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!

This has been in my collection for the last 11 years and I always make sure I have a bottle at the ready for the summer. this will always hold a place in my heart, I love the fragrance. its not the strongest smelling fragrance but lasts most of the day with 3 sprays.

I like this, has a very pleasant scent sort of sweet, creamy, woody. ,longevity is good. everyone seems to love the smell especially girls and people who know Hollister will spot this scent on you from a mile away. smells exactly like the store 7/10

My boyfriend’s signature scent since before we even met. I will always associate it with him, but that bias aside, it’s surprisingly very very good for a cheap cologne. I dislike majority of colognes in general, but there’s something about this one.

I love this cologne, it's so sweet and I've been wearing it for many years. I can see myself not using it as much when I turn 24-25. Who knows? Btw they stopped selling the spray bottles with metal caps, so everything's made of plastic now :P

This smells like honey, sugar, sweet, and many some type of fruit I can't pinot out. It last quite a while I don't complain but I just noticed that my botle says EAU DE COLOGNE does any one know if they sell a EAU DE TOILETTE spray?

i love this fragrance so much. fruity beechy goodness. got it for christmas so gotta wait a week :(. A lot of people say its woody. i agree on short terms but it hink its more fruity. very sweet. i will have a smell next week ;D

Love: the scent!!! It's so perfect for a teenage guy and it smells exactly like the hollister shops. It is just delicious. Hate: the price (for 125ml you're looking at £55) and the bad longevity I only get about 3 hours from it.

It seems like fierce cologne with some oriental notes. I get the same sharp citrus but I think it goes a little farther. However, i have fierce cologne so i am not going to buy this too since the smells are pretty similar.

One of the greatest, and most versatile mens fragrances for everyday wear out there. It has a rich profile with almost a dirty heart. Not off putting just gritty and masculine. Perfect for beachwear and humid temps.

SoCal is the first fragrance that I ever purchased. I love it! I don't wear it much anymore. It reminds me of a very specific time of my life and brings back a lot of good memories. It's a solid scent.

Great smell, but it dosent last very long. Iv had allot of compliments on it. Great summer, spring smell. A few people have told me it smells like Christmas trees. I just wished it lasted longer!

I love this fragrance. I loved it when I went into the store, I love it now. I mainly use it to freshen up the room. Love this smell when I walk into the room. Instantly puts me in a good mood.

I’m smelling this now. Very nice. Summery concoction. Better than current Fierce to me. I wouldn’t mind taking this for a spin this summer. It’s reminiscent of The One and A&F First Instinct

this kinda has a jpg feel to it, i think its kinda deeper and a nice scent cloud, definately good scent if it smells good in a mall even when the stoer is bathed in the scent

Is this the fragrance they pipe through the store? I bought it and yes. It is the same scent from the Hollister Store. worth every penny to make my office smell nice.

Can't believe they discontinued this. This is one of my first colognes. Love the sweet fruity opening and that amber dry down.

A 2000’s classic. To me it’s as if Le Beau went into D&G The One territory. Guilty pleasure scent for sure.

Really underrated cologne; great price; perfect for normal day use during the summer; highly recommened!

One of those flankers that has defeated the test of time. Very comforting and warm scent.

Sunny evening, a nice Pina colada along the seashore, sunglasses on... Great 👍

this smells good with versace man eau fraiche under layer to it...

so yummy. poor longevity but still great.

pleasantly surprised with this little gem, a very fruity nice smelling cologne for a guy to wear, seems to be more of a scent my son might really love to wear, got a decent sized sample sent to me ,my first take was positive, reminded me of a & f's fierce type of scent..a little sweeter maybe.. but very aromatic and pleasant. don't think someone older would catch flack for wearing unless they over did it. , but my teenaged daughter right away perked up and said, hey dad , i really like that one. so it does the job, not an expensive fragrance really so a good value i think.. and yet different enough that you get some compliments. i did. not sure i would wear this one because i am too mature lol... smells good, what else can you ask for? i will have to sample some of the other ones now that my curiosity is peaked. got some for my 14 year old grandson.. he loves this, and he does not want to smell like me..funny how it cuts both ways. it does smell good.. one of those that appeals to the masses. a scent that although may not be the cup of tea for the more sophisticated noses it is certainly not beneath me to see its appeal. thumbs up. if it makes you happy it makes you happy.. wear it with pride young man!

They don't list notes but it's something nice in that pineapple coconut sandalwood direction. Smells really similar to Le Beau but imo is more pleasing LeBeau is way too sweet this is more like a nice pina colada. If you want a body wash that smells like this Ouai St Barts smells exactly like this which falls into that bougie body wash category except SoCal is super cheap. Maybe my favorite ultra cheap frag when Hollister runs sales on this it's negligibly expensive

I am surprised by how strong this stuff really is. I went in thinking it would be a light skin scent. I applied about 5 sprays in the morning. I could smell it all day. I could smell it the next morning, after a shower. I went into my office that morning and could smell a faint lingering of this scent. People like it. Don't overlook it, just because you think it is popular, or overdone, or just a "mall" scent. There is more here than you may think.

I wore this a bunch in middle school and I still have the bottle, though its practically empty. IMO this does a tropical men's fragrance better than JPG Le Beau. It hits that coconutty, vanilla vibe but isn't so sweet and sunscreen like. For a more commercial clothing brand fragrance it is really good. The longevity and projection aren't great but the scent is actually high quality. Up there with Fierce for best clothing store scents.

Don't get me wrong, I kind of like this scent. However, to me it smells like cardboard and freshly chopped pieces of wood at first. It is a pretty manly smell. Girls seems to love this scent. Just have to make sure not to over do it, and let it dry down before entering the world. I agree that the store and everything it represents is more than obnoxious, but that doesn't mean that they can't make a pretty decent cologne.

A fragrance worn all throughout my teenage years. This was THE fragrance to wear right behind Abercrombie & Fitch's Fierce, which would capture the attention of everyone within a few feet of you. This fragrance smells very clean and fresh with a hint of muskiness to it and can be worn all day and even into the night when the sun starts to set. Scent: 9/10 Value: 7/10 Overall: 8/10

Never had any Hollister frags as a teen, so I picked up the gift box since I'm old now and have disposable income. This somewhat reminds me of the store but not exactly. I got lots of coconut and warm notes to start with. Some vanilla perhaps with spice emerging as it dried. Pretty nice, don't think it will make my top 5 but I could wear this in rotation.

I actually still wear this and I am 25 haha. Sure, this isn’t going to compete with the high-end designer and niche fragrances of the world, but this transports me back to simpler times when I only had a handful of fragrances and took weekend trips to the mall with friends, good times good times! I’ll never get rid of this, purely for sentimental reasons.