My cologne

[sapito318]

I use Polo Double Black, which suits me very well. I had to go in the cologne section and smell 20 or so colognes till I found the one that complements me perfectly. I simply cannot buy cologne without first feeling it out. Could never buy cologne online without sampling first. anybody else the same way?

[mdunn]

yep. I try to test it on myself for a few hours before I buy anything. Though I dont always follow my own rule :P

[rant]And i hate those stupid little paper things im meant to spray cologne on in the store. its going to smell completely different on me anyway, so why would I bother!?!?!?!?!? WHATS THE BLOODY POINT[/rant]

[toucanlamp]

Blind buys are always a terrible idea. The simple fact is that there is barely a single cologne out there that isn't absolutely loved by a bunch of people and absolutely hated by others.

I remember YSL's Rive Gauche always being so highly spoken of on the web and I was thinking of blind buying it since at the time I'd never seen it for sale anywhere local let alone samples being available. Then one day I saw a place that had a sampler and I was totally unimpressed, it smelled to me like barbasol mixed with some nauseating green-ness.

And I must say personally Polo Double Black was not so great, that's the one with mangos in it isn't it? Or is that the regular black. There's too many Polos to keep track of nowadays.

[Semi-Constant Gardener]

Completely agree; scent is such a personal issue that it seems a bit risky to buy blind unless you are willing to give away your purchase without regret should it be unacceptable.
That being said, I did buy the Speick cologne blindly after reading a very thorough, thoughtful, absent of hysteria review by Joel. And, for me, that scent is excellent.
I was at a Sephora store at a local mall in Columbia MD over the weekend, looking for the Gendarme 20. I love the Gendarme for men, and Scentronic (one of the members here) had highly recommended it for those who like Gendarme. Anyhow, they did not have it, but the manager there was very helpful in locating the clean/soapy smell that I love and gave me about a half dozen samples of other colognes -- I was very impressed. And while I may end up purchasing the Gendarme product elsewhere, I will return to buy a bottle of the original Dolce and Garbana (probably spelled that wrong) which I think is a terrific clean and slightly spicy scent. I would not have invested the money though, based on my reaction with spraying on a tester strip. It was much more impressive in vivo!

[in the know]

I bought two EDTs without trying them first. My decision was based entirely on people's reactions to them on this and other forums. just from reading the descriptions I knew they would suit me.

Both were great and I'll go to my grave wearing one of them.

I would never advise buying anything (too expensive) without trying it first though. Just because it worked for me it might not work for you.

[Rorschuck]

I've made some blind buys, but I always read volumes about any scent before doing so. I've actually had pretty darn good luck, but have ended up with a few things I hate.

Of course I prefer testing first and usually do, but some things are so cheap for a bottle, what's the point (case in point: Arden Sandalwood).

[Isaias]

Blind buys are a lot like gambling

I think I have a gambling problem Naaah I am already recovering, actually I do not think I will be buying fragrances for a while. Two of my favorite fragrances have been Blind buys.

[JarheadSgt]

I've just recently gotten involved with scents besides the occasional cheap after shave and a small bottle of cologne that I may have received as a gift for Christmas or my birthday. My first excursion was to Belk's and I settled for what I thought was a nice smell - Guess Suede for about $50 and change. The scent is fine but it lasted about 10 minutes.

My next purchase, after reading some very good things on this forum, was from SCS - blind. I received threee after shave and edt combinations each very different and love all three. The Sandalwood just doesn't seem to last very long on me, maybe 3 or 4 hours tops, and I'm wondering if it might be my body chemistry.

My next, and current, experience is dealing with Rorschuck (a member) who decants a number of colognes and resells so individuals like myself can afford to wear "higher end" colognes at an affordable price. His knowledge of scents is truly impressive to me and he has been extremely helpful to me in educating me about scents and working with me to determine the scents I may like. Consequently, I will be purchasing a few decants from him and I don't expect to get any "lemons".

I like a lot of different scents so I don't really think I would find something totally disagreeing to me very often. I'm beginning to believe that different scents should match different moods, and or, different situations rather than a one-scent-fits-all theory.

So, yes, I buy blind but informed.

[Dennard]

More often than not I test and research a lot before buying a fragrance, but I've bought a few untested and liked most of them.

[prewt]

In order not to jinx myself, all I will say is that buying a scent, esp. in a large quantity, is not wise...... and I am not a wise man.

[OmegaEdge]

The original Polo and Polo sport are the only "Polos" I like. I sold my bottle of Polo Blue and Polo Black here on the BST not to long ago.

[Lynchmeister]

I bought Versace Green Jeans and Diesel Green Masculine blindly. While I do like them both quite a bit, had I had the chance to test them out first, I probably wouldn't have bought them.

Oh, speaking of the Green Jeans, I also blind bought Speick, which to my nose is very similar to the GJ.