Work

So Hawthorne is a direct sales company that makes men's personal care products, including fragrances. They have a whole line of fragrances developed by their three perfumers (Olivier Gillotin, Quentin Bisch, and Rodrigo Flores-Roux). Instead of offering them individually for sale, they have you take a quiz about some of your personal habits -- where you work, what you like to do for a night out, do you smoke, are you an introvert or extrovert, etc. They then match you with one of their fragrances as your "work" scent and another for your "play" scent. Alternately, you can browse their catalogue and order fragrances individually. So really, Fragrantica should have a separate page for each scent, as they can differ drastically. With that said, Hawthorne seems to be a really effective gateway drug to fragrances. I had no interest in fragrances until I saw their advertising on FB a few months ago. It caught my interest, especially with how they highlighted their perfumers and seemed to be genuinely invested in making quality products. Took their quiz, got matched, ordered two of their perfumes. An individual 50 ml bottle of perfume from Hawthorne costs $60 USD; if you order your "work" and "play" together they charge $100, and any subsequent individual purchases are $50. Seems quite affordable as far as fragrances are concerned. For my Work, I got their scent "Fresh and Aquatic", made by Olivier Gillotin. According to the included note sheet, it's an "intricate marine sandalwood with juniper, pear, and basil". If I go look at my order history on the website, they also include bergamot as a note. True to the label, it's a very fresh scent, but not in your face. The sort of thing that I do find comfortable to wear in an office setting. Doesn't seem to have a lot of sillage. I'm hardly experienced with fragrances, so I can't make any comparisons to other frags. I use just a couple sprays in the morning, and I can clearly smell it. By the end of my work day, it's faint, but still can be smelled on the skin. Edit: I've noticed that this also really sticks to clothes. I can spray it on skin and the next day I can still smell that cool and crisp aroma on the shirt I wore. If the note list seems simple, that's intentional -- in the spotlight video for Olivier, he says that Hawthorne's approach is simplicity, which he supports. I figure that simplicity allows them to use quality ingredients while keeping costs down. Unfortunately, they're not really transparent about the actual ingredients in the perfume or the concentration. Something they could improve upon. I really like my Hawthorne fragrances, and I feel they've opened me up to a wider world of perfumes. I'm surprised that it hasn't gotten much attention in the wider fragrance community; I figure they have to be selling a decent amount, as my FB is plastered with their advertising. The most I can find are a few articles written by people who don't really even consider themselves fragrance experts. Which, to be fair, is sort of the target market Hawthorne is going for. But I would like to see what some of the fragrance YTers think about them. In any case, I feel like my bottle of "Fresh and Aquatic" was certainly worth it. Here are the other "Work" fragrances I've ordered from Hawthorne: "Citrus and Woody", by Rodrigo Flores-Roux. Notes of tangerine, grapefruit, neroli, petigrain, vetiver, and violetwood. This one I get as my quiz result for the "Work" scent interchangeably with "Fresh and Aquatic". It's a bit warmer and more woody than F&A, which really was just straight coolness and crispness. I still find it very appealing, and friends of mine who have smelled it really like it too. A couple of them have noticed it has a sunscreen vibe, in a good way. Reminds them of the beach. Definitely an easy to wear favorite. “Aromatic and Woody” by Olivier Gillotin. Notes of Italian cedrat, Haitian vetiver, and Canadian balsam fir. Very woody, and even a noticeable touch of petrol-ness. Definitely a manly cologne. Intriguing, but also still quite appealing. I’d say this is pleasant and I definitely enjoy wearing it, though it's not quite my favorite of the bunch. Seems to have a ton of projection. "Soft and Airy Sandalwood", by Olivier Gillotin. Notes of cucumber, violet, German orris, marine floral musk, australian sandalwood. I got this one in a special order. This one is a bit dry and papery, reminiscent of another fragrance I have, Commodity Book. But where Book has a bit of an off-putting pickle-y note, this is a bit smoother, a bit creamier. Again, very easy to wear, my friends like it, definitely a good frag. “Botanic and Woody” by Olivier Gillotin. Notes of blue chamomile, mandarin, suede, rose, saffron, ylang ylang, vetiver, and cedarwood. This wasn't a favorite of mine initially, but it grew on me. I really enjoy the combination of rose and suede, it has this sort of effusive quality to it. A more accurate name for it could be "Floral and Woody", due to the rose and the ylang ylang, but that might sound a bit unappealling for the general male consumer that Hawthorne markets to. “Green and Airy” by Olivier Gillotin. Notes of cucumber, green apple, oakmoss, ocean wind accord, iris root, and Australian sandalwood. This was the limited edition release for the summer of 2020. And this one...I didn’t like so much. The opening is nice and fresh, but there’s something in the drydown that’s rather off-putting to me. Reminiscent of dried spit. I keep going back and forth on this one. That opening is actually really, really nice. A vibrant combination of apple and cucumber. It's just...the drydown, though. Metallic in this yucky spit sort of way. I really don't know what that could be coming from. I have been enjoying wearing it but it's not a favorite of people who I've had smell it. "Woody and Airy", by Olivier Gillotin. Notes of bitter orange, lavender, cedarwood, vetiver, patchouli, and sandalwood. This one is nice and fresh, and comes across a bit soapy to my nose. Picked this one up a while back, haven't really been drawn to wearing it much.

