New Fragrant (possibly to find a signature one)

Hi,

I am new to this forum and I would like some advice.
First of all let's start with my taste...or my lack of a signature smell right now.

I own:
Minotaure
I love this one, warm, rich and deep. Very sweet, but not in a sharp way, nicely smooth.

Chrome by Azzaro
Fresh and unassuming, not too sweet. Nothing spectacular, but good for the office.
Don't spray too much or otherwise it smells synthetic.

Higher by Dior
Nice smell, but a rather weak smell, because it doen't leave my skin.
I chose this one at the time, because every other scents I smelled at the shop were too sweet.
I don't like sweet that much, Minotaure is the only exception so far.

Lancome Miracle L'aquatonic.
Very very nice. I had a sample of Mugler's Cologne which I loved, but this one is even better, less sweet and less citrussy, more woodsy and it stays longer.
Bought a 125ml bottle for only 25 bucks blind, I am thinking of buying another one before this edt is discontinued.

Boss No.1
A really awful smell, in interaction with other scents (perfume worn by other people) a urine smell comes on top. Brrrr.


Fragrants I have owned:
Cacharel pour L'Homme
Very nice fougere, expressive, sharp at ones, but never overpowering, just a tad too sweet.

Dior's Eau de Savage,
Nice, but a bit one dimensional, too similar in smell and similar in its poor longetivity to an ordinary eau de cologne - which I like as well, but at least doesn't cost that much.

Daniel Hechter's Caractere
Nice one, woodsy, but a private affair too, the smell stays too close to the skin.

Boss Elements
Same story as with Caractere.
I obviously like the darker, less sweet scents a lot, but I would like to find one that is a bit stronger and more outgoing.


Fragrants I tried (from samples):
Calvin Kleins CKIN2U.
The dry down could be described as sugar made into a scent, so horribly sweet and non-substantial!

DKNY for men.
I wrote a favorable review for this fragrant (waiting to be approved), but wearing it for another 2 days I am beginning to doubt if this is the one for me.
There's something very cold and unpersonal about this scent, high-tech if you like.
Something I associate with an empty, symetrical design room, an interior which isn't put together piece by piece over the years, but at once.
Less is less in this case.

Dior's Fahrenheit.
Beautiful smell, but way too heavy, that's why I was so lucky to find Minotaur at the time.

Armani's attitude.
Nice dry-down, but too similar to Minotaur, though not as warm, round and deep.
Still it is even sweeter than Minotaure.
Yes there are other differences between both scents: Attitude's opening for instance is all candy and spice in contrast with Minotaur's more citrussy one
The different notes in Minotaurs "bouquet" are much richer, much more expressive.
But to make an long story short: the middle and especially the dry-down is more important, while wearing a scent it is the overall character that counts and I find Attitude's character too similar to Minotaur's

So there you have it.
I don't like sweet.
I want something more outspoken than the darker Caracter and Boss Elements I owned.
I want a different smell than the ones I like and own.
Preferably one I can wear anytime.
Maybe a hybrid between a gourmand and a cologne?

Could Guerlain's Vetiver be something I like? I don't want to smell like an old fart...I'm 35 by the way.
Terre d'Hermes? Not too sweet?
What about the classic Chanel Egoiste?

Yes I'm aware of the appreciation for Creed on this forum and I really am curious about Bois du Portugal and Green Irish Tweed, but these fragrants are difficult to find over here and are pretty expensive.
I rather buy 2 or 3 new edts than one Creed at the moment (but don't let that stop you from pointing me to the Creed direction

I really would appreciate some help and opnions.
Thanks.

By the way, I can buy the following fragrants really cheap, but only through the internet this cheap, so I cannot try them first:

Boss Bottled
Boss Baldessarani
Bvulgari pour Homme
Cerruti 1881 Amber (read prommising reviews)
Cerruti Si (My intuition tells me this one's too sweet. Is it?)
Escada sentiment
Mugler's B*Men (seems to be similar to the latest Armani Attitude, if so I'm not that interested)
Nina Ricci Memoire d'homme (aftershave only)
Versace Jeans (cute botte)
Verace the Dreamer

Any opnions on them?
Thanks

Thanks! I appreciate this.

Terre 'dHermes is on my shortlist...it actualy was already
The only Gucci's I can get over here are Envy, Pour Homme and Nobile, no Rush unfortunately.
Having read some reviews about Gucci Rush it appears to somewhat similar to Gucci Pour Homme.

Marc Jacobs for Men by Marc Jacobs (you have to like figs, to like this one)
I like figs, but am not so keen on cocos, because I already use a hair gel based on coconut oil...don't wanna smell like a Bounty.

Vetiver by Guerlain (I like this, but many others have described it as 'old' and it can give off that vibe)
Yes I was afraid of that...still I feel really tempted to buy one, is it the bottle I'm attracted to?
If you can dose it carefully the strong scent may not be a problem...oh well there are many others to choose.

Versace Jeans (I really can't stand this - to me its mind numbingly boring)
I never gave this frag any attention and apparantly not without a reason

Thanks MisterK.

I think little by little I'm getting a better picture of what I like/will like.

