What would a general, all purpose ten fragrance collection look like...

Sycomore - smoky vetiver
Muscs Koublai Khan - floral musk
Vetiver Extraordinaire - all vetiver
Egoiste - spicy wood
Antaeus - powerhouse
M7 - Mossy oud
Azzaro pour Homme - fougere king
Rive Gauche pour Homme - barbershop
Aramis - classic
Millesime Imperial - light + pretty

What did you get?

Welcome!
As usual, suggestions will change depending on budget, but to start. Regular price, non-niche:
Dior Homme (gourmand; good for most occasions)
Lush Breath of God (smoky vetiver, avant-garde; good for more casual/fresh weather)
Bulgari Black (plush rubbery; for evening, going out, perhaps even work)
Chanel Egoiste (smooth sandalwoody, warm, elegant, general purpose)
Tom Ford Grey Vetiver or Guerlain Vetiver (fresh, for hot weather)

Niche (usually, but not always, more expensive)
Knize Ten (reference leather; for cold weather or formal occasions)
Caron Yatagan (vegetal woody, very masculine; all purpose). Knize Ten and Yatagan are relatively cheap.
CDG2 Man (lemony incensy; avantgarde, casual or work, especially summer).
Malle Vetiver extraordinaire (very fresh vetiver, for summer) or Sycomore (smoky vetiver; also fresh but more formal)
Muscs Koublai Khan or Kurkdjian Absolue pour le soir (dirty musks; for evening and bedroom)
Amouage Gold Man (enormous floral incense; for very formal occasions and big evenings)

cacio

Yes, but you asked a great question for all of us beginners. As far as I can tell selecting the warming scents seems to be easier than getting the summer wear right.

YSL L'homme is great for all seasons and day and night.

I would suggest that right off the bat you dont buy into the notion that you have to wear different frags at certain times of the year, or save them for days or nights, or the beach, or black tie events, or cross country skiing.

Just start out reading about things that sound interesting and sampling them if you can when ever you go out shopping. Since you live in a world class city you are lucky to have access to every fragrance talked about on this site. Have fun!

Try Chanel Egoiste, Tiffany for Men, Rive Gauche pour Homme, Azzaro pour Homme. Creed Green Irish Tweed and Millesime Imperial.

If I had to limit myself to 5 all purpose fragrances, mine would be:

Gengis Khan
Siecle
Gatsby
Balafre
Formidable

Welcome Dave!

If you have a budget, it would be helpful if you would list it so we can make recommendations that you can (or are willing to) afford. If money is no object, then see my top 10 in my signature.

Price doesn't correlate well with quality, but still, most niche and parfum concentrations are very expensive, so in general one has to spend some money. I'd say $100/bottle is probably the minimum for most niche (bottles can vary in size though).

Some of the excellent mainstream suggestions above can be had very cheaply (especially at places like TJ Maxx, Marshalls et, where however you cannot smell). My favorite cheapies are some perfume sticks by Lush (Breath of God, Dirty), which go for about $15, and Stetson original (floral oriental).

cacio

Aaaaah, another list . . . like a moth to a flame. I'm also in my 50s, not that it really matters, but then again it might. Some personal favourites, probably leaning more to the conservative side:

Colonia (Acqua di Parma) or Eau de Guerlain for a bright citrus EDC.
Caron Pour Homme. It's a classic lavender to splash on with a twist.
Bleu de Chanel. Yes, you will have 'smelled it before', but in terms of executing a simple idea very, very well, Chanel have nailed it. All purpose summer vibe. Green Irish Tweed is another option.
Granville (Dior) if you can find a Dior flagship store selling the Private Collection line. Herbal, piney, garrigue. Uomo by Lorenzo Villoresi is not a million miles away in intent but not so easy to find.
Guerlain Vetiver is a classic, I actually quite like the new Dior.
Derby (Guerlain) probably one of the best out there - just read the reviews, nothing I can add. With the new packaging it may become more readily available.
Tiffany for Men, a classic, dressy but understated oriental, or shoot for L'Air du Desert Morocain from Andy Tauer for something modern.
Check out one of the CdG Incense Series - Avignon or Kyoto, or maybe Timbuktu from L'Artisan.
Try Habit Rouge (Guerlain) if you can for something a bit different as well.

Just try as many as you can - Guerlain and Frederic Malle are good lines to start with. Happy hunting!

Certainly I understand that if you can find inexpensive gems that also happen to cater to your tastes that would be more desirable (I agree)...

My "money is no object list" remains in my signature below, but just for reference, I posted this list of ten scents that were more "affordable" and I'll throw in one more for good measure (in this case under $100 a bottle, although not all are 100ml bottles) in another thread... Some of the same scents that are on my "money is no object" list are found here as well...

Terre d'Hermes (Hermes) about $80 or less online for 100ml bottle of the edt
Cologne du Parfumeur (Guerlain) retails for $98 for a 100ml bottle at Saks Fifth Ave.
Giorgio for Men (Giorgio Beverly Hills) $25 or less online for a 118ml bottle (this one wins my "best bang for your buck" award)
New York (Parfums de Nicolai) $45 for a 30ml bottle at luckyscent.com
Colonia (Acqua di Parma) approximately $85 for a 50ml bottle online
Fahrenheit (Dior) $50 or less for a 50ml or $70 for a 100ml bottle online
Tiffany for Men (Tiffany) $60 for a 50ml or $95 for a 100ml bottle direct from Tiffany.com
Comme des Garçons 2 (CdG) $95 for a 50ml bottle at luckyscent.com
Rochas Man (Rochas) approximately $30 for a 50ml bottle or $45 for a 100ml online
Knize Ten $70 for a 50ml bottle at luckyscent.com
Encre Noir (Lalique) approximately $45 for a 100ml bottle online

Luckyscent.com sells inexpensive samples of almost all the scents they sell. All the designer scents can be sampled for free in retail stores (or cheap eBay samples are available for all of them).

