Midnight Hour

9/10 Opening I don’t care if it’s faint or only lasts as long as a fart—this opening is so good I’m writing this review while driving. (Just kidding... or am I?) Spicy mango smoothie vibes right off the top. I saw someone compare it to a Middle Eastern or Indian drink, and they were spot on. At first, it leaned a little too green and dry, but that smoky mango kicked in fast and amplified everything. ⸻ Limited but Worth It Wish I had more than one bottle—this one’s rare, and I’d love a backup. But fair warning: if you don’t like smoky scents, stay far away. This dries down into a very smoky mango, which surprisingly makes it versatile enough for year-round wear. In the air, it almost smells like mango shower gel with an aquatic twist—which is wild, because it’s nothing like that on skin. ⸻ Mid The green leaf note shifts to something wetter and more dewy, which works nicely with the smoke. The mango sticks around but turns more into ripe mango skin instead of that juicy, tropical vibe from the opening. Depending on your nose, it might even come off like orange shower gel. Definitely greener than I expected. So yeah—imagine wet mango skin with smoke and a hint of water vapor. Slight sweetness, nothing too sugary. ⸻ Drydown – 6.5-7/10 The wetness lingers just a bit, but it dries out noticeably. That mango skin accord stays the star of the show. Smoky, soft, a little odd—but addicting. So overall imagine if you took a ripe mango and washed it with really hot water. The scent of the stem wafting off the mango after the wash is realistic to this. ⸻ Final Thoughts: 7–8/10 No regrets at all. It’s perfect for summer, easy to carry for reapplication, and has a character that really stands out. I’ll be back with a more “unbiased” review someday—but for now, that opening alone stole the show. Like people say it’s not strong and projects for like 4 hours but it’ll be on the skin after that. Pro tip if you want to extend its life pair it with a fragrance with similar notes or a fragrance with ambroxan or iso e super. It will allow it to shine more For a hour or 2 longer.

This is a new scent profiles for me. I don't have a fully developed nose so I can't pick out EVERY note in a fragrance yet but this opens up like skittles on my skin. Imagine if Skittles came in a black package instead of a red, green, or blue package. It's dark and refreshing. I reaaaally wish that mango would stay to the point I think I might want to layer this with a mango mist because the mango note disappears in about 20 minutes on my skin After that it dries down to patchouli incense to me. I have alot of patchouli incense and this definitely just smells like patchouli to me... Peppery and sparkly. It's sexy though. A woman that drives the bus in my city said "Omg that cologne you wearing smells like I could just eat it!!!! You smell so good!" Lol I bought it for $20 at Burlington. Maybe my favorite from the BR like but they drop nothing but bangers to me. It's hard not to keep smelling your wrist! This stuff smells magical. Btw I must have gotten a good bottle because this is nuclear on my skin. I've had experiences with BR before, so I thought performance would be abysmal but to my surprise, I sprayed this at about 6:30 P.M... it's 1 A.M. now and it's still going really strong. Haven't even gone noseblind to it

Another fantastic Banana Republic fragrance. Fresh and tropical with a fresh clean spice. It then gets a tropical dark dry down. It opens up with solid mango skin note. It's green and has a touch of ginger tropical spice with a pink pepper zing . After I don't get much of the anise but the oud comes on in a dark yet perfectly blended way. It still has that oud smell but with the tropical notes in this it kind of gives me a mango seed and a mango wood type of smell. The patchouli is very light . Throughout this it keeps that tropical fresh dark spice . It's so good. And yes this does smell a lot like Mind Games Blockade . Blockade might be a bit more tart but it's super similar. Huge fan of this. Performance is not bad at all. Most BR fragrances are average at best but this is probably one of the best of the bunch . 4 sprays got me a solid 4 hours before it became a close skin scent. After that it lasted about 2 more hours . Super versatile and I believe it can be worn all year. . In my book this is an 8.5/10

SEXY Midnight Hour by Banana Republic is one of those fragrances that feels more expensive than it is. It opens with a dark, slightly sweet vibe—somewhere between amber, soft woods, and a hint of spice. There’s a smoothness to it that makes it feel warm, confident, and a little mysterious. It’s definitely in the evening/nighttime territory, but it’s not too heavy or overwhelming. It wears well in cooler weather, and it gives off that “pulled together without trying too hard” energy. Think soft leather jacket and late-night conversations. Longevity is solid—around 6 hours on my skin—and the sillage is moderate. It won’t fill a room, but people close to you will notice. Overall, it’s an easy win if you want something dark, classy, and wearable without dropping serious cash.

