99 Regent Street
Hugh Parsons (2006)

This is a very useful scent for men in professional settings. It’s not too floral, too heavy or cloying. Rather, it makes one smell fresh yet refined with distinctiveness. It lasts a long time but won’t bother your co-workers all day if you accidentally put on a little too much. It’s my “today’s about business and being a respectful gentleman” cologne.

Opens with a powdery feminine quality that rapidly diminishes to an apple and floral note that I identify more with iris than with violet as others note. Base softens to a warm fruits and musk/amber sort of harmony that is fairly unisex, but might still be too ambivalent for some men. Certainly worth trying and even purchasing to have on hand for occasional use in mixed company.

A typical fruity aquatic, but with more fruit than aquatic. The opening seems almost like strawberry Millesime Imperial to begin with, but quickly deteriorates into a more appley Eternity/Adidas Moves/Greenergy type of affair. (What naive hope and optimism it had...and their Traditional Blue is a fairly nice MI cousin!) The sweetness is such that the apple could only be a red candy apple, and it brings with it the sharp nostril-burning that I've come to expect from low-end fruit scents. That extra bit of cinnamon almost brings me to take pity on it, but not quite. Fortunately the sweetness backs off a tiny bit in the base, and a bit more dry woods show through, but it still smells like something I'd use to clean my furniture.

If you love violet, this one's for you. I find the violet notes in 99 Regent Street completely overwhelming to the exclusion of the other, more desirable, notes. I dislike the synthetic violet note that is included in so many of these fragrances now days – I'm talking unconditional hatred for several of them. If you, like me, dislike the synthetic violet notes of modern perfumery, forget about 99, Regent Street… it's as violently violet as Grey Flannel.

This is a fine, cool, mildly aloof fragrance that is excellent for the warmer months. I think it would suit a lot of men who are on the fence about fragrances. It is not sweet, and has a lively clean but rich essence. Violet leaf is not my favorite smell, and I am not going to suggest for a moment that 99 Regent St. would ever be a signature scent for me, but I am happy that I own it, and think that it has a place in one's wardrobe when one needs something that is both distinctive yet a touch formal , without being arrogant. One could wear this to an interview or a meeting that one knows in advance is not going to be entirely pleasant yet one wants to go in there with a smile on his face and wants to project a touch of confident savor faire. I don't go to this one a lot, but life is fully of challenges and there are going to be days when 99 Regent St. helps with some of them.

Four or more years on, and I am now out of 99 Regent Street, so I have been using it and will get more from Amazon or First in Fragrance. This is a hidden gem that will disappear soon, but not yet, thankfully. It is a put on and forget about it fragrance. Forget about it, but then you notice it around 5 PM and you ask yourself, "Wow, what did I put on this morning? This is great. Oh, right, 99 Regent St. I like this a lot!"

A fresh and sparkling blend of florals, resin, musk, and amber. This is a stimulating scent, which energizes with its unique blend of orris, geranium, and white florals skillfully blended with sweet violet and rooted in mastic resin, vegetable musk, and amber. The orris plays its powdery note against the resin in a surprising harmony, as the other notes chime in to balance and blend. This has good longevity and moderate sillage; it's just the thing for the office on a mild,sunny day.