The Cologne Podcast
EVERY MONDAY: Join best friends Myke and Ryan as they take on the world of fragrances with unfiltered humor and uneducated opinions. Each episode, they'll sniff out a new scent and give their honest, foul-mouthed review. From high-end colognes to drugstore bargains, no fragrance is off-limits. Brace yourself for an irreverent, no-holds-barred approach to fragrance reviews.
The Cologne Podcast
#307 - Wulong Cha X by Nishane: Is it better than the original?
We're diving nose-first into the world of Nishane flankers, especially the tantalizing Wulong Cha X, while reliving our love affair with the classic Wulong Cha. Our conversation takes a quirky turn as we dissect an amusing review from Fragrantica, comparing a scent to something you might scrub your floors with. We also share our mixed feelings about the bold and brawny Mephisto by Xerjoff, which left one of us intrigued and the other nursing a pounding headache.
hello everybody. Welcome to the cologne podcast. I'm mike I'm ryan.
Myke:We're two best friends. We're going on a fragrance journey. We're smelling flankers from nishane and giving you uneducated opinions.
Ryan:We're smelling one of mike's favorites and also mine as well, but he's the one that's bought in it and I just like smelling it on him.
Myke:I'm on my third bottle of Wu Long Cha. Fuck Now. Granted, the first two are 50s and this time's a hundo Damn I mean I'm actually shocked you went through two 50s.
Ryan:Really.
Myke:I mean yeah, because you don't really spray heavy, no, but I was wearing it almost every single day Really, and in Texas every day is like the summer, yeah, which is perfect for it, perfect fragrance for that. So yeah, I just wore the hell out of it.
Ryan:Well, they made a flanker, guys, and it's called Wu Lan Cha, Professor X. Oh God, Actually it's just called X.
Myke:Well, we'll see how it works on this bald professor over here.
Ryan:Yeah, that's what was making me think of that. Marvel Rivals been playing that. Yeah, yeah, you are obsessed with that game. I've been trying to convince you to come to the dark side and play it with me and Snazzy, you, snazzy and does Mark O'Quee?
Ryan:play with you guys? He doesn't. But I see you're trying to transition quickly to not have to talk video game spook. So go ahead. And, by the way, I apologize for my voice. I'm not really sick, I'm just kind of congested. Okay, scoot over. Yeah, get away from me. I can hear it.
Myke:He has the black death, all right. Marco Cui on Fragrantica has to say Definitely cleaning product. Vibe or bathroom air freshener Obviously better quality smelling than that Chilled vibe. All the same, happy enough with life, oh okay.
Ryan:Is he meaning like he just can't be let down by this because he's just too high on life? Maybe so, or maybe he's like I'm happy enough, let down by this because he's just too?
Myke:high on life? Yeah, maybe so. Or maybe he's like I'm happy enough that I don't need this in my life, okay, Well, there you go, marco Cui.
Ryan:Well, before we get into today's episode, we got to go into our one night stand and talk about how that went. Uh-huh, with a fragrance sent to us by a listener, david. He sent it for us to give away to one of our patrons. And we do it on the episode. I'm going to tell mom that's right, that's why you should join our patron. We do stuff like that. Anyway, mephisto by Zerjoff Hit the music Todd yeah.
Ryan:One Night Stand Review. He just sounded like. What's his name? Hoggle from the Labyrinth. Remember the little troll guy that helped Sarah? Oh, yeah, you don't remember, do you?
Myke:I mean there are a couple of things that I remember about the Labyrinth, jennifer Connelly that, and those tight ass gray sweatpants that Bowie was walking around in the whole time.
Ryan:My entire life. Everybody's talked about that.
Myke:He might have started it all. Man Gray sweatpants season Started with the Bowie Love that song Dance magic dance.
Ryan:Oh yeah, the voodoo, the judoo Hoodoo. Power of the babe. The power of the voodoo. The ju-doo Who-doo. Power of the babe. The power of the babe. Great movie Shit scent. I did not like Mephisto Guys. If you listened to that episode, I was complaining of a headache, literally rubbing my temples, and Mike can tell you I can. When I got done with that episode the headache was like Mike played a prank on me and you know that went too far. He swung a fucking axe through the middle of my fucking scalp and thought it was hilarious. The pain it was unbearable.
Myke:You just got racked upside the head with a Mephisto. Yeah yeah, a couple of freaking haymakers.
Ryan:The scent didn't smell bad, by the way, but there's something in there. I haven't figured it out yet. There's a couple other fragrances I mentioned. They have done that to me as well, but for me nothing personal Just cannot deal with a headache like that. It is getting skipped, buddy.
