I find the Special Reserve quite strong out of the bottle. I think it's the strong patchouli top notes that hit you right away. But I really love the dry down aroma. Luckily, it dries down fairly quickly, as do most of the Clubman scents.
I have the VIBR, Lilac Vegetal, Regular Clubman, Special Reserve and Vanilla. Haven't picked up the Citrus Musk or Lime Sec yet, but I'll get there.
I'll just say that on Amazon, a woman wrote a comment on it, essentially saying there is no men's aftershave that smells as "delicious"(her word)than Clubman. I have the aftershave, as well as the shampoo, and when the weather gets more fall-like, I'll be more than ready to return to the Club.
On Youtube, one of the guys doing ads for FINE aftershave called ALL of them "awesome sauce". Call me old-school, but I think Clubman has a great, manly, barbershop scent.
I like the scent and think "Barbershop" is a perfect description but I think it is kind of strong. The barber shop I use uses Clubman Talc. If you're like me, you have trouble wrapping your head around "top notes, middle notes, bottom notes" and that kind of talk, but if you do understand fragrance description, go to this site: http://www.clubmanonline.com/after-shave-cologne.html. Here's what the manufacturer says about it: Clubman After Shave Lotion is the quintessential after shave. Cools, exhilarates... Soothes tender skin... Helps heal razor nicks... It's a suave, masculine fragrance, bursting with top notes of orange, bergamot and mouth-watering lemon with green nuances throughout. The floral heart of jasmine, orange flower and geranium dance with lavender and is completed with a warm musk background.
To paraphrase from a poster on here, it may be more reasonable to say Brut is similar to Clubman. But I certainly agree with your opener.
I enjoy my clubman original. It's powdery and flowery and smells really good on me. My fiancé likes it too. I would like to try the lime sec and the veg soon but I've gotten enough new shaving things lately so I'm waiting a month before I get anything new. I try not to push my luck with the significant other by getting massive amounts of stuff all at once.
That's my situation, Ducky-I have a good supply of shaving paraphernalia now-I'm not sure when I'll be ordering something new.
I just picked up a bottle of clubman this weekend and was thinking that I couldn't wait to try out this "old man scent". Well, much to my dismay, it's more like an old "dead man's" scent! This stuff is dreadful and I was sick from the stench entire day! I'm sorry to be so harsh, but maybe I just had a bad batch. So, I'll hang onto it and try it again in a few weeks. I hope it gets better with age.
