After reading Lon’s post about SOTD posts, I decided to re-evaluate the way I post about my SOTD. I definitely hope to contribute more to the brotherhood. Since my nose isn’t as developed as others, I had to find a way to try and write about them in a meaningful way. So going back to basics, I’m gonna write my SOTDs in terms of the 5 Ws (who, what, when, where, why). This will evolve of course but hopefully my post in this manner is more helpful to the group. If this actually works, I’ve got a few days of write ups to catch up on. 😂 So, the other day I had some time to kill and wandered into a local Ulta to see if they had gotten in any new 2026 fragrances. I wandered around and when the sales lady came up I said I was looking for the new releases. She said they had YSL Iced and the new SWY. I told her that’s the one I was eyeing and she led me to a special display away from the regular inventory where they had it displayed. One test spray and I knew it was a yes from me. Now I have smelled the SWY Parfum and Intensely before, but neither were “must haves” for me. So this was gonna be my first purchase of the SWY line. Who (I see wearing this): definitely a more mature crowd. This has some spiciness in the heart and base that I see men my age wearing more than the 20-something’s. What (I smell): the opening is a mild, dark cherry note with the mandarin orange and spices. The cherry is VERY subtle and light. It’s not as forward of a cherry note as Mind Games French Defense (which I’d actually prefer) but it works. This is short lived as it quickly progresses to the spices and lavender in the mid and stays there (at least for me) for an hour or two). The spices are quite prominent to me. Almost to the point of drowning out the lavender and being a spices combined with the opening. The base is more of the lingering spices with slight hints of vanilla. Where (would I wear it): I wore this for date night with my gf for her birthday dinner…so dressed up attire (jeans, button down, sports coat and boots). This could be worn for a work/office fragrance easily…especially for someone projecting a level of authority or in a supervisory role.

I know many of us start out the same way. We first get caught in the clone hype by watching YouTube videos and influencers. Then, as curiosity starts to happen or by going in and sampling fragrances in boutiques and department stores, some of us tend to appreciate the originals better. I want to do a quick poll and see how many people have started with originals. I'd rather know how many people started with the clone and then decided to purchase an original right after.