Reviews of Nautica Competition (original) by Nautica
I used to love this smell. Reminded me of a sweet baby powder that wasn't all that powdery. I recently smelled Polo Red and found it to be remarkably similar to what I remember this smelling like.
Creative and lasting wellThe apple and mint combine nicely with the bergamot, and vetiver later on, but in the drydown this is on my skin an amber-oakmoss scent, with some a touch of saltiness and some residual freshness remaining. This is a creative and quite unusual fragrance. The whole thing is done very well and beautifully blended. Very good silage and projection, with an excellent longevity of nearly seven hours.
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My wife gave me a bottle when we were dating in 1998. I liked it. She loved it. That made me love it. Fresh, sporty, and decent staying power. Why did Nautica change the formula? The new Competition is a poor replacement.
This seems to fall into the Eternity / Adidas Moves family, but it has qualities that make me understand why my freshman year roommate swore by the stuff in 1999. It's fresh and soapy, with apple but not nearly as much as the others above, and somehow manages to maintain a very "broad" freshness, rather than sharp. It has some anise, but not too much so I'll forgive it. This helps it to have an unexpected spicy depth underneath the dark grey fruity soapiness, and I agree that the spiced apple here simulates raisin. I'd qualify it as a "black" scent more than a lot of others with "black" in their names, albeit a freshened-up version. Ultimately, I'm impressed how leathery and resinous it ends up being, while still maintaining freshness, almost like Geir minus some of the sweet fruit and with added leather...in fact surprisingly unsweet for such a low price range. Or you might even compare to Bulgari Pour Homme Soir, where instead of beefing up the citrus they've beefed up the sweet musk. Thumbs up for unexpected uniqueness.
I think dear Sir Slarty's impression of a dirty, rancid oriental amber is apt. To me, this is a syrupy almost raisiney verging on gourmand territory kind of scent, and I love it! It is fairly linear, and is just a fragrance that I don't get sick of smelling. Nothing challenging or evolutionary, just pleasnt smelling goodness. I hope to always have some of this around. It is one of my favorite accessible linear fragrances. It is not that hard to find on the internet, and I am stocking up on all my fav discontinued frags. Long live the vault!
I use to own this cologne in high school and it smelled great. I recently purchased the same thing on ebay and i can see where all the bad reviews are coming from. I assure you that you are not smelling the 'real' scent of the original nautica competition. The one i bought off of ebay smelled very rancid at first spray. I believe this is because it is just past its shelf life. But how this stuff is suppose to smell is if you rub the rancid stuff on your arms and rub them together its that scent times 10. Rubing it together for me seems to get rid of the rancid smell.
I get a dirty, rancid oriental amber. For fans of Diesel, Dirty English and other men's perfumes that don't smell like perfume.
A rather intresting fragrance that is had to find now a days.. But it is worth the money. It's longevity is good & it smells great! I just dont get the gasoline smell that some have mentioned. Altho it is a smell that cannot be resisted & people will always ask what is that your wearing! Good Job Nautica.... NOW BRING IT BACK!
I tried the fragrance back maybe a year or two after it first came out. My best friend growing up had it and he let me try it out a couple times. From what I remember, the fragrance was decent...but of course I was only 13 at the time and had no concept of what a good quality fragrance smelled like. I would try it again now, but they don't make it anymore.
I find this somewhat offensive, in that it smells like someone put some gasoline in a noce smelling cologne. I see the 'sport' part of it, but this is a bit too dirty in a bad way to be competition. I wonder what the relaunch (Nautica Competition Yellow) smells like.
This was one of my first fragrances and I still love it. Working on my third bottle. I don't know what it is about this scent, maybe all the memories tied up with it, but its phenomenal. It just kind of pops! Perfect for younger guys (like me), especially in summer.
Not sporty in the least. More of a sensuous, romantic, mouth watering fragrance. The Apple, vanilla and mint combo are sensational. It's also a dynamo with regard to lasting power. It has a wonderful matching A/S balm