Arden Men Sandalwood Elizabeth Arden for men

this fragrance is aromatherapy more than perfume/cologne

i've kept three essential oils in my home pretty much all the time for the last 6 years
lavender, sandalwood, and tea tree

this smells like lavender, which i only use for acne and do not enjoy especially
this is not sandalwood so much

there's a hint of it in there, but it's heavy on lavender
luckily, it's not the piercing medicinal kind i would associate with a type A elderly nurse
but it's not sandalwood

still, it's grown on me and i'm glad i have it as it layers well with musk
it's simple enough to temper sickly sweet things and soft in its herbish ways and means

most people would find it pleasing, as do i

Arden Men Sandalwood smells a lot less complex than the list of notes suggests. In fact, I hardly smell any of the notes listed. I smell lavender and sage in the opening and heart accords, and sandalwood in the drydown.

And that's about it, not that simplicity is a bad thing. In this case, it's a good quality because any more complexity, and you wouldn't be able to call this a sandalwood fragrance. As others have said, this is a VERY old school fragrance - dry, powdery and sharp lavender blended with dry sandalwood is what we have here, and it very much has a barbershop/talcum powder feel it it. There ain't nothing hip or fashionable about Arden For Men.

A lot of people talk about a lack of sandalwood in this scent, but I can certainly smell it. It's tough to detect until you get about an hour into the scent, when the drydown begins. By then, it's almost all sandalwood. It's drier than most santals, with less sweetness and creaminess than most sandalwoods have. It is, however, a very smooth sandalwood, and it's that quality that reveals itself as sandalwood, as opposed to another kind of aromatic wood.

A real classic, and mandatory for any fan of old-school masculine colognes.

MY RATING: 8/10

It was my father's perfume <3

Smells rather like Neutrogena soap or their Rainbath original scent shower gel. Lavender, other herbs, patchouli and sandalwood + a good dose of oakmoss. I think it's nice - dated, but nice. Clean too.

one of the only things i own that never makes me nauseous.

I bought this blind out of curiosity. It was cheap and I thought why not? As others have noted the opening is quite strong: it is unlike any other opening of any other fragrance I own. It starts very herbal, which I assume is clary sage. After that initial burst it settles doen to be a gentle aromatic woody fragrance, that to me seems a lot more simple in composition that the notes listed above seem to indicate.

It has a very clean smell when it has dries down, which is a bit musky, a bit woody, but which has not too much of any one note. It's a very comfortable, non-offensive fragrance.

Got this gem recently,the drydown is pretty good,otherwise the initial blast was way too strong,a good balance of herbal & sandalwood,would be a nice cologne for summer evenings here in Mumbai.
Cheers

Beautiful sandalwood in its classic approach, A pity it has been dioscontinued. Get it while you can, if you are into classical styled fragrances.

I am with Flannelman - the first impression is a strong, eye-twitching smell of Indian sandal soap!I love sandalwood, but the first notes were way too much. Luckily, I waited a while and it became a very fresh, soft, clean scent.Though it is not very original, it has something very innocent about it - if you will take patience to wait until the base.

A *very* sharp opening of lavender and clary sage. This initial blast can be a little surprising or overwhelming but do give the fragrance time to develop — it gradually softens as the woody notes kick in. The sandalwood is noticeably dry, light, soft and mellow and is backed up by warm notes of amber, musk and tonka bean which add a little sweetness. A very masculine, nostalgic fragrance from the end of the fifties with a lovely drydown. Very good value for money, too...