happens that the scent will last longer on someone with oily skin as this tends to absorb to perfume and then release it more slowly over a longer period of time.  The other point to note is that a greater perfume percentage will translate into a lower alcohol content.  This can be beneficial as alcohol is not particularly good for the skin, and, can result in dryness and irritation.

You may think the previous paragraphs are about as complex as it gets with regard to men’s fragrances, however, there is still another aspect that we need to consider, which is the dynamism of the scent.  This means how the smell changes over the course of time that it is worn.  The technical term for this in the industry is called “notes”, which are split into top, middle, and, base, and, develop over the course of wearing the scent.  They are explained as follows:  

Top – This is the first smell, and, tends to be fresh and zingy lasting up to around 15 minutes.

Middle – Also known as heart notes.  These tend to be heavier floral scents, lasting up to 30 minutes.

Base – This is the final smell of the scent, being the one that has more staying power, and, hence is the one you have to live with.  The smell tends to be longer lasting for example wood, leather, or, smoke.

So after all the above research I could finally get down to pursuing my quest to purchase some new men’s fragrance.  As I have mentioned previously I am all about value for money, which seemed to preclude the more well known brands.  It was at this point that I became aware of the smell a likes, in particularly the brand of Milton Lloyd.  Effectively these are manufactured to smell the same as more expensive fragrances, but at a fraction of the cost.  Obviously this immediately attracted me!  I opted to purchase the fragrances through Amazon, as it just so happened I had a gift voucher for the value of £10.  This enabled me to purchase three Eau de Toilette fragrances for a small additional outlay as follows:

Milton Lloyd Bondage Hommes – a smell a like for Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male

Milton Lloyd Top Gun 2 – a smell a like for Boss bottled by Hugo Boss

Milton Lloyd Me Too! – a smell a like for Joop

I selected the above based on the reviews of the real fragrances they are supposed to be similar to.  I duly purchased and awaited delivery, which took a tardy seven days before they appeared.  I must admit that delivery timescales, and, the uncertainty are still a big turn off when ordering online even in this day and age.

So to my observations about the fragrances I ordered.  Unfortunately at the moment the first impressions are quite negative, however, one big problem is that I do not have any of the real scents, which makes it difficult for me to compare the actual fragrances.  My observations are as follows:

The first issue relates to the fact that all the perfumes are applied by pressure aerosols, the same as underarm deodorant.  This personally gives me the impression that you are effectively spraying deodorant on your face!  Whether this is psychological or not I do not know, but I prefer the non pressure manual application most normally found on Eau do Toilettes.

The second issue relates to the styling on the sprays and boxes.  I know this may seem to be a minor point, but branding is quite a big deal, if only to give you greater confidence.  The illustration of the body on the Milton Lloyd Bondage Hommes particularly puts me off, as well as the colour used on the Milton Lloyd Me Too! Box.

The third point is that the aerosol spray containers all have writing on them that appears to be Arabic.  There is a warning that is in English, along with the alcohol content and manufacturing address, however, I find the foreign wording to be slightly off putting, giving the impression I have bought a product destined for another market.

On the plus side it states on all the fragrances that they are Made in England.

So in conclusion it feels like I have effectively bought strong deodorant sprays.  Unfortunately at the present time I do not have any female company I can call on for an opinion of the scents, however, I will keep you posted if my luck changes.  In hindsight it feels as if I should have stuck with my David Beckham Instinct and paid the higher price.

As always please do your own research, and, any comments are gladly welcomed.  In addition I did read some positive reviews about male perfumes sold by the pound shops, however, I cannot as yet find the brands mentioned, but if I do I shall update the post with my views.

Just as an aside on the deodorant front the “Suremen Invisible Ice 48h”, sold by Poundland for 150ml, in my opinion represents excellent value and has a nice strong lasting smell.