St. Kitts for Men
Tommy Bahama (2015)

I'm addicted to this fragrance, I think because there is mystery in the unknown. Starfruit? I'm unfamiliar with it. The closest to St. Kitts I've been is South Florida. So I cannot really evaluate this intelligently. I will say it appears natural and not synthetic. And delicious. It was a blind buy from Fragrancenet.com and I couldn't be happier.

I picked up this Tommy Bahama St. Kitts while in Hawaii years ago and even though I am a long way from St. Kitts, this is the perfect island ocean scent for me. This is my favorite of the Set Sail series from Tommy Bahama and I am surprised I don't see it around anymore. The opening is ocean air kissed island fruits, with a hint of light floral -magnolia or mimosa possibly. This fresh fruit opening layers over a dry driftwood musk base that has the washed feel of beach sand after constant waves tumbling up onto the shoreline. The musk base could be synthetic to some, but but this base is the perfect dry contrast to the lively island fruit opening. Very nice. I miss the ocean.

I truly believe that Tommy Bahama is one of the most underrated fragrance houses out there. The criminally discontinued Tommy Bahama for Men (2005) was a masterpiece. St. Kitts has Harry Fremont's fingerprints all over it; it is an unabashedly synthetic, well-designed scent. That said, it does a good job in representing the specific notes that it claims in an attractively unnatural way a la cK one (1994), one of his previous works.


Initial blast is heavy on the starfruit, which has an almost floral touch to its fruitiness, and then it goes right into the middle and base notes. Fremont used lime and sea salt in the mix in an attempt to try and lighten up the potent musk and ambergris that serve as the foundation on this. It was a good move, as this could easily have drifted into "cloying" territory. It's quite an interesting fragrance that seems to be riding on the razor's edge of being powdery, as I would describe this as a "deceptive musk." I think this scent could be worn by an adventurous female, though I wouldn't go so far as to say that this is a unisex fragrance. Definitely something that would work well on a summer evening as this has something of a "more than casual/somewhat romantic" vibe, in my opinion.

Sillage-wise, this projects fairly well with some liberal sprays, and it lasted close to eight hours on me, so longevity is there. Unsurprisingly, the reason I'm wearing this fragrance in the first place is because it's one of those scents that seems to show up in every TJ Maxx or Marshalls. Go to one of those two stores and you'll probably find a bottle of it for around $15-20 bucks, and at that price, this scent is basically a no-brainer for your collection. Thumbs up for sure on this value-frag!

The opening blast presents a very familiar Versace Eau Fraiche vibe that has been quieted down. It's familiar but not as loud and more 'juicy'. Once you make this association, it will be stuck with you for the 20 to 30 minutes. The woods, musk and other notes blend with this and the fragrance takes on an overall tropical vibe. Seaside, late fall afternoon in Tahiti, sitting on some driftwood, while eating some watery fruit. The fragrance is light enough to do something I rarely do... overspray. Actually, overspraying boosts the ambroxan and musk to become more pleasant in my opinion. When you read ambroxan, don't think Sauvage. This fragrance, oversprayed, is closer to Xerjoff's Nio than Sauvage. You can stand at ease. I'm not calling this a duplicate of Nio. Not at all.

St. Kitts gives me 8 hours of decent performance with 4-6 hours of medium projection. This works very well in the spring time or even in the blistering heat. I bought mine for $19 at TJ Max and it at that price it is an absolute steal. Get this one when you want a really good summertime fragrance that you can spray with reckless abandon. Solid 7/10.

I started my recent re-interest in fragging with a blind buy of a bottle of Tommy Bahama Martinique, and then discovered this site. That particular bottle didn't do much for me, but a little research here revealed this hidden gem. I know that a lot of folks like St. Barts, and I did try that, but it gagged me on the opening. St. Kitts smelled a bit...interesting at first, but I grew to quickly love it. My nose is not as well-trained as many around here, but I do get the initial blast of starfruit (and maybe lime) drying down to marine-ish, wood-ish scents. I bought four bottles of it since it's been on sale at TJX, and wear it most days. It works for me, but then I am always thinking about the next time that I can get back to a beach, so it always lightens my mood. Totally worth $20 at the discounters--and yes, it requires a good dousing for full effect, and it doesn't last long. But while it does, it's fun.

Mainstream and Gulf Stream
Like a bank branch office on
Some lovely island.

Beautiful sillage
Another fruity chypre
That's not Aventus.

Gladly it forsakes
All the usual cliches
Of parrothead frags.

Yet pays nice homage
To old Tommy Bahama's
Classic gentle warmth.

Land, conquistador!
You think you conquer it, but
It will conquer you.

The starfruit and salt make this different from your usual citrus blast/woods summer frag. Makes for a welcome addition to my summer rotation.

St. Kitts smells like clean laundry, citrus and ambroxan in the opening. The drydown leaves out the citrus but the other notes persist.

Feels extremely casual and best for warm weather.