For us poor folk

[tehtimmeh]

+1 on decants. You can get 10-15ml of some of the higher end frags for $30-40 which may not seem like much, but you'd be surprised how many wearings you can get out of decants.

As far as full bottles with cheaper prices:

YSL and Caron are both some of the more well respected houses that make cheaper scents, but are very high quality.

YSL: Opium Pour Homme, Rive Gauche, L'Homme

Caron: Yatagan, Pour un Homme, Third Man

I'll also add my vote to Burberry London.

 

[scottb]

Aramis (now at Walmart)
Bowling Greene or Grey Flannel
Paco Rabanne Pour Homme

there's a lot of good suggestions here.

 

[gaj90027]

Lalique Encre Noire - one of my all time favorites and only $33.00 for 1.7oz at fragrancex.com

Hermes Terre d'Hermes - another favorite might stretch the budget a bit but it's still only $54.00 for 1.7oz at fragrancex.com.

L'Occitane Vetyver - $46.00 for 3.4oz, great stuff especially with the free shipping deal at L'Occitane website right now.

 

[Obsessed]

Some of us rarely buy full bottles of this stuff. It is far cheaper to buy a decant (small atomizer with 5ml or 10ml of juice).

You can even buy a bunch of smaller decants (1 ml, 2 ml) of a variety scents for less than the price of a full bottle of expensive juice.

 

[Kenno]

kouros
ungaro 111
knize10
musgo

 

[The Nid Hog]

-Clubman [Check out all the varieties like Lilac Vegetal, Bay Rum, Classic Vanilla and Special Reserve: TNH]
-English Leather
-British Sterling
-Old Spice
-Brut

Giorgio for Men
Caron Pour un Homme
Caron Third Man
Caron Yatagan
Grey Flannel
Brooks Brothers 1818

These are all fantastic choices. I'd like to take particular notice of Gray Flannel. Maybe that's my favorite value cologne--wore it yesterday. You can get it with a matching aftershave too. If you can, try to find it's brighter cousin Bowling Green--an amazing accord of citrus and lavender.

Also try Arden Sandalwood if you can find it. It's out of production, but I see it everywhere in outlet stores (like JR Cigar). Very nice, masculine combination of sandalwood and lavender.

 

[jakespoppy]

Many of the colognes mentioned above, and all are great suggestions, can be found at discount prices in stores like Marshall's, TJ Maxx, and Ross. These range from around $12 for Grey Flannel, which is usually available, to around $25 for many, up to $49 for some of the higher-priced fragrances.

Also, If you are near a Brooks Brothers Outlet store, in many Outlet Malls, they have several sales a year where you can get 1818 and other Brooks Brothers fragrances for around $30-35. The stores also have Royall fragrances - Vetiver, Spyce, etc, for less than that, and these are great scents.

You can get a large number of samples and decants for very little cost, and these, along with a few full bottles, will last a long time and give you a lot of variety.

Enjoying fragrances doesn't have to be an expensive practice, and you don't have to spend a lot of money to enjoy great fragrances.

 

[The Nid Hog]

Enjoying fragrances doesn't have to be an expensive practice, and you don't have to spend a lot of money to enjoy great fragrances.

Also, price shouldn't keep you from trying the expensive frags either. Writing to the company for samples and buying decants can make them much more affordable (If you exercise some self restraint).

 

[Evbo]

+1 to the Meehan's Bay Rhum & St. Johns Bay Rum suggestions earlier in the thread. I would also suggest some of the Royall fragrances: Lyme, Bay Rhum, Mandarin, Spyce...some good value there. And they can double as aftershaves!

 

[kingfisher]

Agree with Grey Flannel.

I'm also partial to Monsieur Balmain, which has a bold lemon opening and then dries down to a beautiful subdued woodsy fragrance. It's maybe 45 bucks/bottle.

I also like Lolita Lempicka au Masculin, which can be had for well under 50 bucks.

