Allure Homme Sport Cologne
Chanel (2007)

Ah, citrus and celery, a combination as old as... wait, what? I have no idea what causes this otherwise lovely, ultra-fresh, citrus-forward cologne to have a distinct celery accord, but the nose smells what it smells. It seems not everyone picks up on this calorie-free green note, as no one else mentioned it below. Search around in the forums and the other review site, and you'll see sporadic mentions of the dread pirate celery invading the sanctity of an otherwise innocuous summer citrus frag. Oddly enough... I've come to love the celery, the way I came to love drinking V8 as a kid, despite its resemblance to soup. It lends a slightly herbal, lightly vegetal, and ultimately aromatic aspect to an otherwise simple citrus and white musk scent that would be virtually indistinguishable from Dior Homme Cologne without it.

And that's really what this is: a beautiful, reasonably natural smelling citrus top note over a white musk base, just like Dior Homme Cologne, Zara Vibrant Leather Summer, and any number of other scents in a similar mold (e.g., Mercedes Benz, Jimmy Choo, etc.). While Dior Homme Cologne seems like the default choice in this micro-genre — and I still love DHC for its iced-lemonade-over-clean-white-cotton ethereality — AHSC distinguishes itself through slightly better blending, more natural-smelling ingredients, and longevity than its designer competition, plus that herbal/vegetal accord, which is pretty mild and more of an aromatic twist than anything. Longevity is solid for this type of scent, maybe 6 hours of medium-to-light projection.

All in all, I really enjoy this for what it is. If you can learn to love the celery, it feels reasonably classic, almost old-fashioned, without feeling dated, all with the boosted performance of something much more modern due to the musk and whatever nearly-invisible base notes are added to extend its life for a few hours, all without intruding on the core citrus accord. Is it worth the asking price? Probably not, when Vibrant Leather Summer comes awfully close and costs 1/5 as much. (VLS also lasts longer than DHC and uses ginger for a lightly spicy twist, rather than the light aromatics in AHSC; all three are excellent, but VLS is the only one I'd consider a good value.) And yet, the Chanel is still the most interesting scent in this category, and it feels higher quality than the others, the way Chanel scents often do. Good stuff all around.

A better version of Dior Homme Sport, in my opinion. Less harsh and more refined. It's all about sharp citrus and musk but it's all done very smoothly.

Hours into the drydown, it reminds me of a toned-down, less dynamic version of Edition Blanche. Not saying it's not good, in fact, I really like the Cologne version, but EB is just its own animal. The late drydown is just very nice and smooth, reminding me of the original AHS.

Average projection and longevity, lasts about 6-7 hours.

Lemons, Lemons, Lemons!

One of thee most citrus fresh frags out there. think of summer and sun and you'll nail it with this one. bought a bottle last summer and liked it more and more every time I sprayed it. Not overpowering but you notice it more or less all day. Just bought another bottle for this summer but it's kind of pricey. Chanel doesn't discount anything so be ready to pay a healthy price. Got mine on ebay for a reasonable rate.

If you like lemon/lime/grapefruit and just a touch of spice give it a try, you won't be disapointed

Chanel Allure Homme Sport Cologne is an odd hidden gem. It bears no relation to the rest of the Allure Homme line outside of perhaps Edition Blanche. Even then it stands quite distinct.

If it weren't for the somewhat gaudy presentation Allure Homme Sport Cologne might be more of a hit among aficionados. It's far more reminiscent of classic chypres such as Pour Monsieur or Eau Sauvage than modern ones to my nose.

The citruses are distinct and almost thirst-quenching. Lemon, bergamot and citron play well together with sweet, tart and bitter elements intermingling in the opening. The very clean white musk alongside the tonka bean mellows out the fragrance in the dry down though it still very much retains its citrus accords.

Allure Homme Sport Cologne is a perfect fragrance for hot weather, particularly here in Los Angeles. I wear this to lunch, errands, day dates even the gym. It's easily one of the freshest, enduring scents I've smelled in a long while. It may lack a certain formality, but not sophistication.

