Classic

Found this first in '86 in my retail company's fragrance-testing office. Loved it straight off and found that it worked well with my skin type. The romance lasted several years, with the occasional side trip - Kouros, Gucci Homme, etc.- but I'd always come back to Van Gils. Then, suddenly it was off the shelves in the UK. I was distraught. After a long period of mourning, I found it was still available in Holland - but no-one shipped abroad, and the trip to Holland rather built up the price! Eventually, only three or four years ago, I rediscovered it yet again online and stocked up. It still smells good - on me and to me and, happily, the majority of people who get near enough to sniff me think the same. Van Gils Classic and I were clearly just meant for each other.

When VG Classic was first launched in the 80's,I was working in Selfridges,Oxford St. for a rival fragrance company (Fred Hayman),but after drenching myself in it constantly every day,and adoring it.I even asked the distributing company if I could work for them,they said no,(luckily Fred didn't get to know,as he was in Hollywood...lol). Alas,I never got to work for Van Gils.I could have done so much for them. VG Classic to me is like SEX in a bottle.I always get compliments whenever I wear it.The sillage is amazing and longevity is unbelievable. I continue to replace my precious bottles,as I love this fragrance so much,even though it's almost impossible to find these days.

Slap this on while 'Soul Bossa Nova' spins in the background ("I put the 'ger' in swinger, baby!" -Austin Powers). Good, heady, masculine stuff. Real man's wear. Straight khaki Chinos, white Polo, deck shoes. (Channeling my Walter Mitty rendition of Sean Connery - whipping into the club, looking for a bored valet to park my Aston Martin...er, Toyota Camry). Came out in '88? Wears more like '68. Definitely get the Antaeus spin straight from the spritzer. Drydown has a Kouros waft. I'm 63 and it's, "Just my bag, baby!" If you're under 45, maybe not so much. By today's standards it's definitely retro (in the best way!).

To me this is one of the best ever. It has a quality that is hard to describe, it is there with high quality ingredients and is wonderfully blended. It ́s manly, it ́s cosy and warm, it has the right projection, never cloying, never sharp. Still possible to get at a good price. Do not confuse this with Strictly for men, which is not in the same league.

A gorgeous retro powerhouse. A lovely woody, spicy, floral masculine scent with a powerful patchouli. Staying power and projection top notch. In the same family as Antaeus, Givenchy Gentleman and Salvador Dali Pour Homme. Be careful about over application - it's potent - but has tons of character and is so well blended. Just great!

With only a couple of drops left in my old bottle, I managed luckily to find a NOS 100ml!! I am so happy, this is cologne heaven, might be my #1. Everybody should try this at least once!

If you like Antaeus you will love this one. If you like Quorum you will also love this one, I think. Anyway, at my toplist, 9,5/10

Used to wear this stuff all the time, last time i owned a bottle was 1998! Looking to buy again, if i can find the stuff.

welcome back my old dutch friend, for men not boys

This review is for the "classic" Van Gils for men. My bottle is an all-black one from Europe that's 5 to 10 years old. Upon first sniff, Van Gils hit me with a strong blast of patchouli and incense. I haven't seen anyone else say it smells like incense though, so maybe that was the way I interpreted the amber and musk it's supposed to have in it. Either way, at first I felt like it was too strong, dark, and old-fashioned to wear here in trendy West LA, where the weather is usually sunny and warm. However...now that it's Winter and the nights are actually quite cool, I felt like trying it again. And I'm finding I actually enjoy wearing it on some evenings. I've yet to solicit anyone else's opinions on it, but I suspect this will is a "love it or hate it" scent for most people. It's a dark, mature, complex fragrance that some might even find sexy. It seems more suitable for an older man than a young one. There's an Italian reviewer named "Darvant" who wrote one of his typically excellent and evocative reviews for this over on Basenotes.net, which I highly recommend reading. In fact, I recommend reading any of his reviews. It smells STRONG so go easy on it when you first try it. My bottle was a gift from a friend who picked it up on a trip to Europe years ago. On the bottom it says "after shave natural spray 75%" So that may mean it has more perfume oil in it than an EDT does...or maybe it is indeed only at "after shave" strength...not sure really.