 

[Featherweight]

The Pinaud line is well worth it at $7 per bottle of aftershave/cologne - Special Reserve is quite nice and well made with real oakmoss, coumarin, all the makings of masculine perfumery in place.


...

 

[john parker]

Thinking about it, joec, probably the biggest factor in saving money on fragrances is to SAMPLE before you start buying. If you don't, you may well end up spending money (a little or a lot) on something you wish you hadn't gotten - which will add up! Start sampling at department stores and fragrance shops in malls. Get some idea of the kind of scents you are interested in. Spend for samples if you need to; several good places to get them. And ask here if anyone has a sample you can try.

 

[vertigo12314]

I recently picked up Crabtree aned Evelyn Sandalwood. I love it (despite bad reviews from basenotes) and it's a good price. It can easily be mixed with other colognes if the mix suits you.

 

[masonjarjar]

CO Bigelow Black @ Bath & Bodyworks is one of my go-to's..

I've always liked American Crew Classic as well.

British Sterling is nice on occasion as well. (Poor man's Floris No. 89)

..forgot to mention Old Spice Pure Sport! really nice if you can get your hands on some (I have the aftershave)

 

[BCatl]

There are a lot of good suggestions already.

Giorgio for men and Bijan Men are both good and available at discounters (Ross etc). However, you should plan to apply them sparingly.

Aramis and Halston are also good.

 

[BCatl]

I should mention Ted Lapidus for men as well.

 

[Altair]

I have never spent more than 100 bucks on cologne. most of the ones I have are 50 to 70 dollar range. quiet a few of them even cheaper.

Paco Rabanne Pour Homme.
Chanel Platinum Egoiste
Chanel Sport
Bleu De Chanel
Burberry London
Dolce and Gabanna Pour Homme
Doce and Babanna light Blue
Dolce and Gabanna Masculine
I have more but you get the point!

All those are 30 to 90 bucks for the 3.4 oz.

Careful about buying on line. you may get fakes. Best thing to do is shop around. Basenotes is a reputable forum you may wanna see if they have a list of Genuine Product online vendors. You can also buy Demonstration Labeled Bottles. Same product. its just cheaper cuz it says demonstration only. those bottles are meant for displays at the stores.

 

[jakespoppy]

There are a lot of good suggestions already.

Giorgio for men and Bijan Men are both good and available at discounters (Ross etc). However, you should plan to apply them sparingly.

Aramis and Halston are also good.

+1. Giorgio for Men reminds me a little of Givenchy Gentleman. "Red", made by the same company that makes Giorgio for Men (Giorgio of Beverly Hills) is also one that I like. It's somewhat similar to Azzaro PH or Halston Z-14.

 

[Wil Dorenbos]

I've been reading your reviews here with great interest. I don't really know much yet about this topic, but I've noticed the price range for most of the "favorite scents" is on the high end. There is no way I'm going to spend $100-$200 for a fragrance. That gets my two kids into a little league. Are there fragrances in the $$ range instead of the $$$ and $$$$ range? Can you list some of your $$ favorites for us newcomers?

Thanks

I am/was as surprised as you to see all that. I use Agua Lavanda Puig (splash) will cost some 15-25 usd for 750 ml (that is a LOT more than those small bottles they are using )

 

[michiganlover]

I am/was as surprised as you to see all that. I use Agua Lavanda Puig (splash) will cost some 15-25 usd for 750 ml (that is a LOT more than those small bottles they are using )

I too have been surprised that so many of the highly praised/ highly discussed fragrances are super expensive, especially considering that so many of us found our way to this board looking for cheaper shaving methods.

If you can't afford to pay $4 per cartridge, you surely can't afford to pay $100-$200 for a bottle of cologne!!

I am fully content to use my value priced stuff, especially considering that I hang out with common folk, who probably wouldn't notice the different between these scents, and the higher end stuff anyway.

I don't imagine there are too many teachers out there wearing Creed Green Irish Tweed!!

(note, I am not a teacher but work daily among them; I am their tech guy.)