FRAGRANCE | Guerlain L'Homme Ideal Cologne: Lovely but too weak

Banking on my positive experiences with Guerlain fragrances, particularly L'Instant de Guerlain pour Homme and Guerlain Heritage, I blind-bought this one expecting to be wowed - but only moderately considering it's in cologne concentration.

A flanker of the 2014 original, Guerlain L'Homme Ideal Cologne is, without a doubt, a freshie, a characteristic well represented by its pristine, white-themed bottle. It opens predictably with a citrusy blast but is not overly zesty or sharp. There's a certain creaminess to it, however mild. Perhaps it's due to the almond. But unlike Tom Ford's Fucking Fabulous, I don't find it as prominent here. It's not a bad thing, though, as it serves its purpose of smoothening out the citrus's sharp edges - and quite beautifully so.

Later on the vetiver starts to show but it doesn't proclaim itself loudly. It's very mild. In fact everything here is mild. The creamy citrus, while still around, is now muted. And whatever else is in this juice is mild. Still lovely, however.

Alas, this fragrance isn't much of a performer. While I understand that this is a cologne and is expectedly weaker than an EDT, let alone a perfume, I find it simply too weak. Sure it's noticeable in its first few minutes but projection is soft overall, and eases into a skin scent way too soon. It also only lasts for a few hours. I get way better performance from Eight Wolves Cologne by Sparrow, another cologne but which only costs a small fraction of Ideal's price.

My frustration with performance aside, I still think L'Homme Ideal Cologne is a beautiful fragrance. It's nice to have and I think it's a safe blind buy. I guess I just have to be overly generous with my sprays and the frequency of my touchups, more so because the sprayer produces an ultra-fine mist, of which I'm not a fan.