How to Choose Cologne

Is your signature scent dousing yourself in the deodorant you?ve been using since you were fourteen? It?s time to upgrade to cologne. But with so many choices, how do you decide which scent suits you best?

Firstly, you need to get out there and use your nose. Cologne is not something that you can shop online for. Reading this article is a good start, and it?s also where your online research should end. The most important factor in buying cologne is, obviously, how it smells, and that?s something that is impossible to describe. Never buy without smelling it with your own nose.
We?ve established that you need to go into a physical store to buy cologne, but what do you do once you?re there? There are endless choices, and it would not be advisable to buy the first cologne you see.

Find your style

Colognes come in many different categories. There are some which smell fresh and citrusy, which are a good first choice if you are not sure of your style yet. Citrusy colognes smell more youthful than some of the classic scents. Spicy colognes are a more mature choice, while woody perfumes are the quintessential masculine cologne. The list of cologne types is always expanding, and it?s not really important that you know all of them. Smell a few colognes and work out what your ?type? is, perhaps with some help from the shop assistant to help you identify similar fragrances.

Spray it on yourself

You will find that little cards are supplied at perfume displays, so you can spray the cologne on the card rather than on yourself. Once you have identified a cologne that you like by spraying it on the card, spray some onto your wrist. Let it settle for at least half an hour so you can decide if it still smells good over time, and if it does not clash with your natural body smell. Ask trusted friends if they like the scent on you, and how far away they can detect it. If they can smell it from more than a few feet away from you, either it is too overpowering, or you have sprayed far too much on yourself. However, if they can only smell it when they hold their nose to your wrist, then you may as well be spraying yourself with plain water. Only once it has passed the longevity and strength tests, may you return to purchase the cologne. Unfortunately, it is not something which can be done in five minutes with just one visit to the store.

WTF is an EDT?

You?ll see some bottles have ?Eau de toilette? written on them. EDTs differ from perfumes in that they have less oil content, meaning that the scent does not last as long. ?Eau de cologne? is also often used to describe scents with low oil content. What you want is ?eau de parfum?, which has the highest oil content and therefore the scent will linger on you for the entire day. While the difference in pricing may cause you to think EDT is the budget option, you will find that you go through EDT much faster and it may not be worth it.