Myke:Oh, it's the exact opposite for me. I loved it. I continued to love it. The dry down was nice. It got a little more floral on the dry down, which was a pleasant surprise. Interesting, just nice, clean. I didn't feel like it was too crazy loud either, but you were acting like it was igniting synapses in your brain. It was doing something dude.
Ryan:So it's more of a, more of a sample, or you can see yourself buying something like that yeah, I'd like to continue to sample it.
Myke:I don't know right off the bat if I buy it or if I'm waiting to buy wu long cha x.
Ryan:Well, let's just get into the episode, because I fucking hate it. Mephisto andisto.
Myke:And I liked it. So guys out there, be sure to give it a sample, because, who knows, you could be Team Mike or Team Cryin'.
Ryan:You think that's why that guy made his name Cryin' Ryan in the Patreon, I think so because you're always whining about it, fucking whining about shit.
Myke:Yeah, you're just like. You gave me a headache, oh the price is too bad. Hey, what me a headache? Oh the price is too bad. Hey, what's the deal with all these fragrance influencers starting their own brands?
Ryan:crying. Ryan, if you're listening to this, I need you to comment on this episode and let me know is that why you made your name? It had to be.
Ryan:That has to be the case, because you are pretty whiny god, I want to make a fucking alt mike hate account or something. Okay, let's get in today's episode. I actually am psyched on this. Spray it up, y'all. I want to make a fucking alt Mike hate account or something. Okay, let's get in today's episode. I actually am psyched on this. Spray it up, y'all. I'm going to let you go first, because this has been your bread and butter for the longest time. Don't mind if I do Quickly, though before you stop.
Ryan:I got it. He was right there about to hit the button. Oh my God, two things. Yes, it says from Nishane that they got rid of the sharp edges of Wulan Cha. Okay, kind of knowing that and knowing what the original Wulan Cha smells like, what do you think you're expecting with?
Myke:this. Huh, I think it's going to be lighter then. I mean, we both agreed that fragrance is loud, nuclear For a citrus fragrance that has one of the longest staying powers of any citruses that I've smelled. So I wonder if it might be a tad bit sweeter or a tad bit lighter, something that does take the bite out of that citrus.
Ryan:Well, as much as you love the original, is it that? Or is there something else? If you could pick it apart, you'd want them to improve on.
Myke:I would be afraid that if they dialed back the citrus that it would become too feminine for me Interesting. Okay, Well, let's find out.
Ryan:What do you think? I'm thinking it's going to be probably no citrus and very soft and sweet, which I probably won't like. Or more floral Could be. Yes, let's check it out. Hmm, is that a good hmm?
Myke:or a bad hmm. Initially in the air I was like, ah, I'm smelling Wu Long Cha. I do smell that off the rip, but as soon as I put it up to my face, definitely more floral, really Okay.
Ryan:Test your strip or hand or both.
Myke:Just hit it up Whichever one strikes your fancy, it does kind of suck that I'm not fully like. My nasal passage isn't open, but I can smell it. Citrus is definitely dialed back Very, but it's not gone, which is good. Good, I kind of like it, yeah, I mean it's pleasant. It is reminiscent of wu long cha, yeah, but it's missing some things that made me love it.
Ryan:It's like what you love about wu long cha. But then they, like, graduated high school, went to college and they came back, you know, and they're a little bit not as acting a class clown and being loud and shit like that. Oh really, yeah, they're a little bit more sophisticated now. Oh, in a whole different way than that, really.
Myke:Yeah, I was kind of thinking it was kind of like that girl in school that was always kind of cute but kind of tomboyish Okay. And then again, again, she does go off to college and when she comes back she's like prim and proper and, yeah, full-blown woman so by me, you think this is like it's elevated, it's like mature to something a little bit more.
Ryan:It's grown up and it's a little bit more professional. It's more elegant, it's more feminine gotcha definitely more feminine, for sure. So is that a letdown then?
Myke:It's a letdown in that it could have been something that I liked better. Yeah, you know the Flinker could be better, kind of like Lunarosa Carbon. Lunarosa is good, yeah, lunarosa Carbon is better. God damn it. Is this not so much For me? Yeah, I'm not saying it's not a great fragrance. So a friend of mine named Audrey she was the gal I was talking about that was really looking for like a hotel made these wall plug-ins, oh yeah, and she loved it. She was like it's a tea scent. Yeah, I would love to have a fragrance that smelled like this. And I smelled it and I was like, oh, that reminds me a lot of Wu Long Cha. So I gave her, like, the last little bit of my previous 50 mil and she loved it. So it's like for me. I'm thinking about like her and smelling this fragrance and I'm like this might be even better for her. Yeah, but not for me, you know it kind of has.
