Trafalgar
Truefitt & Hill (1986)

I tried this at West Coast Shaving and bought it despite the harsh reviews here. I'll describe this fragrance with few words: a well-done Margarita that was poured into a bottle and sold as an EDT. Super citrusy and a ton of spice. Strong. I do not regard this an aquatic at all. Mind you, the opening is insane. It smells like a lemon and bag of fresh cilantro exploded in a room. But give it a few minutes and it reigns itself in. Trafalgar becomes a chypre fragrance that projects all day, making you feel fresh for hours. I understand the allure of Truefitt & Hill now. They make odd fragrances that have past the test of time. I particularly enjoy wearing Trafalgar in the summer. However, you must let it breathe on you for at least half hour before you come close to another person. So don't spray and immediately jump in a train or elevator. People shall be annoyed. LOL!!!!! Is it worth the effort and price tag? I'm not sure. But, I love my fragrance hobby and often it takes me to strange places--which it is part of the fun. Cheers!

I'm not sure how anyone can turn a mix of candy-sweet lemon, bergamot, mint, and lavender into something so unlikeable. What should be a perfect eau de cologne instead smells like all the notes are mad at each other - for example, the lavender makes the bergamot smell spoiled, while the lemon and mint form a perfect olfactory metaphor for that gross taste you get sipping juice after brushing your teeth.

There are a hundred classic eau de colognes I'd wear before this.

Nice spicy citrus notes. Sandalwood & cedar work well in my opinion but it just doesn't last, just like the Grafton cologne I tried yesterday.

First of all, even though the juice is blue, the scent is definitely not...Freshman should have been this color. You start with an unusual combination of lemon and nutmeg, a very light high-pitched soapy citrus over sharp, non-sweet woody spices. I'm sure it's one of many men's scents with this combination, but one of very few that I can smell the two simultaneously...a miracle of un-blending which I like a lot. As the lemon fades, some sweetness comes to the woody spices, yielding something like Santos, or Curzon, containing notes that normally fall into a heavy "winter" category, but are executed rather lightly. There's just a trace of anise, but I don't mind it because the nutmeg is so dominant. To some extent, this is the type of scent I wanted to find in some of the older Trumpers (Astor, Eucris, Curzon, Marlborough), but many didn't quite fit the bill or were too weak. It has just a trace of the distinct floral (carnation?) in Marlborough, but I mostly only notice this if I "revive" the mid notes by breathing warm air over the test spot. Trafalgar is also slight smoky, but avoids the over-the-top ashtray aura that kills Floris Elite. Even though it's not very strong in the base notes, I like what they've done here.

A spicy oriental opening that I pick up hints of coriander and cumin. A little cedar and musk there as well. Smoothly transitions into a jasmine drydown. I, like others have noted, get a reverse drydown from how the notes are listed. It is overall probably the most interesting from the T&H line, but nothing from this house really strikes me as great.

I don't agree with all these comments that say Trafalgar is a weird scent with a cooking herb element. What I get, all the way through, is reminiscent of a classic eau de cologne with a touch of spice, woods and florals - it opens with some distinct and very slightly powdery (in a pleasant way) citrus, then the jasmine comes on strong and then I get the cedar and cardamom all at once. Sounds like a bit of a train wreck, but for me it all plays out wonderfully. Of the four traditional English barber companies, T&H aren't the cheapeast but they probably have the nicest and highest quality frags - each one is very independent from the other and considered on its own merits, unlike Trumper and DR Harris who seem intent on putting a signature note or two in pretty much everything they release (in Trumper's case cloyingly sweet powder, in DR Harris' case a much more pleasant old style citrus). Trafalgar's sillage and longevity is, unfortunately, among the weakest of the T&H range (perhaps not surprising given the relatively minimal pyramid - even taking into account the things not listed on BN, there's still not an awful lot going on for an 80s frag) but paradoxically, if taken as an eau de cologne alternative, it's spectacular - 4 hours at least. Still, it does make it quite expensive, but very worthy all the same, in my opinion.