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Favorite inexpensive fragrances (under $35)

I use C.O. Bigelow BLACK daily. Really like it.
I bought the WHITE and do not like it.Probably will trade it or PIF it someday.

I did about the same thing after reading your post. Went into Bath & Bodyworks with the wife and she picked out a few sprays for herself. I saw the C.O. Bigelow cologne display and asked the wife what she thought. She tested the Green, Black and White and handed me all three versions and said "These ones right here!" She really likes the green and with them buy 2 and get 1 free, they are like $13 a bottle. A great deal and for me, wearing something that I like, and the wife likes, is just icing on the cake.

Can you describe what these C.O. Bigelow colognes smell like before I take a trip to Bath & Bodyworks to smell the testers?
 
Can you describe what these C.O. Bigelow colognes smell like before I take a trip to Bath & Bodyworks to smell the testers?


The green leans more towards green tones with a woodsy body and a lighter musk. I feel that it is a very masculine 'forest' type of scent.
To me the Black has a deeper agarwood body with hints of amber, tonka bean and peppery musk. More of an evening out kind of scent for me.
The white is completely different. It is more of a citrusy fresh scent with bergamot, oranges and a peppery scent. This one leans more towards the early day fresh scents for me.

One thing I have noticed about them, is that the sillage and longetivity are not super great but acceptable for the price. All of the scents mellow quite a bit over about 3 - 4 hours. For me at 5+ they are about spent with just a very light scent. Although in some ways I count this not as a bad thing as sometimes I like to switch up what I'm wearing from the day into the evening.
 
ALL of mine are less than €30 each mainly off eBay, but a lot are available locally in the supermarkets and perfumeries
eBay
Proraso Green splash
Brut (European)
Brut (Mexico)
Pinaud Clubman Bay Rum
Pinaud Clubman Musk
Pinaud Clubman Special Reserve
Aqua Velva Ice Blue
Aqua Velva Musk
Old Spice Classic (Canada)
Old Spice Pure Sport (Canada)
Old Spice Musk (India)
Old Spice Fresh Lime (India)
Russian Forest
Shipr
Triple

Locally (Spain)
Agua Brava
Tabac Original
Aqua Velva (Europe)
Floid Vigaroso
La Toja aftershave splash
Varon Dandy
Old Spice Swagger (Europe)
Old Spice Hawkridge (Europe)
 
I did about the same thing after reading your post. Went into Bath & Bodyworks with the wife and she picked out a few sprays for herself. I saw the C.O. Bigelow cologne display and asked the wife what she thought. She tested the Green, Black and White and handed me all three versions and said "These ones right here!" She really likes the green and with them buy 2 and get 1 free, they are like $13 a bottle. A great deal and for me, wearing something that I like, and the wife likes, is just icing on the cake.

Glad to hear they are back in stock cause I am about out of CO Bigelow Green .
 
Just ordered Quorum (1.7 oz.) and Quorum Silver (3.4 oz.) for under $25 for both. The reviews are extremely positive so I hope this blind buy pans out.
 
Just ordered Quorum (1.7 oz.) and Quorum Silver (3.4 oz.) for under $25 for both. The reviews are extremely positive so I hope this blind buy pans out.

I haven't tried Quorum Silver, but I did a blind buy of Quorum and I love the stuff.
 
I haven't tried Quorum Silver, but I did a blind buy of Quorum and I love the stuff.

Quorum is outstanding, affordable, and I'm fairly sure it is still being made by Puig, hadn't been reformulated. Great stuff, I love it as well, just picked up two more bottles from Burlington for about $30.
 
Quorum is outstanding, affordable, and I'm fairly sure it is still being made by Puig, hadn't been
reformulated. Great stuff, I love it as well, just picked up two more bottles from Burlington for about $30.
I enjoy Quorum as well. But absolutely it's been reformulated, probably several times, it's a 40 year old cologne. Oak moss has been replaced, other ingredients have been sacrificed, it still smells pretty good but different to its original formulation. IFRA has handcuffed and made most classic frags to reformulate.
 
