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.

I got a bottle of this stuff sometime over the summer and never got a chance to review it. Me being a hardcore fan of A&F and Hollister, I was a bit disappointed in how un-original it is. Although it does smell good, its a smell you will smell everywhere. Especially coming out of the locker room. I do like the subtle coconut sweetness from the coconut though. Rare to find any sweetness out of a summer-based men's fragrance. Usually the other summery ones are water, water and water. That's it. Unfortunately, it's the same deal for Hollister's "Jake" cologne. Except that one is citrus woody. All in all, I find it to be a decent fragrance. However, not one I'd be fighting to get again.

I literally don't dislike anything about this fragrance. The longevity, sillage, concentration, and scent are all perfect to me. It's a outstanding sweet men's cologne. The only thing I dislike is its association with Hollister. And the pretentious superficial preteen and teenage culture surrounded by it. The fact that they spray it all around the store, takes the mystery and magic out of it. Everytime you wear it. Everybody's like "yOu smElL liKe hOlLisTer!" I wish this scent was made by a small House that was only really known about in the Frag Community. So it could really thrive! Another great thing ruined by popular Western American teeny bopper culture sigh!

one of the nicest smelling colognes ive ever smelt. sweet, woody, fresh and a hint of citrus. if you've ever been in a Hollister store you've smelt this. only bad thing is the projection and longevity is embarrassing. I've never been complemented once because the only way to smelt it is to put your nose on the persons neck. plus it only lasts 5 hours tops. the price range for a casual scent is ridiculously high aswell. I recommend lacoste in play red for a cheaper casual cologne which smells great and has a good projection. other than that it smells Amazing.

in response to coreynellos' review, I must defend this fragrance. What that review seems to be based upon is the image of the store, the stereotype of the clientele, and the usage of the perfume as marketing. None of these things are truly related to the scent itself. I agree that Hollister goes overboard, blindly spraying this all over their store. I agree that the young, vain, disrespectful crowd generally is seen there. But in defense of the fragrance itself! It is beautiful, and I hope no one is deterred by coreynellos' subjective review.

This smells almost identical to Lomani signature if you are looking for a more reasonably priced alternative and can locate it. I note it isn't in the catalogue on here. The resemblance is truly uncanny and even the bottle shapes of both and colour scheme of the bottles and caps are very very similar... Love both of these fragrances. Something warm, familiar, safe and calming about them. Suits hooded tops and lounging around but passable on evenings out, depending on the company.

It was my first scent as a teenager and was always a hit with the ladies on me, so It will always be special in my eyes. I still wear it on occasion. It's true it doesn't last long enough but I never had an issue re-applying as needed. It will last longer on clothing and well moisturized skin. I don't know if it quite has "hidden gem" status now but it is definitely not worn as much as it used to be. You're not likely to ever smell like her ex-boyfriend wearing this.

The best and sexiest smelling tropical scent ever made for Men. No other tropical scents come close! I usually hate coconut in fragrances, But the way it intermingles with the other notes is so nice and toasty. It's so well blended. There's an ambery warmth to it, but it's also pretty fresh...It's like a warm breezy day at the beach. It's super nostalgic as well, It takes me back to when I was a teenager. I wish they made more Men's fragrances like this! 11/10

I use to buy this off Amazon for cheap like 40$. It’s. A good cheapie but bad performance. I enjoyed the scent didn’t know it was even discontinued recently. Yeah not worth the 200-300$ or more eBay prices don’t pay those please. Not even worth it at 100$ only if you really want to collect or nostalgic reasons. If this was still available at like 50-70$ for the 100ml bottle that’s more of a good price for it at most.

This is for me summer, beaches and my VW camper! I always wear this when camping. I water it down in a spray bottle of water! and spritz all my clothes, the towels the curtains in the camper..everything..it is gorgeous, it spells, fun and freedom. Everybody loves the gorgeous aroma of my camper! funny I guess this was meant for men...but not in my case, it is for me, my clothes my camper!

This is one of my favorite scents. I wear this all year round, but I do live in a coastal town that rarely goes below 50 degrees F. My biggest complaint is that this scent is so light and weak. It is an edc and for me there is little projection or longevity. I will still always keep this stocked because the smell is so good. I wish Hollister released an edt version of this.

You will get mixed reviews mostly because the diversity of people. Some Art lovers will critique Artistry in the fragrance. Others; brand, blending, projection, or versatility. Never the less, this sucker smells good. Most versatile fragrance ever.. any season, any event, any age, any place or thing. Spray it in your car, living room, closet.. thumbs up. 7.5/10

I really like this fragrance it is quite tropical and it does remind me of the beach I agree with the coconut vibe. My main concerns are it kind of reminds me of axe/lynx excite but I like it. The other is the performance. It doesn't last long which isn't surprising as all Hollister men's fragrance (except wave and wave2) are edc

Busting out my old Summer bottles as the weather warms up, and I realize how good this smells! It never stood out to me but I smell an interesting mix of coconut, cedar-fence-sawdust, and pine. Woody, sweet, and fresh, this is a very enjoyable fragrance. The only problems are the reputation and the longevity.

The other classic mall scent (next to Fierce). Warm, comforting, sexy, sweet. That undeniable coconut and woody pineapple aroma is super addictive and makes for a great summer cheapie. It also radiates pretty big. Doesn't last too long unfortunately. But boy is it a great smell while it's there.

Trendy, sexy, woody, aromatic, sweet, sensual, lasts forever and projects very well. For the price it is incredible. I understand the Hollister association kills it a little bit, but if this was by a niche house it would considered a masterpiece of perfumery and rightly so!