Ryan:I can't trust myself 100% today, but there's something a little bubbly to this, but not in what you're thinking. It's like wool on shaw, that tea part okay, but then on the outer edge of that it's like if you dipped a bubble wand in some soap. You know what I mean. It's giving you another 13 vibes.
Myke:Is that what that one does too? God for me. Another 13 smells like bubbles, yeah like you're gonna blow.
Ryan:You know when I was.
Myke:You're dipping the tray you open up, you get the, the big old container, right, yeah, and then it's got the one, but the one's drowning and you've got to save it, you know everybody who has kids knows. And you get the bubble solution all over your hands and then to me that's what another 13 smells like interesting yeah, I kind of get wool on char with that.
Myke:You just open up a thing of bubbles I get like if somebody wore a very flowery powdery fragrance and then I was next to him and I put wu long cha on and maybe just the tiniest little mist kind of just wow, he put his hands all fucking over me. That was a mistake, because you're sick. Next episode, hey guys. Yeah, now I'm going to be putting my hand up to my face all the time You're patient zero, aren't you?
Ryan:Well, let me get into the price and popularity. Good idea.
Myke:What is that, Ryan?
Ryan:I was searching my pockets for my phone, like I was searching for my wallet. Whenever Mike's ready to buy something, I'm like what you got lunch today, right, bro? Too many times it's happened, but honestly it's on accident, but so many times it does make you wonder, even me.
Myke:Yeah, especially when we sit down and you go I'm going to have the filet and you guys want an appetizer we're getting dessert on here too, right, exactly, yeah and after you scrape the crumbs of your cheesecake off the plate, you go oh man, wouldn't you know it?
Ryan:I'll paypal it to you, yeah.
Myke:Never does.
Ryan:If you want 100 ml of this, Nishane's website List it for $385. Jesus.
Myke:Kind of pricey 400 bucks for 100 ml For less of a fragrance. Yeah, kind of. You know Inflation, nishani, what?
Ryan:the hell. You can, though, get it on places like FragranceNet. We're not sponsored, we're just like you guys. We try to find the gray market here. $192 for 100ml, that's way better. You think that's better? Mm-hmm, better. I mean, we'll find out later if it's really worth that price, but to the right person it could be. It could be. It does smell good. I have to clarify that does smell good.
Ryan:It's not a bad smell, hyper feminine right now on my skin, so floral very like, I agree, powdery white flowers just dancing in the spring breeze I agree 4.33 out of 5 not shutting down the internet, but enough people are liking it by the way, I said this before the episode we actually had a friend I think he goes by brady frags on instagram. I think he has a fragrance thing he's doing. Go check him out but he sent us a voice thing asking us about something about season four. Me and Mike are doing some digging. I'm like does it seem like we released this episode in May of 2023? Closing in on two years? Well, the reason why I bring it up is because this was released in 2023. And I thought this was released this last year, in 2024.
Myke:Oh no, I remember first essence, they were releasing them.
Ryan:God damn. By the way, this was sent to us by Cynthia. She's also a patron. Thank you, miss Cynthia, for sending this. Yeah, since a bunch of different ones from Scent Split, great taste in fragrances, great taste in music, absolutely. You know to touch back really quickly. You said something a second ago about like if some lady was standing next to you wearing something a little bit more floral Right, and you're like like a little bit got on her, yeah, this is kind of what they said. You know, I kind of mentioned this earlier. They said they designed this to mute the sharp edges of the original formula and enhance it with the addition of florals, namely magnolia. Do you know what a magnolia flower is?
Myke:Magnolia tree, I guess.
Ryan:Do you know what that smells like? Yes, is it similar? I guess I don't know, because I don't know what that smells like.
Myke:I don't know. I mean, I know the magnolia tree is. They're big trees that have waxy green leaves and then they have the big white flowers that bloom.
Ryan:Yeah, and green leaves, and then they have the big white flowers that bloom, yeah and it's a pretty big, big size tree.
Myke:Yeah, okay, yeah, but I can't recall one of my family members had a big tree like that in their yard. I'm remember as a kid, yeah, but I don't remember the smell. I didn't really love that person. So I don't have like I'm not, like my mind, isn't, you know, trying to create fond memories? Of their Magnolia tree, like I fucking hated their guts. I didn't hate their guts, I was just kind of weird, really. Yeah, it was just a.
Ryan:Well, if they're like clown parties or something, yeah, kind of with drugs. Sorry, so you can drink in my coffee. Didn't expect in that, okay, yeah she liked pills.
