Fragrance for High School Boy

Things you should learn:
- Try on your skin, not ur paper
- Test maximum 2 scents per session (each on each wrist i guess, but not "strips")
- To "get the girl", the scent is irrelevant.

However, just stick to your Aqua di gio or Code for now. The girls of your age generally dont have a good taste as well, so they will perceive "fresh" and "clean" smells as good smells !

Or you can try BVL Aqva. Good luck.
IMO Dont buy terre d'Hermes, its not that gud.

P/S: Just noticed u didnt wanna smell like someone's ex-bfs. So i guess you can try the following:
- Escada Magnetism.
- YSL Rive Gauche (this is NOT OLD)
- Ralph Lauren Romance Silver (very underrated scents on BN)

For niche we have these (but prolly out of a highschooler's price range )
- Musc Ravageur (150$ for 50ml)
- L'air du desert Marocain(less than 100$ for 50ml)
- Rose 31 (200$ for 100ml)
- Musc Koublai Khan (140$ for 50ml)

I would say that Pi seems like a bit out of your age-range. I'd stick with a nice aquatic scent - Bvlgari Aqua or True Religion ought to fit you well without being too common.

It is sad to say that 9 out of 10 boys in high school will have a bottle of aqua di gio in their bedroom. You probably shouldn't go with that if you're trying to stand out from others.

edit: I forgot that you mentioned Armani Code, which is a very strong scent when it comes to attracting women. I wear it whenever I'm going to bars or night clubs, and it is a powerful scent in the hands (or on the wrists) of someone who is confident with approaching women.

The fact that you couldn't differentiate between code and aqua di gio is a bit interesting. I think you simply got a case of olfactory overload in the fragrance store you were in - sniffing too many fragrances too quickly will put your brain into shutdown mode and you will not be able to comprehend what your CN I is telling you. I would suggest going to Sephora and getting a small sample decant of aqua di gio, code, and bvlgari aqua, then trying them on at home. Wear one on each hand and take an hour or two to sniff at each of them, trying to suss out the similarities and differences. You'll be surprised in a few days when you realize the two smell nothing alike, after experiencing them for so long

Try out Chanel Allure Édition Blanche,
smells like the ones you mention, but
has a twist to it.
The young girls will love it ...

Or, for that matter, Chanel Allure Pour Homme Sport. I think he could really like this one, since he like Fierce. And even though they don't smell alike, they are a different kind of fresh scent altogether compared to the Versace and Armani that he has tried.

Also, anything by Lacoste. Specifically the Pour Homme or Essential. Style in Play is a good one, too.

15 year old boy not spraying on Axe? I'm amazed.

I've learned, in my limited personal experience, a few key things:

1) Your sense of smell will change as you annoy it, just like your vision (try looking directly into the sun for a few seconds, then look around you... wait, don't do that, I'm not sure how my vision works vs everyone else's but this doesn't affect me much at all).

2) Because of (1), your perception of a scent fades before the actual scent does.

3) Forgiving (2), you still don't want to be the guy everyone smells from 10 meters away. Learn to get close enough to get a hug, you will go far.

4) Also because of (1), running through a bunch of colognes in series will give you faulty results.

5) Your skin has a pH around 5.7 (acidic) with weird chemicals and oils on it. It messes with FOs and EOs. Your scent is a combination of you and your cologne, which I see you at least partly understand. Stop testing crap on paper.

6) Scents take a little while to open up. The top notes cover up the alcohol, and evaporate off faster. Sometimes they blend down, sometimes they vanish. The best way to test a cologne is to wear it. Sampling over several days is ideal, so little sample vials that last a week are your friend.

That being said, it's all up to you. Having a few girl friends is helpful; I have a LOT of girls I will never "get with" that I like having around. They know I'm not going to try to take them home except on an extremely opportunist basis, so we talk... pretty openly. And relevantly, I tend to find scents that I like and wear them out, find the girls, and see what THEY think. (You also might learn not to objectify women this way, something most guys I meet have completely failed to grasp)

I'm not sure what to recommend specifically, beyond not dousing yourself with a ton of the stuff (see (2) and (3)); but I will say that I go for more of the small perfumers like Saint Charle's Shave and Mama Bear's (I've had better luck with the latter, many say the opposite). I've also been a fan of Tabac EdC by Maurer & Wirtz. These things are mainly in the $15 range for 2oz, except Tabac is like $20 for 10oz. Tabac has an EdT that's more concentrated and more expensive in less quantity. On the other end of the range, I do have my eye on Gucci Pour Homme (which apparently has lost popularity), so I'm not completely against big-house brands.

