Woodhue for Men
Fabergé (1938)

This was Dean Martin's favorite and only cologne! It was discontinued in the mid-80s, sadly. NOW FOR SOME EXCITING NEWS! You can purchase an amazing reintroduction of the scent from Phoenix Artisans Accouterments under the name "Black Shroud". SO GLAD it's back in this form. Instant nostalgia, quality, and better longevity than the original! Masculine, fresh, spicy and not sweet like some of the modern colognes out there (which I like, but...). Check it out! By the way, if you don't want to drop the bucks for the EDP, the aftershave/cologne is plenty strong. PAA's artwork and storytelling is fun, but in the long run, it's the juice that counts, and the juice is sooooo good!
https://phoenixartisanaccoutrements.com/collections/black-shroud-collection

After reading through the reviews I felt compelled to throw in my 2 "scents". Woodhue for men is a deep woody masculine cologne with great sillage and phenomenal longevity. The Country Store in Weston, Vermont sells a knock off of the women's version that was created 6 years after the male version and is a completely different beast. You can tell the difference between the two because the men's version has a space between the main part of the container and the wooden cap. (See picture at the top of page). The women's version does not have this space and is a much more woody/citrus affair. The men's version of Woodhue, a woody oriental, has a beautiful dry-down from amber/vanilla to a sensuous cedar/vetyver ending. A true manly affair.

I realized I had placed my review of the original Woodhue on the wrong page, this page for the Woodhue for Men scent.

So, I just copy and pasted it in the correct location and am essentially deleting the review for this page.

I acquired a vintage bottle of this and had no idea what to expect. Fortunately, the top notes seem to still be as strong as ever, since I can't imagine them being any stronger! There may be a wood note up top, but since I try to avoid top notes I don't want to make any definitive claims about that aspect of it. The drydown has moderate projection/"sillage" with good longevity. Imagine Dior Homme's drydown, but with no tobacco note. That would be similar to Woodhue for Men. The lavender is DH is stronger (if there is any lavender in WfM), but the "vibe" is very similar. In other words, it comes across more as a a somewhat sweet, leathery, powdery fragrance. Instead of cacao, WfM has more of a minty quality. There's probably a wood note in the drydown, but it's way in the background, so I'd advise against blind buying this if you're looking for a strong wood fragrance.

This is a review for the Woodhue I bought at the Vermont Country Store in Weston, Vermont. Packaged and marketed as far as I can tell as the original. I sure hope it is not. I was entranced by the packaging, retro vibe, and potential when you take a whiff of this in the bottle. I like unusual scents from the past. Upon application you get an embarassingly feminine floral baby powder scent, that doesn't seem to develop. I'm glad no one was around when I tried this on, I smell like a dainty old lady. Maybe overtly flowery, powdery scents for men were O.K when this was originally released? Somehow I doubt it. This is the first time I've considered returning a fragrance. Save yourself the money. If you are simply dieing of curiosity, go rub yourself down with baby powder, a spritz of your Grandma's White Shoulders and tah dah! you're wearing Woodhue.

I bought a bottle of the new version, and it reminds me a lot of the vintage ladies version circa 1966. My mom wore it a lot. I like it. It's pretty short-lived. Maybe not quite as rich and long-lasting as the vintage ladies scent.

I read somewhere that vintage Woodhue For Men is exactly the same thing as the ladies version, just repackaged so guys wouldn't be embarrased about buying or wearing it. I don't know if that's true, but it's a good story.

The bottle looks a lot like the vintage bottle I remember.

Does it smell like the original Men's version? Dunno. Never smelled it.

Overall, I paid $20 for a bottle of it. Not bad for a little nostalgia trip. And the smell is really pretty good. I'll probably wear it a few more times before I make up my mind about whether it's actually good stuff. In any case, you could spend far more and do far worse.

Update Aug 11: ditched it. I got tired of the generally weak, synthetic vibe. A kind basenoter sent me a sample of the rich original -- it is divine by comparison. It would be great to have a decent reproduction of this back in circulation.