Bijan Men

Bijan Men is a classic. Recently got hold of a 50ml flacon of the old version (manufactured by Bijan Fragrances not Five Star) - apparently the 50ml (1.7oz) is no longer in production. The presentation is classy - the box is like origami and the flacon a thing of beauty and an exemplar of innovative design immortalised in the Smithsonian Institution. Incidentally the Bijan boutique on Rodeo Drive has a chandelier made from over a thousand of these iconic bottles. Bijan Men is unquestionably a product of its times. It came out during the last decade of the Cold War, at a time when obscene wealth was a recurring media trope, when broadcast TV was dominated by soap operatic capitalist fantasies like Dallas, Dynasty and Falconcrest, and the cliff-hanger "Who shot JR?" literally stopped the world, generating tens of millions of words in media speculation, when people actually watched the crass vulgarity of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" with the ghastly Robin Leach and his abrasive peasant accent - by choice. When Bijan Men was released there was a lot of media buzz about Bijan, the Iranian expat designer who established himself in a bright yellow boutique on Rodeo Drive with two colour-coordinated sports cars always parked on the sidewalk out front. The American Dream! Incidentally, Rodeo Drive, the upmarket shopping precinct in Beverly Hills created by LA designer Fred Hayman in the 1960s, spawned another yellow boutique with another iconic 1980s fragrance, Giorgio for Men, released by Fred Hayman's alter ego "Giorgio of Beverly Hills". Although it might be hard for many to imagine now, the Cold War was very real. Fashion, fantasy and frivolity was a great distraction from the inevitability of “Mutually Assured Destruction”. I remember trying Bijan Men circa 1984 and not really liking it: It was too "loud" - I was 16 and in love with the understated elegance of Eau Sauvage Extrème and Antaeus - but found that Bijan Men successfully created an impression of luxury. Revisiting it today confirms that impression. Bijan Men certainly does smell luxurious: it combines a myriad of notes, each redolent of luxury, into a truly multifaceted olfactory mosaic. It's difficult to discern individual notes due to the overwhelming variety and complexity of the composition but one of the most noticeable for me is something that smells like beeswax absolute. Bijan men is a bit of everything: a bit citrus, a bit spicy, a bit floral, a bit woody, a bit resinous. Very unusual. But it works. Not sure if I'd describe it as quintessentially "masculine" except in terms of very traditional perfumery and insofar as it doesn't really smell like "perfume", nor is it traditionally "girly", but these terms are subjective and I'm sure we've all met people who think any man who wears fragrance is a closeted homosexual. In any case I am delighted to have rediscovered Bijan Men. It is certainly unlike anything around nowadays and smells classy and enigmatic. Amazing quality and value too. I am really enjoying wearing it and have been favourably impressed by its performance.

WOW!! This is a true "FACEPUNCH" fragrance! Only smelled it on test-strip so far but WOW!!! I can't wait to wear this on Friday! Truly magnificent! I smell sooooo many things in this frag!!! Citrus, Earthiness, Florals, powderiness, fruitiness, Lavender, some kinda musk or leather that is HEAVY!! Super heavy strong fragrance!! It's been 3 hours and this test strip still smells as strong as when I first sprayed it....ONE TIME! This ish is bananas....B-A-N-A-N-A-S ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! I knew it was strong from reading reviews...but goodness.....I don't even think I could layer this on top of anything without overpowering it completely, lol. EDIT: 02AUG22 (Couldnt wait until friday...) Oh man...the mid and drydown on this fragrance is TO DIE FOR!!! It starts out HEAVY but wow...it changes into the smoothest most delectable fragrance as it dries down!!!! The drydown I'm getting on my shirt and skin is this...soft, creamy & smooth "honey-lavender-mandarin orange" mix that has me absolutely SWOONING!! I have NEVER smelled an orange note that was this luxurious!! I've been wanting EXACTLY this and buying so many other fragrances trying to find it. Who knew the answer was going back to a fragrance from the good old days!?!?!? I'm just blown away...this is nuclear performance creamy mandarin-honey-lavender heaven!! It layers AMAZINGLY perfectly with my favorite floral-vanilla fragrance, "Gold Rush Man"! I'm throwing down for a big bottle of this! (2.5oz I think) Super powerful, super long lasting, super smooth and classy EDIT: Check that...found a great deal on 3-1.0oz bottles for $15 on Ebay, bought!! Backup bottle for me and two bottles for friends! Still going to search up a large 2.5oz bottle of this vintage formulation for my collection. This is retro HEAVEN! 09AUG22 EDIT: Turns out that deal I got was for 3 1-oz bottles of the NEWER formulation of "Bijan for Men", the one by "5-Star Fragrances". Amazingly enough...these are MORE powerful than the vintage bottle I initially bought!! I totally expected them to be weaker than the original but it's the EXACT OPPOSITE! I actually have to spray this new bottle less than the vintage bottle...amazing!