Gucci Nobile sells for €60, which would be something like $70 in the US for a 125ml (4.2 FL.OZ) bottle Eau de Toilette. I would say it is pretty much the same money you'll spend for a more recent quality fragrant.
Not exactly cheap, but I checked some prices on the internet, a 4.2 FLOZ botte in the US will cost you a whopping $245!!
So is this fragrant really that special?

I'll definitely check B*Men and YSL Pour Homme as well.

Thanks again

Thanks again for the responses.
Guerlain's Habit Rouge is difficult to find, but I'll keep this one in mind.

Same with Adolfo Dominiquez Vetive Hombre L'Occitane's Vetyver and Balmain's Monsieur Balmain..that is to say I cannot find them on Dutch internet shops, which usually means I'm not gonna find them in a regular shop as well.

Speaking of green scents.
I wore Lancome's L'aquatonic today and for the 1st time I couldn't stand the smell.
I came aware of a sharp musky topnote that was piercing through my nose and actually made my nose and throat ache a little
I didn't spray too much, only 2 spritzs, one at my upperchest and one in my neck and I even received a compliment from a female colleague that I smelled nice, figure that!
But yes, unfortunately the cologne is too sweet and sharp as well...(it pretty much reminded me of Maxim's) how come I did not notice this before?

Minotaure (which is a much more heavy and sweet scent) and Mugler's Cologne (which is similar but even sweeter than L'aquatonic), naming only two scents I like and tried, have musk in it as well, but they never stinged my nose unpleasantly.

Oh well, not going to throw away the bottle yet...

Well I got me a lot of samples the couple of weeks, very glad it are samples and not (blind-bought) bottles:

First the samples I didn't like that much

Kiton men:
Kinda nice.
On my skin it is very similar to (a toned-down and lighter) YSL Live Jazz, but instead of the grapefruit in Live Jazz, Kiton has a prominent lemonly note that smells a bit too musky on my skin.

Guerlain Habit Rouge.
Oh my god, I don't think I'll ever wear this fragrance...way too strong (even aggressive) and herbal.
A quality fragrance for sure, nothing synthetical, but definitely not for me.

Dior Homme.
Bleh!
The strong floral note, Iris I believe it is, was supposed to get away very quickly, according to the reviews I read, but on my skin it stays prominent all the way through...

Vesace Blue Jeans.
Vanilla and some blueish synthetical note.
Not offensive in any way, but I don't wanna smell this on my skin

Versace Baby blue jeans.
More vanilla or is it vanilla only? I don't sense anything else.
A dangerous one, if applied too liberal you may get sick of the creamy sweet softness.

Boss Bottled
Vanilla and musk, nothing else....maybe a very subltle wood note when I use my imagination.
Reminiscent of Blue jeans but much much sweeter.
This one I disliked the most of the samples I tried

The ones I like:

Gucci Pour Homme.
Tam Dao with musk and a tiny drop vanilla added.
The wood-note is really almost identical to Tam Dao's.

Bvlgari Pour Homme:
A very rich, but discrete and sophisticated fragrance.
It is almost like an updated Gucci Pour Homme, a classic woodsy fragrance but much more complex and smoother, it seems like they paired a classic composition with a more modern aquatic/ozonic technology and it works really very well.
I'll choose this one over Aqua di Gio any time.
On my wish list.

Amor Pour Homme by Cacharel.
So extremely ordinary, even 'neutral' in a way that I cannot think of one particular fragrance that smells like this one.
It is like a (perfectly balanced and timeless) average of 1980's (Caractere maybe),1990's (Boss Elements perhaps, XS?) and recent fragrances like Dior's Higher...to my nose it is what Higher tried to be...though I don't exactly know what I mean by that.
Pretty linear, which is good, you'll get what you smell.
Very underrated, but not surprisingly: it doesn't stand out, doesn't make a good 1st impression.
It looks like this one will be my all-round fragrance, I bought a bottle right away (I hope they're not gonna discontinue this one)

Armani Aqua di Gio
Got a sample with my bottle Cacharel Amor.
The 1st time I tried this fragrance on my skin, though I have smelled this one very often on others.
A quality fragrance for sure, much less synthetical than Azzaro's Chrome, though Chrome has a more unique smell, I never smelled anything that metal-ish.
Like other aquatics this one smells like tea on my skin, (not the tea-leaves, but the hot drink) a vague lemon tea this one, whereas DKNY for men (I suppose DKNY is an aquatic scent as-well) smells like a mixture of Earl Grey and Ceylon tea on me, which I prefer.
Because I own Chrome and DKNY for men, I don't have a need for this one.

Guerlain Vetiver.
I like this one!
Not that agressive like Habit Rouge on my skin.
Not gonna wear this one though, I just don't feel comfortable wearing it, maybe when I'm older and more respected.


Some I haven't figured out yet:

Dior Dune
Like it, very different than anything I ever smelled, but there is something in its sillage which is kinda off-putting, maybe I don't like the musk in the composition, it smells too old lady-like, a bit too creamy.

Boss Baldessarini.
Better than Boss Bottled.
Nothing more I can add right now.

Gucci Envy.
No comment yet

212 Men.
Similar to Paco Rabane's XS.
Too sweet, but I'll give this one another try