Bvlgari Extreme

The opening is an overwhelming blast of grapefruit. The opening is too much. If you are going out somewhere apply this cologne like an hour before you go out. What is AMAZING about this cologne is when it transforms in the dry down. It becomes incredibly creamy. Like some sort of lemon cream pie dessert. The dry down is to die for. The dry down lasts so long, that you can sleep in that shirt wake up the next day and smell that lemon cream pie. It lasts even longer than that. I kid you not, you can put that shirt in your dirty laundry basket and smell that creamy smell days later if you take a whiff of that shirt. That creamy smell is very close to your skin but you will get whiffs of it as you move. It is one of the longest lasting fragrances I've ever seen. But be warned about the opening. I was in car once with people and I foolishly applied about 4 sprays 15 minutes before leaving my house. Everyone had to roll the windows down in the car because the scent was so over powering. People were sneezing and coughing, choking on air. I kid you not. I felt bad, it was my fault though. I knew how strong that opening is. You sort of have to over apply to appreciate that dry down (since it becomes a skin scent, a skin scent that lasts like 10+ hours on my skin) but just don't subject other people to that opening. I think the absolute best way to describe this fragrance is: This is a fragrance for you. It is not meant for other people to smell you. You get to live in this scent bubble that is amazing for 10+ hours. Sometimes I'll wear this fragrance just so I can sleep in that shirt and wake up and smell the scent still on me. You might think the fragrance is gone, but put your nose to your skin (your wrist, arm) and take a whiff. Yep, the scent is still there. The lemon cream! You dudes need to put respect on this cologne's name.

The top of this fragrance is a grapefruit explosion that is overly powerful and can be incredibly obnoxious. I sprayed one to many sprays before going in a car full of people (all it takes is one spray too much) and people had to roll down the windows of the car to air it out because one person kept on sneezing over and over again. It was quit embarrassing. You tend to want to over spray this fragrance because it becomes INCREDIBLE in the dry down but its a skin scent at this point. The problem is that the top of the fragrance projects like a freak and isn't very pleasant to other people. Spray this at least 35 minutes before coming in contact with any other person. LOL It completely changes on my skin in the dry down to a really creamy citrus/tea fragrance. Although it is a skin scent in the dry down, it lasts forever. I kid you not (and I have done this). You can spray this on your shirt at 5PM, go out have a nice night, go to sleep, wake up the following morning, take your shirt out of the hamper, and you can very clearly smell the fragrance. But its crazier than that! You can smell the shirt over 24 hours later and it will still be there. They aren't joking when they call this fragrance "EXTREME". The dry down is so pleasant but since its a skin scent you will practically forget you are wearing a fragrance. Nevertheless, you will randomly catch a whiff of it and that whiff is divine. Like you just want to live in that scent bubble forever. If only they had a cologne version of just the dry down that projected more.

I don't have the original, but as I understand it it's essentially just a souped up version of the original that lasts longer and has a little bit more depth to it. I personally absolutely adore this scent, I just haven't worn it as much as I would like to and for some reason it ends up getting a little bit lost in the shuffle. This spring and summer though, I think I'm gonna put this into a place that I reserve for my most used scents, because I really have been meaning to give this extended wear for a season or two. It's fresh, but it's sophisticated. It belongs to this family of fragrances that surfaced in the late 1990s in the wake of Creed's very popular Silver Mountain Water, and these scents utilized fresh, green herbal notes and a lot of times notes of fig and tea. Some of the most popular ones were Davidoff's Good Life, Dior's Dune Pour Homme, D&G's Masculine, and of course Bvlgari's Pour Homme line. Whenever I smell these kinds of fragrances I just imagine a rich guy playing golf on a late 90s summer afternoon. They all have this green, grassy elegance and all of them are really timeless and it's unfortunate that so many of these have been discontinued over the years since and replaced by much more basic and generic smelling releases. Edit: 18 hours later, I decided to wear it as my SOTD and I'm stunned with how refreshing, classy and beautiful this release is. It's so perfect for this time of year.

Extreme is rather complex and probably requires at least a few full wearings before it is understood. This is a green smell, very fresh in the opening with bitter citrus notes that last quite a while. The heart of the fragrance reveals Bvlgari's signature darjeeling tea note, which can also be smelled in the orignal Bvlgari Pour Homme as well as the Soir version. Extreme has excellent longevity (8+ hours no problem!) with good but not intrusive projection. The basenotes of woods and oakmoss linger for a long time, never relinquishing the character of the midnotes (the citrus and tea never quite leave), and as they become closer to the skin, create a beautifully sexy skin scent that lingers on clothes, too. Even at the end of a long day wearing Extreme, my girlfriend can't get enough of the way I smell. Two thumbs up!! Compared to the original Bvlgari Pour Homme (which is quite good as well), Extreme is more noticable and has more longevity and projection. The tea note is the same, but Extreme is quite a different cologne! To summarize: EXTREME: -Green and vibrant -Wet (projects like a beast when you work up a sweat, throwing off grapefruit and tea goodness) -Long lasting and potent -Noticable -Envigorating tea -Great for spring weather and the great-outdoors Original PH: -Dry and less fresh -Subtle and less noticeable -Peppery and anaemic -Calming tea -Best indoors and for work situations

i loved the tea opening but the rest didnt settle too well for me. to me this smells exactly like an inverted lalique pour homme but way more modern. its very similar with a lot of notes being more present in the front or the back. the opening here is a green tea leaf, citrus with a muted lavender. and for lalique pour homme its a upfront lavender rosemary citruses. in the middle they both become cedar wood like but pour homme extreme has slight sharper green spicey undertones with while lalique pour homme starts going strong cedar with a prominent jasmine, lily and lipstick iris. and once it dries pour homme extreme has iris as a background note on the dry down but is overall very soft and green in the base. while lalique has a much more pushing sandalwood base with almost everything smelling similar. decent longevity. i actually liked the full dry down when it becomes a skin scent too. overall it has a nostalgic and relaxed vibe to it. i wish it was more tea and lil bit stronger. it almost become a favorite for me. it's just that nothing really jumps out to me about it that i can get excited about. i find this more wearable for myself than lalique pour homme. but this is really good tbh. UPDATE: I am starting to enjoy this one in the air a lot more on others. It's such a gentle, green masculine scent. It was very close to me really liking it.