Favorite 80's powerhouse, complex male fougere with excellent projection and longevity. Original formula is fabulous blend of many ingredients. It still cranks out the two sprays, delivering 10-12 hours of good projection. I'm not going to rely on the claim that this is watered down because when I first started wearing Bijan, it lasted 16 hours. My skin and nose adapted to it, which ended up being 12 hours and not overwhelmingly heady. However, this does have a great sprayer, so a thumbs up to that for a cheap fragrance. This fragrance is built from a resinous body of honey, spice, and a little amber poured into a bowl of ingredients. You don't know what's in the bowl yet, aside from this thick, sweet, and spicy base. Stir it a little, and it reveals a lot of oakmoss teamed up with some patchouli. There are tones of myrrh incense in there that seem to accent the amber quite beautifully. Stir a little more, and you'll find a light but noticeable amount of carnation and sandalwood. I never got musk from this fragrance back then, and currently, it's the aged patchouli doing the talking. I would put Bijan for Men into a group with other fragrances of the 70's style that were sweet and resinous, with patchouli filtering through it like Yatagan by Caron, Pierre Cardin Pour Monsieur, and Givenchy Gentleman. It gives off a very Middle Eastern feeling but really evokes sensuality through incense, patchouli, and spicy resin with an oakmoss edge... it's very distracting. Bijan for Men, I think, is a good casual, date night, or office wear fragrance. By office wear, I mean you don't wear a suit and meet clients or interface with the general public for a duration. This fragrance is a bit too forward and aggressive in its sensuality to maintain a professional approach. The only reason I could think of that it isn't as popular as Joop! Homme as a sensual fragrance is perhaps its dirty and more new-age style.

This is a quite remarkable scent which defies characterisation, and inspires a loyal following. The notes list on here and Basenotes diverge; and the reviews do too, with many reviewers finding, in effect, a very different scent. I completely disagree with those reviewers below who describe it as 'typical 80s.' It really absolutely is not 'like' them in scent. (Though it is very strong.) This is something of an olfactory 'event,' and if this came from a niche house the grandes dames of Fragrantica would be out and about with their books of over-wrought metaphors. Indeed, the comparisons people have made are to niche scents - Bianchi and Boadicea. That said, no-one can agree on what it reminds them of - and I'd say: yep. This is a very unique, distinctive scent. The scent opens with lavender and a sort of camphoric spice somewhere in the background (maybe the nutmeg, but the 'oiliness' and richness of it makes me think more cloves; in fact it smells distinctively of neither one); this opening remains right through the journey. Then these are joined with a warm musk (not at all animalic - NOTHING like Antaeus, Givenchy Gentleman or Kouros). This is followed by a kind of earthy, warm underpinning of woods and earth, patchouli and sandalwood. There is something piney and oily in here (oily in a good, rich, **resinous** way) - rosemary and fir can do that. And then the scent stays like that - for a loooooong time. It's spectacularly cheap. It's strong and lasts, in the way that perfume oil/attars do - we keep coming back to the richness of 'oil'! I would like to try this in summer - it's currently winter here, and working a treat. I can imagine it going one of two ways in the heat: meltingly cloying and overwhelming, or bright and 'pinging'. We'll see...

"Bijan" is liquid masculinity. It blows off your feeble little girl nuts and replaces them with steel balls that can impregnate your best friend's grandmother. One spray transforms you from a chess club nerd into an oily man-slab who collects $200 *without* passing Go! Let's take a close look at you. Flabby, gassy with three pathetic whiskers and arms like baby pickles. The last time someone called you strong, it was in reference to your rectal odor. The last time you were an object of lust, it involved a $1.99 per minute fee. Aren't you embarrassed? Aren't you ready for more? That's where "Bijan" comes in. Immerse yourself in so much leather that you crap wallets. Dive into so much cedar that when you get wood, you really get wood. Don't worry about the price tag, either. Simply spray from the sample bottle and watch as the sales clerk hands a complimentary bottle to the veiny, grunting, scab-covered Schwarzeneggeresque maniac standing before her. Like God himself, "Bijan" is not to be mocked. I have seen doughy wimps like you attempt to pull off this scent only to implode like a whoopee cushion beneath your mom's gelatinous ass. No more of this sickly sweet trend that has guys smelling like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man's bitch. "Bijan" degenerates you by 40 generations and has you bark orders in grunts and dish out compliments in burps. It's time to let your pubes grow back into a marvelous, lice-infested bush. It's time for "Bijan"!

