L'Homme Idéal Eau de Toilette
Guerlain (2014)

I am a fan of several Guerlains, which generally deliver good quality, masterful blending and reasonable pricing to an underappreciative market. Perhaps that is why Guerlain created Ideal - they were tired of mediocre sales figures for excellent fragrances, and chose to create a mediocre fragrance that would sell well. Given all the flankers of this, I'm guessing they accomplished this goal.

This is a pretty simple fragrance, a tonka and almond heart with little frills around it. A vague citrus note that fades within minutes. A bit of synthetic orange blossom that peaks out for 30 minutes in the early heart. A wisp of clean leather and cedar that you probably wouldn't identify if you hadn't read the notes first. No trace of vetiver even when I try hard to smell it. If you have ever eaten Vanilla Almond Puffins cereal, you know what this smells like. Pretty boring, not a great performer.

To be fair, it did grow on me a bit over several wearings. I learned to spray heavily (this won't choke a room no matter how much you use), and at around 4 hours, if your body heat is just right, there are some happy light wafts that might bring a smile. But Armaf Craze and Burberry Brit both cover the same territory with more imagination and at a lower price, so there really isn't a need for this.

It opens up with a burst of citrus with a hint of bitter orange and quickly moves into a slightly sweet almond accord. This accord does start to smell like a liquor when the tonka melds with the almond. It's slightly creamy and after a hour or two you can smell the woodsy cedar and vetiver providing the foundation of the scent.

Now this is a very light and subtle fragrance with not much projection or sillage. After two to three hours it's a skin scent and disappears quickly after that. This is one of those fragrances where it's so light you can spray to your hearts content and never be in danger of it becoming cloying.

All in all a nice scent let down by poor performance on all levels.

I chose this because we’re in the sticks and I don’t want to smell like a woman when I go to the shops.
And 'not smelling like a woman' is the best thing I can say about it.
Instead of the Ideal Man, this slick but fatuous bunch of chemicals smells like woody Amaretto trifle.
It should be called Le Jeune Idéal : that’s how grown up it is.

I find this to have the most ambroxan out of the line. that's what I like about it.

It's another nice but stereotyped male fragrance.

I was really excited to try this one. From looking at the notes it really seemed up my alley. Amaretto is one of my favorite liqueurs and tonka is always great. But this was really a disappointment. The opening really does nothing for me at all. It's simultaneously sharp and powdery in an unpleasant way. It comes off strangely floral and almost feels like an old woman's perfume.

After 30 to 60min as those notes start to die down I get to notice the almond and a tonka a bit more. But after such a sharp opening it's actually hard to appreciate them, like my nose has gone numb to it. Maybe if I could skip right to the drydown this would be wearable. But, I can't stand the opening enough to try this again.