Help me build a Bond No. 9 Wardrobe

This will be my first and hopefully last thread on basenotes (any future posts would only be on this thread as well it would seem)

First about myself

I'm a 20 year old male student in New Zealand. I started getting into this addictive hobby a couple of months ago. I have come to realize that this journey is infinite and never ending. I have experienced and learnt so many new things which I am grateful for and dont regret anything so far. I want to stop where I am because I realize what I want out of this: basically people to tell me I smell good and for something to complete the image I want to convey of my personality. I do not see myself as a collector because I simply cannot afford it and it won't align ethically with my views about materialism etc

The brief is I want 5-10 Bond No. 9 fragrances. The 10 is an absolute max and I think the job can be done in much less with suggestions hovering around 5. The reason I want Bonds boils down to a few key factors for me: i) the bottles look stunning ii) consistent great projection and longevity iii) a lot of breadth in its ranges compared to other houses (ie I can't envisage having wardrobe of just Serge Lutens and being happy)

I know some people will grumble that I'm doing this or only choosing Bondsbut please understand where I'm coming from, I only want this to supplement other aims also aesthetics and simplicity are very important for me in life (ie I aim to have as few possessions as is conceivable but still to treasure and love what I do own, hiding fragrances does not align with this because I can conceive satisfaction in seeing my few bottles sitting pretty). I know that with this brief I might not be getting the best aquatic, or best gourmand but the sacrifice I'm willing to make because of other factors

I want a wardrobe with variety and that fits into most conceivable scenarios. I would think all the seasons should be covered and that can easily be done. Also all occasions (black tie, daily wear etc) but also want to have this variety with as few bottles as possible. There is room for some obscure inclusions such as Fire Island if they can be justified

It would probably be worth buying 100mls of everything but am open to the idea of 50mls, regardless I'm getting consistent sizes of everything

I also don't want too many bottles because I actually don't wear fragrance every day. If I'm sick or pulling an all nighter and look disgusting or if I'm at home for the weekend I might end up wearing scent four days in a week for example. I will only scent up if there is a reasonable opportunity someone other than family will think I smell good

I'll probably buy 300mls of Thierry Mugler cologne as a comfort frag for home/bed/weekend or when I don't want to smell scenty

Also I want the entire spend to be between $1k-2kNZD and last me about five years (I did the calculations)

Lastly I'm not really that averse to the idea of wearing the same frag almost constantly for a season eg Chez Bond with occasional changes for variation. I dot really get bored with stuff that smells good (I still am not bored of Cool Water)


Ok onto suggestions


I'm thinking Chez Bond as an almost everyday frag for Spring will come up

Winter might be difficult because I don't know of any dark Bonds but New Haarlem will suit though

I've gotten to know the following frags so far all of which will be sold before I have this wardrobe

Joop! - really liked this, even though its "pink" juice it feels warm and floral sort of to avoid being cloying as I thought others were
Pi and Le Male - thought both of these were way too sweet, coming to realize I don't like vanilla much
Cool Water - great compliment getter and enjoyed this. Hope to upgrade to Chez Bond
Giorgio for Men - smelt rubbery to me, for challenging masculine scents I much preferred Knize Ten
Kouros - starting to really like this, but can never wear this or anything like this in public and since I'm not a collector this is a no-go since I can never buy frags just for personal enjoyment
Blue Jeans - pretty boring unfortunately
The Dreamer - my favourite, love this for a night out

Also I'll sample everything from what has been suggested but more to confirm what my expectations are rather than to explore scent

Removed

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Wow this got really weird can the mods delete all the unnecessary edits above, still trying to learn how these forums work

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Could you classify these just so I can know what bases are covered? Either by main note or group would be fine

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Could you classify these just so I can know what bases are covered? Either by main note or group would be fine

Thanks for all the responses guys! Ive taken it all into account, for anyone who's interested here's what I'm going to do

The first three fragrances I've decided to get are as follows. I like that these can cover any scenario I might need and any occasion. I would actually be really happy even if I just had these to use for the next few years. In order of preference

1) Silver Factory. Winter. Daily and formal. One of my earliest olfactory memories is incense at this temple, also have loved the smell of incense even before getting into perfumes. This fragrance in particular has also got really good reviews and sounds quite unique

2) Chez Bond. Any wardrobe I think needs a fragrance that you can choose when you don't know what else to wear, this I think is what this can do best. Crucial for me that this can act as a formal fragrance in the summer. I saw this kind of competing with Bleecker Street because they are both similarly acclaimed and I would wear them for the same purposes. In the end I chose Chez Bond because I don't really see the point of a niche aquatic

3) Coney Island. Summer. Daily. I decided to go with this over Riverside Drive and Wall Street. Here in New Zealand you're never more than 40kms away from the beach/ocean or lake. I would want something that encapsulates that idea of being near the water and relaxing on a warm night. I also don't like my fragrances to be subtle or boring because I'm young and wouldn't see the point (why I don't want Riverside Drive) and too many reviewers have problems with Wall Street


With these three decided I had some slots to play around with so I chose


4) Chinatown. Not suggested but I find myself really drawn to this. The description sounds so sexy and this could be ideal as a unique clubbing scent or going out. I also see this as versatile seasonally

5) H.O.T. Always. Lastly wanted something challenging to balance out all the straightforward sweetness above. I probably would imagine this as a winter daily or summer evening but mostly I think I need this because some items of clothing (leather jackets, black/dark hues, coats) just wouldn't work well with sweet fragrances


Hoping to get about five years from all of these combined. I think I might be open to some of the more novelty type scents (New Haarlem {some people look to this as a must have but because it's a gourmand I still view it as hard-to-wear/superfluous}, Little Italy, Fire Island in the 50mls maybe over time

So long everyone, blind buying NZ$1084.05 worth of perfume in 3,2,1..

Hey Baldini

Manhattan certainly looked interesting but there a few reasons why I didn't purchase

1) simply not enough information about it, there isn't even a basenotes listing. As a result I barely know what it is about, what I do know just wasn't convincing enough. Some have said there is oud in this? Isnt that an acquired taste?

2) it's a new release so I can't find it online at fragrance net or fragrancex. I have no choice but go to the Bond website and pay $270US plus 45 for shipping, I got all the others for between 175-200 NZD from fragrancenet after their 15% off thing today and those are almost half the price includes shipping


Could you tell me a bit more about why it is so desirable? I had set a limit of ten after all

My friend is going to be in Harrods London next week. I'll try and get him to get a Bon Bon sample and if I like it I'll wait for the fragrance to hit discounters

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I was originally going to do this until I realised that Bond has great scents for winter time as well

As far as the pure aesthetic value of how these frags are going to appear displayed its hard for me to look past the idea of having all the same shape and size bottles lined up against each other. If I was to have a couple of Amouages, Creeds, By Kilian etc I just don't think it will look as striking. In which case I would strike the idea of house reliance and go purely on the strength of the juice and line my wardrobe accordingly

I know this may come across as pedantic to some (and rightfully so) but I don't see why not to do this because Bond really does look like the one house on Basenotes with the most variety and reasonably high quality

Given I don't want to spend the kind of money I would need to to be a collector and given I would be happy with not many frags all of which I should (hopefully) love I think my approach should work out