If you wanted a recommendation from me, Dragon's Blood and Aged Spice (both by Mama Bear's) are favorites in completely different directions. I'm not sure you'd want to wear Dragon's Blood; it's very deep and warm, a very powerful romantic that I'm a little iffy just wearing out (it's great but the mood is more "candle-lit room with soft music" stuff). Aged Spice is like vintage Old Spice, peppery and spicy, so it's a quick-and-dirty go-to for me. These are MY personal preferences and there are many fantastic mainstream, small-perfumer, and mainstream-from-ages-past colognes out there; if only 5 of them were any good we'd all give you the same answer.

Personally I like "was popular 10-20 years ago" stuff, or distinctly unique but very nice stuff; whatever's taking the market by storm today goes on my list of things to acquire when nobody wears it anymore. Just be mindful of what you're getting from me.

Did you give the citrus/fresh scents a chance to settle? They all have an initial blast...

I would recommend Montale's Black Aoud to you, this is what I would wear if I were still at school. But I wouldn't wear more than one spray, a faint beautiful linger should follow.

If your mum enjoys Terre D'Hermes, she's got great taste. I wouldn't wear it at your age (if I was trying to impress girls).

How are you almost passing out? Are you smelling out of the bottle? Open a bottle of Aqua Velva Ice Blue and take a deep breath, you'll pass out from that too.

Yeah, the 3 sprays thing, you're overdoing it. I usually do half an atomizer blast up each forearm (sweeping spray) and one across the chest, and a tiny bit at the back of the neck. If I have no atomizer, this is easier; a few drops in the hands, rub together, hit the forearms and then the back of the neck. Then a few more drops, rub together, do the chest and the neck again. But that's for Tabac EdC, which is NOT a concentrated EdT (hence the atomizers and light application).

Explain "Masculine yet sweet." One of the colognes I use is a deep incense smell bolstered with vanilla, with amber and rose and jasmine and citrus in the background filling it out. Vanilla lends a distinct sweetness but it's rounded off by the incense and amber. I wouldn't describe it as ANYTHING involving "woodsy" though... there's no woods in there. But VERY masculine and sweet. What you just said could describe... quite a lot.

Ease up on the Armani. If it's choking you going on, you might be applying way too much. I've actually been thinking I might want to forgo the atomizers in the future...

With the strong reaction you are getting you might want to investigate the possibility of an allergic reaction. Do some research on the fragrance directory and see if there is a common ingredient to the colognes that really irritate you. One thing common to them all is alcohol so if you are going to scent to scent without letting the alcohol evaporate you're not only getting blasted with the citrus but the rather intoxicating effects of alcohol as well.

Advice from my high school days... GO EASY!!! I can guarantee that nearly all the guys wearing cologne are wearing something "Fresh," "Sport," or "Aqua." They are wearing the latest and greatest fad cologne some marketing agency says smells good. I remember watching guys douse themselves with Brut, Drakkar Noir, and Old Spice. None are bad applied in tiny amounts on a young buck but when there is a cloud of haze following you around and you need to avoid open flame for fear of spontaenious combustion, you're not impressing anyone. Too much is terribly uncomfortable and really unfair to thoe around you. Guessing your budget is not that big (being in high school) I suggest something sweeter with a hint of spice that is affordable and not overpowering. Perry Ellis 360 Black ($15 per 1.7oz) I just tried and found it excellent with nothing sharp to burn the nose and not remeniscent of an old man. Antonio Banderas Spirit (another affordable yet good quality $9) is quite nice with a spicy sweet base without the harsh citrus blast. You may not like the sweeter notes but the girls love it when they are up close to you. They shouldn't even smell it unless they hug you.
With anything you chose, wear TINY amounts. One spray max. And since you are sensitive to scents avoid your neck and just go behind the ears (if she wants to tell you a secret...) and your wrists (girls like smelling our hands, don't ask me why) so you're not immersing yourself in a cloud of evaporating alcohol. I too am sensitive to the citrus blast of most of the new "aquatic" or "fresh" colognes that seem to be saturating the market right now. But instead of my nose it is my eyes that burn.
I may get laughed off the thread but plain old $5 old spice classic (borrowed from my dad in my younger days), applied in miniscule amounts, always got the "you smell so good" from girls. Yes, it may remind you of your grandpa, great grandpa, and great great grandpa, and yes, it may remind the girls of that too, but it also brings up a subconsious feeling of safety and security in the girls too because grandpa always wore it. You want to evoke that feeling in girls.
Remember too that your hormones are doing crazy things right now and will effect your skin chemistry greatly. I would bet you if you wore the same scent everyday for a week your mom and friends would swear you are wearing a different cologne each time. Something that is foul and awful today (think test day) may smell fabulous in a few days (think saturday night). It could also be recommended you avoid fragrances all together and save the colognes for special days or occasions. Just having your clean well groomed natural scent will also stand out from the other guys saturated with ADG fronting around like peacocks crying "notice me."
I can not stress enough to use tiny amounts of frangrances. You are young, your matabolism is high, and you are probably physically active. All of that makes you run 'hotter' and the fragrances will project far more then flabby desk jockeys like myself.

