Classics 9.0

Valentino Uomo without the coffee! Smells EXACTLY like Uomo and I am a huge fan of that frag! I do find the coffee in the Valentino can be cloying at times and this certainly solves that! It's performance is meh but is around the same as the original on my skin so I can really recommend it! I didn't think it would smell so close, I really thought everyone was full of it but it really does smell good! Oh, also Zara dumps everything in a big cardboard box during shipping so if you care about your bottle or box being scuffed pick it up in store. If this was a song it'd be Wrapped Around Your Finger by The Police.

I somehow stumbled upon a bottle of this and it's up there with my favourites. This is a rather sweet, a bit floral scent in a very masculine fashion. Real compliment getter and a favourite among ladies. Can be used in many occasions in my opinion, but it's ideal for dating. One surprising thing is the performance - rather long lasting for Zara standards. If you find a bottle for cheap, don't skip.

Same old 9.0. Beautiful iris and cardamom scent for a ridiculously low price. The closest from designer I can think of is Valentino Uomo. I feel like I had better luck with this batch than the previous one (older reddish brown bottle), as the longevity seems marginally better.

ZARA 9.0 repackaged. Same juice, even if the notes as listed on Frgrantica are slightly different. Can easily pass as a Dior Homme flanker.

I'm a guy that primarily wears feminine fragrances. I find feminine fragrances to be more daring and diverse than ones marketed to men. Typically, I find most male fragrances either smell the same, too similar, or just aren't interesting enough to my nose. Unisex fragrances are also usually bland and uninteresting to me. So, I usually just stick to my "feminine" scents. For the last three years, Dior Homme was rated the greatest male fragrance of all time here on Fragrantica, for the years 2017, 2018, and 2019. This fragrance was also notable for pushing the boundaries of gender marketing, by it's inclusion of a strong, powdery Iris. This appealed to me, and I wondered if I had finally found a male fragrance that was bold and daring enough for my standards. I had tested this before, but never really gave it a chance. Last year, I gave it more of a chance, and tested it on a test strip, and made sure to let it develop and smell it at each stage. I loved it, and could immediately understand why it was so highly praised here. Dior made a bold choice by putting a strong Iris in the scent, and therefore it's composition was unique and like nothing else on the shelves. Of course, just as I began to like and consider getting this fragrance, Dior announced their new formula... And they lost me, just like that. Now, Dior Homme smells just as boring and bland and uninteresting to me as every other male fragrance on the shelves. Why? I don't understand why Dior, or any fashion brand for that matter, would reformulate one of their highest rated and loved fragrances. Why didn't they introduce a new fragrance instead? Why didn't they just release the new formula as a flanker? I just don't understand. Now, you can only get the original Homme from the old bottles, or, apparently in Paris, they still sell "Homme Original", and it seems they sell it from time to time on their website in limited quantities. So, thanks to Fragrantica, I knew Zara 9.0 was my next step. It was more affordable after all, and appeared to be formulated to mimic Homme and Valentino's Uomo. There is only one Zara store nearby me, but I figured it would be worth the short trip to grab just this fragrance. I had never been to a Zara store before, but knew their reputation as a "fast fashion" brand, that recycles runway fashion into their own line. The fragrance sold out on their website before I could plan a day to pick it up, so, I went to the store anyway to see if maybe the store itself had any bottles in stock. I ended up finding bottles of "Classic 9.0", and "Extreme 9.0", both from what Zara calls their "Heritage Collection". The packaging was sealed and no testers were available, so I quickly jumped onto Zara's online customer support chat while in line to ask if they knew if this new "Classic" bottle was a different formula. After I had already checked out, the person on the chat told me they were two completely different fragrances. It was too late to return it now, so I left the mall. However, I didn't hesitate to open the packaging and spray the fragrance in the car, and upon first spritz, I was greeted by a loud, screechy, indisputable Iris. Just like Homme. This appears to be a simple repackaging of the same fragrance in two different formulas. I figured the salesperson on the chat couldn't have had both bottles next to her to tell me if they were the same or not. The packaging and bottle isn't as asthetically pleasing as the red bottle pictured here, but from the notes listed here, this is the same fragrance or at least extremely close, which is what matters most. I've noticed after having this for a few weeks, I tend to reach for it much more often than I would any other "male" fragrance. I find it very comforting, especially at night time. My one disappointment with this, is it's lack of longevity. This sadly doesn't last me through the night, and is very very faint after a few hours, almost non-existent. I'm hoping perhaps their Extreme 9.0 will have better longevity.