Hugo Boss Deep Red

Hugo Boss has never really grabbed my attention in the fragrance department probably because their marketing is so geared towards men that I kind of gloss over them. They’re something of an invisible entity to me as I neither see their brand around nor smell it. But Deep Red is a fragrance worth investigating because it is a lovely perfume. Deep Red

In Bottle: Sharp and astringent. I detect some woodsy notes with a smooth vanilla coating. There’s definitely a large floral element here, sweet and light and just a touch of powder. In the bottle, it reminds me of black vanilla tea. It’s that sharpness and astringent quality doing it, I think.

Applied: Sweetness amps immediately upon contact as the florals and vanilla get sweeter and sweeter, eventually overcoming the powder as the fragrance begins its dry down. I get sweet vanilla flowers and blond woodsy notes with a really light and easygoing citrus topper. The citrus is battling with something a little musky in this scent and I wish it wouldn’t. It gives Deep Red a bit of a personality complex because it can’t decide between being sharply clean or musky. The fragrance eventually disappears, entirely too soon I might add, into a sweet vanilla before fading away completely.

Extra: Vanilla is derived from an orchid. More specifically the vanilla plant that’s a pretty flowering type of orchid whose fruit is harvested and cured into the dried vanilla pods we see in little jars at the supermarket. Outstanding.

Design: The bottle is presented in dark red glass in a tapered flask shape. The cap is a very nice weight that pops off very easily to reveal the sprayer. The design elements on the glass are simple but effective, which by looking at Hugo Boss’ other fragrance offerings, is on par with their design course. The one problem, and it’s a pretty major one, is the sprayer on my bottle. Perhaps it’s just me but my sprayer distributes a ridiculous amount of product. One spray visibly reduces the amount of perfume I have left in the bottle. The mist also gets everywhere because of this and liberally coats anything in its way. It’s a nice fine mist, it’s just that I wish the spraying mechanism would be a little more frugal.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Pear, blood orange, clementine, freesia, ginger flower, woods, musk, vanilla.

I slotted Deep Red in the floral department because of the dominance of sweet flowers in this scent. Evidently, I was supposed to smell fruits too but wherever those were I couldn’t find them. Sorry, pear, you’ll have to hide somewhere less obscure next time.

Reviewed in This Post: Deep Red, 2009, Eau de Parfum.