BEST MEN’S SCENT OF THE YEAR: Philipp plein’s NO LIMITS

Best Men’s Scent of the Year: Philipp Plein’s No Limits

You may not have heard of the name Philipp Plein before, but if you love men’s fragrances let me introduce you. Plein is a German fashion designer renowned for taking streetwear-inspired clothing and accessories and making them luxury pieces packed with bling and attitude. His ethos is “more is more” and he sells an aspirational lifestyle to a new generation of male consumer.

Based in Switzerland, Plein sells a jet-set dream lifestyle of private planes, sports cars and sprawling private estates – all of which he chronicles in detail on his Instagram account “philippplein” for his 2.1 million followers.

His flagship stores dot the globe including such hot spot as: Milan, Paris, New York, London, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Las Vegas. Each one boasts a massive Swarovski crystal skull in the centre of the store. If you’ve ever had to catch a connecting flight in Frankfurt or Munich, you’ll know the skull makes an immediate impression to travellers racing to make their connections.

What you may not know is Plein won GQ Germany’s Man of the Year in Fashion in 2016 for his skill at proportion and adding luxury detailing to streetwear items like sneakers, aviator jackets and puffy coats. He’s a skilled artist.

With the debut of his first signature scent, Philipp proves he knows not only how to cut the perfect jacket, but he can develop a kick-ass fragrance. “No Limits” is a sexy spicy-woody scent for him that is extraordinary. Working with master perfumer Alberto Morillas, Plein wanted to create a olfactory tattoo that leaves a powerful and addictive imprint on the skin and a potent trail behind the wearer. The spicy, woody-leathery fragrance for him features notes of black pepper, cardamom, watery notes, leather, dark woods, Bourbon vanilla and black amber. Housed in a credit card-shaped bottle with literally no limits, it’s a fragrance that makes a statement. With such a stellar first scent, I can’t wait to see what he’ll do next. This one will be hard to beat.

Philipp Plein No Limits is available at thebay.com, shoppersdrugmart.ca and at select Beauty Boutiques.