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Suggest me a first cologne

Tauer L'Eau du Desert Air Marocain - An incredibly rich amber scent, dry as a bone that has baked in the desert sun for a century. It is backed with resinous woods and spices, and it was the first one I thought of after reading your list.

Dunhill 1934 - An excellent effervescent sandalwood scent, with leather and only a bit of citrus and floral. Actually smells a bit like cola at times. Very gentlemanly in nature.

Boucheron Jaipur EDT/EDP - A top-notch oriental, with spicy vanilla and amber as it's focus. Often referred to in comparison to other scents. A modern classic. The EDP is a bit richer and sweeter than the EDT.

Chanel Egoiste - A bit harder to find, but worth the effort. Spicy and rich honeyed sandalwood and a bit less vanilla than Jaipur.

Floris Santal OR Trumpers Sandalwood - Both great, bright, bold brash sandalwood interpretations. I like these two more than the Art of Shaving's Sandalwood offering.

Geo F Trumper Curzon - Woody, leathery, musky. Pretty simple. Might be your thing.

L'Artisan Fou d'Absinthe - This is the priciest of the scents I'm recommending, but I only do so because you said you like ANISE scents. Well, this is among the better anise scents. Smells like woody absinthe.

Lolita Lempicka Au Masculin - Another anise scent. This one smells a bit more like black licorice. I don't really care for it, especially in comparison to FdA.

Penhaligons - [these are expensive too, up around and above the $100 mark, but are all excellent] Endymion (just great. Tobacco, a bit of amber, and a bunch of other things I don't ever really care to identify. Just great)
Racquets Formula (Musk, powder, citrus, and incense. Really does smell like something to be worn while playing tennis! My go-to sport fragrance. It really grows on you.)
Douro (always a winner. Extremely gentlemanly. Not sexy - although I have gotten compliments. Green, musky, aromatic, a bit of citrus on top.)
Opus 1870 (Excellent woody and peppery scent. Very refined - smelling. Not very casual, but comforting at the same time.)
 
I like Gucci by Gucci. But try out some testers in the mall and see what you like.

Although you can order most off the internet for far less $ than the department store.
 
I like woody fragrences.
One which is very good and which is not too heavy is Kenzo.

For now I have a lot of succes (by succes I mean people asking what I'm using in a positive manner) with Dior Homme.
It is a classy business style smell.

If you like the sportive marine fragrences, then coolwater may be it.
This one really fits all ages.
 
I went to a cologne store last weekend and tried a few, and my best bet for the moment seems to be Acqua di Gio or T&H 1805. Now let's see wich one I can get the cheaper. I'll have to try l'Eau d'Issey too before I order.

I'll eventually have to try TOBS Sandalwood and St-James too.

Anyone knows where to find T&H colognes in Canada? My Canadian wallet hates the exchange rate these days.
 
Terre de Hermes is pretty tasty stuff and can be had for around $50 on line.

Steve
+1. A very good (less expensive) scent.
I agree with the go to the mall advice.
You might be able to pick up enough samples to last weeks at least and then figure out what you like.
 
I've built my fragrance collection by 'experimenting' with 1ml - 5 ml decants purchased from a website named "The Perfumed Court" [ www.theperfumedcourt.com ]. They have tons of perfume but they also have Mens 'sample sets' which are quite reasonably priced . For example, there is a set entitled "Boys Will Be Boys" which consists of four (4) 1ml samples (Bvlgari Black - Ormonde Jayne Isfarkand - Narciso Rodriguez for Him & Serge Lutens Ambre Sultan) for $14.99.

I currently have about 30 different samples which I am in various stages of trying out. As I said earlier, out of these samplings I've built up my collection.......If I like something I will usually buy another 5-15ml decant from them (I'm not keen on Big Bottles of Cologne hanging around on my dresser)

It's a fun way to see if a scent is really for you and sure beats the heck out of spending $75.00 for something that ends up smelling like ------ dare I say it?... Axe. . .

PS ...and if I don't like the scent, I pass the remainder of the sample onto my brother (who sometimes loves what didn't work for me)...a real bargain!
 
I've built my fragrance collection by 'experimenting' with 1ml - 5 ml decants purchased from a website named "The Perfumed Court" [ www.theperfumedcourt.com ].

Thanks for that link. I'm doing basically the same thing. A while back I got a bunch of samples from some of the biggies (Penhaligon, T&H, GFT and Floris, Creed). I also bought in on the B&B sampler package a year and change ago.

As we speak I'm awaiting a shipment of samples from Rorschuck http://www.badgerdecants.com/ (whose prices are very reasonable) . I agree, I wouldn't buy a large bottle of cologne unless I knew it was one of my all time favorites.
 
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Thanks for the link to Rorschuck! i see he has some decants that the other site doesn't have. Here in Northern NJ, it's been my experience over the last several years, that the retailers are very stingy in providing samples. The sales people want you to believe that a scented piece of cardboard is a suitable equivilant to your skin.
 
Unfortunately, I'm in Canada, and Rorschuch can't ship decants to me :( Can't blame him.

I'll try to get some samples from somewhere else, even ask on the selling section.

New question: Are the AVON colognes any good? I have the Black Suede aftershave that I really like. I guess I could spend 10$ on the cologne (when back on special).
 
I find that most of Lacoste's scents are pretty nice; light and fresh, without being an AdG clone. They can be found quite easily at most dept. stores, I do believe.
 
Lot of great suggestions here, but since I'm an old man with an old scent, I'll refrain from making a recomendation. However, my advice would be, don't drown yourself in it like my 24 year old does.

Doc.
 
I second Dunhill 34 if you can find it. Also, try Chanel Platinum Egoiste and Isse Miyake for men or even the new Van Cleef and Arpels Tsar. You asked about a cologne being black. In the fragrance industry, designers sometimes pick a color they think describes the mood of their fragrance like black (dark, resinous, demur), blue (oceanic, aquatic, fresh), or green (cedar, pine, woods, fresh florals), and so forth. These color designations are usually far from accurate.
 
I tried a few, I hesitated between 1805 and AdG, and since they are the same price, I will probably go with the one that is not a best seller.

Still, I'll check with the new SWMBO to see wich one she prefers :p
 
I know I'm a little behind on this one, but I think a good first cologne would be Rive Gauche pour Homme by Yves Saint Laurent. Nice barbershop fragrance, great longevity.
 
If money is an issue, buy some grey flannel. You can find a pretty decent sized bottle for reeeeaalllly cheap. I just got a 3.4 ounce bottle for 14 dollars new on the Bay. That's a win if you ask me. Read the reviews on here. It's considered quite a hit with the majority of the B&Bers
 
rorschuck...with you on eau sauvage. have you tried eau sauvage extreme?? if so, thoughts?? loved the original version and used to p--s off my boss, since we were competitors of dior. tho, our men's fragrances were also pretty good (aramis). jr/john
 
Quebec City should have some decent malls. Granted, I don't know what stores you have up there but ...

1. Many folks sell samples. Geo F Trumper, Truefitt and Hill, Czech & Speake, and Colonial Drug used to ship sample Castle Forbes samples for free. See the link below and try to get some free samples. They might charge some $ tho for the samples and/or to cover s/h. It never hurts to try.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=2765

2. Hit the large department stores : Sears, JCPenney, Macys, Sephora, etc. Many have testers by their cologne. Try some and see what you like. My local mall is small and has a Perfumania in it. Prices are high but it's great for checking out samples. Bath and Body Works, L'occitane (sp?), etc have testers too.
 
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