Myke:Guys, don't get into that too many weird childhood memories, okay any other trauma you want to dump on us today there was a guy who used to keep her yard. Okay, I'm just gonna.
Ryan:I thought you're about to really air this shit out. Is this true what you were about to?
Myke:say I was about to say some things. Yeah, well, I don't know, that's for a different podcast, it's for, like, a mental health podcast. Okay, okay, yeah.
Ryan:Guys, should we start Selfish Health back again?
Myke:It's just like a therapy session for me. He had sex with my mama. Believe it or not, he's not quoted.
Ryan:I am quoted, you know what?
Myke:todd?
Ryan:give her it all keep it all in todd worst nazi you ever, you know, is this.
Myke:Come on, you guys, gotta know old green eyes uh, I'll go over the notes really quick.
Ryan:I don't feel like I get a lot of this, but Bergamot, yuzu, maybe, yuzu, maybe that's what we're kind of smelling. How do you pronounce that shit? What the fuck is that? Your facial expression said it all. Go look it up. On Fragrance, it starts with an L and looks like I don't know Like litsea, caboba or some shit, and we got mandarin orange middle notes, green tea I could kind of get that magnolia, don't know. Thumb bass notes, musk, fig, a lot of fig notes and some stuff we've been smelling recently. What the fuck's up with that?
Myke:dude, we've been freaking out on some fig.
Ryan:It's kind of weird huh well, you've kind of already halfway alluded to it, but who would wear this fragrance?
Myke:it's not a bad fragrance, it smells good yeah, it does smell good, it smells very, very feminine it smells a little on the mature side. I'm thinking 35 and up, okay, maybe even older. It is beautiful, it is very pretty, I will admit that. But it lacks a lot of what makes Wu Long Chao what I really like and what I think adds masculinity to it. It is a very sharp citrus. This doesn't really have that. I mean, it has the tiniest little taste up front.
Ryan:So I think, yeah, a beautiful, mature lady, I've got nothing because that's about right down the road what this is. Yeah, could not be any closer.
Myke:There's something on it that and maybe that's the magnolia there's something on it that I just don't like. Something's happening. It's subtle, but it's there.
Ryan:I don't know yet. Maybe my silences are actually helping me out with this episode. Maybe I'd be getting a raging headache if I was on another day.
Myke:Yeah, it smells beautiful on the car, but I just keep smelling my skin and I don't like what it's doing. It's not quite aquatic but it's kind of doing a little bit of that weird metallic wet dog. For you it's not so much wet dog as it is just like it smells like I'm sucking on a quarter or something, just deep down at the base, just a subtle little of it.
Ryan:It smells like you're sucking on a quarter. Yeah, okay, I'm gonna put that in my rolodex of random things that have been said on this fucking podcast, but I guess some weird morbid way it makes sense what you're telling me I mean, you've never seen like?
Myke:uh, I saw a meme the other day. It said something like nipple piercings taste like car keys oh god, that would be weird.
Ryan:I remember because you were showing me yeah, there was a lot of people that concurred that, yeah, I hate them, I'm not like for or against them, but I've never interacted with it in that way, so I don't know. That would not be good to me. It will not be as fun.
Myke:Yeah, so I'm smelling a little bit of nipple piercing on this, wow.
Ryan:This is an episode this one's wild Trauma figs, nipple piercings. Okay, episode this this one's wild trauma figs, nipple piercings. Uh, okay, it's too bad we didn't do a video of this. We could have like showed some b-roll of nipple piercings.
Myke:Oh yeah, yep, could have. What a shame.
Ryan:A lot of 80s rockers would have appeared on god, I have to say, like women I feel like can get away with it more, and it's still not like something I'm like whatever honked up on, but it's like it's always weird when to me that men do it, you know, because it looks.
Myke:I told you, I got a friend who pierced his ding-a-ling. Oh God Hell. No, he was about it-a-ling.
Ryan:Oh God, hell, no, he was about it, dude. You know my luck, dude. They might pierce something. Either it never works or it's always fucking on. You know what I'm saying.
Myke:I'm not taking the gamble They'd accidentally hit the wiring. Yeah, yeah, I get you.
Ryan:Have to like beat on it weird, or something to like get things to work Literally beating on it weird, okay, well, you know why I'm thinking about that. We have a pool hall here. It's free for us to access.
Myke:Oh, now I get where you're talking about.
Ryan:I got to have the small room and he's with me on this. It's just a little pool hall's like very personal. There's two tables, there's a nine foot and what like a seven foot. Yeah, and they were working lights above both of them and we kind of live in an area where some older people we have like an hoa, yeah, somebody we come in one day and they installed this new light system over the nine foot table. That's the one me and Mike like to play on Right.
