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Help me expand my cologne collection

post #1 of 23
1/23/13 at 3:11pm
Thread Starter 
I currently own:
  • Creed Original Santal
  • Polo Double Black
  • Jake by Hollister
  • L.A.


I love Original Santal.
I love Jake, its a great clean beach California scent
L.A. is okay, not a bad scent
Polo Double Black. I dunno. I like the way it smells on other guys, but for some reason I find myself almost never wearing it. I think after a couple hours it starts smelling a bit like "body odor" on me so I usually avoid it.

In the past I've owned Green Irish Tweed (awesome scent) and Tabasome Millesime (awesome scent)


So, what should I add to my collection? I might be in the mood for something high-end and non-Creed, price not an object...
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post #2 of 23
1/23/13 at 3:47pm
Try something from Guerlain - L'Instant de Guerlain Extreme, Heritage, Cologne du 68 (if you can find it) are all great scents, as are many of their others.

If you want to spend a bit more, sample some of the Tom Ford private blends. Noir de Noir, Tobacco Vanille and Tuscan Leather are favourites.

If you can pull off more unisex fragrances and like warm orientals, you really can't beat Serge Lutens. My favourites are Santal Majuscule, Chergui and Feminite do Bois.
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post #3 of 23
1/23/13 at 4:26pm
Dior Homme Intense would be a nice one.
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post #4 of 23
1/23/13 at 4:59pm
Id suggest a summer/daytime fragrance. Depending on your budget, i would suggest nautica voyage or cool water for lower priced, issey miyake l'eau d'issey, acqua di gio, bulgari aqua for mid priced frags, and chanel allure homme sport or edition blanche for more expensive ones. Good luck and happy hunting
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post #5 of 23
1/23/13 at 5:17pm
Diptyque L'Ombre Dans l'Eau
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post #6 of 23
1/23/13 at 7:06pm
For a traditional twist, try Penhaligons Douro.
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post #7 of 23
1/23/13 at 8:12pm
Clive Christian No. 1 Pure Parfum
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post #8 of 23
1/23/13 at 8:36pm
Everyone is offering great suggestions.

I certainly think you should sample before buying. It will get more expensive as your tastes evolve and gain influence from the Basenotes Thinktank. Try NOT to blind buy early on.

Some would say that buying samples is expensive. Yes it is. It's more expensive to accumulate full bottles of frags that you either don't like or get bored with early.

Go to places like Perfumania or Sephora and other Dept Store and start testing.

You can get FREE samples just buying sending away. You might have to pay shipping. THere are threads on getting free samples. Look up Andy Tauer, Czech and Speake, Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle, Serge Lutens. Many others. This is a GREAT way to get introduced to some niche perfumes.

If love is found for a frag...Ebay, online splits , suggest a split if you want to buy a bottle but save a little on a split.

Good luck

Please don't blind buy, no matter the HYPE
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post #9 of 23
1/23/13 at 9:20pm
My top 5 is a good place to start...
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post #10 of 23
1/25/13 at 9:59am
Thread Starter 
Okay I ended up buying samples of almost everything mentioned here! Going crazy with samples but it's good. I found them all on this website: http://theperfumedcourt.com/~decant_page.aspx

Here's a list of what I'm ordering:

  • Guerlain L'Instant de Guerlain Eau de Parfum Size 2.5 ML - glass spray vial $7.75
  • Guerlain Cologne du 68 Size 1 ML - glass sample vial $3.00
  • Dior Homme Intense EDP Limited Edition Size 1 ML glass sample vial $4.99
  • Diptyque L'Ombre dans L'Eau Size 1 ML glass sample vial $3.00
  • Penhaligon's Douro Size 1 ML glass sample vial $4.99
  • Clive Christian No. 1 for MEN Size .5 ML glass sample bottle $15.00
  • Frederic Malle Musc Ravageur Size 1 ML glass sample vial $5.99
  • Creed Aventus EDT Size 1 ML glass sample vial $5.99
  • Serge Lutens Chergui samples - 1, 1.5 & 2.5 ml Size 1 ML glass sample vial $6.99
  • Chanel Allure Homme Edition Blanche Size 1 ML glass sample vial $3.00
  • Tom Ford Private Blend Noir de Noir Size .5 ML glass sample bottle $4.00
  • Tom Ford Private Blend Tuscan Leather Size .5 ML glass sample bottle $4.00
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post #11 of 23
2/22/13 at 9:18am
Thread Starter 
Okay, I have an update. I have to say, I'm dissappointed in most of these fragrances. I know they come highly recommended, but I felt the majority of them were very feminine and the ones that weren't, were just plain soapy smelling. My wife agrees, in fact she hated them. I don't go that far, myself, but I definitely did not like them.

As I tried each sample (on different days) it got to the point where I was wondering if the vendor had put womens' perfume in the vials by mistake. I double checked the labels just to be sure they were correct.