I have the most recent formulation. The claims about this being excessively strong or over-the-top are at least a little exaggerated. This is not a weak fragrance, but there are at least a few others in my small collection that are much stronger than this. Xeryus Rouge is just one example. This is so well balanced, I don't know how there could be so many complaints as I see below. There is mild honey, several mild spices, and a very natural smelling amber -- and I'm comparing this to both Annick Goutal's Amber Fétiche and Sonoma Scents Studio's Ambre Noire. There is probably no natural oakmoss in the mix, as it is not listed (Evernia prunastri), but I'm not sure it is required to list that on the box in the US yet. Regardless, this smells quite good. There are no distracting or bothersome artificial ingredients that I can tell. This is an ambery, spicy, sweet, fragrance, approaching a luxuriousness that is surprising and enjoyable. The ingredients list on the box: Alocohol denat., fragrance (parfum), water (aqua), benzophenone-2, propylene glycol, BHT, yellow 5 There must be a number of things in the little grouping of "fragrance (parfum)" because this is quite complex. And the notes are well separated, recognizable. This is not just a blob of some unique smell, which is commonly the effect when they go too cheaply with ingredients. Very good stuff!

I am a 26 year old fragrance enthusiast, and decided to get this, based on its classic status and singular bottle shape. I was shocked when I realised how cheap it was, so it was a no brainer for me. I'd been told this was the fragrance these macho men from the 80s, such as Stallone or Bruce Willis, wore, so I decided to give it a try. First let me say this: I am the only person I know who can stand this smell. Not only I stand it, but I love it. Everyone around me hates me when I wear it. They say it's too strong, and surely it is, but if you wear it and embrace it for what it is, that's not a bad thing. The smell of this is very soapy, but weirdly masculine. Maybe that's just me having the placebo in mind, but I really do feel it masculine, in an old fashioned way. To me, this smells like some old office building hall, that hasn't been refurbished since the late 70s. Maybe could also remind of some classic gym changing rooms, or also a 16 year old skater boy's room, from the late 80s. I don't know why my mind brings all those images to my head, but that's just what I feel when I smell this, and I am so grateful I can have this incredible scent, timeless, for such a ridiculous price. The bottle alone is worth that price and even more. 9/10.

Once I tried Lapidus Rumba on my skin and I kinda liked it but it went ofputting for me, this kinda reminds me of it but doesn't go ofputting. I think you have to be used to smelling fragrances for a while, not for the beginner to enjoy this one. One of my favorites is giorgio beverly hills for men and this shares qualities with it. For me it's like a cousin of giorgio with a bit of skank (musk) and added leather. The musk and mossy smell is also very present. It will ofput lots of people but I think it smells very natural and perfect, but I happen to like older scents. So for who is this; you like 80's scents, you like leather, moss and honey. You like natural smelling things. It's my first try and it seems somewhat silent, I don't know about longevity. I paid around 11 euros for 75ml on a respectable internet store so dirtcheap. For now a very good blind buy and for me 8/10 Oh and the bottle, I like it too. It's something very different, it's hefty and perfect for a man's hand with a good sprayer. update: I applied it around 17pm and I could still pick it up the next day until around 11 am so longevity and sillage is definitely there. So good performance and I like it a lot: 9/10

I really, really wanted to dislike this scent. When it was introduced, the magazine ads showing Bijan's squinting, grinning mug struck me as just obnoxious. But the fragrance itself is really good --- a distinctive chypre in the lineage of Aramis, Quorum and Balenciaga's Portos that strikes just the right balance of smooth and brash. If it were music, it would be the Count Basie band --- brassy and loud on top, but with a smooth, supple swing to the rhythm underneath, and all of the components working together to make a cohesive whole that's both infectious and irresistible. A friend's wife commented, "Mmmmm, you smell like incense!" when I wore it to their house not long ago, and although frankincense isn't listed in the pyramid, I suspect it was the sandalwood-amber-patchouli-oakmoss accord in the base that she was getting. I find myself wearing Bijan more frequently in colder months. Although I suspect I would get tired of it if I wore it too often, it's become a regular "go-to" fragrance for me of late, and I like it a lot. Five stars for the fragrance, but still a big thumbs down for those irritating print ads!