I received Fresh and Aquatic for my Work! It is a marine sandalwood with juniper, pear and basil made by Olivier Gillotin. It's a fresh new take on the overdone aquatic type of fragrances in my opinion. It's aquatic without the citrus note but it's not necessarily fruity or sweet either. I think it's the combination of the basil and pear or something else in it that gives it a nice brightness and punch. Its a very pleasing scent yet unique, it's not a cliche mass-appealing blue scent. It's not close to Polo Blue or Bvlgari Aqva Amara. It is it's own distinct animal, I love it personally. ー🎅

Got in the GQ Box I ordered for my dad I was a bit skeptical of this cologne when I ordered the GQ Box, seeing as you could get any of a variety of "work" fragrances. My dad is very picky, only liking fresh and clean scents, luckily I got a scent he will like. I received the "aromatic and woody" (Olivier Gillotin) scent and was very impressed. The bottle is nice, and the scent even better. I sprayed it on my wrist to test, and it lasted a long time! The scent was a strong, fresh, masculine scent. The citrus and vetiver pull this scent together beautifully. Great fragrance for men.

I received my bottle thru the GQ box, and I'm quite happy. I got "citrus and woody". I don't typically like neroli but it's really well blended in this. Been 2 days and it's been a heavy complement puller.

This is actually quite good. Probably the best thing I've received from the GQ box, but we all know thats not a high achievement...

Woody & Fresh is my Work scent. Custom frags are rare and should be unique to the individual. These notes are not cheap nor synthetic. They use high-quality oils to blend them together depending on the individual. My signature scent is Creed’s MI, so the nose behind Ed Hardy’s L&L is the same master perfermer for my Work scent. I love citrus frags, but mines have a hint of Creed Aventus. I work wearing a suit, so it had to be good for all age groups and doesn’t scream for attention nor offensive. Yet, it’s elegant and doesn’t try very hard. Aventus is overpriced, so I was able to find something close. I'm not a huge Aventus fan, so this was a good try. Age: 21+ Scent: 3.75 stars

Recently acquired it, not thrilled. As far as I can tell its fragrance is actually quite common but other brands’s sillage and longevity tend to be much better - The Givaudan lab, king of fragrance and flavor creation and the actual creator of this one, can and usually does MUCH better than this.

My Work scent was "citrusy and woody". It's a pretty straightforward, inoffensive everyday smell. VERY simple. The longevity is pretty poor, but I do have to give Hawthorne credit for being my gateway to fragrances.

I own several Hawthorne fragrances and find the 'Play' line to be a lot better than the 'work' line. Of all the Work fragrances from Hawthorne the Aromatic and Woody is my favorite, although the Citrus and Woody is not bad. Fragrance is supposed to be about luxury and these are pretty utilitarian but they do fill a niche. Sometimes you don't want to run through your expensive juice for a day at the office but you still want to smell good. That's where Hawthorne has a role. 6/10

As I understand, this frag (and Play) are one in a handful of potential scents that are sent to the customer. So to review this scent itself, impossible. But I will say that the bottle I received is damn good. I have a decent collection, and I love a high-quality unique scent. My Play is a bright light woody note introduced by pear and (I’m picking up on) lime. Seriously good stuff and it just jumped up to my top five dumb grabs.

“Soft and Airy” version by Olivier Gillotin is a Santal 33 inspired fragrance.. smells nice and less of the dill-ness of Santal33... it’s perfectly fine and wearable, but doesn’t make me super excited as it is yet another santal33 copy... I got a full bottle in the Fall 2023 GQ box, and the summer 2023 box had you guessed it, a different brands Santal33 inspired fragrance roller in it..