brehs lets talk cologne game

[Remote]

Anybody smell Polo Red parfum?

 

[GentMan]

What's the oldest fragrance in your collection? I've got a few joints that were originally released in the 90's still in rotation and don't smell dated.

Dolce & Gabbana Pour Homme - Released in 1994. Soapy, fresh with a bit of spice from the pepper note. It's a fougere that's been reformulated throughout the years but retains the OG DNA.

Givenchy Pi - Released in 1998. Oriental, vanilla scent. Wife loves this on me, she says it smells cozy.

 

[WIA20XX]

What's the oldest fragrance in your collection? I've got a few joints that were originally released in the 90's still in rotation and don't smell dated.

Dolce & Gabbana Pour Homme - Released in 1994. Soapy, fresh with a bit of spice from the pepper note. It's a fougere that's been reformulated throughout the years but retains the OG DNA.

Givenchy Pi - Released in 1998. Oriental, vanilla scent. Wife loves this on me, she says it smells cozy.

Issey (94) and Acqua di Gio (96) and Le Male (95)

The first was a Houston classic. (On top of being a best seller generally).

Le Male because of Snoop (and same for Cool Water, but don't have that anymore).

ADG is the most popular of all time. I think I had one of those scent things from GQ.

 

[StackBundles]

You can get it

1) Straight from the maker (Never ordered)

Followed | kerosenefragrances

100ml - edpFollowed You've got problems...and smelling delectable isn't one of them. Be prepared to be followedas others smell coffee,caramel, vanilla, cocoa and amber in your wake.

www.houseofkerosene.com

At 152 for 100ml, it's half the price of Bleu de Chanel Parfum 50 ml, so it's pretty good value. ...If you like the smell and can deal with how powerful it is.

Montale, Mancera, and Kerosene are probably the best bang for buck in terms of performance when you go niche.

2) Lucky Scent which you can get the dabber to try it out (ordered from them a few times this year, no issues)

Followed Eau de Parfum by Kerosene | Luckyscent

Shop for Followed Eau de Parfum by Kerosene at Luckyscent, Find Followed Eau de Parfum by Kerosene

www.luckyscent.com

3) If you want a sprayer - Perfumed Court (ordered a lot over the years from them, no problems)

https://www.theperfumedcourt.com/Products/Kerosene-Followed-EDP---Voted-One-of-2022-best-new-fragrances__KeroseneFollowed.aspx

Personally, I'd get it from Perfumed Court, like 2-3ml to test it.

My nikka you seem like the Mr miyagi of this cologne shyt. Put me onto some good colognes and clones

 

[Monoblock]

Go a hold of a sample and needed a bottle.

 

[WIA20XX]

Go a hold of a sample and needed a bottle.

Argos is blowing up. I see them all the time now. I'm guessing their marketing department figured out how to reach YT and Tiktok people.

 

[3rdWorld]

Whole channel has some good battles

Have the Gentleman..bought a couple years ago at a duty free or something and the bottle looks different. I dont wear it often, just use it as a backup because it gets compliments though to me it's just ok.

 

[Remote]

I placed a Scent Split order on Black Friday.
I still haven't received it.

If you live in the northeast, you might as well just ignore Scent Split altogether. They're horrific.
If you live down south, I guess you'll get your stuff in a day.

 

[WIA20XX]

I placed a Scent Split order on Black Friday.
I still haven't received it.

If you live in the northeast, you might as well just ignore Scent Split altogether. They're horrific.
If you live down south, I guess you'll get your stuff in a day.

Black Friday Orders

• Fragrance Line - 11/29 (same site layout as SS, but a few dollars more)
• Perfumed Court - 11/29
• Scent Split - 12/1
• Max Aroma - 12/1
• Lucky Scent - 12/4

Still waiting on

• Montagne though...11 days and no "shipping label created" - smh. I'm betting Ash bigging them up a few weeks back got them a bunch of orders
• House of Mammoth - ordered Friday, supposed to get here This Friday

 

[Boondox Black]

 

[Remote]

If price isn't a real object, the niche/design private blend stuff is a vast world.

Consider this a "starter kit" in terms of getting deep into the cologne game.

Niche is a company that only makes cologne.
Designer - they make stuff other than cologne. Armani is designer. But Mercedes Benz and Tumi also make colognes, and they're considered designer, even if they don't make clothes. For a 100 ml bottle, usually they're trying to do 100. Since covid, it's now like 120, with some of these jokers going for 150.

Private Blend/Private Line - Designers like Chanel and Dior sell colognes for the mass at the 100-150 level, so the "private line" is them selling colognes at the 300-500 level. Armani, Chanel, Dior, YSL, Gucci, Louis Vuitton all have lines at this price point, but the niche houses are also this expensive and tend to get more love.

These are the "big boy"/"grown man" fragrances that are fairly popular. Keep in mind, there are over 100K fragrances out there, most of them from small companies you'll never hear of.

This is more of a best sellers/biggest advertising budget than any idea of quality or exclusivity.

Creed Heavy Hitters

• Aventus - it's sold as a smoky pineapple, but it's more of a pineapple whiff with birch/smoke
• Viking - Christmas Potpourri
• Green Irish Tweed - Fresh Cut Grass
• Silver Mountain Water - it's a fresh aquatic, metallic. If you like this, peep Chanel's Egoiste/Platinum Egoiste.
• Virgin Island Water - lime and coconut, great for summer

Creed has a ton more scents, but these are the ones that get mentioned a lot. Aside from Green Irish Tweed, I don't really get the hype tbh.

