Cologne poll

Everyday before work I do 6 spritzes and a walk-thru. One spritz on each wrist, ass, groin, chest, left armpit. Then spray the air and do a walk-thru.

Almost every day . I work in the industry and have dozens and I love fragrance.

“Everyday before work I do 6 spritzes and a walk-thru.”

Eww de Cologne

R2, what are some of your favorite fragrances that aren’t top shelf.

No. The smell of soap is just fine with me.

I agree with R5 and R3.

I don't wear it, but I don't mind it (in moderation) on other guys.

My favorite cheap cologne for fall is Curve Black.

My favorite for summer is Happy for Men by Clinique.

Citrus only for me. Arancia di Capri or Eau de Orange Verte.

Female here, I wear perfume discreetly at work (one spritz and walk through or small dab from a roller) and I wear for myself when I know it won't bother people. I don't wear when I'll be cramped in close quarters with my spouse, at public events with close seating, on transport, at appointments, etc.

I use cologne/parfum daily, but only a very small amount. Mostly citrus/green fragrances and not heavier "club" scents.

A dab of Eau Sauvage on the mussy just in case. Then I'm good to go.

I wear it every day (albeit only lightly). I've got a big collection and love to change up what I use. Today i am wearing Equipage by Hermes--very dignified.

My favorites: Grey Vetiver by Tom Ford (great everyday/office scent), Hacivat by Nishane (an intense pineapple chypre--not too sweet), Eau Sauvage by Dior (great for summer--sharp and beautiful), Chypre-Siam by Rogue Perfumery (very powerful and retro).

Some great inexpensive fragrances I would recommend:

*Acqua di Pino Cologne. Beautiful retro citrus aromatic released just this year--you can get a 4,2 oz. bottle for under $25.

*Versace L'Homme. This has some animalic notes in it, which makes it a problem for some (some people just hate civet and/or castoreum), but it is a very beautiful and sexy citrus leather. You can find it on line for less than $35.

*Guerlain Habit Rouge. One of the all-time greatest men's fragrances, introduced in the early 1960s: there is an EdP and an EdT and a cologne concentration, plus all kinds of flankers (I prefer the EdP). It has rose, citrus, and vanilla mixed with leather--rich and luxurious and like nothing else. A great classy men's fragrance, surprisingly affordable onbline, where you can find it for less than $35.

*Caron Pour un Homme. Also considered one of the greatest men's fragrances of all time, with lavender, vanilla and musk dominating. This one was formulated all the way back in the 1930s: it still smells great. You can find this online for less than $35 a bottle. There are tons of flankers, but I recommend the original EdT.

My current favorite is Pheromone by Marilyn Miglin, a deep green unisex chypre once described as "Studio 54 in a bottle." When it came out in the late '70s, it was marketed as "the world's most precious perfume," but the vintage is available super-cheap on eBay. (Like pretty much every other fragrance, the modern version has been weakened by reformulation.) Plus, the Esprit de Parfum concentration (between EDP and pure perfume strength) comes in a bottle worthy of a Drag Race gurl.

Is Creed Aventus worth the hype?

r16, it's fine, but it's ridiculously expensive. I think you can buy excellent fragrances for much cheaper than what Aventus goes for.

Today I missed summer so I wore Ungaro Diva. It's not a perfume FOR summer, rather it smells like a glamorous party in Beirut or Istanbul in the 80s, honey and rich flowers. Perhaps I wear it twice a year. My bottle will be die in landfill. Nobody wants some old man's fragrances, especially when some of them are for old ladies.

Daily, I apply two small spritzes directly to my neck post-shower, at the time I apply deodorant (Tom's Of Maine Unscented). I'm almost through with a bottle of Obsession a friend bought me years ago. It isn't my favorite, but isn't terrible. I just want to move on to other (better) scents. I sometimes also wear Kenneth Cole's "Black". I have no "signature scent", but don't like to have too many on hand at any one time.

In cold weather, I've been wearing Givenchy's "Pour Homme" (the burgundy version), and Halston Z-14 (my father wore it). I'm almost through with those as well.

Those scents listed above are pretty inexpensive. However, I'm really looking forward to trying Commes des Garçons Incense varieties, particularly "Avignon", which is only in the upper end of that price range.

And I STILL miss Gucci Rush from the early 2000s.

R16 FUCK YES. I've never owned it, but it's the best cologne I've ever encountered.

[quote] Nobody wants some old man's fragrances, especially when some of them are for old ladies.

You'd be surprised. If you still have a fair amount in your bottles they can often be sold used, especially when they've been discontinued. Ungaro Diva is still made (inexpensively) so it would not fetch much, but there are all kinds of fragrances on ebay that have been discontinued, even only recently, that go for quite a bit even if partially used: La Rive Gauche pour Homme by YSL, Jules by Dior, Monsieur Balmain by Balmain...

The same is true for partially used bottles of very expensive perfumes like Aventus or any of the Creed fragrances, Chanel Cuir de Russe (or any of the Chanel Exclusifs line), almost any of the Tom Ford or Amouage or Roja lines...

I know all that but it's such a bother. I meant, nobody who picks through my possessions will care. My Diva is vintage, of course. Though the new formulation is pretty good and dirt cheap.

[quote] I know all that but it's such a bother. I meant, nobody who picks through my possessions will care.

The more fools them. My niece makes money buying and reselling clothes and fragrances on e-bay.

A few years ago I bought a mostly empty vintage ('40s or '50s) bottle of Chanel Cuir de Russie on Etsy for next to nothing. There was about a quarter-inch of evaporated, gooey, birch-tar-laden perfume sludge left in the bottle, which I diluted with what was left in a partial bottle of vintage CDR eau de cologne that I had found on eBay (also for peanuts). I also have a decant of the current Les Exclusifs formula, and it pales in comparison.