It’s a fantastic fragrance that closely mimics Blockade, but alas, on my skin it is as per the movie title, gone in 15 seconds. I have a 150ml bottle which was opened on purchase and has been stored in its box since around October of last year. If I don’t gift it, I’ll be using it at the pool, beach and anywhere else in high heat and spraying the hell out of it to get the best out of it and get it finished up. It also reminds me of Hacivat which mirrors a similar price to Blockade and it bears a close resemblance to Arabiyat Prestige’s Hypnotic Amber which costs twice as much as Midnight Hour. As I still have 2 bottles of HA I’ll stick with them as they last and project far better. Enjoy it while it lasts on skin.

#1712 in my “Tour de Fragrance” I really like this BR scent. The only BR scents I’ve been able to say that about until now is “Dark Cherry & Amber”, “Tobacco & Tonka." Mostly my issue with their scents is not the opening, which is usually fine, but the very poor longevity and silage. This one is exceptional. After a three mile run in the heat and humidity, dripping with sweat, plus an hour heavy lifting in the gym, and sill this stuff hung on all day! Almost, but not quite tropical. For me it would be business wear, something you could wear in a car pool or on a five hour flight and it wouldn’t be obnoxious to the people sitting around you. And importantly, priced right! Good Luck and Good Hunting!

Absolute banger. Keep an eye out at Ross and Burlington because it's still popping up at both. Only issue I have is that it doesn't last too long, a couple hours and then you need to re-apply. Hopefully I have just go nose-blind to it faster than it actually fades. But overall this scent profile is 10/10 to me. I have a 5oz bottle and 2 back-up 2.5oz bottles since I love it so much. I buy it every time I see it honestly. ALL of the Banana Republic fragrances that I have bought. They punch way above their class. Check out Neroli Woods, Black Walnut Legend, Metal Rain and 78 Vintage green. You will not be disappointed. Seriously better than most any other designer fragrances out there.

I got this fragrance from Burlington as most banana republics are found there. And then i saw this and then some “cologne expert” who was in a white suit and looked like a fat jeremyfragrance, told me it’s rare and worth a pickup. Needless to say jeremyappitizer was right. This is a really interesting and great cologne. It could not be described by me in words. It’s almost like a sweet mango with some flowers and a subtle tease of oud. But it also is not one to project very well, it might be my skin complexion or something like that. But I really like it. If you like this type of scent, Midnight hour is awesome! Shoutout to jeremyfatgrance tho...

This one is really good. Came across it at Burlington today and instantly picked it up as I have been wanting to get it for a little bit now. Smells just like Aventus with the Mango opening. A bit smoky, and quite similar to all the Aventus DNA fragrances out there but really really good. Better than CDNIM for sure. Smoother and better opening. I love Black Walnut Legend from Banana Republic so when I had the chance to get this for $20 I instantly scooped it, it's quite a bit more online as it's rare and probably discontinued... Honestly all the Banana Republic fragrances are some of the better fragrances I have tried lately. Highly Recommend.

This is a clone of Blockade by Mind Games. Same perfumer, same versatility, unfortunately similar performance (can't squeeze more than 4 hours out of either), and identical sillage. This and Blockade are more alike than any iconic duo of clone vs. original that I can think of. Much closer than Khamrah is to Angel's Share, much closer than CDNIM is to Aventus, etc. Blockade and Midnight Hour have some very slight differences, the mango note comes off exactly the same, but everything else is slightly tweaked, honestly for the better to my taste, even blind and not primed by the price disparity.

