Reaction

Upon recently beginning my journey into fragrance, I remembered I had some colognes lying around my bathroom somewhere. I found a bottle of Reaction that I must've gotten in a gift set for Christmas some time ago. That night I began smelling and comparing the few fragrances I had found lying dormant around my bathroom and the few I had recently purchased, things like A&F Fierce (absolutely bangin'), Dior Sauvage (birthday gift, also bangin'), and Penguin Rocks (from TJ Maxx, gf thinks it's bangin') I lifted the cap and took a whif and was blasted with that juicy, melon-y sweetness. I laughed as I pretentiously told my girlfriend that it wasn't a *bad* smell, "just very simple and juvenile", and then put it away and continued to gush over my newly arrived Dolce & Gabbana The One (EDP, of course) But, I found I couldn't get the smell of Reaction out of my brain. It haunted me, teased me... I would sneak a whiff of the bottle whenever I happened to pass by my frags, sometimes multiple times within the span of a few minutes, until much like Squidward and his ill-fated lust for Krabby Patties, I was caught red-handed by my other half Sweet, juicy melon floating on the most light, delightful ocean breeze. Imagine being on a hot beach with your hot friends in the summer, laughing and just loving life, because y'know, you're hot and life's good. It's ridiculous how light, fun, and delicious this smells. I only wish it would last longer ; I sprayed generously before work, and by lunch Reaction was only a whisper, only allowing me to catch its ethereal beauty in glimpses.... I must proclaim publicly: I LOVE KENNETH COLE REACTION!

Oh man what can I say about this beauty.. This was an extremely heavily worn cologne for me in my late teens and early twenties. It was my absolute favorite for a long while, I bought the gift sets of it so I could bathe in everything! The cologne, the body spray, the deodorant, the aftershave etc.. 10+ years have passed and my nose and maturity has changed. I recently found a little gift set of this that included a 1.7oz bottle along with the body spray. I definitely had to indulge and revisit what use to be one of my favorite fragrances. After my first whiff all the nostalgia came raining in.. I’ll stop rambling and get to the scent profile. You are hit right in the nose with an absolutely beautiful crisp, clean, aquatic apple/melon slightly citrus combo. This fragrance couldn’t be anymore crisp and clean if it tried. As it dries down you start to get some of that sandalwood and Lilly of the valley and only an ever so slight musk. Performance wise this fragrance was made to overspray! I’ve always went 8-12 sprays easy and have typically always got 4-6 hours of longevity, to be honest that’s really not bad given the notes and affordability of this fragrance. This one I feel has always been underrated.

Everyone loves the smell, but if you use only 1 spray it will be gone within 1 hour. So what I do is I put WAY to much on. But I always make sure I won't be around someone for about 30 minutes. Either way I had sprayed probably 10 sprays if not more then went to church. No one said anything, either way I stayed there the entire day and praised The Lord. (I'm Pentecostal) Either way it came time for the night service which starts around 6 but my mom got there around 5:30. So the key thing to remember is that I had sprayed on this cologne at around 10:00 that morning. But when my mom walked through the door the first thing she says is that she smelled me when she walked in! So obviously this has more power than what I expected. So really the more you spray the longer it will last and the more silage you will get. So I'd say about 5 sprays MAX unless you live in a cold climate. This is really a spring/summer fragrance. Smell 8/10 Longevity with 5 sprays is moderate Silage with 5 sprays is between moderate and heavy (3 feet)

I heard this was a good cologne and got a small bottle 15ml for under $15 at ross'. Smells fruit and watermelon and a bit of apple off the initial spray, dies down and has a nice circa 2000s musk smell with very very brief apple/fruit smell. Reminds me of a bod spray from early 2000s that smelled similar but died down to nothing after 5-10minutes. This stuff sticks around a few hours. Not a power house where you can spray and smell 12 hours later sorry fellas LOL The citrus and fruits smell is just mixed enough where its not overpowering/feminine smelling if that makes sense. Then once it dies down the blend smells surprisingly masculine. Nick named this "watermelon diesel" cause of the melon and stingy/chemmy smell off of it. Very safe scent would buy a bigger bottle if I found a good deal on it. DEF summer/warm weather spray, not that appealing for cold winter months with all the fruit and citruses. 8/10

I can understand that this cologne is not for everyone. That's understandable because it's so fruity and sweet for a man's fragrance. However, this is my number 1 favorite cologne so far. Hands down, actually. Signature scent for me, as far as my friends are concerned. No matter how many times I smell it or wear it, I have a smile on my face. My girlfriend just can't get enough of it either. I don't think anyone could make melon so unique and intriguing as this. Perfection. It's as timeless as a fruit oriented scent ever could be. I think that it is pretty masculine, albeit young and energetic. Think sporty, fresh, fruity, happy, exciting, hopeful, and carefree all wrapped into one. Honestly, if this was discontinued anytime soon, I would cry.