Pure Sport

Man, this scent is so nostalgic for me. I love the sweet opening and the licorice breakthrough. This will always have a place in my heart.

By some dumb bit of luck, a local grocery store had a few bottles of this on the shelf alongside bottles of Aqua Velva and Barbasol. I'm not sure if this is a discontinued product or not, but the batch code on the packaging indicates that this bottle is 6 years old, and the pricing online raises concerns. As for the scent itself, it is a very clean and fresh scent, with a note of anise, along with a bar soap smell to it. It's not bad, but it is headache inducingly strong to me. A good, all-year-long fragrance for anyone who likes licorice.

I have a bottle of this and one of Old Spice Whitewater (launched 1997). They are the same fragrance. Were I blindfolded I couldn't tell them apart. I'm convinced that they are the same juice, and neither one is great. There is some note or combination of notes that vaguely resembles licorice, but it isn't that. This exact accord is also prominent in my bottle of Whitewater.

This graphic bass note chart for Old Spice Pure Sport is totally inaccurate. Not even close. It has no hard Candy or Licorice thing going on WHATSOEVER. Although this is not a complex fragrance it does have a citrusy and minty fresh opening but also a deeper musky and woody foundation that comes forward once the top notes evaporate. The bottom line is I wore Guerlain Vetiver for 40 years (it was also my father's fragrance). However, all of a sudden out of the blue the natural Oak Moss started giving me a skin rash. Well guess what? I started using Old Spice Pure Sport (clear blue gel underarm deodorant) and EVERYONE likes this better than the Guerlain Vetiver and have complimented me on it repeatedly. Never to late to reevaluate while always staying real. Who gives a crap if the fragrance is natural or artificial. The only thing really fake is low class pretentiousness. I smell like a man after a hard workout and a good shower with dial soap. Honest and clean. There's nothing lower class and stinks worse than a snotty pretentious guy. I enjoy the way Pure Sport settles, because it shares a "functional" scent profile with Guerlain Vetiver—both move from a bright, sharp opening to a more stoic, woody base. The main difference is that Guerlain uses tobacco and earthy vetiver, whereas Old Spice relies on synthetic musks and woods to achieve that lingering "clean" finish.

Pure Sport is one of my favorite Old Spice deodorants. If anyone knows any fragrances that match its scent, please send me a message.