¶ Season Closing Episode
Hello , ladies and gentlemen , and welcome to the season closing episode of the Cologne podcast .
I'm Mike and I'm Ryan and we're two best friends . We're going on a fragrance journey at the end of the season , smelling specific homage , interlude fragrance and giving you uneducated appendix Exactly that we're going to take a four week break .
You heard that right Four weeks . It's not really a break for us . It's a break for you guys , but we're going to be working on season five . We're not going to leave you hanging like we did in previous years .
No , I promise we're not going to leave you like that boy at the well with this finger in the dam . What I forget how it goes . Look , if you're a Patreon member , you're still going to get weekly episodes . Yeah , there you go . So if you're just dying to have episodes on the break and you're not already a Patreon , there's a ton waiting for you already .
Plus , we'll still continue to post new episodes every week because we love them more .
All right , let's get into today's episode . I'm really excited for it . There's all the him on that . We had to do yeah .
I've got a free grantika review Ryan From Raul Claudio Okay About a Marjus interlude man . He says this sent could work . If you're the grim reaper , that's it , I guess so . Maybe , this phrase is that even mean , kills people ?
So this is on for a grantika . This is the most popular fragrance and it shows , because we have been contacted by many listeners of the podcast hey , can you guys do interlude ? Can you do interlude ? Hey , have you all done ?
interlude . Yet A lot of people want to hear this , and so today you are . We're going to do it .
But first , before we do , we have to get into that . One night stand review of gravitate by particle . Hit the music , Todd yeah . One night stand review One night stand review .
See , I told you you couldn't even go five minutes on the way .
You're broken about 12 hours straight . Poor Timmy . His wife put him on blast . God , I absolutely hate that commercial or whatever thing that is . I don't even know if he's even a fragrance reviewer oh it's cringy .
I hate it . I hate it . I don't even know who .
Timmy is yeah , what a weird . Yeah , that's weird too . You're a grown man , timmy . Just go by Tim dude , yeah .
Or Timothy , I'd still go with Tim . You remember that song , timothy ? No , it's about cannibalism , really , yeah who did that , the Buoys ? I don't even know who the fuck that is ? It's about three kids who got . They fell in like some cavern and they were stranded and they ended up having to eat Timothy before help came .
They got a record deal , but the record company said we won't give you any marketing budget , so if you make it , you make it . And they said okay , let's write a very controversial song . That's smart . They intentionally wrote it to get it banned . And once it got banned , then everybody requested it and now he's making particle fragrance reviews .
Somehow it's that I will say this after spending the night and actually a couple of nights with it . It's not as bad as I kind of wrote it off to be . It's actually pretty pleasant .
Yeah , it's nice . It's very designer . The bottle was nice , the cap little light but still metal . The fragrance kind of like a YSL fruity clean shower gel .
It's really just okay , yeah , that is the problem , it's just okay . But if I hold it against another brand that kind of did something similar , how they're not in what they made but in like marketing , well , they . Other one went way ham , they were like paying people left and right , oh yeah , supposedly to shill it , you know , are you talking about the one ?
Let's cut that ? I don't want to name names . Okay , I don't want to name names , but if you know , you know . But yeah , I feel like that one was just , it was just a shit show . I hated that one .
This one , Gee . I wonder what you're talking about .
This one I didn't really like it . I mean I could go oh , it smells nice , but actually the more we sprayed it after the episode and kind of every every so often throughout the day past couple of days , I'm like it's not nearly as bad as I kind of painted it up to be . So it for me this may actually change .
If you like something like YSL why I would assume it's similar to that yeah , less powdery . I would say , try it . It's kind of cheap . It's 80 something bucks . You and Steve kept saying I got it for like six or 70 bucks with a discount code .
Right , so you should be able to find people out there reselling it like Steve did . But , as he said too , he made a profit . Yeah , bidding war ensued . So you may want to get on it quick .
I will say this I'm sorry , start it over . How did you cut you off ?
You may want to no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no . Please cut me off .
I was going to say if you did like this . As much as I hate the gimmick of if you buy seven , you get $20 off each bar , you know , if you buy 23 , you only get them for $5 a piece , I'm not a big like a proponent of that , but if you really did like this , I guess that would be a good deal . Yeah , if you really loved it .