Parfums De Marly Champs

• Layton - they're #1 - get your nose on this. Apple, Vanilla, Sandalwood...
• Herod - Tobacco scent, my fave from them. Very dry and spicy.
• Sedley - Citrus
• Greenley - Green Apple
• Carlisle - Apple (diff than Layton)
• Pegasus - Almond

Considered by many as a niche house with designer (aka mass market) sensibilities.

Initio Parfums - Sister brand to Parfums de Marly

• They make a great fragrance called Oud for Greatness. I'd never put my nose on anything like that. STRONG. Winter time only, for me.
• Side Effect is another popular one from them. Vanilla, Rum, Tobacco. (I don't smell any of those, but it's a decent scent)

Nishane - House from Istanbul

• Hacivat - An alternative/smell-a-like to Aventus. More pineapple supposedly, but their pineapple smells like citrus to me.
• Wu Long Cha - Tea

Xerjoff - Italian

• Naxos - Honey Tobacco - Not a fan, but very popular.
• Mefisto - Citrus, Flowers, Woods

Amouage

• Interlude Man - Known as the blue beast, it's a got a strong oregano note. Interlude Black Iris is also fairly popular
• Royal Tobacco - Tobacco and Incense. I love the hell out of this stuff.

Massive house from the Middle East, I see a lot of their colognes on various lists.

By Kilian - Kilian's dad runs Louis Vuitton

• Intoxicated - sweet, caramel if I recall.
• Light My Fire - sweet
• Black Phantom - not for freshmen, this is like Dior's Fahrenheit to me. Smoky, Gasoline..
• Apple Brandy - apple?
• Apple Brandy on the Rocks - green apple
• Angel's Share - supposed to be Whisky, more like apple pie spice

Real popular niche brand, everything leans sweet or smells like food (aka gourmand).

Le Labo - Hipster and Expensive

• Santal 33 - it's supposed to smell like sandalwood, all I smell is dill pickles. But was "the scent" for a minute. It's a hypebeast for sure
• The Noir 29 - Black Tea and I think Figs?
• Bergamote 22 - Bergamot is a citrus, and this is one of their most popular ones.

Aside from the price and minimal label, the real neat thing is that you go to their shop and they make the cologne in front of you, and give you a personalized label. My personal favorite is Tabac 28, but you can only get it from their Miami Shop, or once a year from online.

Roja Parfums - Enigma/Creation E - outrageously expensive - Tobacco, Cognac, Vanilla - I don't smell any of that personally, but it's very popular

Maison Francis Kurkdijan

• Baccarat Rouge 540 - Cotton Candy, very sweet. Hypebeast
• Grand Soir - Sweet, I'm not sure what it's supposed to be. Super popular. Amber and Vanilla

Frederick Malle

• Musc Ravageur - Musk and Spice - smells way better than it sounds.
• Portait of a Lady - Rose

Tom Ford - not really niche, but put into the niche category

• Noir Extreme - Turkish Ice Cream, very sweet, pistachio I think as well
• Ombre Leather - a sweet leather if such a thing exists
• Oud Wood - Oud is one of those woods that can be very medicinal, very barnyard, very "vicks vaporub". This is very popular from them and a good intro to oud.
• Tobacco Vanille - My #1 lady killer, probably my favorite scent, definitely top 5. Tobacco and Vanilla, and some spices.
• Tuscan Leather - leather and raspberry, but smells more like an ash tray to me. Allegedly smells like Coca-Aina

Like I was saying above, Thomas has a ton of good colognes, none of them cheap.

What might you compare that Frederick Malle - Musc Ravageur to?
I never see anything about that house online

 

[WIA20XX]

What might you compare that Frederick Malle - Musc Ravageur to?
I never see anything about that house online

Like a more interesting and richer version of Spice Bomb Extreme. It's one of the first niche fragrances I put my nose onto and said "that's quality, that smells expensive".

I've since put my nose on lots of high dollar colognes, and not many have that same "quality" as Musc Ravageur.

That said, it dropped off my must buy list, because I can't imagine wearing a whole lot of it. It's very "cold weather"/"special occasion".

It's worth putting your nose on though.

 

[Remote]

So I was just browsing.

Has Tobacco Vanille always been this expensive?

I thought for sure it could be gotten close to $100 (give or take $30) from discounters. Even a 50ml is over $200.

Even among Tom Fords that one is high.

 

[WIA20XX]

So I was just browsing.

Has Tobacco Vanille always been this expensive?

I thought for sure it could be gotten close to $100 (give or take $30) from discounters. Even a 50ml is over $200.

Even among Tom Fords that one is high.

Here's what they said in 2007 when it launched.

Tom Ford Private Blend ~ new collection of fragrances :: Now Smell This

nstperfume.com

165 for 50 ml in 2007 is 244.84 today.

So it's probably cheaper than NOW than it was back in the day.

If you listen to cats, it was probably much stronger then than it is today...

 

[areohbee824]

Dunno how Maison Alhambra gets away with some of these clones, down to the bottle and all