[quote]My Diva is vintage, of course. Though the new formulation is pretty good and dirt cheap.

I have a cheap bottle made about 10 years ago, and it's nuclear strength. The animal note, assuming it's synthetic civet, is potent and realistic, almost like cat piss.

Do they put different stuff in it than 20 years ago? Either ive developed an aversion/allergy or they changed up the ingredients.

Does anyone under 60 who is not a guido actually wear cologne? It seems so 80s.

I don't have any friends, gay or straight who do.

(36, Manhattan resident)

Yes up to 2000 many fragrances were a mix of 50% natural and 50% aroma chemicals. Then a regulatory agency run by aroma chemical companies, more or less, put increasingly draconian limits on naturals for "health" "allergy" and "humane" reasons. Civet went out because it's "inhumane". Also, the naturals became inafforable. Jasmine and rose like one found in Patou and Chanel became too astronomical. Sandalwood is protected. Dozens of natural molecules were deemed "allergens". In the last 3 years or so, they are making strides in synthetics that can recapture essential naturals that created the solid base in many fragrances, such as oak moss. Almost all designer fragrances are watered down and don't project like 30 years ago or more, because culture changed.

I once saw a long thread of people who had spelled it "colon" on Facebook. I've put this on here before, but by far my favorite was, "I love the smell of my dad's colon in the morning".

R26 I live in Europe and North Africa and spend time in the Middle East. Plenty of men and women and young people too wear fragrance. Sometimes, A LOT. I love it. I love passing a stinking young peacock on the street.

LOL R29

I meant in the US

NYC, once a fabulous city of wonderful excess for all the scenes, has turned into a population of tight assed bourgeois prisspots offended by everything.

[quote] Does anyone under 60 who is not a guido actually wear cologne? It seems so 80s.

Yes, I do. I am a WASP.

[quote] I don't have any friends, gay or straight who do.

I do, both gay and straight friends. They're urban professionals, too.

No one is offended by it R31

It just seems as outdated as a Cosby sweater

Nice try R52

I live in Paris ,R26, and scents are very popular. Each house seems to have a store in the Marias. A friend works for Givaudan, for a huge Swiss scent and flavour company, and it’s still a big business. The pandemic hurt their fragrance business for sure, but food flavouring and cleaning scents more than made up for it.

If anyone is into colognes, Nose is a great store to visit.

We know why the French need Cologne.

There was a time that colognes were designed to work well with some B.O and lots of cigarette smoke.

I dab a little Chanel No. 5 on my bosom to tease my suitors

Miss Graham, we know you pretend that it's Chanel No. 5, but we also know in real life you'd never shell out for it. We know it's really just Scoundrel from Revlon.

Only the perfumes of Arabia.

Does anyone have a recommendation for something that just smells fresh/reminiscent of soap? I really like Santal 33 but it’s too ubiquitous. Don’t laugh at me too hard, but I also really like Abercrombie Fierce. I’ve long aged out of that one though.

Why do some scents fade more than others?

I love Le Labo AnOther 13, but the scent fades so quickly.

Different chemical combinations create different longevities, r42.

This site will tell you how users rate the longevity of different fragrances. Type in the fragrance you want into the box at the top, and they will show you how people rated different factors, including longevity.

I went to the dentist this morning and did on small spritz of Creed Aventus on my undershirt. Just wanted to smell good for the dentist. It was just a hint really. By midday i retook a shower to remove the aroma. I like the idea of it better than the application.

My partner wears Issey Miyaki and a fair bit of it, I love it.

I got some Chanel Allure Homme which I was given as a gift, thats really nice,dunno what it costs

R45, that looks like the bottle for the women's perfume (Issey Miyake).

For many years, I wore L'Eau D'Issey pour Homme every day, the eau de toilette. I still love it, but I could hardly smell it anymore, I got so used to it. Sometime after Covid struck, I decided to stop buying and using it. (It's kind of expensive.)

[quote] Does anyone have a recommendation for something that just smells fresh/reminiscent of soap?

R41, try the L'Eau D'Issey pour Homme eau de toilette. I won't say it's soap-y, but very fresh and pleasant.

I don’t go out without it because I like to make an effort. It has been toned down over the years. I used to knock people out from ten paces. My partner gets his from a specialist shop in Rome, the big nellie.

I avoid men who use it

[quote] I avoid men who use it

What a relief to know.

Thank you for the recommendation, R46!

[quote] For many years, I wore L'Eau D'Issey pour Homme every day, the eau de toilette. I still love it, but I could hardly smell it anymore, I got so used to it.

The problem with using the same scent every day is that you become anosmic to it eventually.

It's the same reason why Matthew McConaughey and Brad Pitt have such problems with BO--they can't smell it on themselves because they're so used to it, so they assume no one else can smell it either.

Great word R51. I just came back from a month long trip, walked in my place and was like what’s that smell.

Scoundrel is actually a great fragrance. To me it smells very similar to vintage Ivoire de Balmain and Halston. Tons of oakmoss.

R16 - I've never smelled Creed Aventus but I did purchase a 1.7oz bottle of Pineapple Frais from Montagne Parfums which is a knockoff of the Creed fragrance. It was a blind buy ($40.00) based on a review and ingredient list and worth every penny! It's a peppery, fruity/spicy essence and lasts for hours!

