No.195 The Scent

Hugo Boss's The Scent became a modern men's staple on the strength of a sweet ginger opening, an unusual maninka-fruit-and-lavender heart, and a smooth leather-gourmand base that reads simultaneously masculine and inviting. Eden Perfumes' No.195 opens in the right place - the sweet ginger top note is immediately recognisable - and the lavender-and-fruit heart, using passionfruit in place of the original's maninka fruit, keeps the same balancing act between sweet and aromatic. The leather base is where the gap widens: Boss's original has a smooth, almost edible leather-gourmand quality that gives it real magnetism, and here the leather reads drier and more conventional, without quite the same alluring pull. It still delivers a fresh, masculine, slightly mysterious aura well suited to casual wear or an early date, and lasts reasonably through the day, but it won't have people asking what you're wearing quite the way the Hugo Boss original does.