Michael

Gosh, 24 years have gone by since this masterpiece was released! Michael, along with several others in and around that time (i.e. Van Cleef & Arpels Murmure, Truth Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs Marc Jacobs) had me spellbound. I am saying that as a male! While all of those fragrances were of the same concept, they all were unique in VERY distinct ways, unlike so many fragrances today. To date things even further, I believe it was either a Marshall Field's/Dayton's/Hudson's department store where I first sampled Michael. Beautiful, simply beautiful stuff! Everything about this fragrance -- including the product copy/verbiage, packaging -- just screamed luxury. I remember being so let down when the men's version came out and the box for the fragrance didn't incorporate the suede-like inner carton like that of the women's. 24 years later, I still remember the product copy they used over and over and over again... and rightly so! "Creamy florals meet exotic spices, tamed by Moroccan incense, tuberose reinvented." Everything they did to promote and market this fragrance -- all the way down to the sample/blotter cards -- was so p-r-e-c-i-s-e-l-y executed. They didn't miss a beat! Remember how the atomizer button was triangular on the top to create the letter "M?" The same was done on the front of the bottle with the triangle on the glass pointing downward. Subtle touches without being tacky or kitschy. Back in the day, there was also a department store called Jacobson's -- but there were only a handful remaining at that time. When I saw Michael on the counter on my way out, I couldn't resist and just had to grab a card and spray so I could toss it into my bag from a purchase from another department. I recall a sales associate coming over and offering to discuss more as she thought I was considering buying it for a woman in my life. HAHA! I told her of my love, or more honestly, infatuation for it and even recited the "Creamy florals meet exotic spices, tamed by Moroccan incense, tuberose reinvented" bit. If her jaw had dropped, it would have broken the counter glass and perhaps gone through down to the floor! I expressed how the fragrance transports me back to summers in the early to mid-80s for some reason I can't quite pinpoint, but as a male, I wouldn't feel comfortable actually wearing it. She encouraged me that there's nothing wrong with buying a bottle just for my own personal use at home, and in retrospect, I'm glad she said that -- even if she was just interested in her commission. I say this because I took her up on the offer and bought a bottle thinking that I wouldn't need to keep going to the department stores to get blotter cards! Later that day, I was going out to dinner with a friend and a family member and we went to the Macaroni Grill and I actually wore one spritz of Michael that evening. As for the fragrance itself, there's SOMETHING bright, comforting, floral, spicy, sensual, sexy, creamy, approachable, powerful, and luxurious to it. To this day, I still have several scented print ads for Michael to remind me of this wonderful creation. I think I wound up giving the bottle I bought at Jacobson's away to a friend realizing that the REAL pleasure of the fragrance will be in the memories associated with both that period of time in my life as well as those from the 80s as noted above. While I was quite surprised when I discovered this fragrance was discontinued, the wonderful, very wonderful memories I have of Michael are very much alive and well!

BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL...AND...BEAUTIFUL!! FINALLY!!...A beautiful, clean, classy, white floral perfume without fruity notes overload!!! This one has JUST the right amount of sweet and the clean vibes comes from the white florals with a touch of musk. A lot of people mention a "banana vibe" with this one and I don't get that whatsoever. This one in my eyes...is DAMN CLOSE to perfect in the perfume world. The only complaint that I have is that cheap ass lid! Lol. That ugly metal/plastic contraption looks like it's the ugly part that belongs UNDER a luxurious lid, preferably that would have matched the light, pretty color of the liquid. Also...I must say...that this does indeed smell 98% identical to Kim Kardashian's debut perfume. The only real difference is that Kim's perfume lasts longer...but doesn't project as well whereas Michael Kors only lasts about 4 hours but 3 of those 4 hours it projects VERY well. At least 5-6 feet of throw if you use 4 sprays. So it's kind of a toss up there as to which you would prefer. Kim's perfume lasts a little longer lasting about 5-6 hours on me but only projects about 2 feet. Overall...I do really love this perfume! Since I already have Kim's perfume...I wasn't sure I wanted to shell out the money for this one but I found a used 1 ounce bottle on Ebay that I only paid about $15 for. And my Kim K perfume was on it's last few sprays so I figured why not? Got it...used it...and came to my full time job with it on today and 2 people told me how amazing I smelled at the very beginning of the day. One of them actually told me she was immediately putting it on her wish list for her upcoming birthday and had me write down the name of it for her right away so that one of her family members would buy it for her. So what's my opinion? I hate to say it but...to 90% of the population...Kim Kardashian's debut perfume in the dark purple bottle will fit the bill just perfectly for a third of the price. You can get the big 3.4 ounce bottle of that one for around $20. However...for those of you that money is no object and you have it to spend...you may prefer this one as even though it doesn't last as long...it's potency is most definitely more impressive and it makes it presence more known. Not to mention I know some people have a big ego and when asked...would much rather say "I'm wearing Michael Kors" as opposed to saying "I'm wearing Kim Kardashian's perfume." (<-- Some people...not me. I'll proudly state whatever I'm wearing.) Scent Itself - 10/10 Projection - 8/10 Longevity - 6/10 Overall Score - 9/10 Huge thumbs up on this one! Now I need to try more from this house!!

