Icon Racing

I picked up a bottle of Icon Racing a couple months ago and have worn it perhaps half-dozen or more times. Offhand, I find it to be a very-pleasant, well-received, highly-versatile, fresh fragrance. It doesn't quite smell like anything I have ever put my nose on, and yet it reminds me of the ghosts of every popular men's fresh fragrance I have smelled in the past 5-years. Go figure! What do I get out of Icon Racing? I don't detect individual notes as much as I do accords: sweet, fresh, citrus, aromatic, woody, soapy, with some of the original Icon metallic vibes. It definitely leans more on the youthful side, but just about anyone from sixteen to sixty should be able to rock this one. Performance is okay in that it lasts around 6-hours and projects moderately on my skin. Moreover, this scent is well-liked, inoffensive, and an aromatic-freshie that will garner compliments during the first 1-2 hours before becoming a softer, woody-aromatic, snuggle-scent. So it's a good fragrance for first spray to first lay. I have Icon and all the flankers since I plan to swing them in my meaty fists when running low on ammo during a Zombie Apocalypse, I suppose. All the Icon bottles are gorgeous works-of-art that are extremely heavy and have weaponized for self-defense; the words stunning and awesome are understatements. I like all the scents in the Alfred Dunhill Icon series but, to be honest, none of them Wow! me...just very nice, somewhat unique, incredibly well-packaged, fragrances. If wish to have an well-rounded fragrance library (without spending a fortunate, buying tons of fragrances, or overthinking it) just get Icon, Absolute, Elite and Racing. Mission accomplished! Overall, I find Icon Racing to be a very nice fragrance packaged in an incredible bottle. It's worth picking-up, at the right price, but you won't lose any sleep not having this one in your Scent Armory because there are literally a dozen or more similar popular men's fragrances that will do the job of getting Suzy Q to play with Cupid's Little Arrow late at night. Cheers!

This smells like the Paco Rabanne Invictus Aqua 2016. It has that same bubblegum sweetness that has been mixed well with the grapefruit and orange blossom. Ambroxan is not listed, but it is definitely present in the background and just like Invictus Aqua it is behind the bubble gum sweetness tamed by the citrus. Don’t buy the overpriced 2016 Invictus Aqua or similar scents like Azzaro Wanted. I don’t get the CH Men, Le Male, or even Eros. I have those three and this is comparable to 70%Invictus Aqua while Montblanc Spirit is 50%. The Sauvage vibe is probably from the ambroxan and grapefruit, but Sauvage doesn’t have that bubble gum sweetness unlike Icon Racing. I respect other people’s comments since we all have different body chemistry and my comparison to Invictus Aqua 2016 is just my own opinion. If you have Invictus Aqua, you might want to pass on this one. Just like most designer perfumes this is also a crowd pleaser. My wife doesn’t like the original Invictus, but she complimented me on this once I got home from the mall and she said that it does have the original Invictus vibe, but better because of the citrus. UPDATE: Great summer fragrance, but the longevity is an issue with me. It projects for about 5 hours then slowly becomes a skin scent. I wasn’t expecting it to be this weak since it is an Eau De Parfum. I would love to use this as my signature scent, but lacks longevity. Such a shame for a great smelling Eau De Parfum.

A lot of cardamom in the opening along with a invictus style sweetness. The Dry-Down is actually kind of basic compared to the opening which is a little ambitious. You get this Woody main that is a little dusty (in a good way) and airy which is nice; then you get a tad bit of that sweetness (just barely) carrying over from the opening. So this has a really interesting opening imo that is for sure meant to grab many people's attention but the opening fades rather quickly and begins to develop into just a Airy, Woody scent with a few under notes of things that aren't really anything to speak of. (you may catch some of the cardamom from the opening but it's dialed way back in comparison to where it starts at) For the price now though it's not a bad deal, even when I purchased this for 80 bucks I felt it was ok but now it's like 50 bucks and I think that's a really good deal at that price point. It's meant to grab your attention at first spray for sure but after that it becomes pretty dull but still it's pretty safe and it's pleasant opening of cardamom and invictus is pretty interesting and it's something that you don't mind re-applying just to get that opening again. Having said all that, I would actually just say buy Invictus or Invictus Intense or even Legend and you'll get that opening that this scent has but through the entire duration.

I dont know how anyone hasnt mentioned Ralph's Club. This absolutely shares some similarties (strong) with Ralph's Club and also Dunhill's own Valensole lavender. Lucky for me, I happen to absolutely love both.. This is a bubblegummy, lavendery, slightly earthy fragrance. This has more of a green tinge than either of the others IMO, but its solid, and for the price, its a WINNER. The performance and projection here are far above average for me. Not sure if the juice is just good like that, or if Dunhill's blends happen to like my skin (as someone else mentioned, and as Ive noticed with every Dunhill frag Ive owned) I got this in a variety pack from Dunhill's Icon line, will absolutely be getting a full size, along with the original Icon. Also, if you do happen to like this profile, definitely do check out R'sC and Dunhill's Valensole Lavender. Valensole is higher quality with better performance and projection, and the saffron note mixed with the sage really just nails it. It also has less of a green feel to it, instead replaced by a bit of grey-earthy feel, which is usually more pleasant for most people's noses. RC and VL are probably more mass appealing, this one is probably the more mature of the bunch. Still, however, on first spray the first thing you will think is "oh, bubblegum!"

I suspect that such perfumes as Icon Racing and Legend Spirit are really way more appealing to women than Tuscan Leather, Lyric Man or Le Male for example. And as far as I have asked for their opinion, they rate Legend Spirit or Icon Racing as good or 7.5 - 9 in Icon Racing's case and 7.5 - 9.5 in Legend Spirit's case. Also I actually feel more confident and appealing when I'm wearing Legend Spirit than when I'm wearing Tuscan Leather or Allure Homme Sport Eau Extreme for example. I know many people here rate AHSEE, Tuscan Leather and Le Male very highly, but such amazing aromatic freshies as Legend Spirit seem to work way better. I should also try out Azzaro Wanted, which also might be really great.