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Mike’s Colognes & Kicks

@colognesandkicks

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Hey I’m Mike! I love trying and reviewing incredible fragrances and getting to share it all with the beautiful fragrance community ❤️🙏

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Shout out to @jyug_australia for these two very good inspired by fragrances. Oud horizon is a surprisingly wearable oud that’s very gentlemanly and Kakadu Dawn does the citrus and mint thing very well 🙏 Thanks for sending these over the year team I’ve really enjoyed wearing them. by @colognesandkicks

What do you do if a mate says they’re struggling? Listening and following up are two simple but huge things. This Men’s mental health month I’m going to share across a few of my channels some practical mental health stuff. While it’s an ongoing journey for me when a mate says it to me I share about how important my doctor and entire medical support team are as a place to start getting help as we really aren’t alone. Some solid resources on the Movember website worth checking out 🙏 Even a simple follow up text or message has made a huge difference to an otherwise hard week at times and I think we can overlook those things but they are really valued ❤️ by @colognesandkicks

When my friends at @wordsandwhiskeyfragrances release new fragrances they are on the must try list - so this time I jumped in and got the 10ml of Saltburn and Cabin Fever! Once again I initially got wrong footed by the strip.. these two just go on skin! I thought Cabinet Fever would be my hands down favourite.. but Saltburn is sneaky.. I think it’s a perfect post shower late night treat or something the ladies might grab for something clean and vanilla.. either way I enjoyed them both! by @colognesandkicks

First impressions of three fragrances from @gozerd_australia 🇦🇺

@fordgatepharmacy kindly sent me three fragrances from Australian house Gozerd today, so here are some quick first impressions!

Mareeba Tabac – Easily my favourite of the three on first sniff. Rich tobacco, noticeable oud, warm spices and a sweet, balsamic amber character. There’s a really lovely booziness running through this one too. Masculine, rich and very nicely done. Definitely in that tobacco-oud territory, but with a boozy twist.

Noosa Bergamote – This has something of that Erba Pura DNA, but it’s considerably less fruity to my nose. It opens with citrus before moving into a powdery, musky vanilla and amber character. There’s a distinctly Middle Eastern feel to the muskiness, and the citrus remains in the background without being sharp. Quite nice!

Bushranger Leather – This is dark stuff! Smoky, woody, animalic leather with plenty of amber and labdanum. Very little sweetness here, and a strong, traditionally masculine character. Not really my personal style, but I can see the appeal for lovers of darker leather fragrances.

My initial impression is that all three have a bit of a Middle Eastern twist on familiar fragrance styles. The presentation, box and bottles are exceptional as well.

Mareeba Tabac is the clear winner for me so far, but these are very early impressions!

Thanks again to Fordgate for sending them through. More detailed thoughts and videos to come really soon!

#Gozerd #AustralianFragrances #NicheFragrance #FragranceCommunity by @colognesandkicks

5 creative niche Aussie fragrances perfect for a night out! Everyone in the fragrance community talks about creativity so I wanted to share what I think are some of the best creative and standout fragrances in my Aussie collection wearable for a night out (or in) with a gourmand thrown in as well! Plum & Whisky from @houseofturkmen / Buckskin by @bloodknot.co / Agrani from @byermia_fragrance / Mammal from @vararohaperfumery / Ares from @thematikos by @colognesandkicks

Requiem by @houseofjamesau is a mossy earthy citrus fragrance that has real personality. While the citrus hits at the top for me this one is like a forest after the rain, bright green moss and freshness by @colognesandkicks

Thank you everyone in this wonderful fragrance community. I’ve shared a little about my last couple of years - anxiety, depression and utter burnout left me just a shell of the person I’ve been most of my life and really quite sick and in pain. This hobby turned into so much more for me when I needed it through this and I’m very thankful for all of you. It’s been a journey, it will continue to be, but I’m doing so much better. As for the tune…I’m an unashamed theatre kid, musical the best and this song I love so much.. I remember first seeing Streisand sing it in the early 90’s and it stuck with me. Can you believe I went all this time undiagnosed?? lol . We don’t say thank you enough so here’s mine to all of you 🙏 by @colognesandkicks

5am but @orokfragrances is my scent of the day and such an easy choice! Petrichor, woods and concrete.. I love how fresh but still interesting this one is while being a very versatile day scent. by @colognesandkicks

Unsolicited advice - you can’t always make sales but you can always make connections.. 🙏 Followers, contact details are so important so you can build trust over time 🙏 Shout out to @kilani_essence in this one who has done a terrific job of creating a community of buyers who want to be part of his journey and now advocate for his business - that could start at a fair, or a new connection on here, or a purchase 🙏 by @colognesandkicks

Misanthrope from the wonderful @element.aroma.lab is the most incredible green fragrance that somehow smells both like tomato’s and soil and all those great things in a growing vegetable garden, but also incredibly clean. It’s like you’ve buried your hands in garden work while your feet sit in a a lovely clean soapy bath 😂 I was trying to find the Simpsons version of this song as my weird brain thought of it but you get the idea 😂🤙 Another beauty from this incredible kiwi creative house. by @colognesandkicks

Creators have had strikes against them for comparing two of the same houses fragrances, not even with dupes. None of this is new, this business has been banning hundreds of European creators for the last year. The brands know, the brands have chosen to either openly support it or look the other way. Well I think if you’re looking the other way knowing people are getting banned that’s not good enough. You can do whatever you want with your time and money, but at least spend it consciously knowing they acquiesce to this behaviour. The brands can easily fix this (as can the other platform), so the ball is in their court. by @colognesandkicks

Ok kids this stuff has gotten out of hand. What we know now is that this goes well beyond dupes, people have been getting strikes on platforms for simply comparing two of the same brands fragrances. What is happening here is big corporate fragrance brands using cancellation as a stick to stifle critique, all the while for literally a century comparison marketing has been something brands like Apple, Pepsi, BMW and many others have comfortably engaged in because it’s fair game. But a reviewer doing it? Strike. Or heaven forbid it’s a dupe (but not one of their dupes, yes we all know some big designer houses make dupes we aren’t silly). In my next vid I chat about what creators should be doing about it. by @colognesandkicks