I enjoy Quorum as well. But absolutely it's been reformulated, probably several times, it's a 40 year old cologne. Oak moss has been replaced, other ingredients have been sacrificed, it still smells pretty good but different to its original formulation. IFRA has handcuffed and made most classic frags to reformulate.

Ah, yes, of course. I don't know what they've done with it, however, because I recently smelled a thirty-something year old bottle of Quorum while helping a friend move some stuff out of his parent's house and we came across his father's old shaving stuff that his mother couldn't bear to part with. It smelled almost identical to the Quorum I have in my collection. Puig sure has done a great job on any reformulations of Quorum.
 
I like Mr. Laline Eau de Toilette (used it today, in fact).
List price is $42.95, but I got it for 40% off at the Laline store near my office, which has been running a lot of sales.
 
Adam, can you describe Agua Brava?

It's hard to describe the exact scent, it's definitely got a distinctive and very woody scent, it's in a similar genre to Varon Dandy, it has a very classic, manly scent that can be a bit cloying in the daytime, especially first thing in the morning, so it's best worn on a night out, especially in summer. It definitely has a very "retro" feel to it when I'm wearing it.

Top notes are Sage, Lavender, Lemon, Bergamot and Juniper
Heart notes are Laurel Leaf, Pine and Carnation
Base Notes are Moss, Sandalwood, Musk, Patchouli, Vetiver and Leather

Ingredients:
Alcohol Denat, Aqua, Perfume, PEG 40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Hamamelis Virginiana, Menthol, Limonene, Linalool, Eugenol, Citral, Evernia Prunastri Extract, Geraniol, Hydroxycitronellal, Benzyl Benzoate, CI 19140 (Yellow 5), CI 14700 (Red 4), CI 42090 (Blue)

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This past Thursday I picked up a bottle of Acqua Essenziale Colonia by Salvatore Ferragamo at my local Marshalls for $12.99 for a 3.4 oz bottle. This stuff just came out last year and I thought that was a crazy low price point. So far I am digging this scent. A nice lighter citrus based italian barbershop type fragrance. It does a wonderful job of balancing qualities of a more classical scent but is very much modern and does not smell dated. Can't wait to wear this as the weather gets warming from spring into summer!


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Mio, that is definitely on my list to get as well.

I just picked up Cuba Prestige at Ross yesterday for $7.99. Definitely a knock off of Thierry Mugler's A*Men. It's not as in your face and potent as A*Men, its basically A*Men's kid brother. It still has very good projection and sillage. The longevity is great for $7.99. Not 12 hr+ A*men great but about 6-8 hours which is average to above average for EDT concentration. Definitely not a replacement for the original but for someone who doesn't want to shell out a lot of money on a fragrance its a viable option and for the price you are still getting quality juice.

Thank you for the tip. I use Astute, an EAD clone of A*Men and it is good and lasts long but I would say it is a perfect travel cologne that works good if you put it in a travel atomizer. Plus if you lose it, it's only about 2/3 for the cologne and the travel spray. No big loss at all. I'll pull the trigger on this after I burn through some of my Astute stock. I got two full bottles on top of the travel bottle I made for my brother's wedding a little over a week ago.

As for my take, I am big on impression cologne. EAD puts out pretty good ones that you can get in the Dollar Tree. This is namely Victory Squad (a Paco Rabanne Invictus clone,) Xtra (Paco Rabanne XS clone,) Divulge (Calvin Klein Reveal clone) and the aforementioned A*Men clone, Astute. This is about 2.5 oz for a $1.00 I'm also big on Classic Match branded ones like the Polos and Dramas Noir. These are about $7.98 for 2.5 oz in Wal-Mart.

Two none impression cologne that are good are Bath & Body Works' Ocean for Men (a sea scent like Cool Water) and Michael Jordan by Michael Jordan are both good and about $15.99/16.99 for 3.5 oz on Amazon.
 
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