iamom | Jovan, a.k.a. what's your guiltiest after shave pleasure?

rhondak, bless her sweet, sexy heart, has validated the little fetish I'm indulging this weekend with cheap drugstore colognes. It made me wonder what other kind of guilty after shave pleasures my friends out there might have.

The thing is, I can't remember not being enamored with colognes and peoples' scents. When I was young, maybe 10, I remember finding a hoard of unused colognes in my dad's linen closet, which thereafter I would frequently spend a half-hour sniffing and sometimes applying. One of my favourites was English Leather, along with some old 70s hits like Jovan Musk and Old Spice thrown in. My dad was strictly a drugstore cologne shopper; Pierre Cardin was probably the closest he came to a designer scent on board and even that he probably bought at Shoppers Drug Mart. I also remember attaining man-scent nirvana after discovering the scent of regular Gillette Foamy shaving cream in the red can. I've always been a sucker for very traditional, manly scents.

This stuff I found yesterday fits that bill to a T. It's Aqua Velva Musk (I know! Aqua Smellva!), and it's exactly the same colour as Johnny Walker Red Label (not even close to my favourite scotch, but I couldn't help noticing). My experiments with it today have demonstrated that even with a liberal teaspoon-sized application, the scent lasts no longer than 2 hours at the outside. It might last longer if I put more on, but frankly, it's so strong at the outset that the teaspoon I tried earlier today was enough to make me sneeze for ten minutes.

I think reapplication is key, and subtle ones at that so as not to give away to anyone that I'm actually wearing it. I like to rub a few drops on the inside of my forearm and behind my ears; I can subtly smell the stuff behind my ears for at least an hour, and when that has worn off, what's left on my forearm is enough for several faint whiffs for another hour or two.

'Fess up, the rest of ya.