No 90 Invictus

Invictus built its reputation on a victorious, sporty freshness: bright grapefruit over a synthetic marine accord, a bay leaf and jasmine heart, and a guaiac wood and oakmoss base meant to read as a laurel wreath. No 90 opens in almost the same place, the grapefruit is sharp and the marine accord genuinely reads salty and clean, which is the easiest part of Invictus to copy. Where it splits from the original is the drydown. Rabanne's version holds a warm, slightly sweet woody base for hours; Aromers' extrait-in-carrier-spirit version loses most of its base character within two to three hours, leaving a thinner, more generic musk-woody finish rather than the confident, laurel-and-ambroxan trail Invictus is known for. As a same-day fresh-citrus fix for the gym or a casual daytime spritz it's a fair stand-in, but don't expect it to carry into the evening the way the designer bottle does.