I get a good 5-6 hours out of it which, for a Varvatos fragrance, is outstanding. I'm in my office wearing chinos, a chambray, and a pair of beaten leather shoes. Here's what you need to know: it smells good, it's somehow both a fresh aquatic and a complex and masculine oriental. I feel like I'm looking at a brunch menu. The notes listed on Varvatos fragrances always make me laugh there are far too many to count, and they always seem really embellished. In the drydown I find a deep, woody note and a jasmine note that delicately dance with one another without overpowering one another. It has a bright and bitter citrus opening that reminds me of neroli but is noticeably different. But I'm fond of the creativity that comes out of House Varvatos so I bought this one blind. I went through a 4.2 of Artisan and its longevity problems drove me not to buy another.

My previous comments should be emblematic as to why I'm giving this a thumbs up. I have a few Varvatos fragrances that I own and enjoy, and after wearing this, I'm pretty sure that I'll be adding Artisan Pure to my collection - especially since it is relatively inexpensive. Rodrigo Flores-Roux has really created some gems under the John Varvatos name, and Artisan Pure deserves to sit in that pantheon of well-crafted scents. This has surprisingly good projection and longevity. As it dries down, the citrus becomes muted and what remains is a woody base with some citrus and floral remnants, but it will stick around for a while. It's very clean-smelling and is perfect for warm weather wear. This is a very bright, soapy citrus - yet another of the 'high-end hotel soap' fragrances - but this is definitely done right. It definitely smells synthetic, but in a very tasteful way. What gives this a really nice touch is the orris and jasmine, providing a soft floral bed for those bright citrus notes, which in AdP's Colonia, have an almost irritating effect at first. Artisan Pure seems to be able to capture those scents and keep them around for a while. With Colonia, you're on a short timer counting down to when that citrusy blast starts to fade, and we're talking a matter of minutes. This opens up with a lemon and orange citrus blast that's reminiscent of the same initial blast that you get with Colonia by Acqua di Parma (1916). I actually ended up buying Versace Man Eau Fraiche, Hermes Eau Givree, and Sauvage EDT (EDP is too weak, Parfum is trash, Elixir is more trash, don't me) for my summer arsenal. While I definitely believe in wearing colognes for yourself, it's not a good idea for a hetero guy to wear something women are repulsed by. Unfortunately, if you watch Fragrance Room's videos where women react to this, nearly all of them hate this fragrance and rate it below 4/10. My closing remark is that this feels like Versace pour Homme minus tonka bean and 4x the neroli - they are really that similar even though VPH lasts about an hour, is plain and boring, but also cheap. This is praised as the definitive vacation scent, but to me it's the definitive *beach* vacation scent with that south european twist and I almost feel like wearing this anywhere else would be out of place. This makes JVAP a more floral springtime scent whereas Sauvage is straight up 'blue' that everyone 'expects' a men's fragrance to smell like. Oversimplifying, Sauvage EDT takes the lemon cleaner smell edge off with black pepper the same way as JVAP does with floral and herbal notes. It's herbacious and floral enough for spring AND citrusy and floral enough for summer, AND cheap enough to overspray, AND a fairly safe scent (unless someone hates the smell of citrus blossom, in which case you should probably avoid that psychopath anyways).Įven though it's nothing like Sauvage, it still gets compared to the king of citrus and the king of ambroxan. It definitely gave me a headache because I can't stop enjoying this. It's Neroli Portofino Forte! If you don't believe me, check out the perfumer for both and notice it's the same gentleman behind both, and they are both his most popular fragrance (single). AdG Absolu is extremely popular after the big bottles went 60% off on black friday 2022, but a sweet aquatic smells so 'cologne-guy', a category almost as bad as 'old man cologne guy'.Īfter seeing JVAP called out in multiple videos, I tried on 4 sprays in Macy's and went right in. I see the Lacoste L1212 and Abercrombie First Instinct called out often, but smelling like melons is just such a strange concept to me. I found myself looking at top 10 videos from 2018 in desperate search of a spring/summer fragrance that was unique enough for me to enjoy and also mass-appealing enough so I could wear it without worrying about bad reactions, and affordable but also not cheapie smelling.

John varvatos artisan pure review