Hugo Boss Boss Bottled Eau de Toilette Spray

Hugo Boss is a fashion house that has been selling designer men's clothing since the 1920s. They launched the Hugo fragrance back in 1995, and it continues to be a bestseller today. It's my favourite aftershave, which is handy, as it's also my husband's favourite - although it does tend to make Christmas and birthday presents slightly predictable!

Obviously the most important thing about an aftershave is how it smells, but if it came in a very fancy, ornate bottle then I doubt my husband would want to have it sitting on the bathroom shelf. Fortunately, Hugo is self-consciously butch; the clear, slightly blue-tinted, glass bottle is shaped like a military water canteen, complete with a green bendy strap to retain the lid when it's removed. The lid itself is silver with deep grooves around the top, with a light, "army" green plastic ring around the bottom and lining the inside. The front of the bottle carries a discrete square with the distinctive Hugo logo - black writing on a red background - in the top half, and "eau de toilette natural spray vaporisateur" printed on a clear background beneath. The liquid within is clear and colourless.

Onto the all-important smell: I love this stuff. It reminds me of hot, balmy nights on honeymoon, strolling along the beach at twilight. It definitely has the sense of outdoors about it - strong and earthy, warm yet fresh. It's the sort of aftershave that I'd imagine a strong, confident man to wear. It's quite traditional, and masculine. This is not a fragrance for trendy young metrosexuals. Hugo Boss describe it as, "a truly seductive contemporary fragrance… which explores essences of citrus, apples and pine…blended with notes of clove, rum and sandalwood".

When first sprayed on you get a strong hit of citrus and sandalwood, along with an initial strong note of spearmint; the mintiness fades quite quickly though, allowing more mellow, spicy, tones to come through. It seems to last well - I find that I can still detect it on my husband after a full day's wear, although it is very subtle. I'd say that it was suitable for day or evening wear, as it's quite light and not over-powering, but still "there".

My husband has sensitive skin, but has never had any reaction to the aftershave or irritation from it.

Hugo comes in a variety of sizes, and in a "splash" bottle as well as the eau de toilette spray. The last bottle that I bought was a 40ml spray for £14.99 from Savers. This is small enough for my husband to take with him on overnight business trips. The only possible criticism I can think of is that, being a glass bottle, it might break, although he has yet to have this happen. He wears Hugo most days, and a bottle this size lasts around two to three months, so I'd say it was reasonable value for money. It smells more expensive anyway ;-)

One final word about the Hugo Boss range in general: If you decide to try Hugo, you should be aware that Hugo Boss now produce a fairly wide range of aftershaves and ladies perfume. Confusingly, they haven't been the most imaginative in naming these, which mostly have the word "Boss" or "Hugo" in the title - for example, as well as Hugo aftershave, there is Hugo Duo, Hugo Boss Sport, Hugo Energise, Hugo No.6, Hugo Xx, Hugo Xy, not to mention Hugo for Women! Hugo itself comes in a green cardboard outer box, with a yellow label showing a picture of the bottle and the Hugo logo (black writing on a red background). Make sure you get the right one!