Deep Men
Sugar is listed among the base materials of the Poseidon Deep Men Eau de Toilette Gift Set, which is not something you see every day and is the first clue that this is a warmer scent than most of its shelf mates.
Inside are the 150ml Eau de Toilette and a 150ml aftershave. It opens on ginger and thyme, a pairing that is half spice and half herb: ginger supplies a warm, slightly fizzing bite and thyme a dry savoury green that keeps it from reading as sweet. Those two set a tone that the rest of the fragrance follows rather than contradicts. Thyme in particular is an unusual opening material and it gives the first minutes a savoury quality that very little else in this price band offers.
The heart is brief and effective. Cinnamon is the hot, dry baking spice, and leather is set against it, smoky and a little animal, and between them they give the middle its seriousness. Underneath, cedarwood is dry and sharp, myrrh brings a bitter, resinous, faintly medicinal depth, and the sugar does exactly what you would hope, taking the edge off the myrrh without turning the whole thing into a pudding. Seven materials is a short list, so do not expect a long unfolding; this is a fragrance that announces its idea early and then stays with it. That is no bad thing in a gift, where an immediately likeable smell matters more than a complicated one. What it does offer is consistency, which is worth something in a fragrance you intend to wear regularly.
The set suits a man who wears fragrance in winter rather than summer, and it is an easy present for a father, a brother or someone you do not know well enough to risk a floral on. Poseidon is the men's fragrance line of Instituto Espanol, a Spanish family firm now in its third generation which dates itself to 1903 and manufactures at Hinojos in Huelva.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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