Welcome to issue #38 of The Gents Weekly, a newsletter for the modern man.
New issues every Monday. Brought to you by the men of Gents Journey — Dean Bokhari, Stephen Seidel, and Matt McManus.
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📝 THE MESSAGE
A timely piece from the gents.
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The Top 5 Year-Round Colognes for Men
by Dean Bokhari
Below, you’ll find a list of the best all-rounder fragrances for men. These are the scents you can wear with almost anything, almost anywhere, and in almost any season.
1. House of Sillage N.001
If James Bond were an actual human being, this is the cologne he’d reach for most frequently. House of Sillage makes two of my top two personal favorite colognes: Dignified, and HOS N.001 (pictured above). The latter is the one cologne I wear most frequently. If you get it, prepare for constant compliments. Also be prepared to receive remarks like this one from the ladies: “Wow. You smell delicious.”
What it smells like:
A regal luxury oud parfum inspired by ancient spice routes, blending oud, amber, and cinnamon with clove, ginger, and tonka on a base of vanilla, mahogany, and cedarwood.
2. Creed Aventus
If you’re looking for something maximally masculine, this is the one to reach for.
What it smells like:
Head notes of lemon, pink pepper & bergamot with a complementary floral heart of pineapple, jasmine & patchouli.
Woody base notes of oakmoss, cedarwood & ambergris.
3. Gentle Fluidity Silver by Maison Francis Kurkdjian
I think they massively missed the mark by giving this cologne a feminine name like “Gentle Fluidity”… There’s nothing girly about how this smells, but wearing will indeed attract the girlies. It smells clean, spicy, and musky. If you like understated sophistication, this is right up your alley.
What it smells like:
Juniper, dry spice, and musky with amber woods.
4. Spicebomb by Viktor&Rolf
If I had to name a value-conscious alternative to the first cologne in this list (HOS N.001) - Spicebomb would be it. This is a damn great smelling cologne that you can wear everywhere, including work, date night, and more formal occasions. It’s a phenomenally versatile fragrance.
What it smells like:
Intensely masculine scent with key accords of cinnamon, tobacco, and vetiver, blended with bergamot and grapefruit.
5. Sauvage by Dior
This is the cologne I’m wearing today. Sauvage by Dior is like the chameleon of colognes… It smells nice and crisp in the winter. But it also smells fresh when you’re duffy-boating with friends in the summer. An excellent all-rounder, daily fragrance.
What it smells like:
Classy, crisp, spicy, clean, warm & uplifting
Top notes of Sichuan pepper & Calabrian bergamot
Heart notes of geranium, lavender, elemi, pink pepper, vetiver & patchouli
Base notes of cedar, labdanum & ambroxan
Stay fresh,
— Dean Bokhari
Co-founder, Gents Journey
📰 THE MOMENT
Sh*t that’s happening now, ICYMI
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Smelling Good Together: Dad and Son Review Cologne
Today, my son Philip and I sat down and talked about cologne. We reviewed a few different bottles and got into what we each love about the scents that inspire us. It’s a fun way to see how someone else experiences a fragrance, and it’s a good reminder that the right scent can say a lot about who you are.
So here’s the challenge. Walk through your house. Check your friends’ bathrooms. Look for a bottle that someone you trust already wears, or one that’s been sitting on a shelf, waiting for you. Spray it, sit with it for a minute, and see if it fits you. Good luck out there. Go smell good.
👊 THE MOVES
Media for men.
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The Scent of a Man
The sense of smell is one of the most powerful senses, which is especially true if you’ve ever lost it.
It’s also closely tied to memory, which is why a single whiff can drop you back into a moment from decades ago.
Today I want to share how a few bottles of cologne shaped my idea of what it means to be a man, and I’d love for you to share the scents that inspired and shaped yours too.
Watch: Why Smell is More Important Than You Think
It’s been said that smell can work like a time machine.
Take a moment to think back to your childhood and a handful of memories.
