After posting about drugstore after shaves and how much wet shavers love them, it seemed a good time to post about quality cologne as well.

There’s nothing like the feeling you get when wearing a well-made cologne. It’s a chance to transcend who you are today and feel like Cary Grant or Errol Flynn (two of the people the cologne house Creed made special scents for).

Cologne, as opposed to after shave, goes through distinct changes during the time you’re wearing it. The different scents you get over time are known as ‘notes’. Cologne will usually go through three distinct changes as it ‘drys down’: The Top note, the Heart (or middle), and the Base note.

The dry down can take longer than an hour. This is one of the reasons why you should never select a cologne based on how it smells on a strip of paper or just after it’s been sprayed on your skin. You have to give it time to develop and show how it combines with your skin chemistry. It’s really a good idea to sample a cologne a few times over a few days to get an idea of how it wears for you.

Of course, good cologne doesn’t come cheap. If you don’t have a large selection of department stores in your area, there are still ways to sample colognes via the Internet so you don’t have to ‘buy blind’.

Cologne or perfume ‘decanters’ are out there who will sell you small quantities of ‘juice’. This is a great way to get in a few wearings before you decide to spring for the entire bottle.

You can find sellers on the scent forum Basenotes (see the blogroll at left for a link) or, there’s a site devoted to selling decants called The Perfumed Court.

Test a variety of samples from these good people; you might get some pleasant surprises.

No go out there and get smelling good.

Dunhill Cologne by Alfred Dunhill Eau De Cologne Spray 3.4 Oz