Adidas
Adidas
207 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
A sharp, almost acrid flourish of aldehydes and lemon disrupts the senses with surprising forcefulness, the caraway adding a whisper of something almost spiced and savoury beneath the citric glare. Lavender tempers the aggression fractionally, though green notes keep everything austere and angular.
The composition softens considerably as cedar and pine needle rise, their resinous character mellowing the earlier harshness into something approaching a proper cologne character. Freesia introduces a subtle floral sweetness that plays beautifully against the woody-herbal base, whilst sandalwood creeps underneath like a soft cushion of support.
The tonka bean and labdanum become increasingly prominent, casting the entire composition in a warmer, slightly powdery amber glow that lasts considerably longer than the more volatile top notes. What remains is something closer to a vintage men's fragrance—oakmoss providing structure, musk offering a gentle skin-scent finish that feels more intimate than the opening's austere presentation.
Active Bodies Adidas arrives as a peculiar artefact from sport fragrance's awkward adolescence—a composition that can't quite decide whether it's a cologne for the gymnasium or a proper aromatic statement. The opening salvo of aldehydes and lemon creates an almost antiseptic brightness, the sort of stripped-back clarity you'd expect from a 1990s performance product, yet the base reveals genuine ambition in its construction.
What distinguishes this scent is the tension between its verdant, almost medicinal heart and its decidedly perfumed foundation. The cedar and pine needle don't read as woody freshness in the contemporary sense; instead, they interact with freesia and rose to create something closer to an old-fashioned barbershop cologne, albeit one with a distinctly herbal bias. That caraway and cassia in the opening lend an almost cumin-tinged spiciness that's unusual and slightly peppery—more reminiscent of men's fragrances from the 1970s than of what one might expect from an athletic brand.
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3.8/5 (169)