WHAT I SMELL: Uomo opens with a spicy bergamot and then quickly in comes a sweet cocoa. It’s lightly warm to the smell, but very zesty and tingly on the skin. I feel like this could become very shrill, but it reins in the overly gourmand cocoa sweetness and instead leaves this lighter sheen of nutty goodness riding off of your skin. After around 20 minutes or so, the cedar slowly makes it way in, bringing a fresh woodiness to the fragrance, but at the same time there is a bit of sour that creeps in, but only for a short time. Uomo doesn’t change much past this point and in the end it’s relatively light and understated which is where it needs to be. Don’t get me wrong, Uomo offers a long life and pretty good projection as well.
Valentino Uomo notes:
Top: Italian bergamot, myrtle liquor.
Middle: crema de gianduia.
Base: leather, cedarwood.
WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: An Italian boulevard flanked by cedar trees where the smell of coffee, chocolate and other gourmand offerings from the cafes fill the air.
THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE UOMO: semi-gourmand, semi-sweet, semi-nutty
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT UOMO: The Candy Perfume Boy via Escentual.com, The Grooming Guru, I Scent You a Day
BOTTOM LINE: A very nice, easy to wear offering from Valentino. As much as I like the fragrance, I can’t say the same for the bottle. In pictures, the bottle looks like crystal. In person, it looks like a glass porcupine. I guess it’s nice that at least it’s different from the typical bottles out there.
- Bone Rating: 3.5 out of 5 possible bones
- Scent: Leather Goumand (but where’s the leather?)
- Nose: Olivier Polge
- Classification: Masculine
- Expense: $75 for 1.7 oz EdT (exclusively at Nordstrom in the U.S.)
The Scented Hound 
March 24, 2014 at 12:43 pm
Oh Mr Hound! How embarrassing, we have both turned up wearing the same outfit! Or rather, the bloggers’ equivalent- I have just published my review of Valentino Uomo when I see you have done too! I adored this and it also made me think of pavement cafes. I think this is equally good on women and have been wearing it all day. I also like how Olivier Polge held back on the sweetness, just keeping the richness of the chocolate and hazelnut and not the sugariness.
Great review by the way. Great minds think alike.
best wishes
Samantha
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March 24, 2014 at 5:58 pm
My dear, I would wear the same outfit with you on any day as you have such fine taste! I’m glad you liked this. Nicely done and mildly gourmand is different from most of the other men’s fragrances out there. Good job Valentino.
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March 25, 2014 at 6:06 am
Oh shucks, well I am dressed for the school so I hope you have comfy shoes on ! I have been disappointed by a lot of male releases lately but this one really stood up and introduced itself, with impeccable manners.
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March 24, 2014 at 5:17 pm
“Glass porcupine.” LOL. 😀 I like cocoa quite a bit in fragrances, and your description sounds promising, so I’ll try to look for this the next time I’m in Nordstroms.
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March 24, 2014 at 6:00 pm
I’d love to hear your impressions on this. As for the bottle, I think the SA was taken aback when I blurted outl loud how ugly the bottle was. It looks so ravishing in the pics, but in person it’s rather obnoxious.
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March 24, 2014 at 7:09 pm
I really wanted to hate this because the bottle looks like one of those wooden foot massage rollers; besides, I’ve never warmed up to any Valentino perfumes. My curiosity got the best of me though and I asked my Nordstrom SA, who works in women’s fragrances about it and her eyes got huge and said it’s in the men’s section but she had a sample, sprayed in on a test strip and all I can think about was when should I buy the FB. We walked over to the men’s section and there it was – the porcupine bottle which, in hindsight, I do like for its tacky uniqueness. I will wait until the Fragrance Festival (end of April) to purchase so my SA can hit or exceed goals. I don’t recall the pricing but I think it is quite reasonable. Wonderful review!
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March 24, 2014 at 7:19 pm
Wow. You are sold!!! I love it. I do think this is going to be a hit for both guys and gals. It is reasonable at $75 for 1.7 oz bottle. I never thought about it, but you’re right it does look like a foot massager!
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December 4, 2014 at 9:36 pm
HI, I just found you today. My husband received sample of this scent and I thought, I wonder if women could wear it. I like it and I plan to at least try wearing it.
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December 5, 2014 at 7:54 am
Hi Andrea –
I am the first to say that if you like a fragrance, be it more feminine or masculine go ahead and wear it. There are a few men’s perfumes that may be over the top for women, but this is not one of them. Since it is rather gourmand, I believe this might be very nice on you. Go for it and enjoy! Thanks for stopping by.
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