Sex Appeal by Jovan

I detect all the spice, no sweetness, with a bitterness that isn’t citrus. Maybe the formula was adjusted for its time, but it smells modern. I’d want more projection and longevity; right now it fades to skin-level in about three hours. The scent itself is top-tier, and even with its flaws, keep making it. It’s versatile, good for day and even mild weather. Here, the ‘Cologne’ is a bargain at chiringuito prices, 88ml, made in the USA by Coty. It’s for personal use, as it starts as your own bubble. Typical cologne performance, which is exactly what you need for this rich scent to last. Better to know fragrances from the past that are still available than to lament those that no longer exist or perform poorly. I vote for the former.

This Sex Appeal is a delicious swamp of moldy orange shouting with lavender and aldehydes in a strange but good collision. Then come dry spices and a scorched patchouli in an ashtray with a musk base; it smells like sex.

Disgusting… yet addictively disgusting. It’s repulsive, decadent, dark, and closed in, yet melancholic, romantic, and retro. It’s for cold climates, rainy days, sunsets, or nights of sad drinks to drown out heartbreak or grief. It can be pretentious, but it’s a very different fragrance. Fragrantica compares it to Lauder’s Youth Dew and even Amber Nude. At first, I thought they were crazy, but over time I think they share an aura. Will they be as seductive? They’re difficult and not for everyone. Maybe seduction goes beyond pleasing the first sniff; this Sex Appeal confuses me, causing immediate rejection but also attraction and curiosity once you become its ally. The downside is its projection and longevity: I find it very weak. You just have to overapply and throw caution to the wind.

My friend Bofifa lets me try this creation, a diamond that has broken time. It makes you relive the years of disco music, the funky era, when at the club you went to hear the hits and hook up raw. I perceive a touch of cinnamon, and patchouli and amber give it that sexy macho man touch, created to attract attention and that even today maintains an attractive aroma. The dry down is great. For confident men. Spartacus, you managed to make me smile… In the 80s I had the pendant and the keychain, I just missed the dice set, which is a shame.

One of the most disgusting fragrances I’ve heard. With apologies to its fans. At first it seems good, a pleasant old-school aromatic, very similar to the Magno body gel, at this stage you think ‘hey, that’s nice’. Suddenly things twist and it transforms into an agasolinized, synthetic, stinky patchouli with reminiscences of a closed gym bag full of sweaty briefs, socks, and t-shirts. It’s not an earthy patchouli, which even cheap ones are nice, it seems like they made it with burnt play-doh. Horrible. There are fragrances from an era that are classics because they are well-made. Sex Appeal is the opposite. Something out of place, like pendants with your zodiac sign, keychains with naked girls, and a dice set with sexual poses.

Seduction? Now you don’t even need to be born with it. This stimulating and provocative blend of spices and herbs was created by men to attract women, because it’s never enough!… That’s the written description on the manufacturer’s box. You see, for everything there is a remedy, I’m going to delete myself from the gym now that I have it.

Retro fragrance, spicy and green. I liked it, but the dry down depends on skin. It has citrus notes and reminds me of Revlon’s Jean Naté. It’s informal, for daytime, and quite unisex.

I wore this in my teens, and honestly, it didn’t work for me. It’s overly sweet and felt cloying.

This is a very old-school perfume, 1950s style. I didn’t like it, and it doesn’t have as much sexual appeal as people claim. To me, it’s just awful.