Visiting Disney World or Disneyland
Watching a movie with your family.
Shopping at the mall
Chances are each memory connects to something visual, emotional, and olfactory.
When I think back to childhood, many of my fondest memories are tied to smells.
For Example: The buttery popcorn that landed all over me inside the AMC on 309 outside Philly, or the smell of the chocolate chip cookies when I visited Disney World in 1988.
Having worked in Disney’s College Program, I know that they do pump smells into the park.
This not only helps you remember the experience and want to come back, but also sells a heckuva lot of food.
Disney isn’t alone, either. Many companies and brands use scent on purpose to create experiences, bring audiences in, and grow the bottom line.
During the holiday season, I can still recall walking into Abercrombie & Fitch and being hit by an overflowing wall of cologne to bring in customers and drive sales. That’s scent strategy at work.
If you own a company, it’s worth thinking about not just your visual and audio identity, but your olfactory footprint, too.
It’s hard to imagine A&F without its smell, so much so that LFO name-dropped the brand in Summer Girls.
Stepping into Manhood
My parents were divorced, and I was raised by both my dad, who was often traveling, and my stepfather, Tom, who lived with us.
I remember when I first started to hit puberty, and I noticed that strong scent that crept out of the bathroom every time Tom showered. At first I thought it was aftershave, but I later found out it was cologne.
To me, that was what it meant to “smell like a man.”
Looking back, I wasn’t just noticing a scent; I was watching a man I looked up to and trying to figure out how to emulate him.
On the flip side, my mom wore the flowery smell of Elizabeth Taylor’s “White Diamonds” my entire life. Even now, one whiff and I can feel her beside me.
One day I snuck into Tom’s bathroom, opened the mirror cabinet, and found Polo, Drakkar Noir, and countless other brands.
So I sprayed some on… and Drakkar Noir was my first foray into the cologne kingdom. A few weeks later I sprayed so much that I was almost kicked out of Tracy Musial’s birthday party because I went a little overboard.
As I journeyed through adolescence and into manhood, I tried more and more types of cologne, as each one made me feel a different way. It was a fun time to experiment.
Bottles began stacking up like trophies: Tommy Hilfiger, Curve, John Paul Gaultier.
The more I wore them, the more I noticed it started to feel weird in my nose.
Fragrance-Free Movement
About 10 years ago, when my first daughter was born, I started becoming more aware of what we were putting into our bodies.
It started with this documentary, Stink!, which digs into the chemicals hiding in everyday products like body spray and cologne.
It also covers how the single word, “fragrance,” on a label can cover a long list of ingredients that companies are not required to disclose.
Remember how brands use scent to make us feel something?
Corporations are built to make money, and that doesn’t always line up with what’s best for our health.
After watching it, I began to use cologne sparingly, to the point that I barely wear it.
But when I do, I’m right back in my teens, putting on Curve and feeling like a million bucks before Homecoming.
It gave me that extra boost of confidence to help me overcome any self-doubt.
Looking back, that bottle was never really about the smell, but about wanting to feel like I was enough. You can feel that way with or without cologne.
I hope this note brings you that sense of reassurance.
So to wrap things up, I want to encourage you to do three things.
Review the ingredients in your cologne
Use it sparingly, and be mindful where you spray it
When wearing it, go out there and crush life
Now it’s your turn, gents.
What scent takes you back?
Maybe it’s your dad’s aftershave, your grandmother’s kitchen, or a first-date cologne you wore way too much of.
Tell us who was wearing it, what it brought back for you, and what that moment meant to you.
Share it in the comments, as your story might be exactly what other gents in our group need to hear.
And if you’re wearing a clean brand with limited chemicals, please DM or share that with me too.
— Stephen Seidel
Co-founder, Gents Journey
🔗 MEANINGFUL MENTIONS + MAGIC LINKS
Fun stuff you’ll dig about our theme of the week.
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Until next week,
—The Gents
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