I have about 40 different fragrances (Dior, LeLabo, Hermes, Parfums de Marly, Tom Ford, etc.) and 10 different Montagne Parfum clones. My favorites are Dior Homme Intense, Elixir (2021 release) , Eau Sauvage EDT, Eau Sauvage Parfum - 2012 & 2017 versions, Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille, Le Labo Vetiver 46, Patchouli 24, Santal 33, Bergamote 22, and others to name a few. I always put on way too much which causes people to keep their distance wherever I go - I like my own space!

R23 The Exclusifs blend Cuir de Russie is a fucking joke. I also managed to track down some vintage Cuir de Russie cologne. Birch twigs, exotic flowers, powder, diesel, bbq meat. It's fucking gorgeous. If any scent was never meant to be safe.

I have also been looking at some ebay 'cologne No. 5' (long discontinued), which is supposed to be the most manly blend of No. 5 that Chanel ever made.

I find all the Bleu and Allure Hommes pretty much indistinguishable from one another. Allure Sport Cologne (in the clear bottle) is the least offensive I've tried.

Yes, it's called OOMPH!

R55 Chanel No 5 EDT - not parfum and not EDP - is somewhat unrecognizable on men. Warning however. If you buy or try a bottle that has been manufactured recently, it needs to sit for a YEAR to macerate. It is then noticeably better. The same applies to Chanel 19 EDT (not edp).

I wear Gagme by Yecch

I've been wearing Terre d'Hermes since a guy I hooked up with told me it smelled like musky balls.

I also sometimes wear Lanvin or Prada when I feel fancy and I have bottles of Aramis and Paco Rabanne that take me back to my teen years.

[quote] Scoundrel is actually a great fragrance. To me it smells very similar to vintage Ivoire de Balmain and Halston. Tons of oakmoss.

And there's something sexy about it TOO!

Gucci Guilty smells good, IMO.

But which Lanvin, which Prada. I find Lanvin Oxygene homme and femme quite weird and wonderful for summer. I have a 50 yo bottle of Arpege (a women's parfum) but that scent is almost a 100 years old now and it's a shocker.

As long as your fragrance doesn't project so strongly or you don't have so much on that it makes other people gag, it's no one's business but your own if you wear it.

Wearing fragrance should be for you--to make you feel confident and happy. You should wear what you like and what smells good to you. Everyone has his own taste--I've smelled fragrances on other guys I've been intimate with I would never wear myself (like Versace Eros), but since it made them feel good I liked it on them.

Eros smells nice on college-aged jocks. Then again, many fragrances smell nice on them.

I'm the Vivian Vance of Darfur

I sometimes wear scents purely for nostalgia, especially cheap ones. Versace Blue Jeans, for example, and it’s baby powder notes remind me of my young carefree days.

R66, do you know about this?

I think some frog named Prootsie wrote a book about that or something.

Most guys use it everyday and can't tell how much they're using. The fragrance overwhelms people.

I just started using Loewe #7, very nice and clean. I wear Aqua di Parma in the summer.

Funny how our noses and skin are so unique. I have Terre d'Hermes as well and love it, but I think of the forest in late spring with maybe a little citrus.

For clean fresh scent I still have some Helmut Lang cologne which was discontinued about five years ago. You can find a bottle on eBay or Amazon, but it will run you $300 (not the $95 I paid). Also try Thierry Mugler's aptly named Cologne (green formula only).

What can I say, the 70s were a different time, R67

In 2018, Mugler Cologne was renamed to "Come Together"

R59, I'm purchasing a bottle of Terre d'Hermes immediately.

I have a bottle of Terre d'Hermes, and to me it smells nothing like musky balls--it smells like oranges and soil.

R75, what do your balls smell like?

Not as aquatic as it sounds but it does have that signature Prada powderiness that not all men appreciate.

I meant to say L'Homme Prada Water Splash.

[quote] [R75], what do your balls smell like?

My balls smell like skin and sweat and man-musk, not like oranges.

If you'd like something that actually smells like my balls, I recommend Eau d'Hermès, or, if you really want to go all the way, try Muscs Koublai Khan by Serge Lutens. The famous perfume writer Luca Turin once reviewed the latter as smelling it like "the armpit of a camel driver who has not been near running water in a week."

Amouage Figment smells like the musky balls of a handsome hairy sikh who has been hiking in the Himalayan foothills gathering exotic resinous herbs and flowers.

I guess my balls smell like citrus and dirt then. Regardless, Terres d'Hermes is pheremone-y and puts lead in my pencil.

r59/81, what matters most is that YOU like it and it makes YOU feel sexy. (I like Terre d'Hermes too, FWIW.)

I'm wearing Terre d'Hermes right now.

The sillage IS COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE!

Not The Onion: Behold the House of BO!

R28, I love it when my partner sprays my colon, after we wash.

R59, I just looked up the price of Terre d'Hermes, I think I will just use a pair of underpants after a day of work, and rub it on my clean shirt the next day.

Despite Adam Driver as the spokesperson, Burberry’s new scent Hero is wonderful. I always alternate Burberry scents (London and Brit mostly) and this is gonna be a new part of the rotation. Any fans?

Well I'm a fan of Mr. Burberry Indigo.

I'm excited that François Demachy is retiring as the head perfumer at Dior and is being replaced by Francis Kurkdjian.

Usually one of the Gaultier Le Male versions

My favorite fragrance to wear is Eucris by Geo F Trumper. It is very old school, elegant, and not obnoxious at all.

There is a woman's fragrance that I used to love, I think that maybe it was Trésor, but I don't remember. The dry down smelled like dead roses in a dusty attic - but in a good way.

Trésor does smell like dusty roses.

