Island Life for Him

Island Life is a perfect tropical cologne for hot summer days - a relatively unknown gem IMHO. I blind bought Island Life and immediately fell in love. I knew I had to wear it during an upcoming trip to Hawaii. I made great use of it as I explored the beaches, local haunts, pouring rain, and hot sunny days. It fit in great with the other scents I packed: Creed Virgin Island Water, Laboratory Perfumes Gorse, Diesel Only the Brave Wild, Diptyque Philosykos, and Acqua di Parma Fico di Amalfi. In contrast to these, Island Life is the one that smells most like a traditional cologne. The heat makes Island Life come alive though it is also fine in more temperate climates. Projection and sillage is mild to moderate: no one around you is going to taste it in their mouth (my wife's biggest complaint about cologne - she hates it when they are strong, opposite of the goals of just about every fraghead). People will notice it, however. A compliment monster in my experience! But what of the smell? Pineapple! It smells like a tropical beach hut that is made of wood and has pineapples heaped up and ready to be sliced and made into drinks or placed on the rims of glasses full of sweet, refreshing tropical drinks. It is that smell of whole pineapples when they are ripe and ready but have not been cut into, a certain kind of humidity in the air that you can smell when you approach pineapples in the supermarket. But let's compare pineapples to pineapples! Creed Aventus is the "king of pineapple," right?! However, Aventus does not have a photorealistic pineapple; if you buy Demeter Pineapple, you will experience what juicy, fresh pineapple smells like. That is certainly not Aventus, which is more of citrus, apple, and vanilla than a traditional pineapple. But people still swear by its pineapple! In the same way, I get pineapple from Island Life, just as tangible as Creed's interpretation. The pineapple here is likewise "impressionistic". Island Life is a perfect summer scent for when you want to feel tropical but aren't in the mood for melon, coconut, or sunscreen type scents, and more in the mode for something slightly "blue", masculine, woody, and pineapple smell. It does conjure up a tropical island. The bottle has a nice island vibe, too, although my cap is a bit loose, making it feel a bit cheap. Island Life goes perfectly with a necklace or bracelet made of wood beads or leather and white carved bones.

Out of all the Tommy Bahama fragrances this one I absolutely adore! It’s very tropical but in a mature way. Not so much a straight oceanic vibe. More a sophisticated tropical club/bar scent for a night out on the town. It turns woody after the cooler notes die down and I believe this is the reason it really stands out. It’s not citrusy either which is really a plus. A tad sweet watery and spicy. Very very nicely done. Oh yea and the longevity is great projection solid especially in the heat. Although it’s supposed to snow here today but I don’t care!! Lol. Gonna spray on some island life and I’m set. Peace!

How is Vetiver not listed in the notes for this? It is the main note I smell. This is a really nice Spring/Summer green aquatic. Nothing in here is amazing but nothing is bad either. Easy grab for work or weekends on hot days. Would definitely buy again.

While summer fragrances are not usually my Go-To, I find them to be a necessity when battling this Los Angeles heat. Of the “Hot Weather” fragrances I’ve collected, this is a gem of mine, and I don’t wear it enough honestly. Watery, Sophisticated and Easy-Going; Tommy Bahama has taken the classic blue, summer fragrance DNA and made it into something a little more grown up, and it works so well. It walks the line of smelling like a sweet sea breeze and a juicy, mouthwatering tonic. Like walking on the beach on vacation, with a nice minty cocktail. The bergamot + nutmeg combination gives you an aroma of something Spicy and Minty, freshening up the air around you, while the cedar holds the fragrance down and keeps it nice and grounded, with a masculine, almost sporty edge. But at the same time, it just teeters on being mature enough to be formal. A warm formal event, like a tropical wedding. While linear, it is not void of nuance. It almost reminds me of Invictus, but a little less boyish and more mature. A more Minty Green Invictus I think. Performance is average. Lasts about 5-6 hours with the 1st hour decently projecting. It’s a simple fragrance, not niche or super complex by any means, but like most vacations, sometimes simplicity is the name of the game; you just wanna lay back, relax near a body of water and forget the world for a little bit. This fragrance takes me right where I want to be when I’m feeling like escaping somewhere tropical and breezy. 7/10

First, I love the bottle. Honestly my favorite thing about Island Life. For what it’s worth the packaging was top notch as well. TB marketed this one very well. As for the scent, this is somewhat in the same style as Himalaya and XS but simplified with nutmeg and a lot more cedar. There also is a little patchouli, and generous amounts of artemisia and geranium in the mid and late drydown. With these notes, and the prominent nutmeg and cedarwood, there is nothing really “islandy” about Island Life, but it’s a nice fragrance overall and would work at the beach. It will fit most situations and all seasons. I especially like it on rainy days but it’s definitely not limited to that as it is extremely versatile. The opening is fairly similar to XS but without the mint. The dry down is linear and incorporates lots of cedar and a bitter artemisia which I thought didn’t help the fragrance. I wish TB would have added some driftwood or possibly sea notes to the base and taken out some of the artemisia and cedar so it would not have been so bitter and dry in the dry down. I think that would have made it much better and possibly made it live it up more to its namesake. It’s a shame because there are some aspects about this one I really like such as the nutmeg and geranium. I just think the dry down should’ve been much better than it is.