CORNERSTONE eau de parfum by Flagship Pomade & Modernman TV

In today’s review we will cover the CORNERSTONE  eau de parfum.  CORNERSTONE is a collaboration project between Mike Smith, the brains behind the YouTube channel Modern Man TV and Flagship Pomade.Over the years, Modern Man TV and by extension Mike, have become quite a force in the “men’s grooming / product review” space.  The content is on point, relevant, informative and just fun to watch.  One of Mike’s most interesting formats is the “Behind the Brew” episodes where he does an in depth dive into: a brand, the people, the vision, the products and their process.  For anyone interested in hair products this is certainly something to watch.

Under the CORNERSTONE moniker there are 2 products at the moment, a pre-styling gel and the eau de parfum.  It is interesting to note that the aroma in the pre-styler and in the fragrance are the same.  There is probably a story there that starts with: “This pre-styler smells awesome, we should totally make a cologne with that…”  The pre-styler is getting its own post – stay tuned.

As mentioned up top, CORNERSTONE is a collaboration series backed by Flagship Pomade.  Flagship is best known for their perfectly vintage presented pomade range. They also produce a number a styling creams as well as beard oil and as you might have already guessed, a full range of colognes.

• Captain’s Quarters
• Center Mast
• Portside
• Starboard Bow

Do you sense a theme? 🙂  With such a full catalogue the road to collaboration was fully paved.

Being a humble reviewer it is quite flattering to receive these products to explore and feature on STYLE4MEN.  In many ways, this is a testament to the kind of person Mike is and his belief in the community. Thank you.

I was very curious to see how this fragrance would turn out as I suspected it would reveal a fair bit about Mike.  With the Modern Man TV project Mike is quite involved within the men’s grooming community and as such, we can also assume that he is in position to see, try and smell countless products. So what is the result?!

The bottle presentation hits home with me.  The blue and white colour selection presents a masculine and modern vibe all the while remaining very classic.  The CORNERSTONE branding is further supported by an architectural blue print as the background.  I love this continuity with the branding idea.  It is tastefully done and looks like something you might find in a cool Barbershop, which I suspect is what the objective was.  Achieved!

This bottle is labelled as an “Eau de Parfum”. It is important to have some basis with the terminology used by Perfumers so you know what you are getting.  The CONERSTONE fragrance is an Eau de Parfum which means that you are getting a product that is very close to being pure fragrance.  This becomes very relevant when we are talking about duration and projection.  Don’t worry I’m not going to go all fancy on you.  Duration is obviously how long this fragrance will last on you.  Projection is from how far away others will be able to identify this on you.  If dogs start sneezing around you, you are overdoing it.

Just to give you a sense of how I wear fragrances, know that I am a very moderate user.  3-4 sprays is my absolute max, where 2-3 is more my norm.  Arms and chest are my target areas and my goal is not to project beyond 1 meter (3 feet).  Over-sprayers are very entertaining to watch but I wouldn’t want to be around them for too long, no matter how good of a fragrance they are wearing.

Perfume, cologne, fragrance are without a doubt the ultimate finishing touch to any style, but it is also a very subtle thing. It’s that invisible element that sends a signal to your most primal brain center.  It’s what triggers our initial decision process: danger (move away / run away), food (good food/bad food), etc..  A delicious fragrance would most certainly suggest to get closer.

CORNERSTONE is identified has having the following notes:

• Top: Black Currant, Pineapple, Bergamot, Pink Pepper
• Middle: Jasmine, Patchouli, Spicy Mint
• Base: Oak Moss, Ambergris, Sandalwood, Lavandin

My nose captures the pineapple, pink pepper, a distant mint and the ambergris as the dominating players.  To me, this is a very classic men’s fragrance.  The pineapple and mint brings in elements of freshness, while the oak wood, ambergris and sandalwood provide a rich, warm and comfortable feeling. Without forgetting the omni present sweetness.

My 2-3 sprays are lasting in the range of 3-4 hours which I will qualify as very good. An afternoon or evening touch up being “perfectly reasonable.  This amount is also keeping me within that rough 1 meter of projection.  Nobody can smell me coming, but they do enjoy me once I’m there.

• Projection:  1 metre (3 feet)
• Duration: 2-4 hours

In our exchanges, Mike mentioned having a big scent allergy and struggling with fragrances.  He worked with the creative nose at Flagship who presented him with a range of options.  The CORNERSTONE fragrance is the selection result of these candidates.  Aside from being a pleasant aroma it was also allergy-friendly.

This was something that hit home as my own Mrs. Style4men is asthmatic and fragrance can be a complicated thing in the household.  Considering the Covid lockdown, I find it important to be respectful of what might be too much for her.  That said, I even got a “Niceee” from her.

I would venture that my initial hypothesis about this fragrance saying something about Mike is verified. Based on what we can see on Modern Man TV, Mike lives up to the classic gentleman code of conduct and this eau de parfum is the perfect complement.  This is a gentleman’s fragrance.

Having totally enjoyed the CORNERSTONE fragrance, I am now incredibly interested in discovering more arrangements from the nose at Flagship Pomade.  Based on the description, I will be getting a bottle of their Portside as soon as I can.