Fragrances to try for a beginner

Hi! I'm enjoying reading all the reviews from all the contributors here and it has really got me interested to start a fragrance collection. However, I think I really need to hone my nose somewhat, because I really don't know my orientals from my gourmands. Currently, I know that I like fresh and citrusy scents as well as slightly warmer orientals, but I would like to try other types of fragrances so that I can see if they would suit me. Therefore, I hope that someone could recommend some 'iconic' fragrances from other categories like leather, woods, green, or whatever to try.

Currently, these are what I have:

1. L'eau Bleue D'Issey eau Fraiche (Issey Miyake)
2. Artisan (John Varvatos)
3. Monsieur Balmain (Pierre Balmain)
4. L'Instant pour Homme extreme (Guerlain)
5. Jaipur pour Homme EDP (Boucheron)
6. Italian Cypress (Tom Ford)

From this small collection, my favorites are Jaipur and L'instant. I realized that longevity and projection are important to me, which is why as much as I love the smell of Artisan, the longevity and projection just doesn't cut it. In addition, I like scents that smell somewhat complex and don't smell too straight forward. Comparing Artisan to Monsieur Balmain, the former contains the central core of orange, but at the same time, it's not an orange scent that you can normally find around us, whereas the latter is a very pure lemony scent, which while invigorating, is a little too straight forward for me. Also, I am partial to somewhat sweeter fragrances, which is why I prefer L'iinstant over Italian Cypress. I have kind of a sweet tooth, so I'll probably be trying out other vanilla based scents, like Tobacco Vanille or Un Bois Vanille.

Ok, sorry for the diatribe. So what other fragrances would you advise me to try to get more familiar with the other types of scents? Thanks!

Cool! Thanks for the recommendations! Yeah, definitely I don't think I've tried amber, leather or even floral scents. I'm a tea addict, so definitely, I'll be trying some of those; the name, Tea for Two, is pretty cool too. However, is there a floral scent that is suitable for a guy? I'll probably get a bunch of samples of these scents from the perfume court to try.

Thanks again for the recommendations, especially when you list the main note. Yeah, I think part of the fun of collecting fragrances is to be able to try new scents and to discover some surprises. So for now, I'm just going to get samples or to try them out at Sephora to see if I like them.

I think Sephora probably doesn't carry too many niche fragrances, so here are some of the samples I'm ordering from the perfume court:
1. L'Artisan Tea for Two
2. Parfumerie Generale Aomassai
3. Parfum d'Empire Ambre Russe
4. Serge Lutens Un Bois Vanille
5. Parfum d'Empire Cuir Ottoman
6. L'Artisan Havana Vanille
7. Czech & Speake No. 88
8. Montale Black Aoud

I can't seem to find the Elsha scent though... can I write them for a sample?

Thanks again for your help!

Sorry, duplicate post...

Hey guys, here are the fragrances I'd sampled:

Oriental: Dior Homme Intense, Le Male Summer Ed.
Woody: Encre Noire
Fresh: Bvlgari Aqva pour Homme, Millesime Imperial
Leather: The Dreamer
Aromatic: Comme des Garcon 2, Kouros Tattoo Ed., Bvlgari pour Homme,
Incense: Bvlgari pour Homme Soir

I've tried to put the fragrances into categories based on what I can detect, but I'm not sure if they are correct. I still haven't received my niche samples from the Perfume Court, so most of the fragrances I've tried are designer ones.

All the fragrances are pretty good I would say, but I think my favorite fragrance from this bunch is Lalique's Encre Noire. It's really unique, and the mix of woody and incense(?) is really masculine. My only concern is that it's so different that others might find it strange. Kouros Tattoo is also great. Yeah, I wasn't so sure at first because the animalistic edge (civet?) was a bit of a shock, but it gets toned down very quickly, and becomes a sort of a dirty floral that makes it different and masculine.

As I'd mentioned, I think all these fragrances are pretty good, but the ones I liked the least are Le Male Summer Ed. and Aqva. The vanilla in Le Male is really sweet, but somehow I feel it sort of boring; a little too simple. Aqva smells great, but I feel that it is a little too 'conventional'. I decided to go for Millesime Imperial instead as my fresh fragrance of choice.

Anyway, I decided to buy full bottles of Encre Noire, Millesime Imperial, Kouros Tattoo Ed., Bvlgari Pour Homme Soir, Comme Des Garcon 2 and Dior Homme Intense. From this haul, I realized that I like somewhat darker fragrances, which is why I prefer Bvlgari pH Soir over the original. I didn't like the Dreamer so much as a leather fragrance, but I'll wait for the niche samples to see if I like the leather note.

Currently, between Jaipur and Dior Homme, I think I have enough oriental type fragrances. Could someone suggest other Chypre fragrances that are different from Tom Ford's Italian Cypress? Also, what other fragrances do you think are somewhat dark like Encre Noire?

Thanks!