9Am Dive

So this one fooled me a little... I have the other Afnan 9pm and Night Out but then realized this was being advertised as a fresh/AM scent. My first impression was closer to Bleu de Chanel. Even when I compared the two fragrances side by side, I found similarities. Now, I would NOT say it was a 1:1 dupe (not by any means). But as it's sat and the more I've experienced this fragrance, I honestly view it as a freshie. Something you don't have to think about before running out of the house. If you want to smell clean? If you enjoy the "fresh scents/feel" from the LVs (it's not even close to LV—I'm talking about that clean feeling you have), you could put this on and get a decent amount of hours with it. Would it be my first choice? No, but I also have close to 150 different colognes and easily 40 freshies to pick from. That said, I am making use of it, and I do find myself grabbing it right out of the shower. Clean, fresh, citrus, powdery... there's a lemon, a black pepper, and a cedar woodsy in the dry down and definitely a ginger opening with jasmine. For the money (I think I paid $35-$40 for it), I wouldn't say you can't find something better out there for the price—but for someone like me that finds I gravitate towards freshies 80% of the time, it was a good buy.

I'm convinced that what Afnan did here is borrow elements from all the popular blues on the market to make this lovely scent. What I can say is this is a very good shower gel style fragrance, though I do admit I am biased towards blues, gym freshies, and aquatics, so this is very much in my wheelhouse. Blast of mint and lemon in the open, green apple (not too sweet) with a hint of incense in the heart where I also get the sensation of ozonic/marine, and a nice gingery sandalwood base. It's nothing earth shattering, but they did a great job combining dna to make something that'll be very mass appealing and safe in gym, office, and casual use. If you close your eyes you can pick out where the YSL Y EDP comes in with the apple, the BDC mint/lemon/incense, the Acqua di Gio ozonic marine; I don't think it'll blow anyone away but it was under $40 for 150ml and is well blended. If I struggled with picking a clean blue for daily Summer wear, this could easily fit the bill.

I mean what else is there to say about this that nobody else has? This line has been pretty solid. This one is not an exception. It is sweet, clean, fresh, with a solid note build that is completely safe to blind buy. To me, that is its mortal sin, being so safe, it loses an X factor for me that I would have liked to seen surprise me or get me to think a little more on it. Maybe if they boosted the tart granny smith apple smell or made it a little too minty. But its so balanced and safe that I almost always pick another freshy that does exactly what this cologne does but more. That being said, if you need a really great value for something that will smell good, is fresh, and you haven't even smelled it yet, this is a great one to just throw in the cart and get it and I can't knock it for that.

i really really love this hybrid/original and wish it lasted longer I always ALWAYS get compliments on it and to me the perfect fragrance for me personally for my day to day I feel confident and love it and everyone around me loves it anywhere I go, I've been stopped like 4 times by 2 guys and 2 girls asking what is and loved it. To me its the perfect daily and balance of freshness and sweetness can't express enough how much I love it and wish it lasted way longer because im out for a lot of hours in the day and by hour 4 its extremely intimate to the skin. Hoping for another company to copy the DNA or afnan to release an extrait or something.

Amazing apple and woods hybrid fragrance. If you love YSL Y EDP and Bleu De Chanel, this is right up your alley. You can't get much better than the price point.