Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan (1996)

This is a bit of a nostalgia fragrance for me, but it's still in my rotation. I remember coming home in the ‘90s and my 15 year-old younger brother was spritzing this great-smelling scent. I said what's that and he said, “Dude, it's the new MJ cologne.” I tried it and really liked it. I read that the composition was supposed to reference Jordan's favorite activities–leather and wood for basketball, grassiness for the golf course, and spiciness for tobacco and his cigars. It definitely has a ‘90s vibe (cK Be came out the same year and the top notes have a lot of similarities), but it has a great woody amber drydown and works well for both daytime office or casual wear. And you can't go wrong for the price.

The first cologne I was ever given as a gift. It is absolutely vile. Very strong alcoholic grapefruit has me slam dunking this into the trash without even giving it a chance to develop. I bought the cologne Sex Panther as a joke a few years ago and it reminded me exactly of this acrid, plastic booze.

What strikes me up front about Michael Jordan is the nice blend of pine, sweet woods and the fresh cut grass. The grass note is what makes this somewhat unique and recognizable from other scents. Later into drydown, you lose the fresh cut grass and it's a sweetened woody scent with something that reminds me of more mature scents.

This is a daytime casual scent with good projection and average longevity.

I get an alcoholic A*Men Pure Energy/Pure Shot but with the branding and pricing of Michel Jordan rather than Mugler. It may not be super strong but works for work. For this, I give it a thumbs up, but it isn't a strong thumb up.

I give this a neutral due to the lack of longevity and projection. It is synthetic but isn't that bad. Nice for an after the gym spritz. For the price it is ok.

Michael Jordan's original EDC scent is dominated by alcohol to the point that most of the actual notes are subdued. I hadn't smelled it since the 90s so I bought a sample pack of 15ml MJs at Marshall's for $10 and tried this first. Sure---lemon, grapefruit, musk, and some other notes are vaguely detectable, but not surprisingly (at the price point), I could not make much out of it except for vague citrus aspects. It certainly has sentimental value but obviously begs the question of, even as cheap as it is, why one wouldn't go with something that's simply a better scent. A cheap grapefruit is C.O. Bigelow's Elixir White at Bath & Body Works, for example. I'm eager to try the other MJ frags again, though. Also, as if it needed saying, the projection is weak and the longevity is terrible, probably a skin scent within the hour, but that does make it useful (as some reviewers have pointed out) as an athletic/workout scent that generally remains close to the skin unless being pushed out by heat and sweat.

5 out of 10