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Cologne Question

howdy y’all!

I would love your opinions and advice about some colognes I received as gifts.

Eternity by Calvin Klein

Aqua Di Gio Aftershave Lotion

Armis Life (Blue glass bottle)

D&G Light Blue

Unforgettable Sean John



I wear daily

Polo Green Aftershave and deodorant

Blue Chanel Aftershave and deodorant

Tom Ford


My question is,

Is it okay to wear just cologne instead of aftershaves ?

Which is a good scent to try?
 

Ad Astra

The Instigator
Just dive in!

Complimentary shave soap - aftershave - cologne makes for a better day, though.

Look up the notes/profiles of the new ones, and see what's in the family, then pair it.

For example, after a Tabac shave (or sandalwood soap), I sometimes splash on Clubman Special Reserve, or anything warm/leathery. Goes from there.


AA
 
yea, if I have a match then great, but when I don't, there's always Nivea balm, or else use a weak-scented aftershave splash that compliments the cologne, but fades and then after an hour or so you're left with just the cologne/EDT.
 
Hello! Looks like you've got a nice stable of scents there! My advice is to follow your nose and pair what seems to work. As far as cologne and AS go, I use aquatics with aquatics, fougeres with fougeres, and woods with woods, even if they are a bit different. I like Gillette Cool Wave with Drakkar Noir, for example. Skin Bracer works with Canoe and Jade East.

It is totally fine to use cologne without aftershave. You can use a store bought balm instead and pair the cologne with something in the same scent neighborhood. The AS usually fades fast anyway, and you'll rarely clash if you categorize them the way I suggested above.

I suggest you run, don't walk, to the cologne aisle of Walmart and get some Belcam Classic Match Polo original. It smells fantastic and is unbelievable for $8.00. It smells just like vintage Polo and lasts for 8 hours. It'll go great with your aftershave. Belcam makes amazing products and are all about $8.00.
 

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The Instigator
Hello! Looks like you've got a nice stable of scents there! My advice is to follow your nose and pair what seems to work. As far as cologne and AS go, I use aquatics with aquatics, fougeres with fougeres, and woods with woods, even if they are a bit different. I like Gillette Cool Wave with Drakkar Noir, for example. Skin Bracer works with Canoe and Jade East.

It is totally fine to use cologne without aftershave. You can use a store bought balm instead and pair the cologne with something in the same scent neighborhood. The AS usually fades fast anyway, and you'll rarely clash if you categorize them the way I suggested above.

I suggest you run, don't walk, to the cologne aisle of Walmart and get some Belcam Classic Match Polo original. It smells fantastic and is unbelievable for $8.00. It smells just like vintage Polo and lasts for 8 hours. It'll go great with your aftershave. Belcam makes amazing products and are all about $8.00.

Word. I just tried to get their "Polo Black," and it was all sold out ...


AA
 
I'm not familiar with all of the ones you have, but it looks like you've got some good ones! It is absolutely fine to wear cologne instead of aftershave. Sometimes when I don't want my cologne to conflict with my aftershave, I will just use an unscented or lightly scented aftershave product. It is also fun to mix and match different fragrances to see which aftershaves pair with which colognes. Experiment and have fun!
 

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The Instigator
Drat! Amazon has them for the same price as Walmart. While you're at it, consider getting Belcam Supreme Oud. Walmart doesn't carry it retail.

I actually DID get two of the ouds when walmart was getting rid of them, cheap. Since virtually all oud is synthetic anyways, why not. Gave one away to nephew, he liked it.

Poor fragrance copies aren't worth the dollar they get for them at Dollar General, but I agree with you; the Belcams are pretty good. Is it called gas chromascopy or something, where they analyze and recreate the molecules?

AA
 
I actually DID get two of the ouds when walmart was getting rid of them, cheap. Since virtually all oud is synthetic anyways, why not. Gave one away to nephew, he liked it.

Poor fragrance copies aren't worth the dollar they get for them at Dollar General, but I agree with you; the Belcams are pretty good. Is it called gas chromascopy or something, where they analyze and recreate the molecules?