The reviews are correct. This is a very nice buttery tuberose floral fragrance. It was one of the first fragrances I smelled in the early 2000’s that made me graduate from a perfume “nope” person to a perfume “God Yes” person. Back then I didn’t know the difference between notes or what I even liked. I just knew that I’d tried so many fragrances that repelled me and this one was what I wanted to smell like. I mean this scent is like an old flame lover. I stray and go from one tuberose scent to another. I get excited by some and fall in love with some but they are infatuations. I keep going back to my true tuberose love Michael. It is very similar to Gucci Bloom. It’s a little more creamy and layered. It has a nice light incense note with Cashmere Wood making it just a touch deeper while Gucci Bloom has honeysuckle and green notes to lighten it a tiny bit along with orris root that adds a touch of powder. But, the two fragrances are very similar. I own both fragrances and can see now why I liked Bloom so much. I forgot I even owned Michael and now when I compare the two fragrances they are almost identical. I’m so glad I rediscovered this perfume in the back of my closet in a box! I also discovered a full bottle of MK Suede which is even better. The banana smell so many people are getting comes from the dry down, skin chemistry, and the creaminess of this fragrance in my opinion. It doesn’t smell like straight up banana, but it’s coming from that smooth richness of tuberose combined with the musk and cashmere wood. Cashmere wood seems to add and extra layer of smoothness in almost every fragrance I’ve smelled it in. If you like creamy tuberose fragrances then you will probably like this. There is a reason so many people love this fragrance. It’s just a gorgeous composition. It’s very smooth, deep, fleshy, and a little carnal and it has great longevity which is something that many white florals that I love lack. They are beautiful but fleeting. I’ve been wearing this for a couple of days now in a row and it does have a tropical feeling when it dries down. Maybe it has something to do with the tamarind? It’s a tropical spice that I don’t know much about. It has a very sensuous personality and I love it. It may not be super unique perfume, but do you want to smell super unique or just amazing?

Michael Kors Signature, where can I begin with this one? First smelt in 2019 then sampled every time I saw it since then, I remember being enchanted by its clean, banana-y scent and the really nice "humid" feeling it evoked, which, as one reviewer said and I agree, is like that of walking into a botanic garden where orchids and other exotic flowers grow. I've been on a huge gardinea/tuberose quest and this one, quite frankly is up there with Gucci Bloom and Do Son for me, but despite the comparisons to both Bloom and Do Son, this smells like neither of them on my skin, Michael Kors is thick, luscious but not (to me at least) cloyingly thick or unbearable. The initial opening is a fresh, crisp blast of freesia and peony before tuberose comes forward and smoothly mixes with the other floral notes to create this gorgeous, clean but not scrubbed clean banana-y floral scent, further drying down to a slightly banana-y, cashmere musk which smells delicate, sophisticated and alluring. Unlike other tuberose scents, this one isn't screechy or sharp, the addition of freesia, peony, arum lily and osmanthus tame the sharp edges that tuberose can have whilst tamarind adds some interique, iris adds some gentle powder and incense, musk and cashmere give the florals a soft, almost tactile and snuggly background. I can't really discern all the notes in this because it is so well blended but its far from being a boring, linear scent and it truley is a distinctive scent that you won't smell on everyone else thats for sure. Longevity is excellent at 8 hours with a soft bordering on moderate silage, I can see this working year round and for all occasions provided it is worn with gentle application, I can picture someone in an office wearing this with a white button down shirt and I can equally see someone wearing this with heals in a navy wrap dress to a formal event as well, its an alluring, soft, snuggly scent but it also feels grown up, modern and sophisticated, theres a reason why this has been around for so long, its a real masterpiece!

bjer-don - "Michael Kors" is the slightly reformulated version of "Michael". It's the updated version of his signature scent, in other words. "Michael" is no longer available, sadly. However, they smell sufficiently similar that, if you liked "Michael", it is extremely likely that you will also like "Michael Kors". As I mentioned before, I have a "Michael" scented candle, which I bought around the time it was first launched and I now also have a "Michael Kors" EDP, that I bought fairly recently and you can definitely tell they are supposed to be the same fragrance. In fact, most people would probably struggle to notice the difference; especially if they were not smelling them side by side. There is a slight difference; but, it is very slight. Probably had to be reformulated to conform with regulations. Looks like they probably dropped the tamarind and the iris; but, seeing as they were two of the least dominant notes, it's unlikely to be a dealbreaker for most people. Still well worth buying, if the original suited your body chemistry. I would probably now call it my second signature fragrance. My one complaint would be that the sillage of the "Michael Kors" reformulation (no idea about that of the "Michael" original) is a little on the gentle side (boyfriend can only just smell it at arm's length). But, other than that, really nice. ...and as for the delightful (and I'm sure, utterly fragrant!) Tania Sanchez, it would appear she could do with being a little less subjective, in her reviews, in general. There are plenty of fragrances that others seem to love, but that (sadly) smell absolutely hideous, on me. More that do than don't, in fact. However, the difference is, that I would never deign to write a book on fragrances based purely on my own, subjective, opinions and/or on what did, or didn't, happen to agree with my personal body chemistry.