British Sterling

The more fragrances I collect, the more I confirm for myself my initial impression of British Sterling. It's fantastic! BS is the king of drugstore colognes, IMO. Every time I wear it, it's character changes. Sometimes it's a spicy amber, sometimes it's a soapy barbershop, at other times it's a mossy herbal fougere. It's cheap smelling, it's elegant, it's working class and it's smells's better than it's price. It's a friggin chameleon. There are merits to both the current formulation and the vintage. The current has been "freshened up". The "herbal stank" of the oakmoss has been cleared away, not by choice. The current one smells, well, more current. The vintage has more depth and more longevity; albeit in a more retro way. The one complaint I would have about the splash is that the aftershave and the cologne are both cologne aftershaves, basically the same longevity. However, I think they smell different. The aftershave is more herbal, the cologne is more spicy and sweet. Together, they make a complete scent. I have noticed the same quality in Brut. The aftershave has more base notes and the cologne has the heart and the top notes. ***IMPORTANT UPDATE: I don't know why fragrance houses do this, but the splash cologne and spray versions are VERY DIFFERENT. This is true with Royal Copenhagen, Stetson and British Sterling. BS cologne spray is far stronger than even the vintage Speidel formulation. It has much more depth and stronger top notes and has a helluva lot more longevity. I would advise all of you who wear Sterling to get a 2.5 oz spray from ebay. I have two bottles that lack the silver plastic shoulder piece. It's almost eau de parfum stength. GET IT!!!

Grandad!!! This was him, rest his soul. He was the king of the drug store scents, he had them all: Stetson, Brut, Canoe, Old Spice, Aspen, English Leather, Aqua Velva, Skin Bracer, hahaah...but this I remember more than any of them, and if I remember correctly, this was pretty much grandad's signature choice. I'm so glad I ran across this! Man, this one gets me so nostalgic! I took sellersburg 's advice and bought me a spray bottle of this old-school gem. It should be here in a couple of days, I can't wait to re-live the memories of being fourteen and sneaking a splash or two of this from grandad's medicine cabinet before church, or just to take it out and smell it when the urge hit me; British Sterling always had this really hip, classy, and fairly mellow feel to it; it's one of those more subtle yet highly pleasant aromatics that has 'Gentleman' written all over it. The last time I got a whiff of this magic was about 20 years ago, and I'm sure that, due to the inevitable reformulation every now and then, this juice I'm getting soon probably won't be nearly as good as I remember it, but I do have high hopes! If you're reading this, and you've never smelt British Sterling, I implore you to at least get a 2 ml spray sample from ebay and treat yourself. There are even sample decants of this from vintage bottles online for under $10 if you look for them. You may think it's dated, but it's certainly timeless. Heck, you might be the hip dude to bring it back in style, you never know!

I feel like many of my reviews start out with "So I was at Kmart, Wal-Mart, CVS and was sniffing the frags..." (Hey Big Spender!) Anyways, I was at Kmart sniffing the frags and nothing that I didn't already have was tickling my fancy (mostly dreadful celebu-scents). I came to the British Sterling and someone opened the packaging (wasn't me...). BS is one I've been wanting to check out. Sprayed some...this is the kind of scent I really like in masculine scents. It might not be a fashionable scent but there's a group of men's scents, usually fougeres that smell like smoothness to me (I know, it sounds weird but it's the only way I can describe that smell) - Pinaud's Clubman, Brut, and Habit Rouge have that smooth note (does anyone know what that is? Please let me know.) I think it's either coumarin/tonka bean or benzoin or some combination thereof. I just love that scent and British Sterling has it too. I got a great big jug of it for like 10.00 with coupons. Longevity is very good. The teenaged check-out clerk (a boy) said I smelled terrific and I said - "that's the British Sterling, isn't it delicious?" He said he'd have to go get himself a bottle too! P.S. In case you haven't noticed Gents, the reviews from the Ladies are very positive - take heed!

Epic Journey Into the Bottled Yonder, 065 ------------------------------------------------------- Purchased July 2017 Amazing stuff. Don't know how something that smells like a cross between Fragonard Zizanie, Bogart, and Quorum/Polo yet actually is a cheap scent. You gotta get this smooth, creamy, lemonade/spicy green beast. Careful with the glass, it's fragile and I only know because my first attempted shipment of this was destroyed before it reached me. The bubble wrapping was good except for the bottle and to this day I still don't know how the hell that happened, was a reputable shop too. British Sterling is very much leather and earth. Edit: After 4 or 5 sprays the mids and/or bottom becomes cloying of oakmoss. Not necessarily "cheap" but very overpowering and just too much. Like the worst of the old days. Not everything was perfect back then but I think I've recently realised oakmoss isn't such a favourite as I thought, though perhaps I'm finally learning and maturing/refining my sense of smell as I go on with this brutally expensive hobby. Takes a whole lotta cash to make steps and leaps.

Here's a chestnut for Thanksgiving: good ole British Sterling, born in England and raised in...Rhode Island? Yep, this was actually produced for much of its life in Providence, RI by Speidel, and it graced the dresser (or bureau, as we say in New England) of many a working-class man. Sensible, delightful, British Sterling is simple and effective by design, front-loaded with citrus, spiced with nutmeg and cinnamon, and anchored with a mossy, ambery base. My Dad, a guitarist who played in traditional Irish folk groups all through my childhood, would often smell like this before he'd head out for a gig (he too had it as part of his repertoire). I get flashbacks of his Peavey amp, his cable knit sweaters, and his rollicking rendition of "Whiskey in the Jar." Whack fall the daddy-o, whack fall the daddy-o! Herein lies another example of the power of scent to transport us through time and connect us with the memories and the people dear to us.