Myke:And if you play pool and you go to a really nice pool hall, they'll have a semi-sophisticated light above that will evenly light the table for you.
Ryan:The game feels completely different when it's well lit Right, and so we went from a dim light to this really beautiful bright light that covered everything, yeah, and that part didn't change, by the way. But we come in one day and mike's like dude, look at this fucking dumb shit and they've got it on a relay button timer system. Yeah, so like it'll only be on for two hours and it'll go off. You gotta hit this button above this fucking light every two hours.
Myke:So the subtext of this is they're like we can't trust these adults to turn the lights off.
Ryan:Yeah, so we're gonna put it on a timer, so, no matter what, it will turn off which they would come behind us every time we left, where we never left the lights on, but even if we did, there was somebody there to turn it off. Right, it was kind of foolproof, yes. And then that thing got shoddy, right?
Myke:Yeah, because it was done in somebody's garage. Yeah, you know, some dude moonlighting as an electrician or something, and so the wiring got weird and sometimes it would work and sometimes it didn't work. And then you know, we finally talked to the administration building. We're like, hey, this light is fucking off on us mike was literally taking it apart.
Ryan:He's like look at this fucking relay in here like the light comes on everybody.
Myke:Look, I'm not a genius, but I've done a bit of wiring so I can tell if a connection is not loose a shade tree, electrician put it together.
Myke:Well, I've built quite a few electric guitars so yeah, and we did something kind of wild with a built-in effect at one time, all analog, so yeah, like I've messed around with it and even touching with capacitors and potentiometers and stuff like that. So I know a little bit, you know, and I opened that thing up and I was just like jesus christ, look like a crime scene, dude. It just looked like a bowl of spaghetti in there, like I can't tell. I mean, it's like things are, it's just weird.
Ryan:He's like unplugging stuff.
Myke:Lights are going out in china and shit, so I was just like I'm not touching this, let's just screw this back on and and the best part about it is it's all hooked up to the switch on the wall so, as you walk out, if you flip the off switch, like your, you know light switch, if you flip it to off, it cuts everything off anyways, which, by the way, you have to hit this light switch to turn the other lights on, so you can see where you're at in the building.
Myke:It all doesn't make sense. It's the reason why we got upset is because we're adults. Yeah, we enjoy having this amenity. We take care of it take care of it.
Ryan:Proud to take care of it, so why it also goes back to. I think I said it probably 10 plus episodes ago but look, just because you have seniority in life, that you lived and didn't get hit by a car or jaywalking the street, doesn't mean you're smart okay, yeah, there's dumb people of all ages.
Myke:Exactly, when it comes down to it, they may or may not be wearing Wu Long Cha X.
Ryan:Are you going to skip?
Myke:it Sample. They may or may not be wearing wu long jaw x. Are you gonna skip?
Ryan:it, sample it or buy it. What are you gonna do, ryan? Um, this is a skip, but I feel like we've been doing this a lot lately. It's a skip, but not because it smells bad. It's a skip because it smells good, but it's very for you. Yeah, it's not for me.
Myke:It's very leaning, feminine yes, I agree, I'm with you on this. Yeah, it smells really nice for someone who wants a mature feminine fragrance. Yeah, not for me whatsoever, and I mean it could not be polar opposite, absolutely, even though they really are in the same vein. I could see why this is the flanker of wu long cha. I get it, yeah, but for me it's just so far removed from what I love about the original that I just it's a no for me, but it is something you should sample if this sounds like a fragrance you're into because it smells like a good fragrance. Yeah, I mean, we trust nish. Their stuff has always been top tier. Yeah.
Ryan:I wonder. You actually may know the answer to this, but what does the X represent for this? Hasevat X, ani X, wulan Cha X, because we did an episode on Ani for the Patreons, if you want to check out that episode. But now I'm kind of thinking, because it did something too similar to this, I feel like it's X-ing out something important, so I wonder if that's kind of what it was for Everything.
Myke:I've heard people say I don't know the correlation of the X, what it represents, but everything that I've heard say about this line, the X or whatever it's a lighter, fresher version of its predecessor, gotcha, gotcha, and I got to smell hasavod x and I think in milan no, uh, I got to smell over at carson's place, really, because he has a decant of it. I mean, what did you think about it? We have it right. Yeah, we do have it. Let's save it for an episode. I'll tell you what we'll do a patreon episode on it, okay, but I will hint that there's something to it really yeah, like you're cheeky with it right now, like it's maybe so good could be pretty good, it's probably good.
Ryan:He's baiting me, he's wanting me to smell that shit.
Myke:I guess we'll find out.
Ryan:And until next time, Spray it up y'all.