AA
Something like that. It also may be that there are fragrance experts, like Sommeliers, who are able to detect these things. I have another clone of the Oud other than Belcam and it's pretty good. Wanted to try Belcam, but since I have the other, it's on the back burner.

Oud itself is getting less expensive. The University of Minnesota created a process to infect trees with with the mold that causes the tree to make oud resin. They used to have to search wild jungles for it.

I really wish someone would analyze Brut Actif Blue and recreate it. But that's gonna be up to me I think, my ultimate project once I get the funds for it.
 
I actually DID get two of the ouds when walmart was getting rid of them, cheap. Since virtually all oud is synthetic anyways, why not. Gave one away to nephew, he liked it.

Poor fragrance copies aren't worth the dollar they get for them at Dollar General, but I agree with you; the Belcams are pretty good. Is it called gas chromascopy or something, where they analyze and recreate the molecules?

AA
Gas chromatography. It doesn't tell you the proportions of components used in a fragrance, but it does tell you what components were used. That has allowed people to make clones that are super close to the originals. Just look at all of the Aventus clones out there for example. Some of the clones are quite good at a fraction of the price.
 

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The Instigator
Gas chromatography. It doesn't tell you the proportions of components used in a fragrance, but it does tell you what components were used. That has allowed people to make clones that are super close to the originals. Just look at all of the Aventus clones out there for example. Some of the clones are quite good at a fraction of the price.

ah, thanks. I was on a very slow Android tablet at the time ...

It's almost a shame that such close copies can be made, kind of like Disney copyrights getting ripped off ... but a lot of us can't spring $350 for Tom Ford's F Fabulous, etc.

That said, I wanted to pick up Obsession (supposed to be Christmassy), and at $23 for the real one vs. $8 for the Classic Match, think I can afford the real one.

AA
 
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ah, thanks. I was on a very slow Android tablet at the time ...

It's almost a shame that such close copies can be made, kind of like Disney copyrights getting ripped off ... but a lot of us can't spring $350 for Tom Ford's F Fabulous, etc.

That said, I wanted to pick up Obsession (supposed to be Christmassy), and at $23 for the real one vs. $8 for the Classic Match, think I can afford the real one.

AA
It reminds me of the Cadbury chocolate bar conundrum that they based Willy Wonka on. You can't patent a chocolate bar and you can't patent a scent.

BTW, Ad Astra, before you do that, you might wanna check out the review of Belcam Obsession by Ike Doing Stuff on YouTube. He gives a pretty good opinion of the two he compared.
 
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Ad Astra

The Instigator
It reminds me of the Cadbury chocolate bar conundrum that they based Willy Wonka on. You can't patent a chocolate bar and you can't patent a scent.

BTW, Ad Astra, before you do that, you might wanna check out the review of Belcam Obsession by Ike Doing Stuff on YouTube. He gives a pretty good opinion of the two he compared.

Thanks!

and apologies to @Talltexan ; for the derailment - as you can see, half the fun around here is taking the long road home!


AA
 

Ad Astra

The Instigator
It reminds me of the Cadbury chocolate bar conundrum that they based Willy Wonka on. You can't patent a chocolate bar and you can't patent a scent.

BTW, Ad Astra, before you do that, you might wanna check out the review of Belcam Obsession by Ike Doing Stuff on YouTube. He gives a pretty good opinion of the two he compared.

Good tip; saw it, skipping the original now!

AA
 
I just finished my bottle of Eternity. It's a great daily wear fougere.
D&G Light Blue is a great summer scent.
 
He does make a convincing argument. I have the Belcam and it really is great. POTENT! I can smell it on my jacket the next day.

Ya know..I tried the Belcam Polo green..and having vintage Cosmair on..it didn't work..I thought it smelled to spearminty and grassy compared to the vintage..on me anyways..

But yeah, it is STRONG!
 
Ya know..I tried the Belcam Polo green..and having vintage Cosmair on..it didn't work..I thought it smelled to spearminty and grassy compared to the vintage..on me anyways..

But yeah, it is STRONG!
In a way it's a privilege to have so many versions of a scent. We call it "Polo" and it is intellectual property, but the high quality variations in this day and age are nice. I was amazed to find you could get something so high caliber for so little money.
 
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