Scentroulette Day 22: Calvin Klein Obsession Night for Men

Long gone are the days when Calvin Klein set trends in American perfumery. 2005's Obsession Night for Men, launched nearly two decades after the original Obsession for Men (with which it has nothing in common), is almost breathtakingly unoriginal: a pushy-shovey opening of citrus and pear (like Dior Higher, four years earlier) over a leather-patchouli-vetiver accord, boiling down to the usual sticky puddle of warm vanilla after a few hours. There's hardly anything "night" about it; there certainly isn't anything "Obsession" about it.

But damned if it isn't really nice nonetheless: quietly masculine, not a single misstep from start to finish. It may be lazy perfumery, but it delivers the goods.