Brummel Coupe by Antonio Puig

I’m buying it again and have already reserved some for the future. I always thought it smelled like Puig’s ‘Boston’, but also like something I couldn’t identify until a casual comment revealed it: a flanker of the blue ‘Vorago’ shaving line, the ‘Vorago Action’. It’s a shame Puig sold its classics instead of keeping and updating them. Brummel Coupé is a lucky change, with great projection and longevity; it smells more like the nineties than the eighties—aquatic and sporty yet powerful with a formal touch.

You have to see the BRUMMEL COUPÉ DE PUIG commercial to believe it; it’s a mix of macho vulgarity, Almodóvar’s ‘Matador’ with Assumpta Serna, and an F1 awards ceremony—I don’t know if it’s unintentionally funny or just terrible. The fragrance fits well in the Aromatic Fougère family, almost aquatic due to its oceanic tones. It’s the classic men’s cologne: woody, mossy, aquatic, and pastoral, evoking the seventies. The opening has the typical bitterness of a fougère, but without the harshness of the past; it’s softer and suits current tastes (at least as of 2011, when I bought this bottle). I like it, and it only faintly reminds me of the classic Brummel, which smells more citrusy and floral like a barbershop. The Calone aquatic note gives that oceanic, ozonic, and salty effect. The turquoise-blue bottle matches those marine tones. There are hints of thyme, sage, and lavender that linger into a long, durable dry-down, something I didn’t expect from a Brummel. It’s a lovely body wash with moderate projection and extended longevity, perfect for stepping out of the bathroom feeling clean, fresh, sporty elegant, and casually classic. I don’t usually wear this type of cologne, but I wouldn’t mind using it more. The quality-to-price ratio is as good as many Puig fragrances, most of which have disappeared in favor of other brands. Puig Group should have preserved Spanish perfumery heritage. How hard it is to blend art with money! So many geniuses creating masterpieces while some opportunists only think about getting rich until money means nothing. It’s the whirlwind of power and wealth, a drug that never satisfies.