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A group for members who wear old-school and powerhouse styled masculine fragrances, with emphasis on fragrances released before 1990. Powerhouse fragrances from the 70's and 80's, colognes from... » More

Colognes for Trip to US
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post #1 of 23
10/7/12 at 8:05am
Thread Starter 
Hey guys, I am planning a trip to The US for about 4 weeks in December/January. I will mainly be in Oklahoma, but may travel a little further afield. I am going to restrict the amount of cologne I carry and was thinking of taking 4 small decant bottles. I would like some advice about what to take. What would be appropriate for that time of year in Oklahoma (I am tempted to jump to the conclusion of "Chaps" by Ralph Lauren). Any advice would be appreciated.
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post #2 of 23
10/7/12 at 10:52am
Welcome to the USA Scent, too bad you will not visit the gorgeous state of California.
Bring some stuff from downunder that is unavailble in the states to show your fellow americans.
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post #3 of 23
10/8/12 at 8:28am
Expect rain and/or snow. That's the height of winter so your powerhouses are the thing to bring.
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post #4 of 23
10/8/12 at 5:18pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks, Swanky. I thought powerhouses would be the go.
I have a 1 oz of vintage Gentleman.
1Oz of Witness, so they will be probably two I will take.
I will have to decant the other two frags.
I think I will leave the Kouros here in Australia, though.
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post #5 of 23
10/8/12 at 5:58pm
Scent-e-mental@

Looking at your excellent wardrobe, I'd choose for the other two decants two out of the following four:

- Gucci ph
- Kors
- Tsar
- ODL pour lui

Personally I'd take Gucci for sure for those indoor evenings when it's cold outside; there are not much better frags for those kind of occasions than Gucci ph 2003 though Michael Kors is also excellent for those kind of occasions. Matter of taste I guess and I would probably choose these two as No. 3 and 4. Instead of Witness (which I own as well and is excellent) I would take something heavier for outside like ODLR PLui. I do not consider Givenchy Gentleman (current version) nor Witness powerhouses though; neither are
Gucci and Kors by the way. So, two for outside (Witness/Oscar?!/Givenchy) and two for inside (Gucci/Kors).

Also I would take 4 decants of 10ml each and not 30ml as u don't need that much for 4 weeks.
40ml total is enough for 28 days.
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post #6 of 23
10/9/12 at 6:08am
Thread Starter 
Bingo!
The Gucci I have is a 30ml
and Tsar is 30ml...

I won't even need to decant!!!!

I was looking at my collection before I read your post and commented to my wife, I should take the Gucci. It seems like it is meant to be.
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post #7 of 23
10/9/12 at 6:10am
Thread Starter 
BTW I have had some of the decant bottles leak a little, so would if possible prefer to take smaller bottles.
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post #8 of 23
10/9/12 at 6:42am
Place bottles in plastic sandwich bags, too. US regulations require liquids to be in bags and it helps protect luggage. Years ago I had hairspray leak and ruin a bag.
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post #9 of 23
10/9/12 at 6:43am
10ml of each is indeed enough for 28 days imo.
Why take 120 ml with you with a chance of leaking but of course I don't know if u have 10 or 15ml decants.
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post #10 of 23
10/9/12 at 4:28pm
Thread Starter 
The decant bottles I have are 10ml, I would get the travallo style ones, but frankly I would rather save the money as 4 of those would cost around $100 Aust. I just have some cheap $3 decanters I bought off ebay.
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post #11 of 23
10/9/12 at 4:34pm
Thread Starter 
BTW thanks Swanky, I didn't know that the liquids needed to be bagged.

Another question: if I buy fragrances in the States can I bring them back to Australia in by checked luggage even if the bottles are over 100ml? In other words, does the 100ml limit mean 100ml per bottle, or 100ml in total and does this only apply to carry on luggage? I will have a layover in Guangzhou China on the way there and on the way back (nearly 16 hours) I hope the fragrances will be okay and not get confiscated for some unknown reason.
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post #12 of 23
10/9/12 at 4:53pm
100 Austr. Dollars for some decants? lol
I just bought on a trip to Cologne (Germany) four 8ml decant sprayers (glass with transparent plastic in different colors surrounding it) at Douglas. They are beautiful, spray perfectly and were only €1,50 each!!

