Fierce vs. Fuel for Life vs. Cool Water vs. Jake (Best Bang for the Buck)

Hey guys, a little background here: http://www.basenotes.net/threads/250...igh-School-Boy

I'm 16 and looking for a moderately priced fragrance that will BOTH appeal to me and girls my age range. If you read the thread I linked above, you can sense my preferences a bit but just to summarize, so far I really like woods. I love my bottle of Terre D' Hermes, I even like my dad's powerhouse Van Cleef pour Homme which most guys my age would be afraid to touch. Unfortunately, these types of fragrances do not generally appeal to girls in my age group. I never seem to get any compliments from either and they tend to draw the weirdest comments.

I dislike synthetic aquatics. They all smell roughly the same to me and tend to irritate my nose. I also dislike heavy gourmands like Le Male or A*Men. Those do not necessarily smell "bad" but rather just weird, warm and sweaty. I'm not sure if you guys understand where I'm coming from but that's how gourmands feel like to me. Maybe I'll learn to appreciate them in time.

Despite my general dislike of aquatics, I'm looking into Cool Water because I heard it was like the "AK-47" of colognes. People say that it's basically a GIT clone so I'm expecting more natural notes in comparison to say.. Versace Man Eau Fraiche which gave me a headache on first sniff. General consensus states it's very popular among the ladies and its price really appeals to me.

The one cologne that really looks good on paper in my eyes in Diesel's Fuel for Life. For whatever reason, when I look at its notes I imagine a raspberry version of Terre D' Hermes which I really love. It's certainly marketed towards my age group, I'm just iffy on it's appeal. From my experience, girls tend to like more citrusy and/or aquatic fragrances like Abercrombie Fierce. I'm not sure how they will react to this raspberry/woods concoction.

Good longevity and sillage is a must for me. I don't like my scents sticking too close to the skin (like Armani Code), I like it to project a little bit. Colognes do not generally last long on my skin so I tend to look for stronger fragrances, even three sprays of Terre D' Hermes (1 neck, 2 chest) can stick really close to my skin after only 1 hour.

I have $60 right now, I'm looking to buy either Fierce, Cool Water, Fuel for Life, or Hollister Jake. Fierce would have been a front runner had it not been for it's ridiculous price tag. What do you guys think, is it worth $44 for a 1 oz bottle of this stuff?

I like Cool Water's supposed appeal and low price, I'm iffy about how I'll feel towards this aquatic though. Hopefully it will have a more green and less aquatic feel to it.

Fuel for Life is my favorite on paper but I'm not sure if the girls will like this as much as Fierce.

I'm putting Jake out there as like a wild card. I heard that longevity and sillage is kinda iffy on this one. However, I do like this scent and I know many girls do as well. Just wondering if you think it's worth the price ($30 for 1 oz)

I'm hoping that you guys could help me choose the best bang for the buck (price, scent appeal for me, scent appeal for high school girls). I've did a lot of research and received tons of recommendations. I chose these four because they're almost specifically targeted towards my age group. They're also mentioned a lot on this page: http://www.basenotes.net/threads/212...le-compliments (with the exception of Jake which I considered from personal experience).

Thanks very much for the help guys!

Does Cool Water smell like Acqua di Gio at all?

I think that Fierce might be less common that you think, reason being it's price. It's $40 for a 1 oz. bottle of this stuff, I bought my Armani Code and TdH for less. Most teenage guys with $60 would spend it on video games and other clothing items instead.

The Fierce popularity is probably more prevalent in college when guys actually start getting jobs. That being said, girls could probably tell if someone's wearing Fierce because A&F spray it all over the stores. I'm not sure if being associated with that store is a good thing.

What's prevalent in high school however are body sprays and cheaper aquatics/drug store fragrances. I know my buddy has a collection of these random body sprays from Axe/American Eagle and a bottle of Nautica Blue that always receives compliments for whatever reason. Guys don't really sample either and most never heard of Cool Water. Unless it smells similar to many run of the mill aquatics, I don't think it will smell too unoriginal.

That's just what I'm thinking right now. Like I said, I think that most guys use body sprays or cheaper, run of the mill aquatics/citruses; I know another friend that uses curve. I'm not too worried about being unoriginal as much as I am judging the quality, price, and appeal of the scent. I'm still debating if Fierce is worth the price.