You think you are a man. You stand tall, you shave, you scarf beef, you boink a wife, you hold a job, you rev a truck, you belch the alphabet, you scratch, you kick sand at 90-lb weaklings at the beach. But the second you spray on "Bijan," the mask -- nay, the suit -- crumbles away like you drank from the wrong grail. There, in front of the family that pretends to love you, you are reduced to a fragile, slobbering little boy. Warm urine trickles down your pasty leg, unimpeded by hair because you had it waxed off. You realize that your life is a lie and that the temporary avoidance of routine beatings -- at the hands of real men -- is all you have to look forward to. "Bijan" is masculinity itself. It is Arnold Schwarzenegger eating a puppy and then defacating its warm, creamy remains onto a battle tank. It is John Wayne winking at you as he boinks your wife. It is Chuck Norris telling you to call him at 8:00 sharp but not answering the phone until 9:00. "Bijan" is not for the faint of heart, and that's why we love it. Recommended only for those whose sacks have already dropped!

With "Bijan," you will look like a baby carrying around a big soother, but you will smell like a sweaty slab of man! This morning, I took a cold shower in pure testosterone extract, shaved with a rusty sawblade, and wiped with coarse sandpaper. For breakfast, I sprinkled Charles Bronson's cremated ashes onto a raw steak and washed it down with tar. I then ran 18 miles barefoot to make vague threats against Mike Tyson before visiting a doctor to have my tear ducts surgically removed. After all of this, I was still a petulant child compared to "Bijan"! Let's face it. Right now, you are a pathetic, flabby little girl. Why don't you go play hopscotch outside? Better yet, why don't you watch as you spontaneously grow a pair mere moments after dousing yourself in "Bijan"! You will feel so much manliness pulsing through your veins, you will swear that Ivan Drago just breastfed you out of those hard, oily nipples. Your voice will deepen to the point that you will make Don Pardo sound like Freddie freakin' Mercury. It's time to man up, girl scouts. It's time for "Bijan"!

Very spicy, green, balsamic, leathery, amber, fougere. I also get the musk, but musk is muted by all the other accords mentioned. You get the musk more in the dry down. If you are a fan of classic barbershop fougeres, give this gem a try. Bijan Men is a classic amber fougere, meaning, you get the green and powdery aspects of a classic fougere, with the added note of amber, giving the fragrance more warmth and depth. As far as fougeres go, this fragrance is not all that challenging in my opinion. If you have experience with fougeres, you can predict what you will get with this fragrance. But if you're into contemporary freshies, and have never dabbled in this category of fragrance, you may find it "offensive" "old-school" "manly" and so on. But for the more experienced connoisseur, you will definitely appreciate this masterpiece of a gem. Contrary to other reviewers' experiences, this is not very loud or heavy on projection on my skin. The longevity is also moderate at best, about 5 to 6 hours before it's a skin scent.

Even though I was in my mid twenties when Bijan first dropped... I never tried it. So, recently I picked up a decant and... "Wow! This one I really like!" But... I had to wear it a few times to get the hang of it, as it is strong. As someone stated below... you need to go lighter on the trigger. Too much and it goes super powdery... Reminding me of an Indian Hindu temple, full of freshly bathed men covered in powder. Also... On me... It’s better on skin than cloths (where it also goes too powdery). On just my skin... It’s fresher.... almost soapy (I like soapy). I also get a lot of masculine cedar and cloves, along with subtle greens. With less sprays on skin... Projection & sillage are reduced to within arms length (maybe a little more the first 90 min). But, longevity is still very good (at least 10 hours). When my wife first smelled Bijan on me she said, “It smells niche”. Although, she didn’t really care for it. Neither did either of my young adult daughters. Still... They didn’t dislike it either.

what a gorgeous lil blast from the past. i am a big fan of PowerHouse Frags. this is one of the best, if you love kouros, lapidus, givenchy gentleman, aramis for men....this will easily find a place in your cupboard. glad to have a vintage bottle, it opens up stage by stage. opening is very bold and old school citrus and fruits, which was so typical back in the days. then you start getting the herbal green leathery phase which shows the complexity with honey. last stage is that oakmoss....you need to be patient with this fragrance and let time unwrap these notes. i can see many younger folks dismissing this instantly but i say this is a timeless classic, more so special to me coz i was born in 1981, so was this. love the donut gold ball classy bottle with a hole in there...amazing one to have in collection. its a masterpiece of a fragrance...complexity, class and sophistication for a grown man...best part is its very affordable. 10/10