Good luck!

I second cacio's Lush perfume recommendation. I love their Orange Blossom, Vanillary, Breath of God, Dirty and 1000 Kisses. As you are from the barren land of Toronto, there aren't many places to look for niche fragrances, sadly!! I just bought samples from the Perfumed Court though (website that sells decants), and I find that is a good way to try a lot of things at once.

All purpose is usually something that can be distilled down to one or two frags. Bois du Portugal by Creed is one that comes to mind on the expensive end. Pierre Cardin Pour Monsieur is another, on the cheap (but still high quality) side. Why not get one for special occasions and the other for everyday life?

No prob I look forward to hearing your reviews.

Fahrenheit by Christian Dior - distinctively beautiful
Sel Marin by Heeley - seaside illusion
Black Tourmaline by Olivier Durbano - mysterious and intense
Sycomore by Chanel - elegance
Absolue Pour le Soir by Maison Francis Kurkdjian - arousing and seductive
Derring-Do for Men by Ineke - rainwater freshness
Antidote by Viktor & Rolf - one-stop wonder
Bulgari pour Homme Soir by Bulgari - classy tea
Bleu de Chanel by Chanel - pleasantly refreshing
Fumerie Turque by Serge Lutens - captivating tobacco

Gucci Pour Homme II -relaxing year round tea scent
Chanel Allure Homme - classy/warm/slightly complex cool weather
Chanel Allure Homme Sport - fresh/likeable warm weather scent
Dior Homme - smooth/light classy coco
Creed Green Irish Tweed - fresh spring
Dior Fahrenheit - slightly dirty/outgoing
Burburry London - holiday season scent
Boss #6 - comforting
JPG Le Male - loud/obnouxious
YSL La Nuit de L'homme - pleasant/cooler weather

Lots of great suggestions already, but I can't resist ...

Habit Rouge EDT - bright, sweet, oriental (also the best men's fragrance ever made - all hail JP Guerlain! )
Egoïste - warm, as Red put it somewhere "roses in a sandalwood box"
Rive Gauche - clean, grassy (sort of)
Dior Homme - iris ... gorgeous
Acqua di Parma Colonia - citrusy barbershop, my wife goes crazy for this stuff
Jicky EDP - slightly skanky lavender and vanilla, simple, but sexy as a mofo
Knize Ten - leather. James Dean wore it. Badass
Rochas Man - a good, cheap, easy to like gourmand. Or A*Men - better but less likeable
New York, by Parfums de Nicolaï - its just good. Orange trees, moss, amber ... Hell, I don't know, but I love it. "Empire State of Mind" by Alicia Keys gets stuck in my head all day when I wear it, but thats ok.
Ambre Sultan - gotta have a straight-up amber, and this is the best of them. Amber with a very nice herbal blast in the beginning.

Most of those are under $100.

I am new too so I can't recommend 10 but here are a few.

Like others have said, and I will second this...

Fahrenheit
Aqua Di Gio
Green Irish Tweed
Burberry London

&

I haven't heard this one mentioned - Polo (original green bottle and gold cap). This stuff smells like a pine forest x10. I'm 24 and I love it and think I pull it off well, but an older gent such as yourself should settle in real nicely with it if you like it that is.

This is a great thread (going to tell hubby to look at this one...). Does anyone have recommendations for female fragrances answering the same question? What would an all-purpose ten fragrance collection for women look like that covers all the bases?

As a fellow beginner - I have listed a strictly designer top 10 without any craziness that could be hard to handle (until your nose has developed a bit more).

Fahrenheit
Boss Bottled
L'Instant De Guerlain Pour Homme
Green Irish Tweed
Aventus
Rive Gauche
Azzaro Pour Homme
Dior Homme Sport
Chanel Allure Homme
Burberry London

Great suggestions everyone, especially on vetivers, that helps me a lot!

My short list:

Dior Homme- very elegant, just such a great starter gourmand
Comme des Garcon 2 Man- a quintessential and almost stereotypical wood, with incense and candle wax
Green Irish Tweed- great blue oxford type of citrus with verbana
Burberry London- great winter scent, no brainer
Egoiste- unique, a little spicy, floral, all purpose, another no brainer and probably as close to a full-on floral as a starter collection needs imo
Sycomore- to me this is the most wearable and pleasant vetiver, since I'm just not a vetiver person
L'Air du desert Marocain- a dryer earth, I'd take this over Terre
Pure Havane- the A*Mens to me are the most unique fragrances period
Black Aoud- it's gotta be a Montale Aoud
Musc Ravageur or Dzing- I'm DEFINITELY not a musc person but if you are try one of these

You should really ask this one in the Female fragrance forum - I think many of the Basenotes goddess/gurus don't venture into the JSO forum regularly. If you start the thread there, the mods may move it here, but I think it will leave a link so the ladies can see it and respond.

Masculines are a pretty small world compared to feminines. I don't think there's any way to cover all the bases with 10 feminine fragrances for women. You can't really do it for men either, but at least you can entertain the idea.

Couldn't agree with this more....many people get caught up in this fragrance is a summer scent, this fragrance is a winter scent. It's all about application.

May I add Boss Bottled to the list of fragrances, that are good year round. 2 sprays in spring/summer....4 in winter/fall.