Yeah , so check it out . It's not nearly as bad as I painted it out to be . It's actually pretty decent , but it is very just safe . Meh , if you're probably I think Steve said it best If you're a fragrance head , though , it's probably not up your alley .
Yeah . So if you're listening to this , it's probably not up your alley , but sometimes it do be like that .
All right , are you ready to get into interlude man by homage ?
one of the most popular fragrances of all time in the history of this podcast and the grim reaper can wear it yeah . Sounds like it's going to be a killer fragrance . Ryan .
It's just kind of like sleuthing about it in the notes . I am kind of a honey on it . I love oregano , the smell of that . It's got that and pepper on the top , so hopefully this gets real juicy .
Hmm , she loud . That's what I'm hoping . Hmm , that is a fancy ass . Smell and fragrance yeah , I've yet to put anything up to my nose , but in the air it's very pungent . It's got this kind of dried herb smell . Yeah , it's got a sweetness underneath it .
I'm equating this to kind of be an old school , but it's probably not . But it does have like a just a vintage burn to it . Does that kind ?
of make sense for sure . On the skin it's almost got like this honey cherry sweetness to it . Wow , I really like this . I do too , right off the bat . Very mature , very mature , 35 plus at least , but it's good , it is so good . Hmm , I could see where it could put some people off though .
Yeah , but it's not as brash as I thought it was going to be . I was thinking it was going to be something like the uh , what was the tobacco one , or whatever we did .
Oh , yeah , yeah , Royal tobacco .
Yeah , but it's nothing like that . It's not as intense , so for me I feel like it's actually pretty tolerable man .
Really nice on the card . Wow , very badass . Sometimes when you get like an herb smell , it's like a wet , fresh herb green . This is very dry , yeah , very spicy , very , very nice .
This one's good because it's keeping me to shut up . I'm like I can't talk , I'm like just thinking about it .
It's like when you get a really good meal and you're like , oh yeah , that's .
It really is . Wow , the skin is super masculine .
It's almost has like a boozy quality to it . That sweetness almost has like a bite . It smells good .
I'm stumped . It smells good .
The highest compliment .
I feel like we've kind of kind of done , you know , kind of like , oh , that's cool , or kind of messed up lately . So this is definitely a shocker to me right now .
It smells great and it's very unique . Yeah , makes it pretty sloppy .
First off , the bottle . I actually love the bottle and I love their magnetic cap thing . I think the ball designs are great . This is like a dark blue with the gold thing going on , got a nice little particle add up top . Oh yeah , frank Granik is giving us that particle add . God , what the hell . Anyways , I do have to say the notes are quite interesting .
Top notes are oregano , pepper and bergamot . I don't really get much of the bergamot , but I definitely get the oregano pepper thing . The middle notes are incense what's that word ? Opanax , opoponax , what the fuck is that you got me ? Yeah , that works . Amber Labderman . And then base notes are argo , wood , oud or oud leather , sandalwood and patchouli .
So it is kind of like maybe it's a little herbal , little earthy maybe you don't do that nearly as good as Steve does .
by the way .
Yeah , he's way better . Damn . I love this fucking skin on this . It's strong . The car stock has a little bit of a sweeter top to it to me than the skin . It's a little prettier , but it's still kind of dry .
You know we're seeing Forbis this evening . He's making his famous chicken wings . What do you say ? We bring this over , let him smell .
God , I think he'd like this . I think he would too . I think he would for real . It's like a manly man kind of smell , but it's elegant at the same time . It is spicy .
¶ Build & Promote New Brand Ethically
So I had a question during our one night stand review that I wanted to ask , but we glossed through it really quick . So I want to rewind a little bit , because we were talking about how irritating the promotion for some of these new brands are and how they use influencers . Some of the time it's not the wording .
Yeah .
Some of the time it's not the most scrupulous way to do things . So how do you think a new company reaches people out of nowhere ? How do they build the brand up in an ethical way ? According to Ryan of the fragrance community , oh wow , I mean specifically , how would you like to see a new brand come up ?
So I'm going to be very transparent really quick .
I'm not going to say who I want to be transparent , but also really cryptic . Well , I'm not transparent at all .
