Uomo? Moschino
Moschino (1997)

Apparently I am drawn to the combination of citrus and musk (see my review on Moustache Original 1949). This one does not disappoint at all, as I blind bought with the expectation that it would be underwhelming due to the hype.

The coriander, clary sage, and kumquat are really evident, imparting a certain pleasant prickly cleanness. This is tempered by the persistent undercurrent of musk and rosewood. I like. It's rugged happiness in a bottle.

What a great fragnance is this. It opens up with a strong kumquat note follows with kind of mint note like le male . Then it has this beautiful greenish kind of drydown. It kind of reminds me the drydown of Green Irish tweed. Longevity is average . On my skin lasts about 4 to 5 hours. It actualy projects pretty good. People notice you and I got some compliments.

I have gotten more compliments from both men and women when I've worn this fragrance than I have with any other. If I had to choose a signature scent (which I am opposed to doing) this would be the one. I rarely grow tired of it and wear it more often than others in my collection. My collection is rather large and includes scents from the best houses (Chanel, Dior, Guerlain, Hermes, etc). This is not a new fragrance, so it is available online at very reasonable prices. It is inexpensive but certainly not cheap from the standpoint of quality.

Terrible, smells like baby cologne, a complete waste!

This is a pretty irreverent fragrance, but then again, most are from the house of Moschino, a house that surprisingly gets little love. The previous masculine, Moschino Pour Homme (1990), was a nice petrol leather chypre likely meant to compete against Dior Fahrenheit (1988) or even Hermès Bel Ami (1986), but clean musks were all the rage in the mainstream men's segment during the second half of the 90's thanks to scents like Jovan White Musk for Men (1992), Calvin Klein cK One (1994), Curve for Men by Liz Claiborne (1996), with a strong unisex vibe, either intentional or not, running through many of them. The "Beige Age" as I affectionately remember it, was a time of edgy, simplistic music coupled with dressed-down looks and fragrances that felt like atonement for the deliciously wild and crazy 80's, but Moschino didn't enter the game then, and therefore really had no reason to "play nice" with anyone's nostrils. Everyone else was apologizing while Moschino was cranking Nirvana's "All Apologies", consequences be damned. To that end, Uomo? Moschino (1997) is a musk, but not really a clean one, although you wouldn't realize that with it's lemony de-jasmined "new hedione" carrier note. The question mark after the "Uomo" is also a bit of cheek from Moschino, in the same order as the double-necked editions of their previous masculine, removing the need for separate spray and splash productions. In this instance, the question mark is more a symbolic gesture asking the onlooker "is this really for men, or can anybody wear this?", to which the answer is, yeah.. maybe. Woody ambers are typically the provenance of men just out of tradition, but they never used to be back in the early to mid 20th century, and thanks to the genderless white musk accord in this, can sorta tip their toe "across the line" here in Uomo? Moschino, which may also explain the use of the question mark.

Uomo? Moschino was composed by Olivier Cresp, a perfumer who in time would become known for a lot of vacuous output, but here he turns his focus to a synthetic white musk molecule made somewhat dirty again with the addition of a composite amber note (since this was before the invention of modern ambrocenide), an Iso E Super fake woods note (also before the proliferation of norlimbanol/karmawood), and some actual aromatic cedar. Riding on top this musk and prototype "amber woods" accord is a bit of gourmand spice and sweet hedionic citrus. The opening of Uomo? Moschino reminds me a lot of the vanilla-frosted lemon cake they serve at Starbucks (pairs nice with vanilla bean frap by the way), but the aldehydes and hedione soon fade into a bizarre but interesting kumquat and pepper which is no doubt what the "transparent coriander" is supposed to be. Moschino also seems bitten by the Calvin Klein fantasy note-names bug with this one, but I'll forgive them. The heart is rosewood and florals like cyclamen and artemisia, coupled with cinnamon and clary sage, give Uomo? Moschino a "light floral gourmand" tone similar to the later Yohji Homme by Yohji Yamamoto (1999), but without the licorice twist. Once the spices and crisp floral bouquet settles down, we land on the aforementioned synthetic "amber woods" musk base, which is either clairvoyance into the future of masculine fragrance or just dumb luck on Cresp's part. Best of all, since this accord is built from last-generation chemistry instead of the most recent versions of these accords, there's no "norlimbanol scratch" to assault your senses, even if the prototype woodyl-amber is a less-accurate proxy for a traditional amber compound note (which is why synthetic woody-ambers sort of became their own genre over the years). Longevity is fair but could be better, and sillage is moderate, but considering it's an oriental/gourmand/musk hybrid claiming a "sunlight accord" that -doesn't- smell like a hot plate of yack, I'll take it.

Uomo? Moschino is a synthetic musk in that quasi-soapy-yet-dirty limbo that the much-more-expensive Musc Ravageur (2000) would later take to the 11th power of wowzers, but here has enough complexity and lightness around it to prevent it from being all that shocking. You have to really dig amber to find favor in Uomo? Moschino, as it stands taller than even the musk in the later stages of the wear, but in typical Moschino fashion, this scent retains a flirty irreverence, just without being in decanters stuffed in Teddy bears or shaped like Windex bottles (and you thought old Avon was bad). Uomo? Moschino is simple, doesn't smell particularly sophisticated or expensive, and merely toys with the idea of being unisex (deliberately) but also sells for a song, so they're not looking to get any amnesty for their behavior. Uomo? Moschino is a casual or office scent best in temperate climates, but can hang in all seasons if you work indoors, and maybe stretches into dressed-down romantic use due to the ambery musk base, but just as it's almost but not quite unisex, I'd equally say it's almost but not quite generalist, as if Olivier Cresp was given a box of crayons and colored outside of the lines everywhere he possibly could. Best part of all is the smell of Uomo? Moschino is thoroughly inoffensive so it flirts with the safety on, keeping it well within the "Beige Age" parameters of the decade. Whoever said pleasant couldn't also be thought-provoking? If you want a cheap daily grinder with a bit of versatility, just old enough that nobody else will be wearing it, but still modern (also read: synthetic) enough to not feel out of place, this might be your ticket. I like a scent that plays by it's own rules but plays well with others, so Uomo? Moschino puts a question mark where there should be an exclamation point. Thumbs up.

Nondescript citrus woody pink peppery.
Similar to Prada L'Homme but less characterful and better than Ferrari Uomo as its less cloying.

Fragrance: 6.75/10
Projection: 7/10
Longevity: 7/10