Socal for Men

Nostalgia, comfort, home. Hollister SoCal for Men Cologne has been a staple of mine for about 10 years now and I say that with no shame. From about the age of 15 I first remember getting this as a body spray for my birthday and fell in love with it, reminding me of the awesome smell of the Hollister store and days out shopping. I've had a few different fragrances in that time, but SoCal has always been a choice on the shelf to take me back and feel completely comfortable. The opening gives a tropical, sweet Pineapple and coconut that mellows down to a calming pine, and eventually cosy, almost chocolatey suede that sits wonderfully on clothes. Everytime I smell this it takes me straight back to 2014, hanging out with old friends, enjoying youth, and being carefree! Of course it still has that youthful character, but I can't help to keep on reaching for it, nowadays to make me feel at home as a comfort fragrance. Its like a tropical Christmas tree. It lasts a short while, about 3 hours on the skin before starting to die out and lasts much longer on clothing. It actually makes a nice home fragrance. I don't find the projection is great on the skin but, again, it surprisingly shines on clothing in its own special way. I've been able to use this as a daily scent for years, night and day, all seasons, but when I think of SoCal I think of the end of Summer and the start of Autumn when things start to turn orange and cosy. It's an extremely versatile, safe and inoffensive frag that's hard to not like. My favourite place to spray this is just for days and evenings at home with my girlfriend, watching a movie or playing video games. It's home. The bottle is very basic. A generic shaped clear glass embossed with "SoCal Hollister", a cheap feeling black lid that somehow clips on gorgeously and an okay atomiser. Nothing out of the ordinary for a cheapie like this and very unassuming. It fits the scent and doesn't need to do much more. Finally for the price you can pick this up at, its a steal and has become a bit of a hidden gem, especially now its discontinued in the UK. The £39 RRP price is already amazing but you can pick this up for under £25 on sale which is insane. I don't think I've experienced a better frag for this price and for the foreseeable future this will always have a place in my wardrobe. Masterpiece: 10/10

This was the scent that made me fall in love with cologne back in the day. I'd always walk by the store and think to myself how amazing it smelled in there. Sure enough, my cousin got me a bottle way back in the day, when I told him I liked the smell of the store, and I've bought bottle on and off ever since then around 2007 or so. I do feel now that I'm almost 30, that I've sort of outgrown this one, but every once in a while, regardless of season, or anything, I'll throw this stuff on, and rock it for the day. For me, these days, I use it liberally, so that it'll seem to last most of a night at work, or what have you, but I still wish they'd put out something stronger in this scent, with a little more depth, if I recall this is only an EDC, so its supposedly weaker than even EDT/EDP and so on, so I'd only imagine what this would be like even in a higher volume EDT.... I feel like it could be amazing, but I digress. Now that I'm building up a bit more of a modern designer collection, I'm not sure I'll be keeping this guy in my rotation, but its given me quit literally, like 15 years of off and on solid service, and I commend that. Probably the longest running scent I've had over the years. I'd review Socal Sunset as well, but truly, they're one and the same, Sunset just adding what I felt was a little more fruit.

I first bought Hollister SoCal in college. At the time, I was about 19 years old and actually wore clothes from the store. SoCal was and still is the scent that is sprayed on the clothes. Even though I don't wear Hollister anymore, I still wear the cologne nostalgically. This is a summer cologne that reminds me of the beach - not the water itself, but the experience of basking in the sunlight on a hot but relaxed afternoon. The scent opens with a very tropical hit of coconut and melon. There may even be a small hint of citrus in the top notes. As it dries down, I get the deep woody scent of coniferous trees (perhaps pine or spruce) mixed with vanilla sweetness. The basenotes are my favorite aspect of the cologne because the sweetness is balanced by the deep earthy scent of driftwood dried and heated by the summer sun. It lasts relatively long on my skin - about 6-8 hours before it becomes a skin scent. On its own merits, the scent is excellent for a beach day. It is overworn by the teenage Hollister crowd, so it may associate with a younger audience. However, at 23 I still spray this occasionally during the summer and it gets complements when applied conservatively and allowed to dry down. Overall Scent: 8/10 Opening: 7/10 Drydown: 9/10 Sillage: 8/10 Longevity: 8/10 Overall: 8/10

This scent is a classic for me. I first bought this one as a cheapie for 2x.xx$ to fill the void in a hollister online shopping cart to get free shipping. At the time I was running a lawncare business and figured I would keep it in my work truck and maybe if I kept the truck clean, and wore this to greet customers after the service was complete they would appreciate a clean, pleasant smelling appearance. Not only did it work, but it worked great because of the poor overall longevity of this cologne. Those memories are now trapped in this scent for me and I love it. I wish they didn't discontinue this because I would probably have more than the 50ml I have left. I can't justify the 200+ asking prices but I can say when this was being produced, it was great, and Ill continue to hold onto it and wear it occasionally. Also would like to add- I bought beach bonfire just to check for similarity, it isn't anywhere close (not that it claims to be). It gives me an instant headache. Figured that may help someone

This scent and I go wayyy back. And unfortunately, just like me, it peaked in high school. Just kidding, but seriously this scent got reformulated at some point between 2014 and now because it performs nowhere near the way it used to. This scent is nearly perfect. The opening with bright pineapple slowly fading down to a nice sandalwood (and a coconut/suede?) note that smells SO GOOD! But then they changed the bottles from a cool flask style to a lame, teeny-bopper, overly-simplified logo bottle that looks as bad as it performs. I wish they'd make an EDP or parfum version, cause I'd buy it straight away. This will always be a nostalgic scent for me, and still to this day pulls more compliments than any other fragrance I own. Too bad it doesn't last to match. Still use it to spray around the house, though! (Only wear in 70+ degree weather.) Scent: 9/10, Longevity: 5/10, Projection: 3/10, Cost: 10/10.