Bijan men... ...is an absolutely beautiful classic fragrance and it is never out of place. Not for ppl who wear Bleu de Chanel or Dior Sauvage, something you can smell everywhere. Good but ......everywhere. Bijan does smell like what our swedish friends would call Pepparkakor and our german friends Pfefferkuchen. Not a Spekulatius type cake/cookie but deeper. All those spices sit on a nice base of leather and wood. Honey and floral spicy middle. It smells complex but even my nose can't tell if all those accords are actually present as it is the case with so many 70s and 80s fragrances with endlessly long note lists. It is as strong and as well blended as ever and i don't personally care if it has been reformulated or not because it still smells great. And reformulations keep classics on todays fragrance shelves. The bottle is very special , in a way simple but creative.

Strange🤔... How is it that such world-famous and IC-ON-IC fragrance like Ralph Lauren's Polo has had such an AWFUL, weak, even off-putting reformulation, yet this lesser-known "Hidden Jem" fragrance which is Bijan pour Homme has still maintained a stellar, long-lasting, (close as you can get) to the OG reformulation.?! Bijan has to follow THE SAME IFRA Rules/Regulations/Standards as the current producers of Ralph Lauren fragrances do. So what happened? Why would they completely NEUTER such an iconic and beloved fragrance? There's obviously just No excuse! After experiencing how fantastic the current formuñation/dna for Bijan has been maintained, all those horrible, weak ass reformulations which have left me so disillusioned and honestly enraged just come rushing back to me. Anyhow, BRAVO Makers of Bijan! Still smells super-amazing and has great performance!

This is a gem, and will always be, it reminds me of the west...not the dusty desert west but the dried grass rolling plains and bush west....for those of you who did not know stallone, bronson, schwartznegger, and yes even depp (he was said to have worn this on the set of “whats eating gilbert grape”), someone also asked how come they cant make them like this anymore? Bc in its hey day bijan was $1500 for 6 oz in 1985...and still $280 on its website today. Update: ive come back to this after 2 months with it, while its still an absolute gem of fresh spiciness...the longevity and sillage is not what it used to be, reformulation im assuming? But at most 3-6 hours longevity till it becomes faint and sillage is ok for the first 2 hrs, then it bc the skin scent...but then again i have somewhat drier skin so that could be the longevity sillage issue as well

(my batch was made in 2020, according to checkfresh) - this scent is In. Sane. I was alive when it came out, but I have no memory of anyone smelling like this in my youth. I did the smallest spritz inside my elbow, and it is reaching into my nose and behind my eyes. Soap or shaving cream. Cigarette AND cigar smoke. Mint gum. When I close my eyes I see the inside of an Elks lodge or Masons club. I would love to hug an elderly man wearing this. Can I possibly carry it off? I like assertive 1980s scents for women, but I may have bitten off more than I can chew here. Each time I unbend my arm a new wave of the scent rolls toward me. Now I am getting some fruit - smells like oranges. What a scent journey. This is my most complex scent by far. So many new visuals coming to mind every time I sniff it. Wooden boxes. Wood paneling. Smoke-tinged upholstery.

I live in the UK and finally picked up a five star version to compare against the original vintage Cologne I was lucky enough to find . Original vintage , with “cologne “ Printed on the botttle. - Sumptuously rich and spicy, and so smooth and well blended With detectable cinnamon nut meg and clove Right from the start balanced out by the sweetness of the honey and Amber,Pure class from start to finish,Never too loud, just ooozing class. Five Star formula- Weak, transparent and hollow. Certainly no brutal loud opening. Maybe a blast of alcohol evaporation, then a few minutes of muddled fuzz. As it dries down on clothes, just a feint Glimmer of the original,And Poor longevity. My original has a $55 label and I believe is from 1989, So with the re-formula costing only £10, 30 years later, Could you really expect anything close to the original??

Second review. First time I tried this fragrance it was a disaster. Tried one of those 1oz. bottles that looks like a weird letter B, and the fragrance was hideous, smelled like and old lady, in a very bad way. Threw it out in the garbage. Reading so many good reviews, I decided to give it another go. This time I bought the 2.5 oz. in the iconic donut bottle. Wow! What a difference! It is a very different smell, masculine, spicy, sweet and very much agreeable. Doesn’t smell dated. Smells very elegant, very expensive. A masculine smell, but in a fancy way... delicate and not rough. Also it is very discreet and safe to wear. Don’t buy the weird 1 oz. bottle, as it is a very much different product or it has turned bad due to storage. I think the bad reviews owe this to this. Buy the donut one, you’ll not be disappointed.