Picked this up the other day at Burlington for $20, I have SNOI, CDNIM EDT, etc... That being said it does share some similarities. However it doesn’t fully remind me of them, it smells more similar to blockade how others describe with the mango note, this however though is a very crisp fresh linen fruit type fragrance that smells amazing nice bit of mango too, great for spring/summer, and very versatile can be worn anytime anywhere. Performance & sillage isn’t too too great but for a $20 price tag it’s an absolute banger for the price, it’s a very good dumb reach. I highly recommend!

First sniff this reminded me of Mount Blanc Explorer. But side by side I noticed they’re a bit different. Midnight Hour replaced a lot of the lemon note with mango. But not a sweet juicy mango, more like mango skin. Unlike Blockade, it’s missing the bergamot. It’s not a 1:1. Blockade reminds me of a mango seltzer drink. However, on dry down Blockade loses the sparkly seltzer note (bergamot) and leaves you with a semi sweet mango/hint of oud scent which makes it very similar to Midnight Hour. I’m enjoying the fragrance. Really good buy under $30.

I’ve made plenty of questionable blind buys late at night while doom scrolling, but this wasn’t one of them. It has a modern base, likely ambroxan, yet it isn’t harsh or chemical. Instead, it comes across smooth and slightly sweet without being cloying, and overall it’s just very pleasant to wear. This will probably appeal more to a younger crowd. Some would label it a “gym scent.” I don’t, but that’s the category people will likely place this style of Explorer-ish fragrance in, for reference.

This is just lovely. Like I went through the other BR scents and yea they're all above their class in price but still pretty basic and pretty boring. Not this one--this one starts all fun and tropical but has such a lovely complex and musky drydown that I just can't believe it's so cheap. Read me broke friends: if you want something that actually smells among the quality of those in the niche class, because I've smelled them, this one is definitely up there.

Tropical aventus DNA at an affordable price. 10/10 value for money. Strong sillage the first hour or two, then sits closer to the skin for a total longevity of about 5-6 hours before really having to search for it. Great fragrance for the money. The only way it could be improved is re-released as an extrait de parfum. If this lasted longer it would be signature worthy. For now, re apply or overspray like crazy and maybe you could pull 7-8 hours out of it..

MAN! If this lasted longer it would be one of my favorite and most highly rated fragrances ever. I've tried so many renditions of Aventus - CDNIM, SCE, etc. and all of them got boring quick. This one opens up with a nice fruity green mango that perfectly cuts through the smokey, woody leather base that all the Aventus inspos build off. It never becomes headache inducing or cloying like a lot of other Aventus-y fragrances do for me. 4/5

I love this stuff. It’s literally Aventus with mango instead of pineapple to me. The longevity is pretty terrible. But for the price it smells way nicer than most budget fragrances. I used to have the BR cypress and vetiver that smelled like Hermes. Same with that one. It’s dead on the scent. Just poor longevity. If you like the aventus DNA you should really try this one especially for how cheap it is. $20 at Burlington.

I would say this is the EDT or weaker version of Mind Games Blockade. Both fragrances are designed by the same perfumer so the similarities are undeniable. I have both and I can attest to the fact that this is a great overspray fragrance that you can use daily without having to pay $200+ for Mind Games. I give this 8.5/10 for scent profile and price alone! Highly recommended if you love Mind Games Blockade.

At first, I didn't know if I liked this fragrance, but after a couple of days, I tried it again and loved it. It is a little weak imo but I sprayed around 8-10 sprays and it lasted 4 hours before becoming a skin scent and my girlfriend could smell it from 2-3 feet away for the first hour. For $20 like what I got it for at Burlington, I highly recommend this, and I would pay up to $50-60 for this fragrance.

A recreation of Mind Games Blockade by the original perfumer at a fraction of the price. It opens with a clean cut grass, creamy citrusy mango and ginger backed by spicy pink pepper. The heart brings out a tropical fruitiness before the base comes through with earthy patchouli, leather, and a subtle hint of oud. It's not a beast mode, but is a pleasant 4 hours.