Baywatch Man

I'm a fragrance enthusiast, but more importantly, I'm a huge Baywatch fan; so when I discovered that Baywatch released two fragrances back in the mid-90s titled Baywatch Man and Baywatch Woman, I just had to try them. Baywatch Woman hasn't been added to the Fragrantica database, so I'll review both fragrances here. Let's start with Baywatch Man! When I sprayed this on, I was hoping I'd smell like a buff David Hasselhoff rising from the ocean waters; sadly, that was not the case. Unfortunately, Baywatch Man is weak sauce; in two minutes flat this becomes a skin scent. Now, there could be several reasons for this. First off, this is an eau de cologne, so you can't expect miracles when it comes to longevity. Secondly, according to the box, Baywatch Man was manufactured in 1996, so it's quite possible that the fragrance has degraded over time. It's also possible that Baywatch Man is one of those minimalist fragrances (like an Escentric Molecules) where you can't even tell if it's there or not, but perhaps I'm giving it more credit than it deserves. Baywatch Man alternates between a fresh, out-of-the-shower scent that almost gives off an oceanic vibe, and a cheap, generic cologne scent. The fresh scent isn't bad but isn't very memorable, while the cheap cologne scent comes off as musty. It's impossible to pick out any individual notes because the quality just isn't good enough to be able to do so. Not surprisingly, this is a summer fragrance, and I've found that Baywatch Man really comes out to play when the heat and humidity are high. When I'm outdoors in the hot sun, and this fragrance mixes with my sweat, an animalic potion is born that smells very sexy. Also, despite being called Baywatch Man, I actually think this fragrance would also work well on women. Speaking of women, let me briefly talk about Baywatch Man's better half - Baywatch Woman. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, Woman isn't actually better than Man and ends up suffering from the same problems. Despite Woman being an eau de parfum, it also turns into a skin scent fairly quickly. Where Baywatch Man could be considered unisex, Baywatch Woman is most definitely feminine. The opening is quite lovely; the best way I can describe it is that it reminds me of being on the beach in the hot sun. There's also a hint of suntan lotion which adds to that overall beach vibe. Afterwards, it dries down to your typical fruity floral that you've come across a hundred times before. I can totally see Pamela Anderson in her iconic red bathing suit rocking this fragrance. Overall, I think they did a decent job with the Baywatch fragrances. They're not groundbreaking by any means, but then again, I wasn't expecting them to be. The bottle design is really sleek and feels good in the palm of your hand; the shape reminds me of a surfboard. Man and Woman both give off a certain ocean/beach vibe when it comes to how they smell, and ultimately that's the point. With all that being said though, in the year 2020, Baywatch Man and Baywatch Woman are merely fragrance curiosities. I would not recommend these to anyone other than die-hard Baywatch fans. At the height of the show's popularity when these fragrances were cheap and readily available, I would have recommended them as gym fragrances or for hot summer days only, but now there are so many better options.