Nicole Miller for Men

I definitely agree with some of the stuff Bigsly said. Now lemme add my review. The original formulation (1994) is one of my top 20 favorite fragrances of all time; it has a strange musty, dusty leather note combined with some smoky wood, booze, and apples. The apples aren't as prominent and overall it's one of the most unique and enjoyable smells in all of perfumery. Nicole Miller for Men is a comforting scent that hits home, like a bonfire. It doesn't try to be too classy or something out of this world. Then, there's the new version, which was released by Parlux in 2006. It's able to retain the character of the original (Luca Turin's quip about holograms in perfumery applies here), but it's just not as good. The mustiness gets too tangy, like someone turning up the brightness too high on a TV. The leather and smokiness don't come forward as much - now the apple, booze, and some majorly piercing aldehydes take center stage for most of the top and middle. This version also doesn't last as long. I own both versions, and personally, I prefer the vintage a lot more. The current one wouldn't even crack my top 50. If you can get your hands on a vintage bottle, or even a mini, do so. It's one of the unsung masterpieces of men's fragrances and most certainly worth experiencing. One last thing - for a tidbit on how to differentiate between the current and vintage versions, as the box design and bottle are virtually the same, look at the ingredients on the box. The vintage version has fewer ingredients - usually only alcohol, water, fragrance. The current version lists all the aromachemicals as well as a few other solvents. Some gift sets floating around on the internet, such as ones with soap, etc are usually vintage. Keep your eyes open, you'll be pleasantly surprised by what you smell.

Epic Journey Into the Bottled Yonder, 221 ------------------------------------------------------- Purchased November 2024 - NOS This has maturated, unexpectedly, due to it being not so much of a special product/performing fragrance among my collection in its price range. But man am I humbled now. It now lasts all day. The texture is full now. The slight mustiness has bloomed into the apple that everybody here is detecting. This, combined with the honey, releases a classic gourmand style oriental scent that also has a subtle leather accord. Back in the day, the leather accord was quite hard to achieve for these designers. You would've had to find something by Jacques Bogart at least, and it would've been in the same price range. But wow wow, oh my god I used this twice in a row within 2 days. I had to smell it for 24 hours. Boy am I glad to have this. I know there's an unlikeable character to it, it's a cheap apple powder from the 90s but you gotta remember this is how a lot of shampoo used to smell for men at the time. It's good times in a bottle. The cheapness makes it likeable. A lot of people who have no idea what they're talking about have artificially, and without permission, set their bar high. Come back to earth, go outside and touch some grass. Good things are the simple things in life. This one's a simple luxury and we need it. Batch: G3601, the box looking pretty old/worn. PM me if you know the date of this.

Epic Journey Into the Bottled Yonder, 221 ------------------------------------------------------- Purchased November 2024 - NOS Finally get to have this and wow. Seems to have flown under the radar, in a manner of speaking... If you loved Dana Timberline and never had a spray of it (like me), you will need this. If you want a fresh companion to Nicole Miller, then Minotaure could be the one. I'd say stick with this if you had to make one decision. The bottle itself is very artsy figured and textured, cap not being tight enough to pick up the bottle by which is the only downside to this product. One of the best parts is the copper brown colour of every element. Very much a leather backed by some honey and amber. This could be Nicole's sexuality (in the 90's) in a men's bottle. Batch: G3601, the box looking pretty old/worn. PM me if you know the date of this.

Love this, it's subtle and very much a warm personal scent. Great for day time wear, whatever your profession be. Certainly not a huge projecting nightlife scent. There is something very comforting about Nicole Miller, to the point that I believe it should be made into a fabric conditioner. I have even recently been finding myself spraying a little on just before I go to bed, why? I don't know other than it's that nice. Even my Wife said she loves it on me and enjoys to nuzzle up for a nights sleep. It's a very clever balance of honey, apple, leather, vanilla, oakmoss, sandalwood, amber and musk notes that make a scrumptious scent. Highly recommended!

Bought this blind (based mainly on those lovely notes) and luckily it's very nice indeed. A lovely warm, smooth mellow rustic amber fragrance which, in my opinion, is unique and has a lot of character. The honey, amber, apple and vanilla are noticable and the honey emerges more in the drydown. It's a very nicely blended scent with a distinctive mellow silage and Nicole Miller is one of those juices that makes you want to come back for more. The bottle is really nice (one of my favourites actually) and the smell of this lovely juice suits the colour of the bottle. The lasting power and silage are good, I'm glad I bought it. It's a great scent.

Exudes a pleasant aroma with notes of leather and amber as it dries. While 40% of its scent resembles Burberry London, the remaining 60% elevates it further. This fragrance features a harmonious blend of citrus, fruity, and sweet notes, complemented by a distinct leather undertone. An added bonus is that it comes at a more affordable price point compared to Burberry London (I bought my 4.2oz Nicole Miller for $25 at Ross). Its staying power is commendable, lingering on my skin for a solid 3-4 hours. The only little downside is that the actual color of the bottle appears darker than depicted in the picture.