I'm not going to say a name of somebody , I'm going to give them the respect to not share that part . But we were literally just asked recently . Yesterday we were asked by a brand hey , we'd like to send you guys some stuff to review . Do you guys charge for that ? Blah , blah , blah , and me and Mike agreed on what we wanted to say back .
I haven't responded yet because you know that's me , bro . Oh , you haven't told them that yet . No , I haven't responded . I'm going to after the episode Unprofessional . But me and Mike are going to respond with no , we do not charge . We'd be thankful if you sent us something .
The only stipulation is that we're allowed to be as open and honest as we want to be and that's just the way it's going to have to be . Would I love to make money off of it that way . Cool , I guess , but it's just not what we're going to do . That being said , I've kind of realized it's probably is this the right word a double-edged sword .
I think it's part company problem and part this community problem , because that shows me if somebody's wanting to ask us that , then it's probably noted that it's people probably do charge to talk about it . A hundred percent they do . I'm not saying people can't earn their money however they want to . Don't get it twisted that way .
Do whatever you want to , but for us that's just not how we want to do it . I would love for us to be able to make a show of the money off of something like that , but we just can't . I don't know , I would just feel guilty . I just feel bad . It doesn't mean that they're bad for doing it , but I just couldn't do it . I know Mike couldn't either .
Yeah , how would you handle it then ? Because here's what I'm thinking Most of the time , the breakfast that people give out is I spent my own money on this , yeah , and then that's like the marker of okay , I can trust him . He spent his own money , he bought the bottle himself , he wasn't given the bottle .
So what do new brands do then to get the word out ? Because what happens if it's really good and then people receive the bottle ? Hey , I've received this bottle . I did not pay for it , but I really love it . Do you think that also creates a skepticism in the audience to go , I don't trust them .
It probably does to a select few . I'm probably immediately . I'm probably wondering if somebody is just like I was giving this , I almost kind of automatically assume they're also giving a check .
Which is not always the case . I mean , look at us with cajol . For sure they would send bottles and Mo would be like review it . If you want to , you don't have to review it , just wear it and enjoy it .
Yeah , and that I mean honestly not trying to stroke cajol's ego , but that has been one of the better relationships , I would say , because I genuinely feel like they would not be mad if we didn't like someone .
There's been some things I haven't really I haven't been like in love with , and I've said that , and we've never caught flak for that , or they never stopped sending us something , so it's like I don't know . I feel like a new brand . If you really wanted people to talk about it , I think you would .
I mean , if they're spending money , I would just think you either give it to some people that are big names and some people that are low name , you know , low on the totem pole , and let them all if they want to say something about it , or not .
Yeah , I think , like especially with cajol , I'll just say I think they're so confident in the fragrance that they send us that they're like they're going to love it . You know , and quite a few we have , their fragrances are very like . Each one is kind of unique . So I think if you smell the whole line you probably couldn't love all of them .
You probably appreciate all of them , but you couldn't love all of them for yourself , as a wearable fragrance for you . But no , I get with and they're already well established . They're doing great . So again , they can do that I'm just saying for new brands . How do they get out then ?
How do they get the word out there if they are really good , without being weird and cringy like particles doing ?
Man . I think it's partly embracing the community . Look , roger Dove doesn't make all the greatest stuff . We've learned that the hard way just in the past year through some of the Patreon episodes that we did . But , that being said , now he has stepped back a little bit .
But when we first got into this it was really fun to interact with that brand , like , quite literally , you could ask a question on a YouTube channel and he would do video responses or purposely respond in the chat , right , and you could tell it with him and not really PR , that's badass .
So I mean , I don't know , I feel like it's part , probably , how you interact with people about your brand . I think part of it is just they're going to have to have some type of I don't want to say open door policy , but just like they're going to have to be open minded to not everybody's going to like their fragrance and that's kind of okay .
I think we've gotten into a point when this community where it's like I feel like a lot of us in this community are more just trying to push . Oh , yeah , definitely it's always positive , which is fine . That's not bad either , yeah , but it's always positive . It's always wearable , it's always seven plus hours or 12 plus hours . It's very loud .
It's like they can't all be great . They can't be all home runs yeah .
I would say for most not us , because we have a unique sort of vibe about us .