Van Gils is as contradictory as my own father. The only slightly more expensive perfume I've tracked down among his toiletries over the years. And I have no memory of him ever wearing it. I suppose it was way too sharp and heavy for him. That nose-burning spice and patchouli combination. For me as a teenager it was the beast in a bottle! Three sprays on the sly before school disco and I felt the testosterone pumping through my veins. I clearly remember my fathers surprised voice from behind when I left the house: "Have you used my aftershave, son?" For sure I had dad. Now, decades later it still evokes that forbidden feeling of undefined lust -for life, for adulthood, or nowadays maybe adultery. Sharp, sexy and overpowering, like a beast in a dutch 80's suit. Like the king of a dancefloor; like Bryan Ferry singing Kiss and tell. An irresistible sexist bastard.

So happy to have found a full vintage with box (the vintage box looks way better then the new) for a bargain price. A somewhat forgotten fragrance today but most guys in my age remember this one. And there's a reason for that :) Today a classy fragrance but when it was relesed it was an everyday normal scent. But that was then. Don ́t know how the current is, but the vintage one is great. Relesed in 1988, don ́t know the date on mine but old box and no green dot.

The classic Van Gils for men is a great fragrance. If you like timeless classical scents such as Antaeus, V-C & A pour homme, Tsar, Santos and Aramis, you will love Van Gils classic. It`s a typical 80-ies powerhouse, but timeless and very elegant. I understand it`s very rare nowdays, but luckily it`s widely available in my country for a reasonable price. Thumbs up!

This is a pleasure to wear. Very much like Chanel Antaeus , it reeks of animalic masculinity. Top notes fade quickly into a very delicious drydown where the cedar vetiver cardomom and thyme combine to develop a classic. It won't last long and not really a ladypleaser but really a throwback to the old school of aftershaves.

One of my first frags i bought in the eighties/nineties very masculine.Suprises me not many people reviewed or voted this one. Here in my country(holland) its was worn everywhere.

This is the perfume of my father.

This is possibly the manliest fragrance of all time. However, today you will smell like you were in your 30s when this was released. Younger guys beware - this is not for you, this powerhouse is for the 60+ crowd only.

Was at my parents house this evening, and just out of curiosity I browsed through some of my fathers fragrances. Most of them are gifts that he received for christmases or birthdays, but funnily enough he doesn't wear them. Me myself I gave him a large Boucheron pour homme some years back but he dropped it some months ago, and it broke. I found among his frags this Van Gils scent that I tried out of curiosity. So what do I get out of this scent? A powerful scent indeed, aromatic and spicy, but not very well balanced. The opening is a but too much for me actually but as it develops it turns more acceptable. It is really masculine, and a bit dated I think, not something I would wear. It is a heavy scent to wear and is not the casual frag that is easily fitted in. I clearly get the patchouli and the vetiver, as well as a spicy amber. To my nose, I can't detect any citrus, but there is thyme and spices in this one for sure. The overall impression is not very positive, and unfortunately I had to go and wash it off my wrist. I can see why it was made and also the potential audience, but I do not fall into this group. Overall Rating 3/10

Got this as a blind buy based on reading reviews here. Was really looking forward to this. Very disappointed. In one word this sucks. Sure its a classic but IMO its Plain and boring, nothing sets it apart to give any wow effect which equates to its price. To me it smells like a $10-20 cheap Good as a daily driver, but not for special occasions

the smell of an old man. suitable for grandfather and slightly older father. 60+ perfume. the funniest thing is that I got this as a gift twenty years ago when I was still about 15 years old.

OMG, i remember the heavy notes and that's not a pleasant memory. Never again. :D

ANXIETY AND CALMNESS. When I wear this fragrance I have persistent association of staying in a dark dense forest, inhabited by fairy-mysterious creatures. In late summer or early autumn you got here in the morning after rain and leisurely stroll among the huge old trees covered with moss, bypassing the thickets of various shrubs and creeping plants. Sun rays make their way through the trees crowns . On the ground, there are traces of animals, and from above you can hear periodically voices of unknown birds, that sound sometimes dramatically disturbing, sometimes protracted and melodic. Somewhere nearby there is a lake with it's mythical inhabitants who also feel how you're approaching. You are a little afraid of this unexplored space and at the same time extremely excited from touching the sacrament of nature. Everything is unbelievably fascinating here but you have to learn to become an organic part of THIS. The aroma is very complex. From the first application you might be scared by it's loudness and potency but since it settles down you dive more and more into the beauty of the scent. So many things going on here: you can find different herbs, spices, moss, tar of coniferous trees, fresh pine needles, citruses, amber, leather, balsamic notes and even a little bit of animalistic. Sometimes it's hard to classify it but after all I think this is a great fougere. The fragrance smells very naturally and all the notes not perceived as rude cacophony but as harmoniously sounding orchestra. To my nose It has some similarities to fragrances like Salvador Dali PH, Givenchy Gentelman, Chanel Antaeus, YSL Kouros and maybe Aramis Devin, but it's distinctive features and personal touch stand out this edition as a self-sustained interesting representative of the rigorous man's scents era. Yeah, it's hard to argue the fragrance is strongly connected to the 80-es and 90-es, I mean this type of scents was more frequently usable that period. But who said that retro means bad. For me it's not outdated but timeless. No doubt, this is so called "powerhouse" in terms of it's character and this POWER is not to alienate but rather involve. This power can be emphasized and/or transmitted by/to the carrier. I recommend to wear this scent when you need to go back to the roots to recall who you are. And yeah, keep in mind, this juice has remarkable longevity. Three sprays serve me well for 17-18 hours on the skin, and on fabric it's still alive being applied 3 weeks ago (no joke). Sprayer is very accurately tuned and releases a small finely dispersed cloud. P.S. My bottle is in the box as pictured above, but the flacon itself is completely black with only golden letters (without silver stripe and table). Eau de toilette concentration. SUPERB MALE SCENT.