This one of my absolute favorites. I’ve loved this from its launch back in 1994. This review is for the original formulation. Imagine a worn in catcher’s mitt stuffed with powdered amber, fresh cigars, apple peels, a splash of vanilla whiskey and then drizzled with honey. Completely intoxicating. I don’t care for the current formulation, as it doesn’t smell the same, it smells like a cheap body spray. So, now I buy up every vintage bottle of it that I can find.

I love this baby! It has a little of Spark, M. Kors for Men and some great amber in there! It works so well for me when I pair it with The Body Shop's Sensuous Amber body wash! Lasts well and projects well also. To me it seems like it can be worn everywhere and time of year except for maybe work because like Spark, it seems kinda sensuous or sexual.

I actually decided to give this another try and I do feel this is quite good now. It was a hard one to warm up to but I have. And I am starting to get that sticky honey and apple note with the powder, vanilla, leather notes. I love it now. Disregard my previous review.

I dont care for this really at all. To me it smells like carmex lip balm and menthol. The packaging is blah, the smell is blah. I regret getting this. The only reason why I did was because of the "honey" note. I dont really get honey at all.

I think that this is very underrated. This is a warm, sweet and characterful juice. Honey, fruit and spices. Very pleasant indeed. It lasts on me too. Lovely stuff.

Classy crisp honey like a gentleman should smell great anytime your going to be giving out hugs.

A beautiful soft smooth creamy warm oriental perfume. My husband and I both enjoy it very much.

Great memories no complaints!!

Nicole Miller was one of those American designers who was big in the 90s - regularly featured in department stores like Saks and Neimann Marcus. Although best known for womenswear, she released some interesting menswear. I remember colourful silk shirts, ties and waistcoats with intricate designs on a specific theme - wine, cars, sports, golf - a bit like a pop art Fornasetti. First encountered Nicole Miller for Men in the wild many years ago and had a fairly positive recollection so been keeping an eye out ever since. For some reason I always thought there was tobacco in this - but according to the above there isn’t. Haven’t tried newer versions but was recently given the “Rivera Concepts” vintage, which I believe is the original. Great fragrance but my expectations were way too high in light of the hyperbolic praise in certain forums. I was expecting some ambrosial elixir with thermonuclear performance and radioactive longevity. To be fair it is unquestionably classy, pleasant and rather timeless. Performance and longevity are average at best - typical of most 1990s designer fragrances, with a lifespan of 4-6 hours. Fairly linear, first impression is warm, vaguely moist and apple-ish (but not quite as apple-ish as Boss Bottled) and ever-so-slightly sweet with a resinous quality reminiscent of benzoin (although there isn’t any). Presumably this is the honey and amber. It feels like there’s a creamy blond tobacco too, similar to the discontinued Versace Man in the purple flacon. Don’t detect any recognisable leather, but “leather” is a fantasy accord anyway like “amber”. As anyone who’s been to a tannery knows, the skins of dead animals don’t actually smell very nice. There’s also a subtle booziness that compliments the apple, creating a vibe that’s vaguely reminiscent of Le Dandy and Michael for Men. Quite intoxicating. Enjoyable too - One of those fragrances that keeps me sniffing my wrist, and every time I wear this vintage incarnation of Nicole Miller for Men someone asks me what it is.

I've now got both the (rare and original/vintage) Rivera Concepts formulation and the (more widely available) Parlux reformulation and can compare them directly. The Parlux version is much more harsh and synthetic in the top notes. There isn't much difference in the mid notes, but the Rivera version has a more substantial mossy-ambery base (which is gorgeous by the way). Both require heavy spraying to get any decent longevity & sillage out of them, with the Rivera version lasting marginally longer (say a not overly impressive 4 hours before turning into a skin scent, as opposed to a feeble 2 hours for the Parlux one). The bottles are nearly identical, but the original Rivera one is not as clear-cut/well made as the newer Parlux one because there is a noticeable loss of resolution in some of its features, e.g in the "crumples" in the bottle that's stylised to be a scrunched up paper bag. Also the Rivera one strangely has no mention whatsoever of the name of the house or even the scent, whereas the Parlux bottle actually has the name of the house on the label stuck to its base. Overall, although the Parlux reformulation has retained the invitingly fruity warm boozy aura, the Rivera one is undoubtedly the one to get as it is clearly made of richer/better quality ingredients. The Parlux one is not all bad, but perhaps more so than its contemporaries it seems to have been hit particularly badly by recent restrictions in the use of real oakmoss in fragrances. The Parlux reformulation also seems to have been watered down, but is somewhat redeemed by its rock bottom price for a bonafide designer fragrance. Nevertheless I think it's a crying shame about its regression in quality as I'm sure that in this fragrance Nicole Miller once had a genuinely interesting winner that would have competed with the best of Ralph Lauren, rather than the crème of David Beckham as it does so now.

