Question:
BK here.
It's simply more wearable.

Answer:
I like of them but I can't wear either of them. The one time I dared to wear Kouros in public, I did seem to get some female attention though, so I should try it again before letting it go. Maybe it was just my radiant smile... Body Kouros smells good on women. On me sometimes it's nice and soothing, sometimes it's cotton candy syrup and unbearable.

Answer:
My preference lies with Body Kouros. It is along the lines of a gourmand with maybe some incense thrown in there. Probably the only frag in my collection that I would call "lady killer."

Kouros is one that I have a tough time coming to grips with. It is simply a very clean frag on me with some interesting citric top notes reminding me of Monsieur de Givenchy as of late. I think because it is multifaceted it has found a permanent place in my wardrobe... but it isn't one I find myself really wanting to wear much. I prefer Kouros Fraicheur to the original.
K

Answer:
Someone mentioned Kouros Fraicheur earlier - I had a bottle for about 15 minutes - it's really, really, really close to the original such that I could barely make out the difference. It's a little less ureal, and if you use the force you can detect a synthetic kind of pineapplish note. I guess it's good if you like Kouros, but are afraid of smelling like a toilet.

Answer:
I go for the original Kouros. Body Kouros just gets cloying on me and I want to escape from my skin when I wear it. Traded away the bottle.
The two have nothing but the word "Kouros" in common. I love the power, edge, and clean smell of the original.
--Chris

Answer:
Originally Posted by narcus And wouldn't it be rather incredible that the successful young artist and business man, Yves Saint Laurent, should be bothered to copy a relatively unknown orange scent when his true aim was to top his own first and successful masculine cologne with something unique and outstanding? Why should the Rive Gauche modernist suddenly be inspired by daddys old colognes from a gone by era?
Let's not forget, he started pretty high - still a young man - when he was [/color][/color]enthroned at Dior's. And he managed to save that stumbling house from falling by rejuvenating it. It was he who shocked people with a universal use of the black color then, but he was ultimately successful. Armani and Lagerfeld still profit. By the time he launched Kouros he ran his own business, a design house with a distinct face which became world famous within a decade! And it is definitely Kouros that everybody knows 36 years later, and not Orange Spice! Hell, most civilized people using cologne never even heard of GIT, or the Creed brand!
Just a couple of points:
Actually, Yves St. Laurent was a disaster as a business man. It wasn't until his lover, the ruthless Pierre Bergé, took over his business that it really took off.
Ironically, the original YSL men's fragrance, YSL pour Homme, was a throw back to Christian Dior's Eau Sauvage and Givenchy Pour Homme. Lemony fresh.
In the end, the house that actually fell was the one of YSL. The notorious practice of creating licensee businesses for every spin-off from the collection (perfume and beauty, shoes, eyewear, boxer shorts, etc.) caused the YSL brand to loose control over the products bearing its name.
When the Gucci group bought the failing house in 1999, the first thing they did was to buy back all the licensees.
I think it is fair to presume that Mr. St. Laurent had little to do with the creation of Kouros. But it is safe to assume Mr. Ford had a lot to do with the creation of Rive Gauche.

Answer:
I'm not on here to bash anything, and it seems Kouros is a very debatable scent. I have a bottle of body kouros which I find close to overbearing, but still enjoyable. It is new to me and I still have not decided if it is too much (very sweet) or just right. It no doubt smells amazing but I'm not sure if it is what I want to wear on my body through out an entire day. We'll see....
Regarding the original Kouros, I just tried on my sample, I may come back with a different opinion down the road.. but as of now it was the worst scent I've smelled in a very long time. Very very bad to my nose. As soon as I opened the sample it was the immediate smell of urinal cake and it didn't improve much or at all after an hour or so. To be honest, I forgot about the comments people had made regarding its comparisons, and kind of figured they were just funny analogies, but it was immediately brought to my attention that they may just be spot on.

Answer:
Originally Posted by theissue I'm not on here to bash anything, and it seems Kouros is a very debatable scent. I have a bottle of body kouros which I find close to overbearing, but still enjoyable. It is new to me and I still have not decided if it is too much (very sweet) or just right. It no doubt smells amazing but I'm not sure if it is what I want to wear on my body through out an entire day. We'll see....
Regarding the original Kouros, I just tried on my sample, I may come back with a different opinion down the road.. but as of now it was the worst scent I've smelled in a very long time. Very very bad to my nose. As soon as I opened the sample it was the immediate smell of urinal cake and it didn't improve much or at all after an hour or so. To be honest, I forgot about the comments people had made regarding its comparisons, and kind of figured they were just funny analogies, but it was immediately brought to my attention that they may just be spot on. I have to agree about the Urinal cake connection, this is the only downside for me for Kouros, if they released a version that had a less smell of Urinal Cake I might love Kouros even more as I love everything else about it. Sometimes I do not notice Urinal cake notes but other times I do and it does tend to put me off wearing it at times. Damm those companies that used Kouros as scent for their Urinal Cakes.
Tomorrow I will be recieving my bottle of Body Kouros and will decide if I like it or not. I tested it long ago but I do not remember much. All I remember was it reminded me of Le-Male.

