Stetson Spirit Cologne

The more I wear this fragrance the more I fall in love. This is a BEAUTIFUL cologne! It’s an easy wear, inoffensive and smells fantastic! I am sad to see this one flying under the radar as I am genuinely worried it will be discontinued! Go try it! I originally rated 8.5 but definitely bumping it to a 9.5! Only because even though the Sillage and longevity aren’t very impressive (about 3 hours of projection, 5-6 hours of longevity) the low price point of $20 at a Walmart balances out to a 9.5 instead of a 9. Just get it, it WILL get compliments! I wish Coty would make some EDP versions of their best frags.

Smells great. Disappears quickly. But for the price it's worth adding to your collection.

Coty Stetson Spirit is yet another fragrance by the Stetson brand to appeal to a market of "new cowboys." Ironically, their last fragrance Stetson Caliber was that too, with some somewhat similar notes. Caliber was much better than we knew and it got discontinued within two years of release sadly. Stetson Spirit launched in 2021 based on more people being outdoors and camping or hiking during the pandemic. I am not in the target market, but I do enjoy a number of the Stetson releases going back to the original and also namely Caliber. Black smells pretty good but it is a bit of a Fahrenheit dupe so I passed on it. I got two of the 50ml bottles of it. One in full presentation with a Versace Pour Homme like box (that said, this is cheaper and not velvety) that I ordered for Black Friday and one with the Stetson Spirit shave cream a few weeks later in store. Ironically, the pack with the shave cream was cheaper. Go figure. The scent is very spicy upon opening with some citrus. You also get some lavender and a little bit of leather from the mid seeping in. The mid has some leather but the lavender and clary sage takes over. In the mid, it smells slightly like the original Stetson. I cannot tell if the rock rose is there or not because I haven't smelt it. The base I notice a mix of cedar and sandalwood with some amber and musk. Now let me say, I do not get the comparisons to Acqua di Gio, L'Eau d'Issey and Blue Seduction whatsoever. I like/love all those scents, don't get me wrong so I know what they smell like, and this doesn't really have anything similar to those. L'Eau d'Issey was revolutionary, Acqua di Gio took what L'eau d'Issey did and made it far more mass appealing by removing the yuzu and Blue Seduction is a lesser-known aquatic banger. That said, this fragrance goes in a much different direction than those three. I do not get much aquatic or oceanic feel to Stetson Spirit. As I said, you can smell some original Stetson DNA in Stetson Spirit (it surprisingly shares a good amount of the notes from the original plus rock rose), but it is much different and far more mass appealing and modern. If Coty got what they wanted for in Stetson Spirit, I say it is a yes. Stetson Spirit smells contemporary and I can see it being worn in casual and work settings. Stetson Spirit does smell similar to Stetson Caliber, which I am glad about. Caliber was a nice fragrance but as mentioned earlier, sadly went away. Stetson Spirit lasts five hours on my skin with about an hour or maybe two of decently strong projection. For the price, you can do much worse than Stetson Spirit both in performance and smell. I see Stetson Spirit working good in spring and fall. You maybe able to make it work in winter, but in Arizona I can tell you it maybe too much for summer. I don't see this as a night scent, as much as I may enjoy it sadly. Stetson Spirit is indeed nice to wear. It is one that I am sure I can wear at least once every two weeks. It smells just that good and it maybe one you spray on and wonder "Why don't I wear it more often?" That said, I think at the same time is a bit all been done before. As mentioned, I do smell Stetson and Stetson Caliber to it, but it also smells similar to other fragrances as well, but I can't quite figure it out what. For this reason, I can rate Stetson Spirit a 7.8 out of 10. I want to love it, but I only have given one love below this, and that was an exception for Playboy New York which is Fierce but with an added apple and a vinyl note.

I got a 50 ml of this fragrance along with a bottle of face scrub for $6.50 at my local drugstore. At that price, this is a steal... but then, just about anything would be. Now, to the fragrance. For about the first 20 minutes or so, there is a bit of refreshing citrus/rhubarb. But, after that, the herbs and amber take over. There is just a touch of leather to cut across the sweetness a little, but it is pretty negligible. In terms of performance, it is respectable for a drugstore fragrance. I sprayed three times on each arm to test it. At that volume, it was a little too potent for me, and I could faintly smell it on my arms eight-nine hours later. In terms of comparisons, call me crazy, but it reminds me a little of Bleu de Channel-- or at least some of the clones I have smelled. Now, I am not saying it is a BdC replacement, just that it is in the same family line. Take a BdC clone. Remove the grapefruit, ginger, and incense-- then add amber to kick up the sweetness on the back end. There you have it... Stetson Spirit. You might be saying, "But, you're talking about taking out the best parts of BdC." Well, yes. But, if you take out the best parts and add amber, you have Stetson Spirit. Basically, I like it, but the dry down is a little sweet for me. I wish there were something in the dry down to moderate the sweetness. If there were an added incense/pepper note or something in the end, I'd probably be quite fond of it. Nevertheless, if you are looking for something in the blue category that finishes with a bit more powdery sweetness than most, this would be a good choice. Update: Having spent a bit more time with this fragrance, I would say it is just about my favorite "dumb reach" fragrance of those that I own. If I don't know what to put on, I find myself reaching for Spirit. There is nothing magical about it. It's just nice. I find that it is particularly well suited to those transitional months leading into spring-- when it is too chilly to bust out your spring fragrances, but you are ready to set aside your spicy winter colognes. This one is sweet enough to fit the chill, but fresh enough to suit the spring.

This is the typical light and fresh shower gel type fragrance we've all smelled before. It's inoffensive and worth the money as a decent cheap offering. There's not much that sets it apart from the multitude of other blue and clean fragrances adorning store shelves all over other than being from Stetson instead of Nautica. I like it though even if it's so called "generic" profile has been done to death already. Performance could be a bit better but does well for a few hours with some mild projection and sillage. Makes a good casual choice for the office, a simple date, the gym, or as a random no brainer wearing. Would be excellent for teens who are just testing the waters with fragrances.