Another example of a reformulated fragrance under a big conglomerate that didn't do justice to what was once a 90s gem of a fragrance that had a great balance of honey, leather and amber that had both a classical and modern appeal that performed exceptionally well on most skin types and brought many a men compliments and attention for its masculine appeal when Jerry Seinfeld, 2Pac, Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews and Adam Sandler were all at the height of their fame. Now this starts off rather synthetic with a bit of a gasoline feel like in Dior's Fahrenheit before calming down and spreading out after 5-10 minutes into a nice honey, suede like leather and tarty apple top with a swirl of amber that is quite intoxicating and gives the modern wearer at least an idea of how great this used to be in its mid 90's hey-day when the name Nicole Miller was just as respected in the fashion world as Jean Paul Gaultier, Armani or Versace. Those days are long gone. This stuff is massively watered down. You still get the heart of sweet vanilla on top of leather combined with the honey and amber balanced with a little injection of oakmoss, but it doesn't have the same weight or depth as the original and smells thinner and less rounded out. Longevity now is very short and spotty, averaging between 2-4 hours per wear with even a liberal 5 sprays. Projection is decent early, but quickly fades into a skin scent after the first hour. Still a lovely scent, pales in comparison to its vintage bottle reflection in the mirror, but despite all the cheaper ingredients and weaker performance, the scent itself is still highly underrated and finds the right balance between honey, woods, amber and leather. With the reduced budget and new regulations, the animalic qualities are no longer here. Scent: 8.5/10 Longevity: 4/10 Sillage: 5/10 Creativity: 6/10 Value: 7/10

I recently found and bought the original (Rivera Concepts) formulation at a bargain price, and it's a worthy addition to my collection. The apple note is very pronounced. It's not the kind of fresh crisp apple you might find in Chrome Legend or Dunhill London. Instead it's a beautiful, heavily russeted almost fermented type of apple that's well on its way into being turned into a delicious golden cider. I love the witty but sturdy bottle that I think is supposed to look like a scrunched up paper bag tied with string (with presumably a bottle of booze inside just like a tramp/bozo might use). I also love its deep orangey colour, which I agree suits this boozy fragrance really well. Surprisingly there's no mention whatsoever on my bottle (base label included) of the name of the scent or even its house. I haven't tried the current formulation but the longevity and sillage of mine is not outstanding - it's moderate - usually requiring some heavy spraying to get decent performance of up to 6 hours. Anyway I haven't too much to add to the reviews below except that I think NMfM's medicinal top & mid notes mark it out as more interesting than its close brethren Dunhill Pursuit and Baldessarini Ambre. It also settles into a lovely and warm woody glow that fits a cold winter's evening, and especially Xmas, perfectly.

I read someone's review where they posted that a strong trend is to go back to the 80's-90's frag which are now classic's and have more substance then most of the frag today. Now about Nicole Miller for Men, I have to agree with several who posted about the two version that exists. The original frag was from Rivera Concepts from Toronto, Canada. Most of the current Nicole Miller for Men is now made in the U.S. The current one isn't as well made as the original version....totally fades after 2 hours. I also agree that the original frag has a lot longer staying power and the notes are not as synthetic like the current version. I was so lucky to find the original bottle, when I sprayed it on my skin I can smell the aroma of honey with amber/musk ambiance. I really enjoy this frag, the notes of oakmoss and sandalwood giving this frag an excellent well balanced aroma. Longevity is very constant over 8 hours...excellent. Sillage is moderate not too heavy...just right !!! Overall opinion, There's one thing for certain, this frag isn't generic at all !! This frag comes off as a warm/spicy scent with a amber base which makes it a very manly cologne. EXCELLENT during the fall/winter days...THIS FRAG HAS A REAL UNIQUE QUALITY TO IT !!! If you can find the original frag, its well worth it. 10/10 no hesitation !!!

I have the reformulation. Scent wise it's not bad at all. It starts with dirty leather and honey on initial spraying (a tad synthetic but nothing to fret) that is rather original and broods masculinity and quickly evolves into a boozy, soft apple and amber confection with a touch of light woods that doesn't hold the fragrance long. Projection is moderate but as iconoclast notes just below (his is the definitive review and encompasses the vintage and reformulations)you need to spray aggressively to get any sort of production. On me (moderately dry skin) this literally wears off and is finished in 2 hours with the dry-down already a skin scent within 45 minutes to an hour after application. Still, considering how cheap this is ($7-$10 in many discounters) the uniqueness of the scent gives it a bit of novelty and adds a little bit of versatility to your options. This is good in spring, fall and winter and can be worn for most occasions day or night, but you'll need to bring it with you to refuel repeatedly. Despite all its limitations, I still like this, but given its poor performance standards it's totally understandable that you may not.