True Gent

It is a shame this has been discontinued. When I purchased this a few years ago it was around $10, and I'm gonna frame my review on that price, so please keep that in mind. I think at $30 it's a solid fragrance, but I wouldn't pay that much for Avon to be honest with you, and the performance hurts it at that price. Now, with that out of the way, I'll review it for the price I paid. This gets a lot of comparisons to Tobacco Vanille by Tom Ford. I do not think that's a super good comparison to be honest with you. The tobacco note is very similar to the tobacco in that fragrance for sure, but the Vanilla is very different, as well as the whole composition. Tobacco Vanille has this powdery quality to it that is super recognizable. The vanilla in true gent is boozy and heavy, almost syrupy if that makes sense. It's not overtly alcoholic boozy, but more like the smell of rum if you took the alcohol out. It has almost a slight molasses scent to it in the back end that makes it very nice. This would be good on a date or a night out (just don't say you're wearing Avon lol.) It's got a leather vibe, but it's not a realistic leather. I would describe it as more of a leather accord. There's not really a fragrance I could compare it to that is super close. It has that tobacco from tf, but the vanilla is kind of reminiscent of YSL Tuxedo in a way. The quality is very surprising as well, it's rather good. This could realistically be a $40-60 fragrance in my opinion, but DO NOT pay that much for it. $35 is wild when this stuff used to be $5, and for that there are quite a few more options in vanilla tobacco date fragrances. Overall, really good, but unfortunately discontinued. If this was a song it'd be Midnight Driver by Minako Yoshida. I don't know why, it just has that vibe.

The cheapest TF TV clone out there. I picked this up for $12.89 WITH shipping on eBay. This is the only Avon frag I’ve ever liked. The smell is very good, its smooth and natural smelling tobacco with vanilla spices and suede in that order. My bottle on it also lists bergamot, tonka bean, creamy musk, and laurel leaf- but I don't get any of those notes. I think this is closer than any other TV clones I’ve tried. It has that smooth creaminess that I enjoy most about TV and which is missing in other clones. Other ones tend to be mostly spices or lacking the strong vanilla or just seem off and synthetic. Performance: It’s a very light scent but seems to last quite a while. To get any real projection you’ll need to spray heavy, 10+ spays, and that might make it louder if that’s what you want. Personally that’s how I like fragrances, I prefer longevity over projection because spraying heavy at the beginning of the day is easier than carrying around a bottle all day to freshen up every couple hours. Also, sometimes you don’t want to be loud. Anyways, I highly recommend this for under $20. It’s very good as it’s own thing but a decent clone of TV if that’s what you’re looking for.

This smells stupidly, inappropriately good for it to be Avon. Like, how is this Avon? Really nice, sweet tobacco with a very detectable vanilla peeking out. The leather is very present also. Reminds me a bit of La Nuit De l'Homme, maybe? Like some non-existent tobacco-y flanker of it. It's silly good. Update: The sillage is only any good for about the first 30 minutes after application, then it becomes a skin scent. However, longevity-wise, on my skin which is horrible about eating even the strongest of fragrances, I still got this as a light skin scent 9 hours after initial application. In fairness, I sprayed heavily since I knew the sillage was bad, but it has very impressive longevity for the price. If you don't mind something that sits close to you you absolutely cannot go wrong with this.

I grew up in a time when we all had that neighbor that sold Avon. I had many preconceptions about Avon before purchasing this and only gave it a go because it was $15. In short, I'm stunned. I can't believe this is made by Avon. This is a genuinely good tobacco vanilla fragrance. I would not have a problem paying $45 after wearing it if the fragrance didn't lose it's potency so quickly (lasted longer). 3 hours and it's time to reapply. It's not the worst offender but if Avon wants to ever really get serious about fragrances it should last a bit longer. As is, it smells fantastic and I have bought some John Varvatos (sp?) fragrances that this outperforms. Honestly, I may buy this again when my bottle runs out.

Read on here that it's a great cheapie, so went to an Avon salesperson I know. She said it's discontinued but had several sealed bottles. I bought the 3 she had for $5 a bottle. Scent is very close to Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille, but a shadow of TF performance, to be expected. For $5, you really can't go wrong. Nice, sweet tobacco, vanilla and a bit of a leathery accord. It's about 42° outside today, got whiffs of it for about 5-6 hours.