Eucris is one of the mossiest fragrances still made today I can think of. I don't know how Trumpers does it, given how incredibly heavily regulated and minimized moss is after the imposition of the IFRA regulations.

Perfumers do not HAVE to follow IFRA. Some niche houses do not.

The Cult of Creed Aventus - check out the batch numbers thread

Rogue Perfumery Chypre-Siam is non IFRA compliant and has real oakmoss. Some of these treasured ingredients are still available and non endangered and require no cruelty such as squeezing animals' butt holes or whatever. They were nevertheless labelled "allegens". Ka-ching! for the fragrance molecule industry for their replacements.

Armaf Club de Nuit Intense Man is a Middle Eastern Aventus clone that elicits almost as much discussion about batches, etc., as the real thing. I scored a bottle of the original 2015 version, and I really, really like it except for the Lemon Pledge opening. After that dissipates, it's wonderful—smoky and pineapple-y and leathery. I haven't smelled the real Aventus, but I'm happy with this. The camp-as-fuck douchebag marketing is a bonus.

R57 Thanks for the tip about storing No 5 EDT. I tried it on me, and it's definitely a woody scent, with a decent amount of spicy vetiver.

It didn't project crazily, but was nice and clean. With none of the heavy balsamic effect of the parfum. The bottle also has the same look about it as the masculine classics Pour Monsieur and Antaeus.

Is there an online source to order samples of these fragrances?

FraganceNet and LuckyScent are good for samples of contemporary fragrances. For vintages and expensive niche scents, try Surrender to Chance and The Perfumed Court. eBay sellers often have good deals on decants as well.

Most auction sites have someone doing decants. They charge too much in my opinion but whatever, some of them do lively business so there's a market. If you want a sample of designer sent - you can always try asking at the perfume counter! You can also simple ask them to spray some on - they have testers for almost all their scents they sell.

Pro tip: Watch out for sellers from Russia. They're notorious for selling fakes or flat-out stealing people's money.

Sometimes I dab a little on my hole. There’s a reason it’s called Whore Juice.

Men wearing cologne are like men wearing rings and chains/necklaces, cheap and low class, and very stereotypically gay.

And most of you who SAY you wear it lightly are lying, you lash it on until no one can stand it. Just like the uncut dicks which are never washed but everyone says they are, lying.

I hope R104 is satire but doubt it.

^^^^^ It must hit close to home r105.

On an old-school hip-hop vibe today. Usher ‘U Don’t Have To Call’ just played, I noticed in the start of the video that he sprays some cologne while getting ready in his bathroom. My curiosity is piqued as to what it is🧐

It’s def not one of his own named brand ones, because they were released years later than the music video (which came out in 2001!), and the bottle doesn’t look like any of them anyways.

Tbh it looks a little like a Spicebomb bottle, but without the black matte details on the flanker. The juice is a goldish colour and the glass is sort of textured? somehow I can’t see Ush wearing Spicebomb up in the club even as a clueless young wain, tho D&G was big with ballers back then😂a quick G00gle tells me that the man now wears Creed Royal Water (not shown in the video)

Also on his bathroom counter is what looks like a flanker of L’eau D’issey (conical frosted glass), a round bottle of clear scent like a Byredo or a Malle, and a rectangular bottle of green juice with a big black cap that goes halfway down. I’m a novice when it comes to mens’ frags so idk what they are, but interested to know! Mans obviously liked his colognes..

I recall that early 2000s time period was so wild for scent—people did not know how to wear it then. So many guys out on the town leaving smog of Le Male and M7 and Diesel and Juicy around every corner!

I hate when you walk past someone and their cologne overpowers everything and makes your eyes water. . Although, a little cologne is lovely. Or, if you get cozy with someone, and after, when you are alone, you smell like them....yummy.

I like Chanel's Egoiste, Egoiste Platinum, both very summery and clean, Antaeus, a manly fall, and Blu, which is just a clean fresh smell.

For inexpensive cologne Banana Republic has some nice scents. And Calvin One, is really nice.

Years ago, I was suprised when someone said that they were wearing Carrington, a cologne based on the TV show Dynasty, it smelled soooo good.

I used to walk through Bloomies or Saks daily and try all the colognes. Issy was my favorite. Womans Star as well. That smells like candy and powder. I can pick it out whenever anyone is wearing that one.

^^Ok I just flicked through the Fragrantica database and found out what two of the countertop bottles in the Usher video are—Gucci Envy (the OG 90s version) & Rochas Man.

So a 20-sth Ush smelled like vanilla coffee & florals in the day, and spicy ginger woods & amber at night... 👃🏾Kind of androgynous and barbershop but classy. Think I like it.

Still can’t figure out what he was actually spraying on in the video tho. The bottle is obscured by his hand and it’s only in the frame for like a second. Bugging me now!!

I hate colone.its too diluted I like edp or perfume best. All creed scents and all the pricy stuff is edp or p

Which modern frag says, ‘responsible caring hardworking and socially-conscious but ambitious Daddy who supports you but will make sure you work and fight hard as hard as he does to earn that love’?

Something very solid not flashy, such as Aramis homme, the original Givenchy Gentleman (still sold, so not the new revamp which is a different scent called "2017"), Caron, Guerlain Vetiver, Rochas Moustache Original 1949, Dior Eau Sauvage (original).

[quote] and very stereotypically gay.

We ARE gay, so who the fuck gives a shit?

You're gay too, but it sounds like you're terrified of other people finding out. That must be why you're so cunty. Well, rest assured: they already know.

[quote]and very stereotypically gay.

R104 thats the whole point. My clothes and ma talkin dont give no hints so I gotta let guys know by other means

Does anyone else like leather fragrances? I'm currently obsessed with them.