And if you REALLY want to get the girls. Learn the guitar!!!

Did you seriously just suggest him that? LOL

Try out Guess Suede, Bvlgari Aqua and maybe Zegna Z. Allure Homme Sport if you're getting ballsy.

L'eau Serge Lutens?!

Matahari, I'm a high school student too, and i strongly suggest you check out this stuff here:

Nothing but compliments from the girls. It might be a little strong but I'm pretty desensitized to it because I wear it almost every day :P. I do one spray to the neck and two to the chest or shirt (depending on how I'm feeling) and I'm good all day. There is a little grapefruit and licorice smell in the beginning, which gives way to possibly the best heart and base I've ever smelled, consisting of sweet raspberry and woodyness. Recommended!

LOL! My husband is a professional guitarist -- he started playing in high school specifically to get the girls, and according to him it worked like gangbusters.

Matahari, welcome. (What a username! Tell us about it!)

Rule One for the budding perfumisto: wear what you like and try not to go with the masses. Avoid gender and age labels. Wear what pleases your nose.

Rule Two: sample first, esp. if your mother is buying your scents.

I suggest you try Guerlain's Habit Rouge if you can. It's a light citrus in the eau de toilette (and can be bought online at discount) but with a touch of leather. I would say it would be unique on a young man. Not like all those aquatics out there.

Also try Versace The Dreamer. Wait for the alcohol to dry off...then it's a wonderful light tobacco scent.

If you like the Terre d'Hermes, wear it and be happy. Fashion trendsetting means not wearing what every high school or college young man is wearing.

It sounds like you have supportive parents who encourage your grooming and use of scent. Years ago...my mother's perfume and my father's shaving ritual trained me to love perfume.

Matahari -

You've gotten a lot of intersting adivce and I see you've enlisted your mom, which I think is a good thing. A thoughtful girl your age can give invaluable help too.

1) You won't attract any girls you will really want to attract through scent although every marketing goon from the personal grooming companies want you to think so. Girls who you really want to attract will be attracted to you for who you are. And, the attraction, for any lasting relationship, has to be mutual. An important, and for some very hard, lesson to learn in life is that attraction by one party only is doomed to be, at best, a friendship or friendly acquiantance. Friendships and friendly acquaintances are very important in life too, so don't be discouraged by finding that most of your attractions turn out to be them. Enjoy them for what they are. For an adult, almost all relationships are of this type. Over time, very few are deeply romantic and in a committed or marriage relationship its healthy that only one be deeply romantic.

2) Girls and women are people and human beings with thoughts, feelings, fears and emotions just like you except female. If you help them feel secure and comfortable, they will be more open with you. If you find out what they like, what makes them happy, feel good about themselves and enjoy life, and you make those a priority, assuming you like and are happy with those things too, you will find them wanting to be with you and you with them. A scent you both enjoy is a nice pleasantry for them and you. Even though it can't create what is not already there, it can help make for pleasant ambience between the two of you as you enjoy each other's company.

3) Scents are one of, if not the very, strongest link to emotions linked to memories in the human brain. A scent may not resurrect a specific memory of an event that occurred while smelling it, but it will always resurrect the positive and/or negative emotions being felt at the time it was smelled in the past. These memory links last a lifetime and are incredibly strong. If other boys are dousing themselves with some scent (e.g. AXE) and approaching girls obnoxiously, then wearing the same scent will resurrect in girls the negative emotions they felt in the past whenever they smelled it. Alternatively, if a scent is linked to very positive emotions from positive memories, then wearing it will resurrect them again. I can't stress enough how strong these links are and how important they are to the scents you wear. If you don't believe it, just go into a beauty supply store with your mom and get a whif of Pinaud Clubman talc, the most ubiquitous barber shop talc and scent in the USA. If you and/or she have ever been in a barber shop or around someone who just got a haircut in one, it will immediately resurrect all the emotions and lots of memories tied to that.