Chanel Allure Homme Sport Cologne (2007) isn't the first simple cologne-like eau de toilette treatment of citrus and woods/musks to ever hit the men's designer fragrance world, but it is the first one from among the top designer houses in the market, which is substantial, at least in hindsight. Yeah, Rochas had Eau de Rochas Homme (1993) over a decade before that, but it really was an outlier as it was in response to Rochas not having a clean and simple masculine fragrance at the time to compete against the aquatic freshies taking over at the beginning of the 90's. With Allure Homme Sport Cologne, it appeared as though Chanel was responding to Terre d'Hermes by Hermès (2006), as it was popularizing transparent citrus-forward fragrances with unobtrusive bases, couter to all the sweet gourmands or big ozonic fruity musk bombs from the first half of the 2000's. The Chanel Allure Homme (1999) range itself was becoming a chimera of sorts designed to give Chanel an answer to developments in the market it did not itself spearhead (as it was used to doing in the past), so I'm not surprised that after the aquatic subversion that was Chanel Allure Homme Sport (2004), that we'd get something like this.

So obviously Allure Homme Sport Cologne does not very much smell like Terre d'Hermes, and its mostly citrus-over-musk design would instead inform of the coming trend in the men's designer realm of "cologne/l'eau/fraîche" flankers that would be either minimalist and transparent takes on the pillar they flanked, or altogether unrelated fresh citrus woody musks that wore light but longer than an actual cologne. To some degree we can also see this fragrance influencing the designs of Francis Kurkdjian for his Maison Francis Kurkdjian private label, as he'd make many aquatic or citrus-forward white musks that seem almost directly related to Polge's work here. Coincidence? Probably not. For the most part, you get lemon, dry aldehydes, citron, grapefruit, and elemi resin, which then dries down over white musk, a bit of Iso E Super, and just a tiny sliver of tonka. Allure Homme Sport Cologne has zero relation to any Allure Homme flanker other than Chanel Allure Homme Edition Blanche (2008), which would take the lemony citrus cocktail up top and build a thicker, creamier fragrance around it. Performance here is light, but the musk is tenacious and will go about 8 hours.

Allure Homme Sport Cologne became the origin point of a very common trope, as every major designer player from Dior on down the line would make a cologne-type flanker to their masculine pillar launches in time. Even some older lines would receive "cologne" flankers in coming years, including Calvin Klein Eternity for Men (1989), a fragrance that had as its biggest competitor Chanel's own Platinum Égoïste (1993). Considering Chanel also launched the upmarket Chanel Eau de Cologne (2007) the same year, this scent might have been an alternate formula relegated as an Allure Homme flanker. I do know one thing: something like this released in the 2020's would likely have been part of Chanel's "Paris" cologne range instead. Discontinued once, then brought back in 2014, Chanel Allure Homme Sport Cologne was briefly hyped as a hidden gem by he usual suspects when it was gone from market, but has since fallen into obscurity as Chanel's most-overlooked Allure Homme flanker, meaning it may be axed again for the final time. There isn't much to love here, but also nothing to hate, and if you like simple citrus, and clean white musk, take a look if the price is right. Thumbs up

Allure Homme Sport Cologne is indeed a fresh, 'sporty' fragrance, with a synthetic but well done accord of citrus on a base of clean musk. Usually something along such lines end up being sub par; but here it is different. What I like about it is that the focus is soft and hazy - there's no shrill or sharp edge. It doesn't smell like a modern Chanel masculine; rather, it smells something that Hermes would probably release, save for the effect something akin to 'aldehydes' in the very beginning, toned down and very brief. The scent itself is very simple, but is fun and never intrusive. I find sillage to be close but persistent, and duration is surprisingly good at several hours in hot weather.


Allure Homme Sport isn't the best in its category on the market; Mugler Cologne is. However, Allure Homme Sport is a viable second choice, given how disappointing all masculine mainstream 'sport' fragrances or colognes are nowadays, especially with the demise of Dior Homme Sport. The other interesting aspect is that I imagine it work would quite well on women. Allure Homme Sport Cologne is probably something that was supposed to run totally contrary to my taste; yet, it doesn't, and I have bought myself a 150 ml bottle. It has quickly become a wardrobe staple in the hot weather.

3.5/5