Answer:
Body Kouros when I'm feeling "clubby" and/or a tad avant-garde.
Kouros when I'm feeling randy and wanna just get l*id. (The stuff is like Musc Ravageur in that I associate it strongly with S-E-X.)

Answer:
Originally Posted by Ruggles "The original Kouros is actually a re-make of Creed's Orange Spice.” I don’t know whether this is news to you, Ruggles, or not: I stumbled upon this quote of yours during a routine Google search of the web. Creed now owe you a nice big bottle !
Originally Posted by Ruggles Just a couple of points:
Actually, Yves St. Laurent was a disaster as a business man. It wasn't until his lover, the ruthless Pierre Bergé, took over his business that it really took off.
Ironically, the original YSL men's fragrance, YSL pour Homme, was a throw back to Christian Dior's Eau Sauvage and Givenchy Pour Homme. Lemony fresh.
In the end, the house that actually fell was the one of YSL. The notorious practice of creating licensee businesses for every spin-off from the collection (perfume and beauty, shoes, eyewear, boxer shorts, etc.) caused the YSL brand to loose control over the products bearing its name.
When the Gucci group bought the failing house in 1999, the first thing they did was to buy back all the licensees.
I think it is fair to presume that Mr. St. Laurent had little to do with the creation of Kouros. But it is safe to assume Mr. Ford had a lot to do with the creation of Rive Gauche. You obviously know a lot more about Yves Saint Laurent, and the rise and fall of his house than I do. I immeditaly believe that he had no financial skills, just as he may have been difficult from childhood on, unstable at times, and maybe rather self centered. I only do not trust stories about his mental disease coming from military sources and/or the house of Dior who subsequently fired him. But even if all this were fact it does not bother me, because the man has undeniable merits and received decent recognition world wide while nobody has really been blind to his weaknesses. It is the perfume producer I have mainly talked about here. And I tried to defend him against more than one hint to (or direct charge of) plagiarism which lack substance. It shouldn’t have been necessary in this community. There is a difference between talking about a similarity of notes, and calling one fragrance the copy of another. Plagiarism in business can have legal consequences, and charges thereof shouldn’t be raised light heartedly. I think you didn’t want to be taken as serious as it sounded, did you?

There have been kings, queens and presidents who were (are) better presidents because of a strong partner by their side. I wanted to avoid mentioning Bergé, Yves one time lover, and long time mentor and buisiness partner. This is history now. For an insider, Bergè may have had something to do with Kouros and so did Pierre Bourdon. For the public however it’s the artistic chief of YSL/Rive Gauche: Monsieur Y.Saint Laurent. No matter how things are handled in detail, fashion and perfume houses usually contract or employ perfumers, and they are thus responsible for / derive the profits from any bottle they sell under their brand. An exemplary case is Hermes’ Un Jardin Sur Le Nil, as described by C. Burr. In The New Yorker. Nowadays, most perfume producers honour their perfumers by at least publishing their names. Some still don’t.

I have a slight interest in the history of perfume making and may bore you with the following: Citrus frags are a constant bestseller, and the creation of fresh, citrussy colognes has a long history. Perfumers seem to have taken pride of making their own special version of it. This is generally not regarded as making step backwards. With an increased demand for masculine fragrances from the middle of the last century onwards, fashion designers began to offer more than one cologne for men, and it has been almost an iron rule that one has to be a citrus (often their first). YSL p Homme is very much in that traddition, but you may have realized that it is way stronger than citrus Colognes usually are. It was an immediate bestseller in France in 1971, scent of the year in France and the US one or two years later, and the No1 masculine cologne FIFI/1974. Call it a throw back to Dior’s Eau Sauvage if you like. Then they all are (random selection): Armani Homme (1984), A.White (2001), ADP Colonia Assoluta and Malle Bigarade (2003) , the whole Comme des Garcons Series 4, and up to Versace Eau Fraiche & Etat Libre d'Orange, Je Suis Un Homme.
Rive Gauche (1971) - simply a misunderstanding. I had not been talking about Rive Gauche pour Homme at all. And of course deservs Tom Ford the laurel for the latter. I like RGPH myself, almost as much as I love M7.