Hmmm, we're a bit concerned about some of the notes in this one.. Rain? Apple Pies?
Created for Tommy Hilfiger by Aramis in 1994 it has remained popular ever since. The fragrance is supposed to represent a journey across America: Lavender and bergamot from Nevada, Grapefruit from Florida, Drifwood from North Carolina, Cactus flower from Arizona and so on... It's a good job Tommy Hilfiger didn't come from the UK as it would have had a lot more of that "Rain" in it!
Tommy fragrance notes
Head
- Lavender, Bergamot, Rain, Florida Grapefruit, Kentucky Bluegrass, Midwest Spearmint
Heart
- Driftwood, Cranberry, Apple Pies, Yellow Rose.
Base
- Blue Spruce, Cactus Flower, Vermot Red Maple, Wyoming Cottonwood, Amber.
Where to buy
Latest Reviews of Tommy

In the $20 range it's a great deal and for many people, this fragrance is an old friend.

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Released the same year (1994), and ironically by the same house (Aramis), I personally prefer to reach for this timeless gem of men's perfumery - "Havana".
2 stars.


As for today, maybe a great gift for a teenager?
Haven't smelt any current formulations, but if I could find my vintage from High School it would be a great time travel smell.

P.S.: This is a typical 'casual hanging out with friends' fragrance. It's ideal for casual circumstances.

It's casual, youthful and cooling. Very decent stuff and still smells nice today.
Projection is not bad during the first couple hours and then it still hangs around a little better than skin scent for 4-5 hours.


The scent itself is edible. I'm not even going to bother trying to breakdown the different notes or whatever as it all blends beautifully into this linear wear that last all of about an hour. Wore this often in Junior high and for good reason, it's the cleanest and most seductive scent a fifteen-year-old boy can wear.
Shouldn't be applied once you obtain a high school diploma though. I wish someone would somehow someway create a more mature rendition of this.

The scent opens with grapefruit and lavender/bergamot mixed with some ozonic element that I guess is what the "rain" is supposed to be, with a touch of barely noticeable mint. Calone is here as well, because everything designer that was anything worth sniffing in the 90's had it, but we're not talking New West (1988) levels of the stuff. The heart of the fragrance is the oft-quoted "apple pie" accord, and indeed there is some semisweet "granny smith" type of green apple in here, not quite sour but tart enough to not disturb the shiny/fresh vibe of the top. From there, it goes down into fresh linens that I guess the "cottonwood" is meant to represent, maybe an early Iso E Super composite, who knows? Some resinous accords that are some form of synthetic woods with usual amber fixative are also spooled in here. It's not a fougère and not quite an aquatic, but neither is it fully a gourmand (a category which didn't quite exist yet at that time), so it's a fully abstract ozonic scent. Clean, sweet, sharp, a bit warm, and sparkling with a slight ozonic nose tinge, this has 90's written all over it in the biggest way a fragrance can. It's not quite candy sweet, but I feel the aforementioned Aramis Havana that this feels close to does this style better by being more balanced and a tad drier. I can see how this may have been seen as sexy back in the day because the "delicious" vibes of the fruit and how they subtly weave through the other ingredients and the stark ozone just come off the shirt collar like tendrils of "come hither", but far more sultry scents than this exist. Much like Eternity for Men (1989), Tommy shows a rare display of warmth without the heaviness or reliance on musk.
Ultimately, this scent like the aforementioned band Creed, has seen it's best years already, and has mellowed down to much less ubiquity, where it is used by new people discovering it's nice middle ground for work wear, and nostalgic guys "who were there" that are now a few decades older and like keeping this around for memories, or still think it can get them a date 20+ years on. Tommy does share the "clean yet slightly sensual" DNA that newer male fare also still abused, so maybe they're right. Some things are seductive enough to become "panty droppers" among the basic bro population in fragrance community, but not this, and I just can't shake the image of overcompensating guys marinaded in this walking into a bar with their shirts unbuttoned and flirting with the barmaid who had seen (and smelled) far better. Aramis still does work for Mr. Hillfiger, but judging by the gimmicky and flaccid compositions, they're just bottling rejected Estée Lauder formulas now and not composing it bespoke for Mr. Hillfiger anymore, with the stuff turning up in discounters like Walmart all the time instead of the fragrance counters where this one debuted. Once again like a popular 90's alt rock band, a few more minor successes came and went alongside Tommy, but this poor fella remained and slid into the realms of "remember when" or "oh guys still wear that?" which is that most dangerous middle ground a fragrance has to traverse before being old enough to finally attain a "classic" status. In a nutshell, this crisp ozonic fruit basket is perfect for the appliance salesman at Best Buy or the supervisor of concierge service, but that's about the limit of it's power outside casual use.