But I think for most there are so many fragrances out there , why would you review something you don't like when all the content you could make is a cool new find or something like that , whereas for us we can play good cop , bad cop , because I like certain things that you just don't like and you like certain things that I just don't like , and so we have a
better chance of you liking something and me hating it , and it can be a balance without just feeling like you're trashing it .
But I almost think too that it's easy to find the good out there , because why would you just randomly make I hate this , you know a video If you're spending the time and the energy and the attention to it to make a video that just says oh by the way , guys , I hate this so much you ?
know . Yeah , I mean , I get it and you're more . You're more of a respectful person , I guess , than me . I'm not trying to be an asshole , but I do think it's a product . We're allowed to like it or dislike it . Nobody gives Sony a break whenever they make a shit game . You know , there's no difference . If we do shit work , somebody lets us know .
Trust me , I've been witness to that , you know . Oh , my God , yeah , so it's like I don't get why they're impervious to have Comment about something I mean for . For me and you , I do look at this as like a weird hobby slash art form . Sometimes it's something that's wearable , sometimes it's probably just for the art , but sometimes it's okay .
So for me , it's okay to go . I don't like this . I don't vibe with this right now , definitely not for me , or well , what the hell is this shit ? You know ? So I don't feel probably that , but I think , just to answer your question , I really do believe it's how the brand interacts with the audience .
Yeah , it's being open-minded to know they don't have to rely on people just constantly Shilling it , I guess , and just for people that they're , you know , I'm sure you know , just like Moe Moe , somebody who has actually listened to this show in depth , where they like listen to it . They just really wanted to know what we thought . Good or bad ?
Yeah , and they weren't . They weren't .
Their films weren't heard If we didn't like some yeah , I think you've got to know that , like if you and I create a passion piece , yeah , you know , like video or even audio or whatever , I don't think we go , every person on this planet will love this . I think it's the same way with , probably , perfumery and art .
Is that you got to know if it's gonna have enough character in depth , it's going to exclude certain people ? Yeah , absolutely , because you got to go Right down one road and you know you can't . I say this analogy all the time , but you can't be like in a mile wide , in an inch deep , and that's what everybody is like .
Homogenizing to is like that try to hit the masses , but we want that , you know , an inch wide , in a mile deep , that's .
You know what we're going after and you know these companies probably face the same issues we do . So we had a discussion . I'm trying not to get long-winded on this . You had to ask this philosophical question . Should have been for a fragrance philosophy , honestly , but I guess that's okay this is an ender for season for let's do .
We're giving them the Sunday of Episodes . This guy's a scoop of vanilla , scoop of chocolate .
I bet you these companies go through the same issues
¶ Evaluating Fragrances and Their Appeal
we go through . We look at our numbers , just being open with everybody , mm-hmm , that's like and we look at other people in the community and we see how massive they've gotten , even in the past year , right , and they make all the content we would never make , because it's just not our cup of tea . But that you know what , though ?
That the stuff they make is for the top of the funnel , the widest fucking part , and guess what ? It gets all the attention because of that , and so we're a little bit more obscure . We don't get . We don't get that attention , which I it's not good for us , we don't like that .
But well , we also chase our interests some too . I mean , there was early on in the podcast , we'd get an email . You guys are doing too much niche . We want more designer than we would do a few designer . You guys are doing too much designer . We want more niche .
You know you can't , you just can't , please everybody , you can't but , all to say , I bet you the same thing happens , because we just left Dillard's the other day and we smelled a fragrance . I was like what is that ? I've never seen that bottle and the guy sprayed . I didn't know what the name was .
It was like onyx , by like a three letter name .
Yeah , it was a weird looking bottle , but he sprayed it and we were like , okay , that's Savage , savage , immediately . That's where I'm like God man , do we really need that shit again ? That's why you know , good or bad . I really do love when the fragrances are unapologetic about what they want to be , and I think there's just been times .
I mean , frederick Maul , moustre , vajar was something we hated when we first smelled it , david , a Year came back and now we fucking love it , but it's unapologetic of what it wanted to be . Same with the Amage tobacco one that we were talking about a minute ago .
Yeah , we may love it if we tried it again , but it was obnoxiously loud , like unwearable to me . But you know what I can't . At least I have a good my memory of that is going to be better than gravitate by particle .