4) Because of 3 above, as one earlier poster wrote, try to find something that works well with you, is pleasant for the girls and is not what everyone else is wearing. You don't want to resurrect emotions tied to some other boys, especially negative ones. You want to build positive memories and emotions unique to you that you want your unique scent to resurrect.

5) When I was in high school, all the boys were wearing Hai Karate (a Pfizer created and mass marketed stench), Jade East (a mass marketed smell by Swank, a mens cuff link and tie clasp maker, almost as bad as Hai Karate) and some others. The current Axe commercials remind me very much of the Hai Karate commercials in the late 1960s. All the advertising promoted them as bringing females swarming to one's body, which was a complete load of bull dung. I personally didn't like them. Some wore English Leather, Brut and British Sterling, standard common and somewhat older scents that were far better than Hai Karate or Jade East. For awhile, I wore English Leather (the original by Mem before Dana) and my identical twin wore Brut (Fabergé). They were OK and wore well on us, but were definitely not unique. No one wore Old Spice, Aqua Velva, Skin Bracer or whatever else their dads were wearing after they shaved. It evoked a lot of "dad" memories. Then I tried Equipage from Hermes. It was very expensive. It was very uncommon and very hard to find. I found it only at one very high-end department store and paid a fortune for it. But, the least important aspect was its expense although that was painful. It worked well on my skin and body chemistry. Most importantly, I liked it, girlfriends/women liked it and other guys weren't wearing it, just me. It is still, 36 years later, expensive ($100/100ml), uncommon and hard to find. It is still my absolute first choice for wearing around women and building positive memories. Lots of other guys are still not wearing it. I'm not suggesting it for you, although you can try it if you want. It's just an example of something that worked very very well for me. If you can find something that wears well on you, is pleasant to you and other girls, and not being worn by every other guy, you will have found something very valuable to you that may last your lifetime. Hopefully it will also be affordable at the same time.

6) Don't discount some of the old standard scents that are not the current rage amongst your friends or your girl friend's dads standards. They have been around for a very long time for a reason. They are just generally good and often relatively inexpensive. If you can find one of these that works well on your skin, is pleasant to you and girl friends, is not a "dad" or "old fogey" scent and is not like what every other guy your age is wearing, then try it for awhile.

7) By the way, I don't wear the Equipage every day. I wear it on special occaisions. I more frequently wear some of the oldest US standards which are Clubman (Pinaud), Clubman Special Reserve (Pinaud), Clubman Virgin Island Bay Rum (Pinaud) and Canoé (Dana). Clubman is the most common barber shop scent in the USA. Bay Rum in some form or another was probably the most common barber shop scent in my grandfather's day. All the Pinaud scents (except the the Lilac Vegetal that I don't recommend to anyone!!!) are very inexpensive and reasonable quality for their price. At 57 yrs old, I can wear Clubman Special Reserve or Clubman Virgin Bay Rum because they work well on my skin, my peers are not wearing them, they've stood the test of time and most people find them pleasant. If I want to smell like I just got a haircut, I can wear plain Clubman. I do that occaisionally just to be different. Canoé has been around since 1936 and is a venerable standard. It is just all around nice and inexpensive. It's not as common today as maybe 20 or 30 years ago. If you've never smelled these, you might be curious just to see what some of the old standards are like although you will probably not want them for yourself. These are just examples to show that whatever you do doesn't have to be the latest scent or an expensive one and that you don't need to have just one. A useful strategy is to have something pleasant for most days and occaisions that is still not all that common and then something really nice and unique that you reserve for special occaisions. Reserving something for special occaisions will create really nice scent memories (see item 3 above) for you and whoever you share them with. You will want ones that works well on your skin, in your age group and amongst your peers.

Best of Luck!

Colossal first post made me laugh

Maybe Molinard's Ambre could appeal to you... it's excellent price-value. I own it and enjoy it from times to times.

Good! Laughing is very good for people!

And it was colossal.

:-)

A lot of this depends on what exactly you're going for here, are you just looking to get girls and not really caring about what path you take? If so, don't go beyond AdG or Fierce. To a high school girl's nose, this stuff is pure sex and will likely win you compliments galore. The problem is, you'll smell like many other guys in your school and you won't stand out from them in that regard. Those compliments won't be the 'Oh! That smells great! What is that you're wearing?' type of compliments that will make the girls remember you.