What is a leather fragrance, r115? I’m intrigued.

Leather fragrances have a note in them (usually birch) that smells like tanned leather. (Leather is actually scentless, but it is tanned with ingredients like birch that give it that unique smell you'll smell in a leather-goods shop.)

Famous leather fragrances:

Aramis by Aramis

Cabochard by Gres

Habit Rouge by Guerlain

Cuir de Russie by Chanel

Fucking Fabulous by Tom Ford

Tuscan Leather by Tom Ford

Be careful buying sample sizes of fragrances. I bought some sample L'Eau D'Issey pour Homme EDT for travel purposes (eBay). I went on a trip, spritzed a couple sprays and it smelled off. Those sample containers just aren't the best for keeping stuff fresh.

Bad poll. There's a difference between "I don't wear it" and "It's a complete waste of money."

I don't wear scent (other than my own) because I sneeze and wheeze, even with good ones and ones I like. That doesn't mean I think it is a waste of other people's money. And I like a quick "smell" experience of men and women who wear well-crafted scent in a sensible-for-the-hour-and-the-ozone-layer manner.

I wear leather scents, among other. Recently: Cabochard, Gucci Absolute, Myths Man Amouage. Leather season is just starting. Gucci Absolute is a brutal aggressive leather.

r121 -- Leather scents, mmmmmmmm yeah! C'mere, let me sniff ya . . .

I went through a phase of interest in trying a wide variety of colognes. The ones that suited my skin best were Santos de Cartier, and Kouros . . . always used [italic]very lightly[/italic] . . . one spritz on the nape of my neck (for at work), one spritz on my balls (for after work at the gym).

Nabeel, a Middle Eastern fragrance house that specializes in cheap-ass dupes of expensive scents, makes a terrific clone of Tuscan Leather called Macho Man. Despite the stupid name, it's really good, and STRONG—it's an oil that comes in a rollerball bottle, and just a dab will fill a room. And at around $5, the price can't be beat.

The Orange Hermes cologne is nice, but lasts about a minute

In the heat of summer, I love eaux de cologne. They don't last long, but they are so refreshing--usually they use tons of citrus notes (which infamously have short longevity). Hermès Eau d'Orange Verte is very nice, but in the same genre the one I most love is Chanel Paris-Deauville, which also has a great orange-basil accord. And Eau de Guerlain smells like heaven--lemons and mint and all kinds of nice citrus notes. Chanel Paris-Biarritz also is quite refreshing.

Fragrances are for me a kind of aromatherapy--they make me so happy.

One leather fragrance I'm obsessed over right now is bottega veneta pour homme thinking of getting the edp instead

If scents change or lose potency with age then why are they so valuable in the vintage resale market? Don’t they all eventually smell like rubbing alcohol?

Who said fragrances lose potency with age? Most get stronger as they sit in the bottle but some do change from a little to a lot as they sit there.

Scents made in the 90s or before are not the same as todays scents because they were mixes of aroma chemicals and natural scents. Nowadays even luxury fragrances have mostly aroma chemicals, although very good ones. Aroma chemicals are not new. They were used in fragrances in the 20s, already. A bottle of Guerlain or Patou from the 30s would have required thousands of flowers to manufacture, however. Plus some aroma chemicals.

If the bottle has been stored properly and especially if the bottle has never been opened, and in a scealed box, many scents can last for decades smelling good. A very small bottle of pure parfum of a famous scent can be worth many hundreds up into the thousands. They are valuable for a number of reasons.

It is extremely time consuming and costly to collect vintage scents. However, it is somewhat easy to get lucky and stumble upon a bottle that is in good shape - but that is random. If you went out tomorrow to buy an sealed bottom of parfum from the 80s and back, there is really know telling if the scent is in good shape until you pay your money and crack the seal. Parfum from those eras came with a wire and wax seal. Difficult to fake, although apparently it can be faked now, to pass off garbage.

Many times a middle class woman would be gifted a bottle of "expensive French perfume" and would never open it. Keep it in the box, in the closet, considering it too precious. If you are lucky to stumble upon a such bottle at a tag sale, at a low price, you can buy it because it probably will be in good shape. However a reseller will buy it immediately because they know its worth many hundreds of dollars, and even thousands if it goes back to the 40s, for example.

* no telling

Even open bottles of men's fragrances that were popular in the 70s and 80s, if they are in good shape, are worth hundreds. A bottle of original Kouros or Anteus or Azzaro or Gentleman, Egoiste, Fahrenheit etc.

These are all still manufactured and sold, but the scents have changed, not necessarily horribly, they still smell great, but different, and usually, "lighter" and more "transparent". Kouros and Anteus have lost their animality. Azzaro lost the oakmoss.

The first round of reformulations is well over a dacade ago, and the scents were damaged. Now, even better aroma chemicals have been developed, and a few houses are resisting their reformulations to improve them. Fahrenheit of 2010 was degraded, though still pleasant. The latest Fahrenheit is in better form. It depends how much the house cares to put into it.

Estee Lauder is farming out Aramis, it just announced. Thats a collection of a least a dozen, popular old men's scents. Usually when an old house is farmed out or sold, the scents suffer again, through cost cutting.

Dior bought Patou because they wanted to use the name "Joy". It was very cynical. Patou struggled for years - having been dumbed downin ingredients in the 80s and 90s, and once even belonging to Proctor & Gamble! They tried to relaunch as a luxury brand, and failed. Dior folded Patou completely a few years ago. It no longer exists. The Patou you can buy today is remaining stock. There was a lot of it a year ago, less now.