If you blindfolded me and said you know , smell this one , smell this one , smell this one . I probably couldn't tell you 90% of the designer fragrances , but if you put interlude in front of my nose , I would immediately remember this one .
Absolutely . It is unique Now . Well , let's get back to it . The cart smells amazing , yeah .
It almost has a little bit of a marijuana smell to it .
I can get that vibe . But I was also thinking this may be terrible description , but there's a sweetness to this . Just so you guys know , there's a really good sweetness to it very herbal , but there's almost like a little tinge of like cement glue or something like auto glue or something Let me , let me try to sniff that out . Just a faint hair .
It's kind of like that weird chemical , hmm , At least , that's what I'm good at the hand . I'm actually not vibing as hard as I was earlier .
The card is the win . Yeah , the card smells good . Both of them are great .
Let me kind of kind of read to you what Amaj has written on their website describing this fragrance . Sure , okay , give me some like really cool music . Okay , todd , which is so weird that it says this , but in all caps , good vanilla . An unmistakable explosion of spices grips the soul .
The central encounter of a crackling oregano in a fruity pimento berry , refreshed by a mist of bergamot , they reveal an addictive heart of pure amber , an overdose of vanilla , caressed by some million of popinox . A popinx what is that word ? Nobody knows . O , p , o , p , o , n A X . God , that's ridiculous .
And the immortal and sacred light of frankincense , resins and resins and fusion , like candid , like candid honey , pouring into a tumultuous , tumultuous , tumultuous flow of dark and smoky woods . And it comes at last .
The animatic and vertical scent of food , the deep growl of leather and a slightly gourmand touch of sandalwood and patchouli , an insistent duel of spices and balsams . Interlude man is a sublime display of the harmony that warms a heart free of its inner turmoil .
Huh , Kind of like that that was not written by Chad GBT .
The card is incredible guys .
Yeah , the skin isn't far behind it , but it's missing it's missing the sweetness to me . Yeah , I was about to say there's like a vinegary element on the skin . That's really pleasant .
It has like a bite to it that adds a bite to the sweetness you know I was thinking a little BO-ish , but it actually is what you're saying that does resonate better .
Yeah , it's like you know , one of those really nice sweet vinaigrette in the undertone . Yeah , okay , I go on those salads I never eat .
Okay , yeah , I get that . The card is absolutely the win , though it is gorgeous yeah .
Gorgeous . So hit me with the price and trend , ryan , okay .
You ready for the price and trend ? I'm ready . The price $360 something , $200 ML , $256 for 50 ML . Jesus , the trend is absolutely atomic . Oh yeah , no doubt it's up there . I see why . I do kind of question it a little bit though , because the hand is a little weird , but the card stock or tester strip is fucking insane .
It's good , it's really good , yeah .
Really really good . I like it . I'm sure if I wore it I would love it .
Yeah , I was about to say too . Man , if you walk by me wearing this and you were like really covered , not just like a little decant spray , I would be asking you about this .
There's something special about smelling a fragrance on somebody . It's unlike what we do with the card and the hand thing 100% .
Even this morning we did our little walk . This morning . Yeah , he walked by me and he wore it the other day too , but it hit me again today . I was like man , what are you wearing today ? He was like La Nuit de Lone by YSL .
Yeah , Okay , it sounded like Antonio Venteres .
But it smelled really really good . God , we love that fragrance .
Yeah , it's still a winner .
It's one of the like most shield things , if you will . Yeah , when we first got into this thing , but it's still really good , I don't know that it's shield , though .
It's not like YSL is paying people to say it .
I think it's just .
Yeah , that's true , but it's overplayed you know .
I know why they always pitch it because it's a safe thing to talk about , it's good . But yeah , this is a fucking insane . Who would be wearing something as mature and erby and whatever other word you want to throw in there ? Who would wear a fragrance like this ?
I've got an idea he's six foot two-ish , cool , beautiful head of hair . Oh , that's always a win . Nice facial hair .
Something you can enjoy .
tickle you a little bit these kind of introverted but has a wonderful personality , very winsome person . Once you get to know him he's fantastic and he makes an incredible friend . And he's from the UK , his name's Tony Motherf- .
I got you .
I can see Tony wearing this .
I can see Tony wearing this . This is pretty sharp . This is he's put together . Yeah , he's got a little boxers build and shit .
