Introduction and Assistance with Men's Fragrance

Good day everyone. I'm happy to have found this community. Especially before my entire bank account went into fragrances. The last time I was serious about cologne was with Jil Sander's Feeling Man. A scent that I really liked and performed well with my chemistry.

In the past several months, I've redeveloped an interest in men's cologne and would appreciate any guidance or advice on finding a scent I might like. Preferably available in samples or decants so that I can try it.

Ideally, I'm looking for something light, not overwhelming, with pepper/spice and citrus. It doesn't need to last long. Actually, a 6-8 hour life would be perfect.

I do not like most newer colognes/EdTs. The newer formulations tend to give me a headache, in even very small doses (including Tom Ford and Hermessence). I've tried the following with OK but underwhelming results:

Castle Forbes Gentlemen's Cologne is currently in the "trying it out" stage and I'm enjoying its complexity.

Penhaligon's Castile has come the closest to a a scent I would like. The sample I have, however, developed a noticeable note of gasoline in the dry down. Perhaps (I'd like to think) the sample was maybe not quite up to snuff.

Other Penhaligon's have just dried down to a scent of sweet powder (Blenheim, English Fern, Hammam, and Endymion).

Truefitt & Hill's West Indies Limes EdT has been nice, but dries down to more of a scent of dry tobacco, which I don't really care for.

Floris Cefiro has been acceptable, but a tad on the sweet side.

Floris JF is nice, but a little too on the "English Leather" side of the scale, to my nose.

Gendarme was initially nice, but much too strong and lasted at least 24 hours.

Guerlain Vetiver sounded promising, but the feedback I've heard about the new formulation leaves me wary of trying it.

If you've read this far, thank you! I'm on a quest for my perfect scent (as it appears many of us are) and would appreciate any guidance or suggestions you could provide for a well-crafted scent.

Thank you for any ideas or suggestions you might have.

Brent

Thank you, Dimitri and thaifighter.

The Cacharel sounds promising. There may be a sample of it in the sample collection I received. The YSL Opium, possibly.

I've sampled the Thierry Mugler. Unfortunately, all I got from it was the musk (another scent I'm not too fond of).

Sadly, musk and patchouli pretty much were ruined for me by the scents of the 70s and 80s.

I've been looking through the Male Fragrance Forum and that's been informative. But it does make one long for the ancient days of only three or five scents to choose from.

Thank you, all, for the warm welcome and great suggestions.

Looks like I am off on a sample/tester hunt now.

Thanks for the head's up on Terre D'Hermes, too. It was on my list to try, but I really don't like fragrances that hang around for more than 8 (or 12 at the absolute most) hours. It should "wear off" eventually. It's one reason I won't be using Gendarme - a scent which I like in the short term, but which needs to be much more moderate. In my newbie opinion.

Today, I'm wearing CaliforniaNorth Oxygen. That's been intriguing and nice. Very strong, so it definitely needs to either "wear out" or provide a nice, mellow transformation to its sharp start.