So I purchased a half-full bottle of vintage Chanel No.5 Eau De Cologne from ebay. It has a 75° degrees label as pictured which would date it somewhere mid to late 60s.

It was a bargain at $100, so I was prepared to write it off if the scent had spoilt. But I could tell as soon as the wrapping came off it was in delicious shape. It's soft and civety. The nitro musks, in particular, are in fine condition. The vanilla is almost gourmand by today's standards. Very chewy. It's clean, powdery, unisex, virtually masculine. I can see where Lagerfeld got his inspiration for his Classic Cologne, this is similar but much nicer.

What do I wear to bed? Chanel No. 5!

[quote]The first round of reformulations is well over a dacade ago, and the scents were damaged. Now, even better aroma chemicals have been developed, and a few houses are resisting their reformulations to improve them.

Thierry Wasser of Guerlain has done a lot toward bringing their reformulated classics closer to vintage form.

R132 well that's a lucky find. Enjoy it!

Thanks, R135. I really do love N°5 - Eau De Cologne Splash. I liked it so much I bought a second bottle, still in box and cellophane.

I find it's a Holy Grail scent. A true Eau De Cologne, meaning the first splash goes strong for an hour, and then mellows into a gentle aura skin scent. For seven full hours it just radiates warmth and character.

The animalics pack a punch though, getting to Kouros, or Dior Leather Oud levels of barnyard in the opening but more refined. Add in some spice I don't recall in any other version of N°5, but gives very masculine almost barbershop vibes.

After 30 minutes a little bit of the cold iris breaks through which is the only time it reminds me of other versions of N°5, particularly the extrait, otherwise the cologne is a completely different beast from them.

Is it ok to be an Oud hater? I feel unsophisticated and childish to say it, but I really can’t abide the scent. Makes me think of old Sheikhs and the inside of sleazy used-car showrooms.

And it’s not animalics in general I hate, either. Just Oud (especially Laotian).

I don't mind oud, but I really hate the Tom Ford stuff which calls itself oud but is actually lolly water.

Some Ouds are worth many thousands of dollars just for a few drops. Like sandalwood or rose oil, to get near the finest stuff you need to think beyond the reputable perfume houses, and beyond the niche industry really. Go straight to the plantations where they grow and distill the stuff, so you can try the different grades, if you are serious about getting quality oud.

It's fine not to like oud - real oud is practically nonexistent in designer and mass perfumery. Same with sandalwood. I like oud, both fake and real, but it's a personal journey not something to push socially.

Where do you find this Chanel N°5 - Eau De Cologne Splash? Online or a specialized shop?

Lovely city, I've always thought.

R140 the first time someone came out to me was in Köln, by the bridge during one night of Oktoberfest. She was a girl I’d been rooming with on a work exchange trip, who was convinced that I’d read her diary left on her bed in our room (I hadn’t read it or even touched it).

She trailed me around the city for the whole night as we hopped pub to pub, all the while coming up to me every few minutes and making the same accusation. Had I made better friends on that trip (or just attended with a friend from home in the first place), I could have probably socially edged her out of my evening, but as it was I had no one to hang out with, and even when blind-drunk no-one else seemed interested in linking up with me.

So after hours of trying unsuccessfully to shake this girl (apparently the only person in Köln city who didn’t look straight through me that night), I eventually dragged her outdoors to the waterside, whirled on her, and demanded to know exactly who she thought she was to be ruining my trip, and why her banal little diary mattered so damn much anyway (we were 17 at the time, getting too old for secret journals imho). It was then she burst into tears, and told me that she was afraid of anyone finding out she was lesbian. Apparently, I was the first person with whom she’d ever shared the secret her sexuality.

At that point we’d made it to quite a quiet area under the bridge, so after a few stunned beats I gave her hug, and said I was sorry to hear she was struggling, but that I didn’t mind if she was gay and couldn’t have known either (as I hadn’t read her stupid diary, and she didn’t ping loudly at all). We had an awkward reconciliation and returned to our hostel, and that was that.

Feeling that the moment of friendly intimacy had been a bit much too soon for my liking, I didn’t really speak to her much the rest of the trip beyond a couple of surface-level friendly exchanges in the queue for breakfast and dinner. When we got off the plane home, I never contacted her again. Looking back, I’m still not sure if I handled it well, or if I ought to have stayed in touch at least superficially. We weren’t friends and tag I didn’t really like her that much as a person, but she was nice and clearly had good intentions, and it was brave of her to come out to a relative stranger like that.

Can anyone recommend me a gritty cologne for a futchy mid-20s nonconformist girl who is sort of tuff?

Not a buzzcut diesel, but more like one of those brash bolshy Japanese women in gangs, who wife up with Yakuza and wear lipstick/long hair/tube tops (but never trad drugstore perfume!), while also spending their time tooling around on motorbikes and smoking and swearing at or scaring local suburbanites.

[quote]Where do you find this Chanel N°5 - Eau De Cologne Splash? Online or a specialized shop?

eBay has lots of it—here's a full vintage bottle for $75.

R143 That is a bargain for a sealed bottle and what looks to be 4 oz.

There is a clue in the listing, the 75° on the reverse sticker means there is 25% perfume oil and 75% alcohol in the bottle. I have it in this concentration, the juice is dark and the scent extraordinary. I don't think this concentration was made after 1980. So it's probably early '70s.

wow imagine an "eau de cologne" at 25%. Those were the days.

[quote]Is Creed Aventus worth the hype?Is Creed Aventus worth the hype?

Yes. Each time I wear it people go nuts. People come up to me in the supermarket to ask me what it is.