(those travalo's are more for work or a weekend away as they are only 4ml, at least here)
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post #13 of 23
10/9/12 at 5:44pm
welcome to US Scent! Bring anything you like, just make sure the frags make you cozy (Kors for example) because you can expect to spent lot of time indoors! Try any near by TJ maxx or Marshalls. You never know which discontinued/rare gem you can find on the shelves.
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post #14 of 23
10/9/12 at 6:14pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks Santino, I will definitely try to get to Those two stores. I have read so much about them being the source of rare gems.
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post #15 of 23
10/10/12 at 3:50am
Thread Starter 
P.S. today while shopping for my trip I found a couple of cheap travallo style atomisers for about $10 each. Cool! The Genuine Travallos are about $25 ea here in Aus!
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post #16 of 23
10/10/12 at 4:01am
Here you can get those Travalos (one 'l') for €5 easily but are those over there also just 4ml?
In the beginning, when just put on the market they were €9.99
I own two and they are excellent for short trips or daily re-applications!
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post #17 of 23
10/10/12 at 1:34pm
Don't quote me on this since I don't work for the TSA, but the 3 oz rule is for EACH bottle. Also, the plastic bags are required for any carry-on luggage; if you are checking all baggage it may be different. Since I live in the US, I almost exclusively carry on my bags. Check the TSA website (www.tsa.gov) for further info. Not sure what Australia's import rules might be.
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post #18 of 23
10/12/12 at 7:07am
Thread Starter 
Thanks Swanky. I will probably open whatever frags I buy, so that they are used. I don't think I will have to pay duty on them if that is the case. Slayerized, I think you are correct the Travalllostyle sprayers are about 4 or 5 ml. I put just under 80 sprays of Michael Kors into one of them, but the 10ml atomisers I have take twice that.

I might take more frags than I initially planned. I found some atomisers I had already filled. One has vintage Givenchy Gentleman, though only about 1/3 full. I have some others with concoctions I mixed up, which I have no idea what they are. Some have mixes of two or more fragrances, which I stupidly didn't label. I might top up the Givenchy Gentleman with an equal amount of reformulated GG. I will try to clean the smell out of the other atomisers, but I know that is pretty hard to do.

I am really looking forward to visiting TJ Maxx and Marshalls, are there any other places where I might likely find bargains?
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post #19 of 23
10/12/12 at 9:15am
Besides TJM and Marshall's you may try Ross. The problem with Ross is that they usually keep their fragrances inside locked up glass display shelves so you can see them but not touch them and it is a nuisance having to call a sales attendant to unlock it for you.
Another place you may try is "Big Lots!", usually they have only drugstore colognes (Aqua Velva, Brut, Old Spice) but once in a while you may find a treasure or two buried in the piles.
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post #20 of 23
10/12/12 at 9:36am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for that Perfume Collector! I am getting a good list of places to visit! Many drugstore fragrances are not available here in Australia, so I will be looking for them, especially the Pinaud range. After many years of buying perfumes for my wife, she has 'cracked'. She is now almost as interested in perfumes as me (for a long time she would politely say "thank you", but not show that much interest...I wore her down...so I will be looking for her especially.

Before heading to Oklahoma I have 12 hours to kill in Fort Worth before I catch a train, so I can just imagine me lugging around my suitcases looking for a Marshalls, Tj Maxx, Ross or any other likely place!!!
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post #21 of 23
10/14/12 at 1:57am
Thread Starter 
Well i
I can see that I am going to go over 4 fragrances!

To date I have decanted:

Michael Kors
Kouros (I said I wasn't, but I couldn't resist)
Salvador Dali pour Homme

and I am going to have to soak my other decant bottles as they have stuff in them.

I think I might also take an aromatic fougere, an oriental and possible a decant of Caron Pour un Homme
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post #22 of 23
10/28/12 at 6:14am
Thread Starter 
So I ended up decanting 8 fragrances, and frankly I am surprised by my choices, but they just seemed to be right. They are:

Kouros
Michael Kors
Givenchy Gentleman (vintage and reformulation blended)
Salvador Dali
Caron pour un Homme
Ungaro III
Lomani
and
B*Men
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post #23 of 23
10/29/12 at 6:34pm
It looks you are well equiped LOL
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