DSquared2 He Wood; Divine L'Homme Sage

Now, I love DSquared2 as far as their clothing and shoes are concerned -- their oh-so-chic urban style is often underscored by a near self-deprecating sense of humor, and they're a much needed shot in the arm to an industry that too often forgets that men are built differently from women (Prada and Dior Homme, I'm looking at you).

Their entry into the men's fragrance market, however, doesn't seem to pack quite the oomph of their fashion line. He Wood is a nice enough woodsy-ish scent (and by "woodsy-ish" I mean that it doesn't smell like any combination of real woods but more like a vague approximation), but it's a little lackluster in contrast to the kinetic energy of their seasonal collections.

The scent of violets doesn't necessarily "He" anything to my mind, and He Wood wants to be chock a block full of 'em, but unlike Armani Prive Cuir Amethyste and Parfum d'Empire Equistrius, both of which incorporate a high quality violet set against darker elements for dramatic and formalized effect, the violets in He Wood are blurry and somewhat artificial, as if you're careening at 140mph through a Canadian Alder forest with your engine roaring and your racing goggles clamped firmly on: "Hey, look at that pretty patch of violets! Whoa, there go my tires! Drat you, Dick Dastardly!"

It's nice that DSquared2 didn't lob a holy hand grenade of bitter, aquatic juice at the market and call it quits, but with the presence of so many more, and higher quality, options to choose from, why wouldn't you?

Which brings me to Divine L'Homme Sage, a scent for men created by Divine, an independent French perfume house focused more on artistry than marketing (made readily apparent by a trip to their rather beige website) -- but what Divine lacks in sizzle and financial clout, it makes up for in quality, talent and creativity.

There's a quiet confidence and expertise of construction to L'Homme Sage that all the marketing muscle behind the house of DSquared2 simply can't touch. Resinous and dusty, top loaded with citrus and calm florals while buttressed by golden spices, sweet amber and a smoky, earthy patchouli, L'Homme Sage is so warm and cozy that it's the olfactory equivalent of building up a crackling fire in the hearth after your computer-controlled central heat just conked out.

Which is not to say that L'Homme Sage is old fashioned or stuffy (anything with lychee and mace in the ingredients list is contemporary enough for me) -- it just delivers on its promise, unlike the muddled artifice of He Wood.

He Wood probably outsells L'Homme Sage by the bucketful, however. It's a cold, cruel world.