R143 If that bottle of Chanel #5 EDC was sitting in some guys' antique store for 20 years it has probably been light exposed, and that is the reason the juice has gone dark.

I have a similar age vintage in the square bottle and it's almost as dark, but the fragrance is still in nice shape. Chanel used only the finest ingredients, and it's why their product is still sellable decades later. I'd buy it except that seller won't send overseas.

DLers, please do not spritz on your favorite cologne before a hookup if you are doing the traveling. It leaves a cloying reminder that you were in my bed in the first place and secondly it takes days for that smell to go. Scent free is hotter or light deodorant.

I wear Grey Flannel on occasion.

God forbid Miss Thing change her sheets after surrendering to the rising heat of her assignation with a sweaty gentleman caller.

There's a delightful eldergay fragrance blogger/YouTuber named Lanier Smith who loves Chanel No. 5. He claims that a burly maintenance guy at his workplace complimented him on it and asked where he could get some.

How does one pick an everyday unisex to transition from the 20s to the 30s? I feel my quirky fun Isseys & Etats & Riccis are skewing a little too young and designer for me at the age I am reaching now, but also I don’t want to start wearing frumpy officey scents for suburban middle-aged bores either. Is there an alternative path?

Honey it's not that complicated. Go to a fragrance shop or big department store and try on scents. Talk to sales people. Believe it or not, they have expertise about the fragrances and what kinds of customers buy and enjoy which ones.

I love the natural musk of a mans balls. It's perfect if not too hairy.

R133 Marilyn who?

Chanel is catpiss for hopelessly-aspirant cubefrauen.

Get a personality, and stop taking style advice from a dead Nazi crone, ladies!

Found an ancient bottle of Drakkar Noir in a friend's rarely visited chalet. I sprayed some out and then I sprayed some on me and it's fantastic. My friend was horrified and gave me the bottle. Acquired taste.

Is Axe considered a good cologne?

what if you dumb reach so hard you end up going over a ledge?

I bought some samples from Zoologist perfume (moth and camel) was disappointing with them. after reading so many rave reviews online I expected them to be like what Jesus smelled like but no, nopes just not my thing. It kind of put me off on buying more samples since each has to come from Canada all the way to The Netherlands where I am at. ($$$)

r152 Tom Ford has a broad collection which covers most the major types of scents (neroli, candy, green, etc.) like a color wheel. I found to be a good place to quickly explore what's out there and narrow in on what types of scents appealed to me (the big discovery was Soleil Blanc, which smells like couture Coppertone).

Last week for some reason I ended up wearing the classic Eau de Rochas. Example of a simply enjoyable and upbeat citrus cologne with just enough complexity and a itty bit of funk behind it to keep it elegant. And I've recently found bargains on this.

Lately I’ve been sexually-obsessed by femme-leaning narcotic flowers. It’s like a weird olfactory addiction.

Which is the sexiest narcotic one could get away with wearing outside the privacy of home? Even with just one little spray? I’ve taken a distant theoretical interest in Jasmine Antique from Rogue, but I fear its skank may draw a little too much attention.

Rogue Perfumery has a bunch of really heady and dense floral fragrances: not just Jasmin Antique, but also Champs Lunaires and Tuberose & Moss, and they are also selling on luckyscent a new one called Vetifleur which is vetiver and florals.

They're very rich fragrances but far too girleen for me, though I will wear their more unisex fragrances like Chypre-Siam and Flora & Fauna (but only at night, because they are far too heady to wear to the office).

[quote] DLers, please do not spritz on your favorite cologne before a hookup if you are doing the traveling. It leaves a cloying reminder that you were in my bed in the first place and secondly it takes days for that smell to go. Scent free is hotter or light deodorant.

You don't wash your sheets anyway after a hook-up?

Ewww... nasty.

[quote] Some Ouds are worth many thousands of dollars just for a few drops. Like sandalwood or rose oil, to get near the finest stuff you need to think beyond the reputable perfume houses, and beyond the niche industry really. Go straight to the plantations where they grow and distill the stuff, so you can try the different grades, if you are serious about getting quality oud.

Real oud is so expensive that there are almost no perfumes today are made with genuine oud. It's almost all synthetic.

This is new and quite nice: Fusion d'Issey Extreme

You guys are some smelly little homos

I was wondering if anyone here uses a scent for sweet dreams?

I was having a hard time always being in a thinking mode and I read somewhere that the olfactory nerve, like the optic nerve, is direct hardwired to the brain so that a strong scent would disrupt thinking patterns.

Bottom like, the sweetest, strongest, floral scent puts me right to sleep after I spritz it on my pillow. Anybody else?

[quote] DLers, please do not spritz on your favorite cologne before a hookup if you are doing the traveling. It leaves a cloying reminder that you were in my bed in the first place and secondly it takes days for that smell to go.

You don't even bother to wash your sheets after a hookup? Ewwwwwww...

Gentleman by Givenchy, the original version only. It is clean and subtle. The later ones are too overpowering and scream manwhore.

I will sometimes spritz a little Pour un Homme by Caron on my pillow to help me sleep, since it's mostly lavender, which is very relaxing.

I bought a bottle of this on Ebay for under $10.00, after doing a search for some of the ingredients. Luckily, I liked it immediately. It smells like summer: lemony, outdoorsy and beachy.

[quote] Many times a middle class woman would be gifted a bottle of "expensive French perfume" and would never open it. Keep it in the box, in the closet, considering it too precious.