A couple of them actually started out with an interesting, attractive scent, but unfortunately in every case this quickly disappeared, leaving strange, not-so-good scents.

I don't know what to say. Maybe I'm not cut out for the high-end French colognes. The only one I liked was Creed Aventus, which was not suprising since I have never been disappointed in Creed. Maybe I'm just a Creed man, and that's it.

in any case, here are some of my notes:

----
tom ford "tuscan leather": soft, not strong, kind of sweet. mildly smoky. ambivalent about it. probably not.

Guerlain. cologne du 68. smells like lady's perfume.

dior homme intense. nope. feminine. odd.

Clive Christian - men's #1. no. very good smell the first few seconds, then becomes soapy and powdery

penhaligon's douro - better than the others, a little more masculine, but still not that great.

*** Creed Aventus. nice. lightly fruity. very slightly smoky. wears off quickly, otherwise a great buy
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post #12 of 23
2/22/13 at 9:54am
We have a saying in my native language - loosely translated as "What you know amounts to a pinch of sand; what you don't is infinite"...
Same with parfums - even big time collectors have many more to buy; so be prudent and buy after a lot of sample testing. This site obviously helps a lot, but again, while u can decide on a good frag and test based on reviews etc; so can u end up splurging your money based on the millions of parfums (ok not a million literally)...

As for suggestions - I'll start off with the big 3 houses - Guerlain (Instant / Mouchoir / Habit Rouge / Vetiver); Chanel (Pour Monsieur / Egoiste / Antaeus) & Dior (Fahrenheit / Eau Sauvage / Homme) - holy trinity with rgds to parfum houses IMO...
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post #13 of 23
2/22/13 at 10:16am
  • TLS
  • offline
  • Gender:
I don't like to see scents to be masculine or feminine. But I'll suggest you to try leather-based fragrances to get a more "masculine feel" or scents that are musky.

I'll suggest Knize - Knize Ten for the leather and Narciso Rodriguez EDP Musc Collection for dark musk.
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post #14 of 23
2/22/13 at 10:36am
please do share a little more on the kind of scent/ notes you like? musk, leather, citrus? maybe with that its easier to narrow the suggestions.
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post #15 of 23
2/22/13 at 11:01am
you might save money ordering samples from one of these stores next time.

www.surrendertochance.com
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post #16 of 23
2/22/13 at 4:51pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by aqcmme View Post

please do share a little more on the kind of scent/ notes you like? musk, leather, citrus? maybe with that its easier to narrow the suggestions.

Well, I don't know because I'm not sure what "musky" means. Leathery ... I don't know, I'm not sure I've actually tried a leathery scent.

What I do know is that I don't like the soapy/talcum type of scents, and I don't like sweet.
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post #17 of 23
2/22/13 at 6:43pm
I feel the same way as you about TF Tuscan Leather. I neither like nor dislike, it's just kind of there. Along this vein I will recommend a couple of leather scents that I very much like but aren't similar at all.

Naomi Goodsir Cuir Velours is a well done scent that to me smells of berry (raspberry maybe) and a high quality, creamy leather. Unisex.

The second is still what I would consider a leather scent but goes in a very different direction, Tauer Perfumes Lonestar Memories. It starts as a cowboy's campfire and turns into his saddle. Not for everybody but very masculine and interesting in my opinion. I like it.
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post #18 of 23
2/22/13 at 8:32pm
If you like Original Santal, look at New Haarlem by Bond no. 9
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post #19 of 23
2/22/13 at 8:44pm
New Haarlem is sweet
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post #20 of 23
2/23/13 at 6:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by goody2141 View Post

New Haarlem is sweet


double entendre?
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post #21 of 23
2/23/13 at 6:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mwtzzz View Post

Well, I don't know because I'm not sure what "musky" means. Leathery ... I don't know, I'm not sure I've actually tried a leathery scent.

What I do know is that I don't like the soapy/talcum type of scents, and I don't like sweet.

Its seems like you prefer to stay away from the 'feminine' scent, and you like Aventus. Maybe you would like to stay with Creed, else you can try some old school alpha male cologne; think Aramis or in that line.
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post #22 of 23
2/23/13 at 9:42am
  • TLS
  • offline
  • Gender:
Quote:
Originally Posted by TLS View Post

I don't like to see scents to be masculine or feminine. But I'll suggest you to try leather-based fragrances to get a more "masculine feel" or scents that are musky.

I'll suggest Knize - Knize Ten for the leather and Narciso Rodriguez EDP Musc Collection for dark musk.

This!!!
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post #23 of 23
2/24/13 at 7:29pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for all the new suggestions, everyone. And thanks to the person who provided links for discount samples. I'll be sure to order some new ones.

By the way, I recently bought Chanel Bleu and really love it and have gotten nice compliments on it. Not the "luxury, high end" cologne I was looking for, but a great cologne nonetheless.
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