That's right . Yeah , out there selling different farming equipment . Oh dude .
yeah , this is like , it's like subtle in a sense , but it is super manly Tony's like you .
If you were more manly , I think , oh thanks , and from the kingdom Thanks . Because he yeah , he was a boxer . He sells farming equipment . He's out on farms all the time . He's like this is manly , this is him . You thought it was you , but I took an exit towards manly instead of annoying .
You're like , you play video games , you edit videos , you're like I've been to war on Call of Duty . God , it is a great fragrance man . Okay , skip it .
Sample it or buy it . What are you going to do , Ryan ?
Well , I'm going to tell you there's a site that we're not endorsed by fuck . I'll be transparent . We reached out to him one time . Yeah , we did . Our fragrances . It's actually based here in Texas . Our fragrances has this bad boy for $149 . Wow , 100 mil , 100 mil .
Oh , that's pretty good yeah .
And your boy is really , really tempted . The only thing that's holding me back of all things is the skin .
Really .
Yeah , I don't know what it is , it's just not doing something for me , but the card stock is fucking insane .
Yeah , but you think about this man . You're hitting your clothes a lot with your fragrance .
That is true too . God , this , this smells great . Yeah , 149 , 100 ml . Our fragrances has it .
If I don't get it , one of you clowns can get it , that is insane If I , if there was more , for me that would be a solid buy . Wow , that's an incredible price . I mean I did just by 150 mil of Lunarosa carbon again , oh God , and that was , after everything , 110 . Yeah , 110 bucks for that , 30 bucks more and you've got an homage .
100 mil and I guarantee you this thing's going to last forever on your skin clothes , whatever .
The card stock is so fucking pretty I love the card stock .
This is a Ryan's winter fragrance , for sure .
This definitely gives you that sort of vibe , Absolutely so I guess for me right now it is , and for anybody listening , if you kind of want to know what we think , for you guys this is a hard sample to probably a hard buy for you , For me yes For me .
Yeah , this is definitely a sample for me . You definitely got to smell this . Guys , if you're into the ultramasculine and you want some personality to it , this is hellaciously good it is so good .
I'm impressed and sad we took this long to fucking do it . Well , guys , season five is upon you in four weeks , yeah , and we've worked really hard behind the scenes to start having things kind of more organized and stuff , because we've had more people send us stuff and we've had people send us questions and wanting us to review things .
We're really going to push hard to start following up on this , because I hate that this has been a very well requested fragrance , yeah , and we're just like , eh , whatever .
It's part of the balance of having the day job and all that you kind of juggle , and sometimes , especially whenever we're kind of chasing our interests down , by the time we get to sit down to record an episode and sometimes that's on the weekend right before I post We've been waiting all week to smell a certain one and then we just we got to do that one .
So we're trying to get ahead of schedule so we can do better for you . It's February 12th , right , we'll be the first episode back .
That'll be the first episode . Back February 12th . Mark it on your fucking calendars . We're going to be there and it's going to be a fun one . You're not ready . We've already got it and we're about to review it . Oh God , it's going to be good . It's going to be juicy . Look , this has been a fantastic year Been a fantastic season .
We love you guys so much . Thank you for going on this journey with us the past couple of years . Yeah , we're still on the trail . We're still trying to find these perfect fragrances for ourselves . Yep , and we have enjoyed every last one of you , both , friends of the podcast , patreons , all of you . We love you guys and we're so appreciative .
And also to some of these houses , we're appreciative of you To . It has taken a whole village to make this show happen and we're so thankful for every single one
¶ Suggesting Podcast Guests by Email
of you guys .
Here's one thing I would say Shoot us an email . It's over on the website vehicleonpodcastcom . Shoot us an email , let us know . Who do you want us to have on the podcast ? Could be somebody we've had before , could be somebody we haven't . I'll keep in mind if you're saying Jeremy Fragrance or somebody like that .
Maybe impossible , but I really want to know is there somebody out there that you guys would really want to hear us have an episode with ? Or another episode with ? Email us vehicleonpodcastcom . I want to know .
And so do I .
Yeah , so we want to know .
Again . We love every one of you guys . We'll be back in four weeks and until next time , spray it up , y'all .