If you're willing to take the other path and wear something that you very much enjoy and that is a little more unique, but not too out there that the girls will all go 'WTF?', I think you'll find it more satisfying. High school girls noses, as has been stated already, usually aren't very well developed to notice certain scents, and often only go for basic scents they know already - the 'fresh' of AdG, or the basic sweet spice of Fierce. I'd recommend trying Allure Sport, it's a solid fragrance that will appeal to high school girls, but isn't the most common amongst high school guys. Euphoria from Calvin Klein would be another good one, with it's sweet peppery smell, the only problem being the longevity is lacking. If you want to go a little more daring, Polo Double Black might be worth looking into, it's a little weird, but it's a mixture of fruity notes and some coffee. You could even look into Eternity or CK One since these haven't been staple high school scents for many many years, and I've found that Eternity has a slightly similar basenote to Fierce that's noticeable. There are certainly more to look at, these are just a few, but I cannot stress this too much - if you want to go this route, more unique and memorable, DO NOT go anywhere near AdG or Fierce! You will just be good smelling high school boy #263 in the heads of the girls around you.

Ultimately, it's your personality that's going to win the girls over and make them remember you. That's where uniqueness matters most. Your scent is just an ancillary benefit that's going to draw them closer and be one more thing for a girl to remember you by. I'd definitely recommend going the second route and finding something more memorable that girls will connect to you when they smell it or think of it. Get it in their heads, along with a great, confident personality, and you've got them in the palm of your hand.

@matahari -

A not so colossal second post!

I believe everything you describe is perfectly normal.

1) At 15 your body is still changing, especially with hormones. They will radically affect your senses and body chemistry. Your senses are undergoing a radical change and reactions to fragrances and taste will likely change with it. It's too easy for those of us where 15 is a memory to forget just how much changed, especially with body chemistry and senses of taste, touch and smell between 12 and 21.

2) I believe horrible and bad may not be useful ways of looking at your reactions. I think seeing preferences as like, dislike and want different may be more useful. Just as with feelings, there is no right or wrong with preferences, likes and dislikes. There is what you, your mom and your girlfriends feel, like and dislike and your and their preferences.

I suggest that you try applying this as perspective change about yourself and others to all of your life. Most of life is feelings and preferences and have no rights and wrongs. Very little of life is legal and moral right and wrong and the parts that are are very important. Sadly, many people never learn this and it took me decades, but you're young and now would be a really great time! Your mom sounds helpful, ask her about this.

3) I believe there is great wisdom in not wanting to travel with the crowd of guys and especially smell like someone's ex-boyfriend or other person with which they had a bad experience. In the brain, odors are very strongly linked to emotions tied to memories and can bring the emotions back instantly even if the related cognitive memory is not brought back. Hence, your reaction to your grandfathers signature Brut. BTW, if you ever get past that, you might want to revisit it sometime. It has stood a very long test of time for good reasons.

4) There are a lot of suggestions earlier in the post. Again, I'll suggest seeing if you can get a sample of Equipage by Hermès and see what you think about it. Run it by your mom and girlfriends. It's sometimes categorized as an oriental/spice. Its fairly complex and morphs some as its worn. It was created for Hermès by a couple of the very best perfumers in the business. There are other posts about it on the forum and, because of its longevity, sometimes relegated to an old man's fragrance. I disagree. Women much younger than me comment on it, including two since my last post. My experience is that it's universally liked and invariably unique to me. I wore it as a young man around young women and they loved it. It's expensive and usually only found at an Hermès store. I can just about guarantee no one else you know or your girlfriends know have experienced it.

Good Luck!
jim

Dolce & Gabbana light blue -

try armani attitude extreme no one at 15 years of age wears this

this is for you

Even Fierce?!
That stuff was ubiquitous at my high school. Eek.

You definitely have to try some fragrances on your skin and not on a scent strip. When i smell lots of colognes in a short amount of time on a scent strip, it makes me dizzy, and you can't really get a good sense of the fragrance. If you are looking for wood scents, armani code is actually okay (i have it), and i think you could learn to really appreciate it. Just do not go to the mall and try tons of fragrances at once. I have made this mistake. Try just smelling the cap or sprayer, and maybe spray it on your skin. You will find someting you like.

Stay in the fresh/clean or light gourmand area, lots of good comments on here to help you out. Your nose will get better and better if you keep training it, you can definitely work on and develop your sense of smell.

You don't want to leave a massive scent trail in High School that will just end up hurting you or video's of "way way too much cologne wearer" commercial will start popping up.

Smell good up close and clean, and attitude will draw in girls more than smell. Act positive, upbeat and happy and girls will be drawn to it. People in general are drawn to other happy people!

One last thing, try to enjoy it! High School good or bad will be etched in your memory forever. Good luck.