Apparently one of the best places in the world to buy discontinued perfumes is Japan, because the Japanese are often Francophiles, and would bring back a bottle of European perfume when they went to France as a souvenir and would never open it. Then when they died, their heirs would sell off the unopened bottle since they had no sentimental attachment to it. There's supposedly a fantastic store in Tokyo with hundreds and hundreds of unopened old bottles.

I apply cologne like my mother used to apply hers. She would dab both sides of her neck and then apply to one wrist and rub them together.

[quote] You guys are some smelly little homos

I was spending time with this one guy who actually bragged about not wearing cologne and I'm thinking "I can smell you, dude." It was not cute.

My current pillow scent is Joop

Sickeningly sweet for day wear, but perfect for sweet dreams.

I spray it on my pits and crack. So it radiates as I sweat.

The reason people put scent on pulse points (wrists, behind ears, throat) and creases (inside elbows, back of knees).

The 15 best (i.e. most expensive).

Interesting list that omits Aventus. Suspect?

I do a spritz walk through once in awhile. I still love old school Obsession, or else Chanel Bleu. I have old bottles of Opium pour Homme and Passion for Men that I’ll spray in the air and smell just to relive my college days 😜

[quote]There's supposedly a fantastic store in Tokyo with hundreds and hundreds of unopened old bottles.

If you're talking about Marisol, the old bag who owns it is fucking nuts. She's like the perfume version of the Soup Nazi.

Egyptian BIL just gifted me incense sticks that smell like a yachtgirl in a Roja Dove emporium. Really pungent, all cheap Oud/patchouli/vanilla-floral skank.

R167 did Fusion come out before or after Issei passed away? Seems a bit tacky to release it after his recent death.

New semester started this week so I get to smell all the college bros and their colognes. I'll let you know if I notice any new scents. So far it's the same favs - Dior, Versace, Paco Rabanne, Prada... They buy and wear expensive designer colognes, good ones, but most don't make any differentiation between "school" frags and "club" frags. They surely can't afford many bottles. I don't mind because I'm too old for clubbing so I get to smell those scents on handsome young men during the day. Win!

R186 which scents do the biggest fuckboys & sluts at your College wear? I'm assuming Eros is one of them.

I wear whatever the last man who fucked me wore, at least until the following afternoon when I get around to showering.

Luna Rossa, Eros, Sauvage (x10), Invictus, Wanted, Spicebomb and many that smell like variations of 1 Million. Light Blue. I am ansomic to Bleu de Chanel but I don't think it's popular with this age group. I don't know the Zara scents well enough to identify them 🙄. The Arab boys wear more luxury (Santal 33, Tom Ford leathers, Kurkdjian, Amouage - only the new ones, Creed) or intense clones of luxury depending on their budgets. Swiss university. Its pretty rare to smell anything that is NOT sweet. It would be nice to smell some more chypres. So much "oud", vanilla, amber and spice. But maybe young chemistry accentuates the sweetness especially to this old vampire's nose.

Wearing cologne isn't really my thing. .. Occasionally, ll use Boucheron's "Jaipur Homme." .. It took me awhile to find something that I actually like. .. I like all of the "top notes" in this one, and was looking for something where carnation was an element. .. This one fits the bill perfectly for me.

It's very nice R190. Do you get good deals on it? It's only 30 bucks online in Europe.

R189 thanks for expanding, and confirming it’s just as I suspected🤣🤣

All the lads at the Uni I went to in the early 2010s were wearing the same. ‘Sweet’ and spicy Oud/leather everything is getting so tired and tedious now...wonder if the next Gen to come through youth culture will retaliate by defiantly wearing only bitter, airy, ferny or floral savoury scents as a trend? As young people did in the 1800s? The recent trend has been toward sweet thick woods or fruity or gourmand scents since the mid-late 1980s (I blame Opium), though, so after over 30 years of this one wonders when the tide while finally turn. Could we at last be entering the end-stage for this sickly phase in perfumery? Or is the sweet heavy juice for all seasons a perennial?

You’re right about sublime chypres, they are criminally slept on in this century. Though tbh I must confess that I like that, in a gatekeepy way—it’s easier to stand out from the drone-clone crowd when you know none of them will touch a chypre. It’s a bit hipster and snobby to say that, but hey, in this age of slow cultural collapse into singularity we need *something* to hang on to. Are there any casual day-to-night chypre hidden gems you’d recommend? (unisex-feminine please).

I don't think sweet amber spice post 2010 hits are quite like the ones before, though. Because now we have the Iso E Super and Ambroxan. And don't forget the huge trend of aquatics. I was teaching in oughts and I smelled a lot of aquatics but it has tapered off but the grapefruit carries on.

For you? Try Cartier La Panthere

I think some of the now reformulated classic late 20th century male chypres still do the Chypre job well. Everyone complains about all the substitutions but I got over it, myself. But the college boys don't do vintage and 1970s-2010 is vintage in their world.

Also they don't buy designer colognes labeled "womens".

If they are niche customers, they will buy the unisex niche no problem.

Pity they don't buy the current Mitsouko or the current Chanel pour Monsieur. I would probably fall over if they wore Gris Dior or a reformulated Miss Dior Originale, the best chypre imo.

I’ve tried to wear cologne but they give me such a headache

Missoni Wave seems popular. The price is right, smells great, really does smell like Chanel made a bit friendlier or younger and the guys prefer an Italian brand to Chanel. I get the impression Chanel still has a feminine connotation for teens or young men, that Dior seems to have shed. Dior probably shed feminine or fag connotations with Fahrenheit, years ago, and now their fidelity to Johnny Depp for Sauvage is genius. Francis Kurkdjian has his work cut out for him to surpass Sauvage at Dior.

For a real nice and budget Chypre, try Eau de Lancaster.