VETIVER deodorant stick by Guerlain

Aah, Vetiver, vetiver, vetiver. Just the sound of it brings to mind springsong, verdant scenes, and zingy dreams of pastures green. (I'm a poet, and I know it... hope I don't blow it" - Bob Dylan).

Vetiver deodorant stick by Guerlain

I bought this online in England at the end of October 2015, for £20.70 plus p&p (shipping, to you American folk who call everything shipping EVEN WHEN SHIPS AREN'T USED), and it is just about running out now in mid-March 2016. It's Easter Sunday today. I put this on after my shower this morning, and my wife said, "What's that you're wearing? Is it aftershave or just deodorant?", so I told her, and she said, "you should just wear that more often - sometimes you overdo it with your aftershave, with this I can still smell you, and just a little freshness from the deodorant".

So there we have it. This deodorant has lasted me 4-5 months, which is pretty good going really, and it's given me much enjoyment in that time for my twenty English pounds. 

Yes, it's not as strong as the Vetiver eau de cologne, nor would you want it to be. These designer deodorants just give off a nice whiff occasionally as you pass by, and wearing them just exudes a little class in a very subtle way, I think. Especially when they're made by Guerlain.

Vetiver - the deodorant stick - is fresh, lemony, bergamot-y and vetiver-y, and doesn't offer you the protection from odour you would get from an anti-perspirant, but then why would you want something to stop a primary bodily function? "Oh, hello, Mrs Chemist, have you got any anti-respirant? I've got bad breath". Exactly.

Instead, this mingles with your body odour to provide something much sexier, and presumably with much fewer long-term health implications. While an English autumn, winter and spring (in other words, cold and rainy for six months) didn't really test this out too much, I did spend three weeks of that time 7 degrees north of the equator, where no deodorant or even anti-perspirant is going to do much for you, and this... well, let's just say it was nice for the first minute after a shower, before you became drenched in sweat again. 

So yes, I would definitely recommend this for its fresh, zingy vibe - a great way to get you going of a morning, and excellent longevity and therefore value for money. Interestingly, in England it goes on clear and dries pretty quickly. In the Tropics, it went white straight away and took much longer to dry. Didn't leave any stains or anything, just the effect of the temperature I guess. Go forth, purchase, and enjoy! 

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KOUROS deodorant stick by Yves Saint Laurent

Kouros - Yves Saint Laurent

This is my first foray into designer deodorant reviews, and what gave me the idea to start this blog in the first place. OK, maybe I'm using this blog as an excuse to buy designer deodorants more often. Let's get that out of the way, first up. Yep, probably. 

Now, on to the deodorant. I am reviewing the stick version, which I bought from a shop called Beauty Base in Ealing, west London, for £20.50. Yes, looking online now I can see I could have got it for £12.50 plus p&p, but that's not the point; I knew I would be paying over the odds (NEVER BUY COLOGNE/PERFUME/ANYTHING IN A SHOP, IT'S ALMOST ALWAYS AVAILABLE CHEAPER ONLINE), but a) I needed a deodorant there and then, and b) if I didn't buy it right then, I probably wouldn't have started this blog. 

First things first, I have tried the cologne of Kouros several times in stores, mostly on tester strips, once on myself, and I have to say I'm a big fan. My first reaction on trying the cologne was, WOAH, THIS IS HARDCORE! 

I had never smelled anything like it exactly, at one moment it was beautiful and clean, but at other times it was outrageously dirty and sexy, and I couldn't stop sniffing it on my wrist. 

Anyway, to cut to the chase, I loved it, but wasn't brave enough to wear it, certainly not every day, certainly not to work in close confine with other people.

So I was curious about the deodorant. Would it be as powerful? Would it smell as good? The answers to these questions are, rather wonderfully, no and yes! The Kouros stick deodorant is a perfect recreation of the cologne scent, in deodorant form, however it doesn't jump out at you so much. 

I first tried it after a shower at work, and came into my office smelling wonderfully soapy clean, a really amazingly fresh, green scent at the opening, which wakes you up and just makes you think, YES! Then, as the day unfolds, that grimier, dirtier, sexier side of Kouros begins to ooze out, warming and working with your body chemistry to create something carnal and just plain naughty. 

But it's still subtle enough for office wear, you will smell it, not everyone else will, unless you happen to want them to... 

So, in summary, this is a wonderful deodorant, faithful to the original cologne, with great longevity, deodorising power, and, most importantly, a wonderful scent. Go forth and enjoy!

ABOUT DESIGNER DEODORANT REVIEWS

Welcome. 

Deodorants. Things that you spray or rub under your arms to make you smell nicer. 

I started this blog in reaction to the fact that, these days, certainly here in the UK, there are almost no deodorants to buy in supermarkets. Almost exclusively everything these days is an anti-perspirant, a product designed to STOP THE VERY NATURAL AND VERY NECESSARY HUMAN BODILY FUNCTION OF SWEATING. It does rather amaze me that not more of a fuss has been kicked up by the public about this fact; people seem to have been hoodwinked by cosmetics companies, as if they're happy to say, SURE, YOU MUST KNOW MORE ABOUT HUMAN BIOLOGY THAN MILLIONS OF YEARS OF NATURAL EVOLUTION, HERE'S MY MONEY, NOW STOP ME SWEATING! 

As if sweating is a bad thing. Sweat is natural. Sweat is sexy. Don't be an idiot. Sweat! 

Anyway, since my only option as a male in the UK seemed to be to drown myself in Lynx, or in more recent years, develop a rash from Old Spice (although I do love the scent), I have found myself returning to a golden period of my youth wherein I used to almost exclusively wear designer deodorants. 

It started with my parents, who travelled overseas a lot when I was a teenager, and would bring back duty-free gifts from the airports they travelled through, mainly colognes/after-shaves and designer deodorants. I loved the casual, subtle feeling of luxury wearing these deodorants afforded me. Some were awful. Some would simply fail the Trade Descriptions Act. Others were wonderful, and you would not need to wear any cologne to go with them, the deodorant itself would be enough to surround you in a sensual glow of glamour, an invisible cloak of classiness.

On this blog, I will offer my totally independent reviews on designer deodorants. This will happen slowly. I will give long, indulgent reviews to the best, and short shrift to the rest.

In doing so, I hope to help guide you through the duty-free lounges of your life with ease, swerving past the dreadful, scooping up the sublime, and revelling in the small daily joys that the world of designer deodorants can bring.