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.

First off, the bottle is a work of art.. The attention to detail is astonishing I just wish they focused on the fragrance as much as they did creating a great looking bottle.. Starts off with a strong pineapple note.. it’s not in the notes but I definitely get pineapple..Then it turns generic..-Would but again because the bottle looks slick on my dresser.. This will be a great fragrance for chilling at home and running errands in.. 7.5/10

This may be my favorite scent from Tommy Bahama. This scent succeeds in conveying the island life it claims to represent. Not a bright blue scent but a mature warm scent that is good for day wear and even better for evening wear, especially on warm summer evenings. Attractive bottle that also supports this scents namesake.

Smells like a sweet gin and tonic with some suntan lotion. Nice sweet scent that does veer fairly synthetic, projection is not that good, but I could still smell it on my skin the morning after spraying it on.

Almost gourmond on the drydown. Is it possible that bergamont + cedar = vetiver? There is a STRONG vetiver suggestion in this cologne. It's pleasant and easy to wear.

I tried this at Khols today. Seeking an offering by Tommy Bahama made me think it was a tropical fruity sort of thing along the lines of Set Sail. I was both wrong and unpleasantly surprised. I can't say much about the projection or longevity of this as I tried to use only a tiny amount but smell wise after about 5 minutes it smelled like cigarette smoke. I don't know if its something wrong with me, but if you're thinking about this, I implore you to test this yourself just in case you get the same results..

Starts very fresh and interesting, but once the initial burst of the fragrance is gone. It turns into a foul and pungent smell, more like body odour. As u had a deodorant on and went on a very long run, something like that. Don't let the presentation and price fool u. Try a good amount before u buy.

Starts ok, nothing special, then gets a bit foul like mentioned below me, i would try before buy, its not a stamd out perfume in anyway. Nice bottle tho.

Smells like something Bath and Body Works or L'Occitane would create. This is a very simple linear clean smell. The cedar has a brightness that mixes well with the bergamot and the nutmeg seems to round it out a bit. It could be a beard oil or pomade scent. In the dry down I'm get a tanning lotion vibe also, but not coconut, and a tiny bit of rum sweetness. Definitely on the warmer side of fresh simple scents, maybe that's why it sticks out from the other citrus and neroli type scents. This might work great for a seductive skin scent with a slight hint of class, but ultimately it feels like a laid back cruise liner scent. Unfortunately you have to spray about 10 sprays to notice yourself, at it is strictly a skin scent, or damn near. Too bad, not a bad smell at all. 3/10 Sillage 4/10 Projection 7.5/10 Scent 6/10 overall. value.. 0/10 as it was launched in 2014 and has yet to come down from the $40-50 price point. I'd spend $15 on a full bottle if the price ever gets that low. UPDATE: I get a sense they are trying to make a CREED in this one. It's basically Bois Du Portugal with nutmeg instead of lavender, or maybe there still is lavender and they added nutmeg and toned down the lavender extremely. Either way, it's not strong enough and the silage is too weak. This could have been interesting, but they made it too safe, and too light. This definitely could have used some ambergris and maybe some verbena/vetiver combo.

I really like this simple, but pleasant fragrance. It is essentially what you'll expect from the note break down, which is rather spartan. But, it works. The opening is fresh bergamot immediately followed by a spicy nutmeg note that adds more character than I expected from this. As the cologne dries down, the bergamot fades and the nutmeg and cedar notes shine through. The final dry down is a clean cedar note, with light elements of nutmeg. This could easily be a daily wear. Others will disagree, but I think it is elegant in its simplicity and richer than one might expect. Does not last very long, 3 - 4 hours, projection is not very strong. Still, I like it.

I seriously got rid of all my Tommy Bahamas this year. Basically - the commercial fragrance field has changed so much in the past 4 or 5 years. Now I can smell "Island Fresh" with a $3.00 deodorant from Target. So that Tommy Bahama nautical smell -- was just soooo ordinary now. However- I missed this one! Island Life is a bit different than his other offerings. I smell better longevity and complexity here. Also seems like pineapple is a star player even though it's not listed above. The Tommy Bahama Stores in the Malls are super expensive (they want like $60.00 to $80.00 a bottle) ! I will wait for this when it hits the T.J. Maxx rack for $19.99

opens fresh and clean, maintains the nautical theme like most of the Tommy Bahama fragrances, love the bottle design with the ridges, and the overall theme reminds you of a beach vacation, The juice inside is fresh and clean, not very long lasting 4 -5 hours tops, needs to be reapplied for longer performance. I get this strange minty accord in the mids even though mint is not a listed note, does have that oceanic feel to it, The drydown is more woodsy all in all an average casual scent for vacation, running errands or just lounging in the house. laid back feel to it.

For the longest time I was positive that this reminded me of some scent from the 90s until it finally dawned on me, that this cologne smells clean like a department store, or an upscale magazine. Super generic clean smell. Not something I would spend money on, even though I enjoy it. Honestly this frangrance is great just to simply spray in your closet or with your linens.

Wore it today for Easter in 85 degree heat!Smells nice but performance is piss poor! Smell 7/10 Sillage 3/10 Longevity 3/10

smells really good in a magazine try to pick up soon.