I got a miniature in a pack of old scents to experiment with. first impressions is that it is STRONG. This is not for the meek. Younger men and those who don't like to make a statement stay away. I can see the comparisons with the original Kouros but that was really sweet and overpowering. I'm surprised that powdery isn't in the notes..a patchouli vetiver powder bomb with a hint of bitter orange to stop it from morphing into too sweet or overly cloying . To me it seemed to skip the middle notes on my skin and although it isn't mentioned, I'd swear there was Tonka bean in there somewhere. perhaps the most interesting thing is that as I sit here and read all five bass notes I can actually detect them distinct from one another..The mark of a great quality scent. Whether it's a classic remains to be seen. I will add to this post in time. It is certainly from another era. It might be a bit too much for the office as a daily wearer , and I wouldn't necessarily wear it on a date night. I think I'll probably leave using it more regularly until the colder weather comes. It seems to suited to comforting against the cold...I might be inclined to just slightly layer a green note on top as I personally tend to not go for very powdery scents. Not a lot of middle ground here, you'll like it or you won't.

Starts with a strong aromatic accord where clove/carnation is the main note, dark but not sharp, similar to Gianfranco Ferre for man drydown or even the new reformulate Kouros. Really good! What amazes me is that, suddenly, It turns. Some bright notes appear and the fragrance becomes clean and powdery, in the vein of Boucheron pour homme (without the citrusy character): an exquisite clean aromatic talcum powder smell. I had never seen such a drastic change. Normally It starts citrusy/bright and then is dominated by powerful/darker notes. It's pleasant, perhaps a bit dated, but never cloying. As time goes by, some slightly sweet notes join the powder and It remains like that until It vanishes. Great longevity on my skin, nice projection. Definetely a keeper! Unfortunately, hard to find these days.

Probably the best 80's powerhouse. Van Gils classic opens up with a shameless scirocco of citruses riding on spices in a way that is only rivalled by Cerruti 1881 in my experience. A fresh and aromatic roaring presence that just screams out: I'm rich and you're not ! And unlike the Cerruti it doesn't turn into yesterday's bitter tea. This is nothing short of explosive. And if you ever tire of the fecal notes in Kouros then this is it. The beautiful vulgarity that rules your imagination.

If you like scents as Antaeus, Kouros, Boucheron Boucheron, and my personal favorites; Lauder for Men and Dunhill for Men (1934) this is definitely for you. After owning all those I'm still hesitant to buy yet another one in this classic fougere family. However it's great value for money. Here in The Netherlands you can get this relatively cheap at any 'Kruidvat' Drugstore.

My taurus dad wore this when i was a child all throughout the 90's and beyond. This and no other fragrance ever💗 he is a very ultimate dad kind of man and this fragrance suits him so well. Love it!!! And i love the review below!💗 That Austin Powers quote is spot on.😂 😄🫶

Classic. Readily available in Sweden and in airport taxfree shops. Smells like a mix of antaeus and korous but a little more reserved and safe. Great formal scent for a grown up. I love it.

Searched everywhere, never seen it. Though available online but the price is unbelievable. Either it is really rare or discontinued product that makes it sought after items.

This fragrance is really for the older men.Oldskool.love it! Not for the younger men. A real Classic

The same thing as Strictly for Men (only little difference in bottle) Old skool.....long lasting

it seems to be very difficult to buy this, can't find it anywhere.

Smells sooooooooo good. My husband all time favorite